What are bloggers?

Ever since the mid-1990s, one group has been unstoppable on the Internet: bloggers. In recent decades, that hasn’t changed. Anno 2020, there are about 500 million blogs online, about 1/3 of all websites on the Internet. Those blogs account for more than 2 million blog posts every day.

The chances that you’ve heard the terms “blog,” “blogger,” and “blogging” pass by before are enormous. In 2004, America’s largest dictionary, Webster, even named “Weblog” Word of the Year. Still, maybe you don’t know exactly what a blog or blogger is. Time to clear up that confusion.

What is a blog?

A blog is a personal or business website on which articles are published regularly, sometimes several times a day, on a specific topic. The topic is focused on the interests of the target audience and the owner of the blog. An individual article is called a blog post. A post on a blog. Logical, right?

Now you may rightly ask: almost every website has articles posted regularly, right? That’s right! As we said, there are an enormous number of blogs. However, it is important to remember that one blog is not the other. There are two major categories of blogs:

Personal blog

It all started with the personal blog. Links.net, the personal blog of American Justin Hall, is considered one of the first blogs ever. Since his blog went online in 1994, Justin has been a star. He has been invited by news shows, documentaries have been made about him, and he even played a supporting role in a Batman movie. As himself.

What he wrote about? All sorts of things. Back in 1994, there were no social media. If you had something to say, wanted to spread your opinions, or simply vent your thought, a blog was the way to go.

These days the Internet is choking with personal blogs. If you care about reaching a large audience, you will have to do it professionally. That’s why nowadays you can find a whole group of “personal” blogs that are no longer written by one person, but have a complete editorial team behind them.

Moreover, personal blogs have split off into all kinds of categories and (sub)genres. People nowadays don’t write about their lives in general, but about a specific topic. Something that their passion lies in, or that they know a lot about. There are blogs about cars and cooking, history and music, politics and gardening, sexuality and interior design, art, travel, and more.

To show that a personal blog really can be about anything, we list a few:

Business blogs

So a lot of different topics are covered in personal blogs. Is there someone with a hugely popular blog? Then that person is probably an expert on that topic. At least that’s how that blogger is seen by his or her readers. That status, of course, is also interesting for business parties.

Consequently, business blogs have really made their mark on the blogging landscape in recent years. There is almost no serious business without a blog. That makes pretty good sense, too. A blog can be a way to show thought leadership, highlight your knowledge and expertise of a particular domain, generate brand awareness, or simply to boost your SEO.

Even with business blogs, the topics can vary enormously. In fact, there are as many topics as there are businesses. From large multinationals like Jeep and medium-sized companies like VanMoof, to small SMEs like 123 Lens, blogs fit any organization.

What are bloggers?

It should be obvious that one blog is not the other. The same goes for the people behind the blog: the bloggers. Because what exactly are bloggers? The simple answer is: people who keep a blog. That’s pretty short.

There are individual bloggers who maintain an entire blog. They are editors as well as content managers, marketers, and IT people. Bloggers who really maintain their own blog have a huge range of duties.

Then you have the editors who write for one or more blogs. This is often done voluntarily. Editors can just enjoy writing. Their blog posts get a nice platform, and they don’t have to worry about all the other fuss that goes into maintaining a blog.

Finally, there are the business bloggers. Some companies have their blogs written internally, such as by the marketing department. Other organizations choose to outsource blogging to an outside agency of copywriters or (content) marketers.

Vloggers

With the increasing popularity of online video content, a new kind of blogger has also emerged: the video blogger. In other words, vloggers. Instead of sharing their thoughts, ideas and experiences in text, vloggers share them in video form. With sometimes as many as millions of followers, vloggers are wildly popular.

How do bloggers make money?

When bloggers or vloggers are so popular, they may try to start making money. Business blogs, of course, always (indirectly) have the goal of making money. But more and more personal blogs are also bringing in money.

Because so many personal blogs are niche-based, they have a hugely selective audience. This makes blogs an interesting place for companies to advertise. For example, Pampers may advertise on a mom blog, or tent brand Quechua may strike a deal with an outdoor lifestyle blog.

The difference with business blogs is that these bloggers want to make their blog their job, while companies with a business blog already have jobs (and blog about them). Companies that want to make blogging their core business will need to blog constantly. After all, a blog needs to build a large reach of readers to be of interest to advertisers.

Once a blogger is so popular that he or she has an attractive audience for partners and advertisers, there are several ways in which the blogger can make money:

  1. Affiliate marketing
  2. Google Ads
  3. Sponsored blog posts
  4. A subscription
  5. Organizing Webinars
  6. Paid newsletter

Affiliate marketingAffiliate marketingis placing links to products in blog posts. If a visitor/reader makes a purchase through such a link. The blogger gets a percentage of the purchase price.

Google Ads

Google’s advertising program is the best-known source of income for bloggers. On the homepage of almost every blog that makes money, there are always a few ads under the featured articles.

Sponsored blog posts

By sponsored blog posts, we mean blog posts about another company’s product, service or brand in exchange for money. You also see this form of making money a lot with vloggers. Even in newspapers, such a so-called advertorial sometimes appears.

A subscription

With a subscription section, the blogger sets up a sort of VIP area on his or her blog. In this space, he or she posts blog posts for readers for a fee. These blog posts are often of a particularly high level or contain hugely exclusive information. After all, it must be worth the money.

Webinars

A webinar is a type of online lecture. The blogger asks visitors/readers to log on to the website at a certain time, where he or she interacts with them via a video link. A webinar is suitable for a short course, lecture or Q&A, and can also be offered for a fee.

Paid newsletter

A newsletter does not always have to be free. If a blogger shares valuable and specialized information, visitors/readers of the blog may be willing to pay a small amount for a daily, weekly or monthly newsletter.

Find partners or bloggers through Hulc

Making money online by blogging is heartbreakingly possible these days. However, getting in touch with the right partners can be tricky. Just as it can be difficult for advertisers to find the right bloggers to accompany a campaign. Fortunately, today there are platforms that simplify making money for bloggers, such as Hulc.

Hulc is a marketplace where advertisers and publishers find each other. Publishers can be bloggers, influencers, websites or web shops. An advertiser posts a campaign and publishers can respond to it. Hulc thus makes life easier for both advertisers and bloggers. Try it yourself, at hulc.co.uk