Everyone has a blog today but they are a lot of work - I wonder if anyone is making any money from them and if it is generating any additional traffic?

I haven't seen a good model yet many probably get a lot of traffic but they are not selling any product. Eventually I think you will see more integrated sites.

I agree I think they are the "Slate Magazine" of our time. Slate thought they could make money selling content and found out that it did not work out quite what they expected.

I do not think they are making money off of the blog site but I do feel many are making money by monetizing the traffic they get by directing it to some of their other sites.

I know that PR does not translate directly into traffic but it is one thing that people look at. I think the people who are making the most money are the people who are developing blogs and the working them for awhile then flipping them.

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I think you have to approach blogging as another tool in your marketing portfolio.

If your blog, newsletter and website are all integrated you can move your audience / traffic around and prompt them to buy products / click through when you want.

However readers are savvy, they will spot a made for advertising site for what it is, so your blog has to add value for the reader otherwise they will not return.

It need not be hard work to maintain. You don't even need to do all the content, there are plenty of places where you can buy articles or refer back to them, but the content has to be relevant - I know that's obvious but still worth repeating.

A good place to start with this, or any marketing ideas is to watch the competition. Sign up to a newsletter or blog that you think is doing well in your market and the analyse how it works.

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