Why isn’t the world of sex blogs isn’t growing like the mainstream blogging space?
(Wise readers will know that I’m posting this on a Sunday because today only those who are truly wedded to the broadband crack-pipe desperately continue to fix
Networking…?
Why aren't they any sex blog networks?
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18 comments ↓
I’m not so sure about that removing all links outside the network thing. Would that include posts, or just static sidebar links? It’d be hard to have a non-diary blog without commenting on and linking to other blogs, sites, etc.
I think that informal networks/sex blogging cliques or circles are already forming, but you’re right- we are very behind on more defined setups.
Katie,
You’re right about the side links. It’s simple really - think about a site getting 1,000 visitors a day. Maybe 50% of those people click a link in the sidebar (for example) that’s 500 clicks a day into the network max. If you’re in a network feeding 1000 clicks a day to you that’s a very fair deal.
If, of course, you’re linking to 10 other blogs, the amount of traffic you’re sending into the network is going to shrink radically. On that basis - it’s really hard to think that network membership wouldn’t be totally lopsided.
Making sense?
You Bastard (named after my favourite Camel in Pyramids - a Terry Pratchett book)! You stole my idea! Nah… Just kidding Sam! And no I still don’t want no bikini - Thank you!
Anyway, if you’re thinking of a central repository kind of thing, like say … http://9rules.com but with more granularity (I don’t know if it’s the good term I was thinking more of a way to let headlines [super post craftsmanship] bubble up to the portal by peers approval or vote instead of being automatic or moderator driven), did you find a simple software solution? mu.wordpress.org does not offer that… What are you thinking about? A funky http://www.typo3.com maybe?
Let me know…
Sure- the sidebar thing made perfect sense. I just wasn’t sure you weren’t including post content, too. Thanks for the clarification! A network set up like you were talking about sounds fair, not to mention a great way to give sex bloggers something to aspire towards in terms of quality. I’d be very interested in a project like that.
Jamal,
I have mu.wordpress in mind for something to be sure. Networking wise I was thinking about something 9rulesish but with account taken for the specifics of the adult space. I like the idea of link popularity and voting being accounted for. What’s really important to me though is community.
I’m glad I’m making sense Katie. It’s a hypothetical but an interesting one… Someone’s got to do it right?
A few thoughts. First, I also hate the word “blogosphere” I wish everyone would stop saying it immediately. Second, my first reaction to the link exchange racket is that it is all very cliquish. The cool kids reading each other’s stuff and patting themselves on the back. However, I’ve come to moderate this opinion recently as I haven’t yet met a rude or elitist sex blogger. I wonder if such a network would be exclusionary or if it would just raise the bar on standards for sex blogging?
The other question is to figure out the goals of the bloggers in question. It occurs to me that many sex bloggers aren’t in it to make money. That isn’t to say that they would turn down the opportunity if it were presented to them.
I do think that if someone is going to figure out how to make money off of blogs it will definitely be on the adult end of things. This is probably the only part of the blog community that has a viable shot at that.
Ellie,
You’re right. Networking is certainly about people wanting to make money. It’s also about being part of a community, working as a team and committing to maintain certain standards that improve the quality of the work we all do.
Unfortunately the adult space has missed the boat on this. There are almost 100 blog networks - many of which are making hundreds of thousands of dollars a year right now. It’s not a question of ‘how to make money blogging’ it’s ‘why aren’t adult bloggers making money?’ I think the isolation of sex blogs is a major factor.
I’m cool with the term ‘blogosphere’. For some reason, the use of ’space’ with a noun preceding it drives me crazy. ‘adultspace’, ‘meatspace’. beh.
What about Spherespace? We could piss everyone off - it’d be excellent.
Sam,
I read a grand total of six blogs regularly (who came up with this word?) and the reason I read them is because they actually impart information and the vast majority of the time they are NOT pushing a vendor specific item (ie advertising a specific product under the guise of personal commentary) but rather the ideas around them. On the other hand, the vast majority of the ‘in’ blogs (that word again) do nothing but push vendor specific products that are doing little more than paying the blogger (!@#$%^& word) to push a product while appearing to impart ideas (IBM is the worst about this).
The reason I read your (I’ll call it a) journal is that you are able to articulate ideas that while clearly based in the world of porn, have significant relevance outside of the world of porn. In my opinion, the best journals out there are the ones where there is and open exchange of ideas back and forth and the site operator is mainly starting the discussion(s) of the day and probably make little or no (probably lose) money in the process.
What’s the point you ask … when you start bowing to the all might dollar (accepting advertisers), suddenly you find them asking for something in return. In the on line journal space that something in return generally takes the form of some type of censorship or editorial review which takes a perfectly good opinion piece and turns it into pointless advertising. I’ve seen too many good on line journals for from great ideas to pointless advertising and don’t want to see this one go that way.
Just my $0.02 worth.
BTW, the dogs name is noodles and she chases rocks.
FrwyTCat,
You’re right about the negative effects commercialism can have. On the flipside though you can argue that in order to put the time in to make great content, people need to be paid. You can also set things up in such away that advertisers have no direct contact with writers, or say over content. I worked for years in the print realm and it’s way easier to seperate things online than it is in print. Websites don’t fold if a major advertiser pulls out.
I think the key is being good enough to attract an excess of advertisers (and thus have to please no-one) or to write about everything but the products your advertisers are selling - assuming they have a direct line to you.
Editorial free of advertiser influence can’t be assumed - but I do believe it’s possible.
Network exclusivity is good. the next logical step from that is to start offering the adspace within network as a package; advertiser gets their banner on 14 sites with one deal, revenue is shared on all sites, everybody wins. I worked for a company that made a great deal of money using this model and would have totally survived the dotcom crash if it weren’t for someone embezzling obscene amounts of money while we were too busy working to notice.
of course this was 4 years ago, so the model may no longer hold. but it seems promising at the time.
You’re on the same path as me Rich. The advertising would be centrally managed and posted across the network (as long as advertisers were open to it). Revenue would be split proportionally.
I think we’d need 8-10 blogs to start with - assuming a couple of ‘big boys’. 15-20 if audiences are smaller…
Let’s get ‘er done! I’m all for it.
Okay Donovan - that’s another vote in the yes column, along with Katie, maybe Viv…? I think we’d need about 10 blogs to launch with to make this viable. Tell your friends and let’s see if we have a quorum…
Mr. 9rules here. I got the tech and can get the design. Sam we talked. Time for action.
We’re talking… I’m thinking… Let’s do something…