Journalist as Entrepreneur
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The document discusses how journalists can build blogs to develop an audience and generate revenue as citizen journalists. It provides examples of how Talking Points Memo grew its audience and diversified revenue streams over time. It then outlines steps to focus content, distribute content through search engines and social media, and add revenue tools like donations, advertising, and syndication as the audience grows. The key is developing multiple content distribution channels and revenue sources, not relying on just one.
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Journalist as Entrepreneur
- 1. Journalist as Entrepreneur Presented 28 August 2010 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
- 2. 2 Example: Talking Points Memo - 19 February 2002 ? Content: Blog on politics, government and policy ? Audience: <10,000 ? Revenue: - Syndication - Donations
- 3. 3 Example: Talking Points Memo ¨C 24 June 2004 ? Content: Blog on politics, government and policy ? Audience: ~500,000 ? Revenue: - Syndication - Donations + Advertising
- 4. 4 Example: Talking Points Memo ¨C 26 April 2006 ? Content: Blog on politics, government and policy + TPMuckraker ¨C Leaks, Tips + TPCaf¨¦ ¨C Discussion ? Audience: <1 million ? Revenue: - Syndication - Donations - Advertising + Commerce ? TPM Today: - 1.5 million
- 5. 5 A few fundamentals: ? You can make money as a citizen journalist. ? You will need to develop multiple sources of revenue, not rely on just one. + Donations + Advertising + Commerce + Syndication + Offline revenues ¨C training, speaking, ¡ ? Many of the tools needed are already at available to you now while other programs are developed.
- 6. 6 There are a few simple steps to follow: ? Step 1: Content Focus and Quality. Expertise matters. ? Step 2: You need a place to show your product and build an audience. - Use your blogs as a way to develop an audience - Not just for articles, but also for video, photos, ¡ Bigger the audience, the bigger the revenue potential. ? Step 3: Add revenue tools to your blog.
- 7. 7 Content and Distribution: The CJ Blog Treat your CJ blog as your online hub to promote your work and build an audience. Search Engines: Social Media: - Google - Twitter - Yahoo! - Facebook CJ Blogs Media Distribution: - Picasa Media Partners: Photo - Flickr - MalaysiaKini.TV - MalaysiaKini.com Video - Youtube - KomunitiKini.com - BlogMalaysia.com Articles - Sarawak-bloggers.com
- 8. 8 Content and Distribution: Search Engines Search engines are your friend ¨C they help you build audience and revenue. But you have to help them first! 1. Text: Search engines ¡°read¡± text, not photos, or videos Do: Use text to label photos and videos ¨C title, caption, tags 2. Focus: Search engines ¡°understand¡± the content of a blog and posting when content is focused on a few topics. Do: Create a short list of topics to guide your coverage Do: Try to make one out of two posts about your ¡°guiding topics¡± 3.Frequency: Search engines will visit more frequently, if you post frequently Do: Post as regularly as you can. Even short posts or photo posts will do.
- 9. 9 Content and Distribution: Search Engines Search engines rank your blog based on how engaged your blog is with other sites. It¡¯s all about links! 4. Links and Embeds: The more links to your blog and from your blog to relevant information, the higher your blog¡¯s importance will be. Do: Develop as many relevant links and embeds to your blog as possible A. Blogrolls: Create a list of blogs that you follow about your topics or location. B. Link Exchanges: Encourage ¡°related bloggers or sites¡± to exchange links with you. Do: Use links in a text post to your blog. A. Places or Organizations: Add a link to their websites B. People: Add a link to their blog, resume page, or social media page (is they have one).
- 10. 10 Content and Distribution: Social Media Social media expands your audience and improves your search engine importance. 5. : Short updates from you and your blog, including text, photos, and VERY SHORT (<10 sec) video. Do: Set-up a twitter account and feed for your CJ blog (twitterfeed.com) Include your location when you sign up so people can find you. Do: Find and ¡°follow¡± other related Twitter users (your town, your topics) If you ¡°follow¡± them, they are likely to ¡°follow¡± you. Do: Join relevant Twitter Directories like TwitterMalaysia.com 6. : You can also build distribution for your blog from your personal Facebook page. Decide: Do you want to distribute blog articles to your personal page? Can: Set-up a ¡°feed¡± to automatically send your twitter/blog info to FB.
- 11. 11 Content and Distribution: Media Distribution Media distribution sites like Youtube and Flickr can also drive new audience for your blog. ? Video: Embeds or links to videos build your blogs importance and increase views. Do: Use Youtube to embed your videos in your blog; Do: Find other YouTube videos to show and comment on (Remember text matters). ? Photos: Photo galleries can also be created with Flickr, Picasa for your blog. Decide: If you want to include photos in your coverage, subscribe to a photo sharing service (like Flickr or Picasa). Do: Add photo galleries to your blog for comment and discussion. ? Blog Directories: Popular blog directories can also create traffic for your content.
- 12. 12 Content and Distribution: Chinese (»ªÓï) If you are blogging mostly in Chinese, also consider China-based Internet services to reach your audience. ? Search: Google =>, Sohu.com ? Video: Youtube =>Youku.com, Tudou.com ? Photo:Flickr =>Bababian.com ? Social Media: Twitter =>Twitter.com, Sina.comMicroblog Facebook => Kaixin001.com, RenRen.com, Douban.com
- 13. 13 Revenue Tools As your blog audience builds, you can add revenue tools to your site. ? Donations: Volunteer contributions from your most loyal audience ? Advertising: Lots of options, most depend on traffic volume and focus Ad Networks: Simple to install. Another third party company sells the ads and you display them on your blog. Sponsorship: Similar to a Donation, but from a business instead of an individual. Often a message is displayed ¡°Sponsored by___________¡± Ads: Requires a regular sales force and technology to sell, collect and display the ads. ? Commerce: Selling product for yourself or for other companies ? Syndication: Selling new or past work to third party media companies.
- 14. 14 Revenue Tools: Donations Voluntary donations can build a small revenue base from your most loyal audience. ? Do: Choose the simplest method for your audience to contribute ¡°Widgets¡± exist for your blog, mostly using PayPal ? Do: Suggest an amount for regular donations ? Do: Ask for donations to fund a specific project like a specific story. http://vimeo.com/2041615
- 15. 15 Revenue Tools: Advertising Ad networks provide the simplest and the least ¡°conflicted¡± type of advertising for CJ blogs. ? Ad networks do the selling for you. ? Protects your independence from large advertisers. - Ad networks do not tell advertisers where their advertisement appears. ? Ad networks depend on click-through on particular ads to make money. - To make money focus your content and build a large audience ? Visually, ad network ads come in a lot of different forms, so they are not too disruptive to your blog.
- 16. 16 Revenue Tools: Advertising In Malaysia there are two primary ad networks to work with ¨C Google AdSense and NuffNang. Microsoft also has a small presence. ? Google Adsense: - Introduction Page - Can be added quickly with an addition of an embedded piece of code - Best results come from experimentation with type of ad and placement ? Nuffnang - Malaysian based blog ad network - Offices in KL, Penang, Singapore, Manila and Melbourne - Blog needs to have at least 20 visitors daily on average to qualify
- 17. 17 Revenue Tools: Commerce and Syndication Two other revenue options exist though they are still emerging in SE Asia. ? Commerce: Branded Blog Products Sales - For example: calendars, mugs, t-shirts, ¡ - Often linked to a specific project - Limited revenue opportunity, require some special technology ? Commerce: Commissions - Sell products through your blogs - Limited inventory available in SE Asia - iTunes, Amazon, AliBaba, Rakuten all present obstacles to foreign sales - eBay Malaysia does have some programs but limited ? Syndication: Content Sales - Independent content sales mostly through blogs in English + Helium.com + Blogburst.com - Some photo and video citizen sales sites + AFP¡¯sCitizenside
- 18. 18 Summary You can supplement your income with blog-based audience and revenue programs. ? Build your blog audience - Search Engine Focus - Evaluate creating a social media presence on Twitter and Facebook - Distribute your content through media distribution sites ? Revenue depends on audience - Simple revenue tools exist to help you build a personal revenue stream - Audience drives everything, focused and large ? These tools for audience and revenue building will take a little trial and error, but are available now while broader programs are developed.