Making Money Online: Blogs vesus Subscription Websites

What is the difference between a blog and a subscription website?

This is a question we are often asked.

Our answer usually goes along these lines:

There are some similarities and many differences between blogs and subscription websites.

Let us start with the similarities:

1. The majority of blogs and subscription websites focus on a narrow specialisation. For example, fly fishing in Scotland or beer distribution in the US.

2. Both are usually driven by an individual’s passion and expertise for their specialisation.

3. Both involve writing about this specialisation and posting this information on the web in a timely way

Now the differences:

1. Blogs are usually written by people wishing to share their opinion and expertise.
2. Very few blogs make money.
3. Even fewer allow their editors to do it as a full time job.
4. Subscription websites are usually setup as commercial businesses. Their intention from the outset is to generate income from providing access to unique and expert knowledge.
5. The single owner or small team are usually full-time.
6. Blogs give all their content away for free. Any revenues are generated by advertising revenues or referral to another business activity. Subscription websites usually require members to pay to get access to their premium content.

Today there are around 50 million active blogs. It is estimated that less than 500 of these make sufficient revenue to give one or more people a full time income.

There are probably less than 30,000 subscription websites on the internet, but we would estimate that over 80% of these are generating a full time income for their owner or company. Some are making many millions of dollars.

For the more internet savvy, it is worth putting some numbers around the different revenue generation methods – Advertising vs. Subscription.

Assume a website publisher wanted to make $100,000 per year from their specialist content website. These are the rough sums:

A Blog with Advertising

The average revenue from advertising for a blog is $3 for every 1,000 pages viewed ($3 per CPM). To achieve $100,000 revenue a site would have to have roughly half million visitors every month each viewing an average of four pages a visit (2.7m pageviews/month).

A Subscription Website

For a subscription website to achieve $100,000 revenue they would need to have 834 subscribers each paying $9.95 a month.

Blogs need high volumes of traffic to generate advertising revenues. Subscription websites need a lower number of highly dedicated and committed members.

The type of content also tends to differ.

Blogs generally provide highly time sensitive news and opinions about their niche subject. Successful bloggers often post multiple times every day. Their goal is to get readers visiting a little and often. This tends to generate the most advertising revenues.

Subscription websites tend to have a much more diverse range of content including:

• Directories
• How-to articles
• Applications (e.g. online investment portfolio management)
• Forums
• Events calendars
• News and views

The objective of the subscription website publisher is to ensure their members renew their subscription every year. As a result the content is created to have a much longer shelf life. It encourages member interaction and usually includes archives of longer feature articles which members can re-read.

Blogs tend to have just one stream of content in the form of a daily diary available to all visitors. This is usually scrolled on the home page and is frequently updated. Subscription websites tend to have multiple areas of content including free and paid for, feature articles and news, forums and directories, etc. This depth and structure is again intended to create an environment where members want to spend their time learning and sharing with their peers.

Which is Right for You?

At the end of the day only you can decide.

Blogs succeed by creating daily content driven by news and opinion. They rely on traffic volume to generate advertising income.

Subscription websites succeed by creating a relatively small, but strong community of dedicated members. The content tends to be more detailed and re-usable, and the sites rely on interaction with and between members to create loyalty.

Ask yourself which is more achievable for you; attracting half a million visitors a month, or recruiting a thousand paying members?

About the Author:
Miles Galliford is the co-founder of SubHub http://www.subhub.com. Miles has been running successful internet companies since 1998. SubHub provides everything that an individual or organisation needs, from the technology platform to the know-how, to build, run and grow a successful subscription website business. To find many more articles about subscription website publishing visit http://www.subhub.com.
Article Submitted On: September 19, 2006
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com