The Quantity Experiment

When I wrote about Blog Network Revenue Models I spoke of the ability of Engadget and Gizmodo to produce over 40 entries a day. This is clearly something that distinguishes them from every other gadget site on the Web. Not only does 40 entries produce 40 potential pageviews per user it also produces 40 new pages for Search Engines to digest.

Darren understands this model of quantity of entries on sites and it’s the reason he can proclaim to make over $1,000 a day. Write a lot of content that doesn’t have to be totally original and get the site up to a PR of 6 and you are basically golden. Amazing how simple the formula is yet people continue to wonder how he does it (Martin: not a potshot at Darren, he knows the system and uses it to his max potential, can’t fault him for it, just won’t read those sites :)).

So why don’t I do this? Maybe one day I will pay someone to do it, but I just can’t bring myself to continuously pump out refurbished news day in and day out. Maybe if only one blog was my focus it would be easier to do because I could add my one sentence of wittiness, but I don’t really have that option. However, we still can’t hide from the fact that quantity matters to everyone.

What about Dooce and Gruber though? They aren’t ripping through 10 entries a day and they seem to be pretty popular?

1. They have been around for some time.
2. Shows that killer, killer content goes a long way.

We have a large number of great sites in the 9rules Network, but many of them will never grow to be very large no matter how much we help them due to the frequency of posting. It’s just the way it is, readers want quality, but they also want updates on a timely basis. I have heard many people complain about the quantity of entries you find on Engadget and Gizmodo, but that doesn’t seem to be lessening their traffic at all. So how does this effect blog networks?

Good question.

Blog Networks and Quantity

With 9rules this becomes a moot point because our bottomline does not revolve around the pageviews of our members. In contrast, Weblogs, Inc. and Gawker require a large number of posts per day per site for the simple fact that they must maintain their growth. Once your traffic begins to plateau you have three options:

1. Increase the required entries per day from writers. Since this is already in a contract I am sure it won’t happen.
2. Increase number of writers per site. Not effective unless it doesn’t take away from the earnings of current writers. WIN and Gawker can do this because they pay their writers set rates, b5 doesn’t have this luxury.
3. Add more sites (or open comments).

Of course every network uses option 3 because it is definitely the easiest. Number 1 and 2 go hand in hand and that’s where I see a potential problem for b5media.

*note: Call me many things, but never say I don’t consistently help out my competition with these analyses. Webby Media anyone?

Again, for a site to grow quickly it has to produce the right amount of quality and quantity. From what I recall b5 requires 2 entries a day from its writers, which isn’t a lot to achieve quick growth, something I know they are going for. So one option is to add more authors to a site, but that takes away from the revenue of the current authors due to their revenue sharing model. Therefore, the only option I see working besides paying the fixed rate is for the writers themselves to step up and produce more than two entries per day, which is something they probably didn’t signup for and if not prepared can easily cause burnout. I hope I am short-sighted in thinking that this is the only option they have (which raises the question, Darren makes enough money to fund such a venture, why not take majority share of the company and pay flat rates?).

Looking at Fine Fools this problem doesn’t immediately present itself because each writer gets full share of his own pie and therefore I can insert more and more authors on a site without any worries. I know this makes it an easier job for many of the writers because they don’t feel pressured to produce a lot of high-quality entries per day. I Like Cameras is a perfect example of this.

The problem with this model occurs when I introduce other types of advertising on the sites. However, if done right that will be a non-issue as well.

A Fun Experiment

Fine Fools allows me to experiment with many different ideas that other blog networks aren’t able to do because they have to focus on their bottomline. For example, I would love to get 15-30 good writers on Gardgy to write 2-3 entries a day to outpace both Engadget and Gizmodo for at least a month just to see the impact quantity really has on both traffic and revenue. Maybe as the Community continues to grow I will have that option one day, till then we will just keep on playing.