There are millions of blogs on the Internet today. Web 2.0 has truly taken off. People just want to speak their mind, and let the world hear about it.
What is amazing about the blogging community is the very extraordinary content being produced by ordinary people. Some of the best blogs are driven by passion, rather than expertise. This makes it easier for ordinary people to connect with normal people as the blogs are written in conversational mode, rather than unfamiliar jargons.
What is really sad however, is seeing great blogs being hosting as sub domains of WordPress.com or Blogger.com. Imagine the enormous brands that these bloggers could effortlessly build if they had chosen to host their blogs on separate standalone premium domain name.
Content is king. If bloggers are producing great content, then they should put themselves in the position to profit from their efforts. Some blogs are maintained as a hobby, and some have been savvy enough to monetise their websites with Google Adsense and affiliate links.
However, the real power of blogs is in branding. It was reported in September 2008 that the blog Bankaholic.com was sold for $15m earlier this year. The blog was built on WordPress, was run by only one person Johns Wu, and didn’t even have exceptionally high traffic. The blog is also relatively new, as the domain name was first registered in June 2006. Bankaholic.com was sold to BankRate.
This shows the power and value of content. Content is king, and content sells. Bankaholic.com is an example of what can be achieved when people choose one niche and passionately blog about it. If John Wu had maintained his blog on a WordPress sub domain (e.g. bankaholic.wordpress.com), it would have been very unlikely for him to get an offer for the blog, much less to secure a $15m deal.
Surely you don’t necessarily need a domain name for users to get to your blog, as the bulk of blog traffic comes from search engines or via the blogs’ RSS subscribers.
I wouldn’t gamble with a $15m payday though. There have been quite a few blogs sold over the years, for various amounts. You may not get a $15m deal, but who knows?
