Call for Bloggers: All Ye Business Folk
It has been quite some time since we’ve put out a call for bloggers. Especially for starting new blogs. After a summer of relaxation, we’re thinking that now is the time to look at the possibility of launching some new blogs.
This time, we’re looking at the business space. So if you’re a business blogger, business person without a blog or even a goat with a real passion for CRM software, read on.
Since it has been awhile since we last did a call for bloggers, it probably makes sense to cover a few basics.
What b5media Does
There may be some confusion about what, exactly, it is that b5media does. Really, the best way to characterize the relationship, for me, is like the relationship between a book publisher and book author. The publisher handles the money stuff, does a bunch of promotion, takes care of all the difficult bits (design, printing, layout, etc), etc. The author writes the book, tells folk about the book and does his or her level best to stay visible in order to promote the book.
Similar things happen at b5media. We take care of hosting, design, SEO stuff, advertising, a bunch of promotion, training, buying the domains, etc. Bloggers take care of blogging, telling friends about the blog and generally being visible in order to promote the blog.
Ultimately, the goal would be that we would partner with you on your blog, to make it the best it can be. The best design, the best writing, the best readers, the best advertisers all coming together to make the blog a real gem.
The Subjects We’re Interested In
As I said earlier, we are interested in authors more than subjects. That said, sometimes it helps to have a few ideas to base your ideas off of. I should mention that even within these areas, we’re looking for people who can put a unique spin on things. The blogging world doesn’t need yet another marketing blog anymore than it needs yet another gadget blog. So if you want to write a marketing blog, make it uniquely you. Maybe you merge your passions for marketing and gadgets into a new blog on mobile-based marketing, for example.
Here are a few subject matter ideas (in no particular order) that we’ve come up with as valuable subject areas:
- Giving Back & Community Involvement
- Entrepreneurship
- Recruiting/Interviewing
- Venture Capital
- Taxes
- Small Business Advertising/Marketing
- Word of Mouth Marketing
- Press Releases & Business Writing
- Law
- Office space (Leasing, Real Estate, Scouting Property, etc.)
- Web Hosting
- Home Businesses
- Freelancers (Business of, getting clients, etc.)
- Business of Blogging/Blog Marketing
That said, we want to hear any and all business related ideas. Not just the above. The more unique, creative and passionate, the better!
10 Reasons to Join b5media
When we asked our bloggers why they joined b5media, they gave us about 90 different reasons. We narrowed it down to the following 10:
- More traffic
- More money
- More visibility
- A fantastic community of nearly 100 bloggers
- Industry leading design, development, SEO, etc, expertise
- You can stop worrying about silly things like Wordpress upgrades, plugin installation, making things work, etc
- Great antispam technology
- Access to better ad networks, with better deals, as well as sales from the direct sales we do
- Consulting work, client referrals, and other opportunities referred through the b5 network
- Crazy amount of fun
At the end of the day, it can be incredibly frustrating to get heard in today’s blogging climate. Being part of b5media gives you a greater amount of exposure, greater search engine visibility, more traffic and money to boot.
About b5media
For folk who are unfamiliar with b5media, it probably makes sense to provide a little background.
b5media was founded by Jeremy Wright (www.ensight.org, author of Blog Marketing, speaker, consultant, etc), Darren Rowse (Technorati Top 100 blogger, www.problogger.net, Mr. Problogger), Duncan Riley (started www.blogherald.com, now blogs at www.duncanriley.com, big bad bald aussie) and Shai Coggins (Blogging Editor at About.com, named Top 10 Most Powerful Woman Bloggers).
We founded b5media for bloggers. We knew we could make traffic and money fairly well, but recognized that many other people couldn’t. Some started blogs only to have them flounder, others wrote great articles every day without getting discovered and others simply didn’t know where to start. b5media was really started as a kind of “let’s help bloggers by doing the complicated stuff so they can just write.”
Since launching, we’ve grown to more than 130 blogs in a dozen verticals, with more than 1.5M unique monthly readers and more than 20M pageviews across the network. We’re the third largest blog network in the world and we are incredibly proud of what’s been accomplished - thanks in large part to our fantastic pool of bloggers.
b5media is really about passion, great blogging, community and, thanks to all of those things, making money for doing something we all love to do. If a fun, smart, close-knit team of passionate folk is your kind of group, have a think about what you are passionate about and drop us a line (see below for application instructions).
The Type of Folk We Like
More than anything, we want passionate and knowledgeable people. We don’t mind if you’ve never blogged before. We don’t mind if you used to be in the industry but aren’t anymore. We want people who have lots of opinions, lots of ideas, can be creatively critical and are passionate, passionate, passionate. Whether your subject matter is business writing, team dynamics, advertising or the law. b5media chooses to launch new blogs not based on a pre-determined list of subjects, but based on the passion of individual applicants. So pitch ideas, be creative and above all be passionate.
A Note on Existing Blogs
At b5media we generally don’t accept existing blogs into the network. However, we recognize that there are a huge number of particularly high quality business blogs out there already. As a result, we’re lifting this restriction for the business space. However, we are making a few fundamental requirements for existing blogs - mainly because of our experience with the few blog we’ve brought in:
- All blogs must be on b5’s servers (we’ll do this)
- All blogs must be on, or be moved (we’ll do this) to Wordpress
- All blogs wll use the new b5media template, or a subset of it (due for release at the end of the month… again, we’ll do this)
- All ads must be transferred to b5media before we launch the blog (we’ll do this)
While it might seem like we’re asking a lot, there are a tonne of good reasons for these changes. The core of it, though, is that we always want blogs to feel like partnerships. Everyone gives a little, everyone gets a lot. Everytime we’ve compromised on these in the past, things have gotten messy. This doesn’t mean we want your blog to give up its identity, design, etc. We recognize that your blog is yours. That shouldn’t change. So we’ll work on design stuff on a case-by-case basis, to ensure that the strong elements of your existing design combine with the strong elements of ours.
And, yes, you keep ownership of your blog. You keep ownership of your blog content. So, if things don’t work out, you can always leave, no strings attached :)
How to Apply
Send us an email to guys@b5media.com, with the subject “Business Channel Application” (or some derivation). In the email, include your basic info (name, email, URL, phone number, skype ID). Also tell us about the subject areas you are passionate about. If it’s a common idea, tell us what you’d do to make it unique. If you don’t have a blog, we ask that you’d include some writing samples. They don’t need to be in the “blogging style” necessarily. We can train you to blog. But they should show a solid grasp of the English language, and above all… Yes, passion!
Final Thoughts
This is a new area for us. In fact, until recently, we had few plans to enter into this space. However some recent events have persuaded us that the existing business blogging community, and the larger community of business people, can always use a new set of voices. And if we can help with that, we’re incredibly honored to do so.
For folk in the Bay Area, I’ll be in town later this week (17-19), so if you want to meet up to chat about this, let me know (jeremy@b5media.com / cell: 506 921 0119).
Any questions, feel free to ask here. Ditto for criticisms (or you can email me directly and ask). We recognize we’re always learning.
- Categories
- About b5
- b5 Announcements
- b5 Jobs
- b5media Network Highlights
- Blogger Interviews
- Events
- level 9
- Partner Announcements
- Podcasts and Videos
- Press Releases
- Thoughts & Ideas
- Archives
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
- December 2007
- November 2007
- October 2007
- September 2007
- August 2007
- July 2007
- June 2007
- May 2007
- April 2007
- March 2007
- February 2007
- January 2007
- December 2006
- November 2006
- October 2006
- September 2006
- August 2006
- July 2006
- June 2006
- May 2006
- April 2006
- March 2006
- February 2006
- January 2006
- December 2005
- November 2005
- October 2005
- September 2005
- August 2005
The Conversation
How much do you pay?
PJ: Great question.
For new blogs, currently the pay system in place is that bloggers keep the first 100$ of their earnings, and then split the rest 40/60 with b5.
However we’re looking into changing that in the near future, as we believe bloggers should ultimately be paid for what they do, not for what we do.
In the short term, that’s the pay system (ie: revenue share). And the dollars mentioned in the post are after that split.
For existing blogs, the split is different. We recognize that you’ve already put considerable effort into the blog, and there’s no reason to give up 50-60% of your income. Currently, we split the income 70/30 or 80/20 with bloggers with existing blogs.
The goal is always that you’d earn more money, though, so the split is meant to appreciate both the value you bring to an existing blog as well as the value b5 brings (without losing you any hard cash).
Pretty interesting. I sent you an email. Look forward to hearing back.
Matt, email received. Thanks!
Best wishes with this new initiative, Jeremy!
[…] b5media is currently seeking business bloggers to join its new business channel. […]
Hey Guys, this is interesting - I sent you an email.
Jeremy, You make the pitch sound so intriguing, Hmmm …
And kudos for heading in this direction. It’s about time.
The blogging world doesn’t need yet another marketing blog anymore than it needs yet another gadget blog.
Beautifully said Jeremy.
What about for bloggers who don’t really care about the money (yeah right!) aspect but would like to go with b5 to gain more exposure for themselves personally - to maybe leverage their other ventures/blogs, if you know what I mean. So aside from the money part of it, it’s a win/win for both blogger and b5.
Sort of like treating it like a columnist position - not really for the pay, but for the exposure and street cred it would give the blogger.
How would that go down with b5?
I am NOT BALD! sure, I’m receeding, but there’s still hair up there.
Duncan, maybe he meant bold not bald but a quick looksee at your pic at your blog - and um, err, the jury is still out ;-)
How often do you expect bloggers to blog?
Just when you thought it was safe to surf the business blogs .. Now I gotta book some more time in the evenings!
I think you have come up with some great new topics that I would like to see (venture capital, taxes, business writing, home business) and I look forward to seeing this new business channel developing!
I think it could be really successful if you put your b5media ‘entertainment’ slant on those other topics (recruiting, word of mouth, marketing, advertising, etc). For instance, instead of talking about these topics - do a Kapped or Simply Dumb approach. You know .. case studies, show us who’s doing it right .. that type of stuff Darren does all the time.
Just my 2 cents. You have to keep the fellowship of Easton and crew on their toes! :)
Sending a mail soon. I look forward to sharing my small business and writing experience.
Jagadish
[…] For all the details and how to apply, b5media has the details […]
[…] b5media is seeking business bloggers to join the network. If your interested check out Call for Bloggers: All Ye Business Folk […]
Martin: Yeah, we’ll definitely accept people looking at this more as an exposure opportunity than a money making one.
Thanks to everyone for the interest and support!
Is this a time-sensitive invitation? I noticed that there is no deadline mentioned. Or perhaps I just didn’t notice one. How long is this invitation open?
Retrospector: Ideally applications would be in this week, as that’s what decisions will be based off of. Applications received after that won’t be ignored, they just won’t be given the same priority.
Michelle: We recommend 5 times per week as a minimum for a business blog. We prefer quality over quantity, every single time.
Hope this helps :)
Hi - concerning the bizmodel when it comes to splitting the earnings. In previous answer to PJ you say that new bloggers get to keep the first 100$ of their earnings, and then split the rest 40/60 with b5.
- What do you mean by the rest? The earnings getting split here - is it the total of the networks earnings, or the earnings generated by the one blog in question?
- could you say something about how much the average blogger earn through your network?
- once a member of your network, on what basis could you decide to kick the member. If he/she does something completly stupid and violate the contract, or simply because the blog generates to little traffic? Is there a golden limit to how much traffic a member of your network must generate?
- finally - would it be of interest for your network to enter into discussions of starting networks or helping to kick-start networks in other countries (non-english blogs)?
Björn, thanks for the comment.
Earnings: If a blog earned 200$, the blogger would get the first 100$. Then the remaining 100$ would be split 40/60, so the blogger would make 140$ (70%).
Average earnings: As always, this varies. However, mature blogs (ie: 3-6 months old) tend to earn bloggers 250-500$/month. Some writes make more, some make less. But even the average is fairly spread out because it depends on the quality of the writer, the specific subject area and the amount of effort put into the blog. We have bloggers earning thousands of dollars, and we have bloggers earning enough for a coffee a day. It really does depend.
Kicking members: We have never had a blogger do something so stupid as to require dismissal. The only time we remove a blogger is when they aren’t meeting content expectations. Generally we’re okay with a blog taking some time to ramp up, find its feet, etc.
Other networks: Not at this time. This is something we’ve definitely considered, but right now we’re focussing on making b5 the best it can be.
Hope this helps :)
Thanks for quick answer, Jeremy.
[…] The Quick Answer: b5media is moving into the business arena … finally, and I’ve learnt that independence can only take you so far. […]
[…] Just a note that b5 is opening its doors to business bloggers. […]
Sorry, but I am still a little unclear on how earnings work. What constitutes a blog’s earnings? Is it purely based on traffic? Based on the number of click-throughs to advertiser sites? Limited to revenue from actual purchases made on those advertiser sites from the blog’s referring link?
Inquiring minds want to know. At least this one does. Thanks!
Sheila, good question.
The short answer is it depends on the type of advertiser.
The long answer is that we run several different types of ads. Some are text links (which require that a blog be at least 3 months old and have Google PageRank). Others are based on impressions. Others are based on the number of clicks or purchases and others are flat-rate campaigns.
On most blogs, we run a bit of each, trying to hit the right mix for each blog / channel.
Does that help?
“And, yes, you keep ownership of your blog. You keep ownership of your blog content.”
Jeremy - I’m curious, does that specifically include the URL?
This is very interesting!
Two questions:
1)When are earnings paid out?
2) When you said,
“Earnings: If a blog earned 200$, the blogger would get the first 100$. Then the remaining 100$ would be split 40/60, so the blogger would make 140$ (70%).”
Is this scenario for each pay period? Meaning during the first pay period, if $99.00 was generated, I would keep the whole thing, and the next pay period if I generated $200, I would keep $140? Or is $100 paid out only on the first pay period and then 40/60 every pay period thereafter.
Cheers,
Dave
Ann: When you bring a blog in, yes, you keep ownership of the URL. Whn we start a new blog for you, the URL is ours, the content is still yours.
Dave: Earnings are paid out in the first week of every month. And the first 100$ is every pay period.
[…] If you’ve ever wanted to write a blog on a business topic, and wanted to work for a top blogging network, check out our latest call for bloggers here. […]
Jeremy,
Are you accepting applications only for business bloggers? Would you happen to be accepting those from other topics like video games and sports?
Mike: Yeah, at this time it’s Business only. Anyone can always apply for other channels, but since we aren’t launching in those areas, the best you’ll be able to do is get on a “hold list”. Best thing to do is subscribe to the blog, and when we say we’re openly accepting other apps, to submit yours! :)
[…] b5media.com is looking for business bloggers.If you’re a business blogger, a business person without a blog, or even a goat with a real passion for CRM software, apply now. Technorati Tags: b5media Darren Rowse Duncan Riley Jeremy Wright […]
[…] b5media is currently seeking business bloggers to join its new business channel. […]
Exciting stuff for sure.
I am glad you are growing some more and look forward to the added blogs to read.
Keep up all the great work.
[…] 创建人之一的Jeremy Wright在最近一篇文章“Call for Bloggers: All Ye Business Folk” 里开始为b5招收新的商业领域的BLOG成员。同时他也介绍了b5media的历史，及为什么blogger加入b5的好处。 […]
well i’m intresteted but would send a mail to jeremy instead
Could you share examples of blogs that fall into these categories?
[…] b5media, Leading The Pack?We don’t really put ourselves in the blog network rat race anymore, but our friends at b5media have recently begun publishing their aggregate network traffic numbers at the tune of 20M pageviews per month, a figure that definitely needs to be analyzed. […]
Why don’t you all start translating all of the blogs in b5media to chinese to target on the chinese market? If you all are interested in this idea, I am willing to join in to help to do some translating…
i don’t blog but i write articles and really would love to do business with u,sent a mail and no one replied,i need to know how often i can send my artiles and where to send it to.please reply me,i would really appreciate it
[…] The b5media model for creating a business could be something to consider. Also Jeffrey who works on savingadvice.com with his partner who he only recently met shows that people can build working relationships with other people on the internet. RELATED POSTS […]
What are you offering exactly?
Ok, scracth that! I can see now.
i heard al about b5 ina local tv station here in the philippines and I’m really interested on it….
to zarina niña: i’ve read ur comments, m interested wher exactly uve seen re b5 in our local tv.. renn, philippines
Very interested! Can you refine your concept of ‘business blog’? Is it pretty wide open, or can it be regionally focussed, or in a specific metropolitan area (Los Angeles)?
ready, aim, type…
Interesting. I have a ton of content, a loyal following and have been around for almost two years. Oh yeh, passion I got in spades. And we are actually applying the innovative business principles we blog about. I wonder if b5 is still looking to add a blog …? :-)
[…] Unemployed bloggers, this could make your day August 15th, 2006 b5media is hiring business bloggers. […]
Darn. Just came across this. I started my own blog recently.
Are you guys still looking for bloggers to increase your network? I would love to Network with B5media!
Join the conversation