Bloggers and influencers: Earn money with online marketing
// By Simone Janson
Blogging and influencers are considered to be one of the most exciting new professional fields. But a lot of people can't really imagine how to make money with it. An overview.
What is Blogging?
Like many trends, this one came from the US: Weblogs, short blog, were a kind of day or logbook, in which people hold their private thoughts and feelings. For many, blogging was originally just a joke where they wrote down their private thoughts and were happy when a few people liked it. That was exactly what made the blog scene so special: The media suddenly had a mass of new media in addition to the established media, put their own opinion on the net in a very subjective way, were often politically incorrect - and, above all, a lot in the crowd give a broader picture of reality than the established media were able to do.
Blogging is back out, social media is in and promises a new way of communicating with the consumer. Obama has been able to establish such a proximity to the people in his election campaign, among other things via Twitter. And Twittering is an art: write a meaningful message with 140 characters (a Twitter message may not be longer).
Jeff Jarvis: From TV critic to starboard logger
American book author and star blogger Jeff Jarvis tells an interview over time that he came to blog when he took his eyewitness accounts from the 11. September 2001 posted on the net:
"I thought I would only blog for a few weeks. When a few bloggers from Los Angeles commented on what I had written, I realized: "Aha, this is a discussion - it happens in different places and at different times, and it is made possible by the Internet." That was when I realized that the single-track understanding of the media was over. "
Jarvis later quit his job as a TV critic to become a blogger.
Basic Democratic enlargement
The blogs have not so much undermined the classic media as they have broadened their basic grassroots character. Even if the million-fold online diaries threaten to become indigestible chatter, especially in the US, they are fundamentally a contemporary instrument of opinion formation and self-understanding. And an interactive medium, one whose methods and techniques, interestingly enough, are now increasingly finding their way into the online presence of classic media - such as commenting.
In contrast to established media, blogging is a form of communication that works on two channels: the blogger not only writes his post, no, he also allows or responds to readers' comments. Criticism is not only answered, it is actually expressly requested. Blogging should be a constant comparison of one's own perception of reality with that of others. A blog is therefore an extremely interactive medium - and the more interaction there is on a blog, the more credible the blog becomes among readers - and thus also wins in favor with advertisers.
Blogging becomes commercial
Because every hip new move we will eventually commercial - so the blogosphere. With the boom in online advertising in recent years, blogs have suddenly become interesting for marketers - especially those with high traffic. In the US, many blogs have joined together as networks or publishers and are already earning several thousand dollars a day. Blogging has already become a profession for many. A trend that is slowly starting in Germany as well, even though the advertising revenues in this country rarely reach to life. In the scene, however, the commercialization is quite mixed feelings, because actually bloggers should write yes because they have something to say and not because you hope for the highest possible number of visitors and thus many advertising revenue.
However, just last year, we have had the experience that advertising revenue reaches its limits - be it the marketer or Google. That it is not that easy to find reputable advertising partners, one that really wants to separate advertising and content. And that some marketers make grandiose promises, of which then only a fraction occurs in the end.
How do you make money from blogging?
- But what options do you have for making money with your blog? Widely used, also because of the automated handling are the Google ads - context-dependent inserted advertising links. It pays when readers click on it - and that only pays off with hundreds of visitors a day. Most Germans have significantly fewer clicks. In the US, bloggers earn a handful of dollars per thousand impressions with their writing. In Germany, so far only a few bloggers have managed to generate a lucrative sum with their blog - just as Robert Basic, the most influential German blogger, auctioned his blog Basic Thinking for 2009 Euro on eBay at the beginning of 46.902.
- Another option is affiliate programs, ie commission models in which banner ads are displayed by web shops, for example. For you, the success depends less on the number of visitors than on the willingness of the readers to call up the banners and buy something in the advertised webshop. For the website operator, in this case, a few percent of the purchase price paid by the purchaser. Most of the commissions are even leaner than Google Adsense.
- An increasingly popular option is text or text links. Advertisers place simple links with a specific keyword on the blog, usually embedded in a text. The trick, however, is for many providers to camouflage advertising as an editorial link, as editorial content and advertising are strictly segregated. This is of course illegal and a serious blogger should always mark such paid advertising links as advertising.
Opportunities and risks of the respective forms of advertising
But for which advertising media are customers willing to pay in the future? A survey by the BVDW provides some information. The fact is, as we all know, that the advertising market looks rather meager. The prices for online advertising are in the basement and it looks in the foreseeable future not for improvement. 68 Percent of BVDW surveyed plan to increase Display Marketing budgets over Ad Networks. However, half of the advertisers also want to spend more on search engine optimization (SEO) and affiliate marketing. Also in the field of search engine marketing (SEM) 42 percent of respondents want to invest more. The goals are obviously not only sales or the acquisition of new customers, but also positive image and branding effects.
However, the respective forms of advertising have their pitfalls: In the case of affiliate advertising, for example, from a blogger's point of view, you advertise, but you only get something if the customer buys then. And whether the conversion succeeds depends on how I wrote in my article about affiliate advertising. Even worse is in my view SEO advertising: It costs in case of doubt, not only the Pagerank and thus the reputation of Google. No, since SEO marketers usually want unmarked advertising links, you are actually fooling your readers as well. And, what's worse, you're actually punishable - the Abmahnanwälte say hello.
Prerequisites, education and training
In principle, you do not need any special training for blogging but can get started right away. However, you should be well acquainted with the area you want to blog about and have a broad general education and a brisk writing style. You should also have a certain affinity for technology: There are providers of "ready blogs" as well as self-hosted blog systems with ready-made layouts: But if you really want to blog professionally, you cannot avoid making adjustments to the layout.
In addition, one should extensively deal with the press law and copyright: Many hobby bloggers do not know that there are set guidelines, which photos may be published, for example, or that texts of other blogs are protected by copyright and not just be adopted. The telemedia law and the law against unfair competition should also be considered in order to understand the differences between editorial links and advertising links.
Formalities at the start-up in brief
As a blogger who only writes texts and receives money for these texts, you are working freelance. This means you only need a tax number at the tax office. A trade registration is then not required and you have to assure yourself of the cheap artist social fund, if blogging is their main profession and you earn more than the permissible sum in the year. Further information at kuenstlersozialkasse.com.
However, once you finance your blog through advertising revenue, it may be that the tax office classifies you as a trader. You should therefore speak in advance with the tax office. In this case, it may be, but not necessarily, a problem to join the artist social fund.
Business or Freelance?
If you are classified as commercial, you will need to register a trade in the municipality / city administration where you will have your office or permanent establishment. Responsible here is the public order office, some local governments also have their own commercial office. The registration of your business can be done in person or in writing. The registration fee is one time from 15 to 50 Euro (varies from municipality to municipality).
Traders must pay starting from a profit of 24.500 euro in the year trade tax, starting from a conversion of 500.000 euro in the yearly or 50.000 euro profit balance sheets and immediately become obligatory member of the IHK. The commercial or regulatory office forwards the business registration to other offices such as the tax office, the or the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the register court and the professional...
