Show me the money

disclaimer: not a real ad

I was listening to the radio a few nights ago on the way home from work. As is my usual habit, I was tuned in to the Disenchanted Kingdom on 99.5RT (love, love, love that show!). Onboard that night together with the regulars was Kell (Kel?), one of the unoffical members of the Kingdom's court.

Although not a regular, I like Kell (Kel?). He's both intelligent and funny, which makes him a good contributor to the show. I think he's been friends with the rulers of the Kingdom for a while, because he falls naturally in sync with them. He sounds good over the radio too.

Anyway, that's not the point.

It turns out that Kell (Kel?) works for Nuffnang. If you've been around the net world long enough and you read other blogs (which I'm sure you do because seriously, mine cannot possibly be the only one you read. If it was, I'm grateful to you... but I might also be secretly judging you...) then you would have at least heard/seen Nuffnang, even if you're exactly sure what it is.

I'm not exactly sure of it myself. But looking up their website I can see a descriptive phrase underneath its logo. It is a "blog advertising community". Right. I see. Ok. Now, from what I can gather, Nuffnang seems to be where bloggers get together to form the mass and scale they need to be taken seriously by advertisers. I think it's kind of like a collective where Nuffnang is the Borg Queen. Nuffnang takes the ads, then distributes it among its members, placing it in blogs where the ad is most relevant, ie. an ad about diapers in a mommy blog. Or an ad about a clothing store in a fashion blog. They also send out bloggers for different marketing events where brands and companies are trying to generate word-of-mouth.

Some people make a lot of money from blogging. Some people make some extra money from blogging. And then there are the some people like me, who make no money from blogging at all.

So that got me thinking, (insert Carrie Bradshaw-esque voice here) can I actually make money with my blog? And if I could, would it even make money at all? More importantly, is my blog even worth an advertiser's time? I'm not famous, I have no specialization, most of my readers are my friends... will companies really think I can bring them the target market they seek?

I've been told on a few occassions that I write well. I always say I write the same way I speak. Read any of my pieces and you can imagine me saying it outloud to you, gesticulations and all. But is a talent for writing enough to make yourself a worthwhile blogger? After all, if you're going to be followed the least you can do is give your followers something substantial, something... relevant.

Am I relevant? At most I'd say I'm good for a few laughs. Or wry smiles.

Maybe I should have a gimmick. Some fancy, creative, kooky idea that sets me apart and makes me more interesting. With a gimmick, I become more than just a blogger, I can become a brand. A brand means something. It stands for something. It's the symbol that says you're not just regular, but special. Yes, like that little red dot on top of the siopao that says, "same out the outside, different on the inside."

Everybody wants to be special, don't they?

Maybe.

But the truth is, I just want to be me. Me when I write. Me when I think. Me when I talk to you via my blog piece. I'm not built for fancy, creative and kooky ideas. I just like to think. And write. And hope that what I think and write about are what you wanted to think and read about too.

In the introduction of Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote of authors:

"When he casts his leaves forth upon the wind, the author addresses, not the many who will fling aside his volume, or never take it up, but the few who will understand him better that most of his schoolmates or lifemates... to imagine that a friend, a kind and apprehensive, though not the closest friend, is listening to our talk."

It's exciting to imagine that I can get paid for doing this. The real question is whether I should.