How the Blogging Market is Changing

We’re coming to the end of the first phase of the social media revolution. Blogging, and all the attendant stuff that goes with it, like Twitter and Facebook are now part of the mainstream. And I believe we need to change our business models to reflect that. Allow me to explain:

How it was

The blogging market was dominated by early adopters. They were technically savvy people, who were probably already spending most of their time online. Many of them saw blogging as a means to supplement or even to kick start already existing online ventures, focused around PPC and Adsense advertising. The hard workers quickly developed large followings, and were able to sell simple information products to those who were desperate for facts about the secrets of their success. Some of the early E-Books about pay per click advertising, or making money through Adsense sold in astonishing numbers. The model was simple: build a huge following and then sell a lot of low priced product to a reasonable number of them.

How it is

Those same hard workers have now achieved “Guru” status and are referred to as “A-listers” in the industry. Their influence extends all across the net into many areas like conventional media and book publishing. They are still targeting the same market for the income, but the simple information products have evolved into much more detailed, and more expensive membership programs and training courses. The model has evolved to selling a low volume, high margin product to a small number of people. Their target market is still those early adopters.

What’s changed

The market has grown exponentially. Now that blogging, and buying stuff generally on the internet, is mainstream, there is a whole new type of consumer out there. This person is me, for example. So what do I look like?

Me

I’m 47 years old. Until a year ago, I used the internet as a business tool and the only things I bought online were music and plane tickets. Then someone suggested I start a blog for my offline business, which made me research blogging and I became fascinated. Since then I have built up a blogging business in three niches that now rivals my main business for income. But, I am very different from those early adopters:

• I don’t care about the technical stuff on my sites – I’m not interested in code or the back end. I just want the sites to look good and work
• I’m older, wiser and much more cynical than many of the early adopters
• I’m a lot more cautious in my buying decisions – I’ve learned from plenty of mistakes along the way - my bullshit detector is finely honed after years of practice
• I’m not impulsive – experience has taught me to mull over decisions and to talk them over with others to get their view
• I don’t dream of being hugely wealthy and having to work only for an hour a day – I’m happy to achieve a good steady income and I’m quite happy to work hard for it

So What Needs to Change to market to people like me?

The current A-listers will probably be fine. Because of their huge lists, they will be able to continue to market their high value, low volume stuff and still do very well out of it. But there’s a huge opportunity for the rest of us to tap into the new arrivals – people like me.

OK, So How do we sell to “Me?”

• Find out what my needs are – ask me, ask your readers, ask yourself.
• Write or create a product that fulfils that need.
• Price it sensibly – I’m quite relaxed about risking $50 or even $100 on the grounds that if it doesn’t work it’s not the end of the world. But $2000? Sorry, no.
• Present me a list of the features, with the benefits to me clearly explained – I buy benefits, not features.
• Avoid bullshit or outrageous claims at all costs – the moment my detector goes off, I’m gone.
• Lose the super corny long sales letter – sorry, but I hate them. From the fake crossings out to the cheesy 100% guarantee sticker – just give it to me straight.
• Don’t hound me if I don’t buy right away. If it’s right for me, I’ll come back, in my own good time. I don’t need fake time limits to push me into a decision.

If we move into this style of selling we’ll be tapping into much bigger numbers – the early adopters are now a relatively small part of the huge number of blog readers out there. The interesting thing is that we will be going full circle back to the early days of simple products, priced sensibly, but selling in huge volumes.

What do you think? Are you similar to me? Have you bought expensive products, and what was your experience?

Maybe also have a look at:

1/ When to start making money from your blog

2/ It’s how you say it, not what you say

3/ First steps for a rookie blogger