Collaborative Blog Projects

Discussion in 'WordPress' started by ThreeGuineaWatch, Feb 16, 2007.

  1. #1
    Browsing this and similar forums, I see daily announcements from individuals as they unleash another crisp WordPress installation on an unsuspecting world. Sadly, most of these gallant efforts seem to peter out within a month or two due to lack of time, inspiration, other projects taking precedence, add your favourite "I'll-do-it-tomorrow" type excuse here, etc.

    However, I rarely see offers from individuals to collaborate on blogs. If four or five of these prospective uber-bloggers were to put their noggins together and synergise, inspire each other, work collectively etc., the result might last more than a month and become quite profitable.

    Anyone want to give it a go? If interested in PM me with feedback.
     
    ThreeGuineaWatch, Feb 16, 2007 IP
  2. CountryBoy

    CountryBoy Prominent Member

    Messages:
    8,970
    Likes Received:
    754
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    360
    #2
    Have a look at the following collaboration: Blog About Your Blog.
    Not one of mine but a pretty novel niche and lots of potential in my opinion. A number of members write the entries which are related to their personal blogs - is this the sort of thing you mean?
     
    CountryBoy, Feb 16, 2007 IP
  3. ffnstuff

    ffnstuff Peon

    Messages:
    558
    Likes Received:
    16
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #3
    we aren't uber-bloggers but we are doing pretty well in my opinion :)
     
    ffnstuff, Feb 16, 2007 IP
  4. commandos

    commandos Notable Member

    Messages:
    3,648
    Likes Received:
    329
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    280
    #4
    So in another word you are trying to do a mini-digg ? :D
     
    commandos, Feb 16, 2007 IP
  5. ffnstuff

    ffnstuff Peon

    Messages:
    558
    Likes Received:
    16
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #5
    eh, sort of. Its basically another place to post articles etc. We get okay traffic, but at the same time we are exposing other bloggers to the community. Many of our members visit all of the other bloggers that post there.

    It's also been a great way to announce new features and promotions for bloggers. Like one of our bloggers announced his book release, another a competition.

    We are basically just trying to give back to bloggers, as we grow we will be able to do that more through $ contests etc
     
    ffnstuff, Feb 16, 2007 IP
  6. autorave

    autorave Peon

    Messages:
    995
    Likes Received:
    69
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #6
    I'm interested but only if it's going to be profitable :)
     
    autorave, Feb 16, 2007 IP
  7. ffnstuff

    ffnstuff Peon

    Messages:
    558
    Likes Received:
    16
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #7
    like getting paid? lol
     
    ffnstuff, Feb 16, 2007 IP
  8. ThreeGuineaWatch

    ThreeGuineaWatch Well-Known Member

    Messages:
    1,489
    Likes Received:
    69
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    140
    #8
    Hi,

    Thanks for the link - interesting concept.

    I was thinking more along the lines of several individuals with a common interest collaborating on a niche blog. For example, I can manage perhaps 1 or 2 reasonable quality posts per week on a number of topics. However in order to elevate a blog above the few bucks a month club, it'd take 1 or 2 reasonable quality posts *per day*. This output might be beyond the reach of most people who combine blogging with numerous other online endeavors. But it might be attainable for 3-4 people working collectively. The potential traffic and earning possibilities would probably grow greater than linearly. Just a thought.

    Cheers,
     
    ThreeGuineaWatch, Feb 16, 2007 IP
  9. autorave

    autorave Peon

    Messages:
    995
    Likes Received:
    69
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #9
    Sounds interesting .. what niche do you have in mind? And how are the collaborators going to revenue-share?
     
    autorave, Feb 17, 2007 IP
  10. ThreeGuineaWatch

    ThreeGuineaWatch Well-Known Member

    Messages:
    1,489
    Likes Received:
    69
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    140
    #10
    Hi,

    Let me throw out some further ideas and responses to your questions.

    Essentially this whole idea is based on the experience of four friends of mine who created a UK footy (soccer) blog. They started up in late 2005 and knocked out 4-5 original posts per day between them, often news related items of between one and two hundred words each. Last year they made about $7K in Adsense alone (ok, split four ways not a lot but the idea can be extended.)

    In answer to your second question. They knew each other and so designated one person to manage the Adsense activity and then they carved it up 4 ways. This is one way of doing it; however, there'd be an element of trust involved for people who do not necessarily know each other very well. So, my alternative ideas for revenue sharing are these:

    i. each collaborator must provide Adsense publisher details and then each person's publisher id is used to display ads in a round-robin manner for page impressions. The problem with this method is that those who contribute more would not necessarily earn more since each collaborator has an equal number of ad impressions. It is not difficult to mod WordPress to do this.

    ii. similar to (i) except each collaborator has his publisher id in all ad blocks displayed for his blog entries; the more you contribute, the more you get your ads shown; again, not difficult to implement in WordPress;

    As for finding a niche, I believe it can really only stem from genuine interests - trying to write about something you are not fully and genuinely committed to is a lost cause. If you are interested I can provide a list of interests that I can write on.

    Thanks again for any constructive feedback, one and all.
     
    ThreeGuineaWatch, Feb 17, 2007 IP
  11. autorave

    autorave Peon

    Messages:
    995
    Likes Received:
    69
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #11
    I think there's a revenue sharing plugin for wordpress around.

    What are some of the interests you can write on?

    I know some other bloggers who might be interested doing something like this so I'll let them know about this if we do actually plan to set something up :)
     
    autorave, Feb 17, 2007 IP
  12. MTbiker

    MTbiker Well-Known Member

    Messages:
    2,536
    Likes Received:
    123
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    170
    #12
    The group collaboration on a blog is definitely a good idea. Very few of the bigger blogs are handled by one author.
     
    MTbiker, Feb 19, 2007 IP
  13. ThreeGuineaWatch

    ThreeGuineaWatch Well-Known Member

    Messages:
    1,489
    Likes Received:
    69
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    140
    #13
    Hi again,

    I can write on numerous themes, for example: SEO (naturally), football (soccer), cricket, religion, history of science, *nix administration, pissing it up down the boozer, general matters, ad infinitum.

    It's not so much the content aspect that concerns me, but the post frequency and length - presently, I don't have the time to roll out 2-3 substantial posts per day, hence collaboration.

    PM if interested.

    Cheers,
     
    ThreeGuineaWatch, Feb 21, 2007 IP