RE: Salon.com and taller ads

From: Michael Martinez <Michael_at_xenite.org>
Date: Wed 25 Apr 2001 10:16:39 -0500

MICHAEL MARTINEZ <Michael_at_xenite.org> WROTE:

>So you're not going to make a fortune selling access to
>syndicated content. I can run all the same headlines on

TO WHICH BRANDI JASMINE <brandi_at_brandijasmine.com> REPLIED:

>But you can make a *living* at it. I do. Well, almost <g>.

And Mary Kay became a millionaire selling cosmetics.
William Bailey and Jerry Brassfield did it by selling
soap. But how many distributors duplicated their
success? The people who attempt to benefit from every
great opportunity only comprise a fraction of those who
make the attempt. That's just the way life is.

MICHAEL MARTINEZ ALSO WROTE:

>my site for free thanks to Moreover, and if they start
>charging someone else will come along and give me free
>access to the news feeds.

TO WHICH BRANDI JASMINE REPLIED:

>True, but then you don't have enough traffic to leverage
>for significant ad sales, or to make an aggregator pay
>off. If you did, you'd want those clicks/views, and
>you'd be willing to pay for sticky content.

Really? Curiously, I turn down advertising offers every
week. Why? Because I've gotten burned. No one has
offered me enough money to risk getting burned again.

Of course, there were thousands of people trying to make
a buck by writing for Themestream. Whoops! Themestream
just shut down (as you note below). And people are
waiting for their checks....

I do, actually, "syndicate" myself to a certain extent.
I make some money at it, but I'm not trying to make a
living off it.

BRANDI JAMINE WROTE:

>Then there is the flip side - companies that don't
>charge readers, but try to apply the nutcrackers to their
>content providers. Themestream, a major "self-syndication"
>site went out of business after only a month of "crack-down"
>policies designed to squeeze revenue out of their content
>providers. People defected left right and centre.

The Themestream failure had nothing to do with its changes
in policy for the contributors. Rather, the changes in
policy were the writing on the wall.

But charging for content probably would not have worked
for Themestream. I've read many an article at Themestream
and most are, in my opinion, sub-professional quality.
My own articles require editing I don't have time for.
I am fortunate to have a generous reader who copy-edits
for me, gratis, because he likes my writing.

So even sites which pay for large amounts of content
aren't offering anything better than what you can find on
most hobbyist Web sites and many message boards. And that
is what people who want to charge for content have to deal
with.

MICHAEL MARTINEZ WROTE:

> >Give it up. It's time to be innovative. If the business

TO WHICH BRANDI JASMINE REPLIED:

>There is always much more imitation than innovation. The
>entire e-business sector is suffering a serious shortage
>of testicular fortitude right now. The more innovative
>you are the less likely you are to attract funding or
>advertising dollars.

Yes, I agree with you about imitation over innovation.
But I'm not sure the e-business community has emasculated
itself. The first wave suffered heavy casualties after
colliding with reality. But until people get over the
idea of every business site charging for content, the
e-business community is going to continue taking heavy
casualties. If amateur sites can offer content at least
of equal value, and do it for free, what the heck is the
business community charging for that people will want to
pay the price?

Business Web sites tend to be informational sites (online
brochures for offline businesses), goods and service
provider sites (e-tailers), or content sites trying to
generate revenues. The failures are coming from the
e-tailers and content sites. Why? Because they don't
have effective business models. But what are people
willing to pay for? Show me that people are willing to
pay for Web content across the board. I'll start
charging for access to my site tomorrow.

Michael Martinez
 Science Fiction and Fantasy info_at_xenite.org
  Visualizing Middle-earth, a book for all Tolkien fans
   http://www.xenite.org/



Received on Wed Apr 25 2001 - 10:16:39 CDT