Rex Trulove
A recent discussion raised a question that might be interesting to turn into a poll. People write blogs for various reasons. This is something that was extensively researched back when I was a senior manager at Helium dot com. I should say that their research wasn’t about blogging, it was about writing articles, but the two things are similar, so the reasoning should be similar, too.
What the research showed was that most people wrote because they wanted to share information and enjoyed having their articles read, though the money was a good incentive. A portion of writers didn’t even care about the money, though they loved the ‘community interaction’. (I saw that first hand as I ran the forums for three years. Helium didn’t have the option for people to comment on something that was written like Virily has, so all the community interaction was done on the forums.)
Only about a quarter to a third of the writers indicated that they wrote either mostly or entirely for the money.
Thus, the question of this poll is why do you blog at Virily and/or elsewhere?
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Why do you blog at Virily and/or elsewhere?
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I blog entirely for the money.
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I blog mostly for the money, but also like sharing information and thoughts.
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I blog mostly to share information and thoughts, but the money is nice to have as an incentive to write.
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I blog mostly for the community interaction, but the money is nice.
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I blog entirely to share information and thoughts and honestly don’t care if I make money.
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I blog entirely for the community interaction and don’t honestly care if I make money.
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Other (please explain)
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I think my answer is half and half….I do it for money, but just as much as to share thoughts/information. Great post!
That is how I am, for the most part. My primary objective is to share thoughts/information. Getting paid for it is wonderful and it is a great incentive.
Well since earning online is my only form of income at the time being I do think of money first…but I still do my best to make sure my posts are the best they can be and hope I share stuff that’s worthwhile.
That is the funny thing. During winter, nearly all of my income also comes from writing. Yet, when I started focusing on the writing and on my audience rather than on the money, my number of views has increased. In fact, not all the venues I use to write pay me anything, but by writing on those non-paying sites, my views at Virily have increased substantially.
That’s good to know….I don’t write on non paying sites really…I really am not even sure where to start in really earning online.
The best way, if you want to earn substantial money, is to find private clients to write for. In most cases, you’ll need to demonstrate writing ability and will probably have to agree to a Non-Disclosure Agreement, which prevents you from identifying the client you are writing for. The pay can be good but it isn’t easy work, usually.
I enjoy writing, I write to write.
A lot of people are that way. In fact, I do. I will write even if nobody else reads it. It is nice to get money for it, but that isn’t primarily why I write.
So far, the poll is showing almost exactly what the Helium study showed years ago, too.
It is true that given the choice, nearly everyone would like to gain money for what they do. The question is about what is of primary importance. For me, the primary importance is the writing; sharing knowledge and thoughts, helping others, and learning. The money that I earn is nice, but it isn’t the primary reason I write here. In a similar way, I volunteer to do the groundskeeping at Church during the spring and summer…the primary reason is certainly not the money. :))
When did I **ever** say that other choices are bad??? I’ve not said that and didn’t do so at Helium, either.
So far, 64% of the people who’ve answered the poll blog for the same reason I do, which means that 36% don’t. I didn’t say or imply that this is a bad thing or a good thing. Rather, I simply asked a question and wanted honest responses.
That would be “I blog mostly to share information and thoughts, but the money is nice to have as an incentive to write.” That means that the sharing of information and thoughts is primary and making money is secondary. As I mentioned, that is what the finding of the study by Helium showed was the case for the majority of people.
I said that I could understand having limits because that could lead to people trying to game the system. That is true, too. All a person needs to do is think of where the revenue comes from. It comes primarily from advertising and if people aren’t generating the advertising views and revenues, the site isn’t making money.
I have a bit of inside info, too, in as much as I co-owned a site very much like Virily. It went under when my partner decided that the revenue wasn’t important and set it up so people could get an unlimited number of points per day. It took about 2 months before we were so far in the red that we couldn’t recover. Before that happened, I told him that we’d have to go back to limits. He had access to the backend and I didn’t, and since he didn’t like my statement, he locked me out of the site.
I suspect that this is as true for Virily as it was for my site. There must be a revenue stream in place. Even then, some people will invariably try to game the system by trying to make money with the least possible expenditure of effort. It is unfortunately human nature.
The reason I write blogs on this site as well as Gab, MyLot and Tutetego is express my views and be paid for it so people can learn about things that are going on in this mad world we live in.
Understandable. I think that most people want to express their views. I also love gaining knowledge.
At less than $3.00 a month I’m not about to quit my day job to blog here. I like to share stories and if people enjoy reading them that’s the big reward. Nonetheless it’s nice to add a little to my Paypal account every few months.
I feel very much the same way. I’m also a writer, so I will write daily, even if it is never published. I might as well publish it so somebody else might benefit. At least, that is my hope.
There is not just one reason why I blog/ writer. I love to write and share with other people. I will tell you, that I love the interaction with other writers. Never before have a come crossed people who truly want to help one another. That is not just here, I am talking way back on Helium as well. Writers are a rare group of people whom, I have found truly want to help each other grow. That is why, I continue to blog/write online.
That is a wonderful way of looking at it and I commend you. In such a selfish world, that is an enlightened view.