The Business of Blogging

Blogs are well beyond the days of being just for fun; they are truly a business now. I know about some bloggers who raise an eyebrow at this because they think that blogging is journalism and journalism is not business. These school of bloggers believe that blogging is sacred and it's goal is purely the expression of one's thoughts and views.

They believe that when a blogger starts thinking about earning money from his blog he loses the purity of thought to function as a true blogger because his words would be tainted with the color of money and his credibility among other bloggers and the world in general would take a hit over time if it becomes too obvious that his posts are paid and therefore not really comingfrom within him. I don't see it exactly that way.

Yes, blogging can be considered journalism but journalism, like blogging, is business. Business and journalism are two different words with the same meaning. No one can deny that. Business makes the world go round; without business the world will wither and die. Of course I would not deny the fact that a blog with more paid posts than non-paid posts loses credibility. We’ve already seen that with some bloggers who aggressively push paid posts.

There is nothing wrong about selling your writing skills as long as what you write about is within the perimeter of your interests. It is not actually "selling out". It is just a matter of seeing the good in everything and writing about that good.