Bummed out by your career choices? Retired or want a second income? Bored out of your mind after the NCAA Tournament and before the kickoff of NCAA Football in the Fall? Don't Follow Softball or Baseball and don't know what a Green Jacket is for? Your wife isn't interested in nocturnal activities, or you are simply butt ugly? Don't despair, as you too can be a blogger!

Blogging is for anyone with time on their hands even if you don't know a damn thing about the subjects for which you choose to blog. All you need is a little imagination and a search engine. If chat rooms are talking about politics and that is bumming out everyone you know, pick something they care about, like sports. Start searching various topics to see what others are blogging about in regard to that sport. Find an angle which you think other sports bloggers are not quite covering and make a big deal out it. Offer your opinion as to why it's not being covered and how it could "secretly" be very important, and you too can blog! People like secrets, especially important ones and since they are secrets (and you made it up) nobody can disprove it.

You can specialize on one team, or conference, or talk about the whole genre. Blogging is diverse and can be done by anyone virtually about anything. No actual knowledge of the topic is required but there are some significant rules you need to follow.

1. You must have an inside source to be deemed credible, or at least more credible than honest bloggers who say up front that everything is just their opinion.

2. You may want to confine your blogging to just posted script as opposed to using a camera and featuring yourself on YouTube. Why? Some people are gifted with words, can turn a phrase, and can use prose to make virtually anything sound interesting or plausible, but if you put them on camera everyone immediately knows that they are just a butt ugly putz with no actual knowledge of anything let alone sports, because frankly you look like a dude who never held a job, never played a sport, but excelled at beer swilling, chip dipping, and twinkie eating which accounts to the public for your translucent white bloblike appearance, or why you appear like a massive chocolate brownie with a smile, or worse Paul Finebaum (a bald headed buzzard with glasses and no real smile, and a guy who always sounded better looking in people's imagination when they only heard his voice on the radio). Face it if you talk about sports and are seen doing it you instantly have more credibility if it looks like you may actually have, once upon a time, played sports, particularly the one you claim to know so much about. Therefore, only people who look like ex jocks should talk about sports on YouTube.

3. To be successful as a blogger all claims need built in options (or reasons) which account for why things you have predicted can, or will, turn out otherwise. This gives the appearance of in depth thought, and sincere honesty, which keeps your audience and fans hanging around, when in reality it is just plausible deniability for your fabrications. So, when you are frequently wrong it is because "things are fluid" and not because you are skimming extra bucks through clicks by constantly pimping sensationalistic takes on your subject matter.

4. If you are remotely right about anything claim it! It adds to your internet appeal because most fans are not aficionados about their rooting interests but are immediately involved in anything that could impact their team. That makes them the first to know "something different" at the water cooler and that is why they follow bloggers in the first place. Every buddy or jerk I ever knew wanted to be the first to know something. That tendency which is shared by all builds your audience.

5. Most important because it will happen, when all else fails you can regain credibility and get people to listen if you can find a couple of other bloggers to do a podcast with where you all back up each other's lies. This method is also more effective if two or all three of you actually look like you once played a sport. And for heaven's sake, if you didn't ever play a sport and you want to look credible, never smile, look stern and nod a lot at what the other guys say. That way people understand your unkempt appearance and lousy eating habits because you were obviously once a news reporter. Donut anyone?

(04-17-2024 12:51 PM)JRsec Wrote:  ..... if you put them on camera everyone immediately knows that they are just a butt ugly putz with no actual knowledge of anything let alone sports, because frankly you look like a dude who never held a job, never played a sport, but excelled at beer swilling, chip dipping, and twinkie eating which accounts to the public for your translucent white bloblike appearance, or why you appear like a massive chocolate brownie with a smile, or worse Paul Finebaum (a bald headed buzzard with glasses and no real smile, and a guy who was always sounded better looking in people's imagination when they only heard his voice on the radio).
.....
If you are remotely right about anything claim it! .... Every buddy or jerk I ever knew wanted to be the first to know something. ..... back up each other's lies. This method is also more effective if two or all three of you actually look like you once played a sport. And for heaven's sake, if you didn't ever play a sport and you want to look credible, never smile, look stern and nod a lot at what the other guys say. That way people understand your unkempt appearance and lousy eating habits because you were obviously once a news reporter. Donut anyone?

The whole post was great but these were the key takeaways for me. I feel like we've probably got a few of them here.

I was on the fence about this, but, upon reflection, I now am convinced that I possess the necessary qualifications to become a sports blogger. See you guys in the blogosphere!

I can’t disagree with much of this, except that not all of us sports bloggers look like Paul Finebaum, JRsec!

(04-17-2024 04:00 PM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  I can’t disagree with much of this, except that not all of us sports bloggers look like Paul Finebaum, JRsec!

Well Frank, be thankful you are likely a lot more eye appealing than Paul, though I doubt many are as wealthy from the endeavor.

I am interested in being a sports blogger for sure. Need to take some lessons from HokieMark though. He's pretty good!!

If you're gonna do it, be a YouTuber. Don't go cheap on a good studio set up and a quality mic, if you don't/can't at least do that then I would not bother.

(04-17-2024 04:17 PM)Garrettabc Wrote:  If you're gonna do it, be a YouTuber. Don't go cheap on a good studio set up and a quality mic, if you don't/can't at least do that then I would not bother.

HokieMark has a good sports blog in ACC Rx or something along those lines. I used to do my own podcast on what used to be anchor.fm. Could get back into that again, but I just don't care for broadcasting on YouTube. Call it a personal preference. I used to wonder why Rush Limbaugh liked radio over tv. After doing my own podcast, I can see why!! Radio is fun!!

"Retired or want a second income?"

If that is your goal then get a job at Taco Bell -- you'll make more in a week than the my blog makes in a year!

(I'd like to think mine is typical, and not that Google is cheating me out of thousands of dollars... right?)

(04-17-2024 04:36 PM)Hokie Mark Wrote:  "Retired or want a second income?"

If that is your goal then get a job at Taco Bell -- you'll make more in a week than the my blog makes in a year!

(I'd like to think mine is typical, and not that Google is cheating me out of thousands of dollars... right?)

Oh yeah - not that I wrote my blog for money, but the economics are simply not there for the written word on a non-subscription basis on the Internet. Doesn’t matter if it’s blogs or newspapers. I got a fair amount of traffic and it was essentially pocket change - it’s effectively impossible for anyone to make a living at it if you’re solely depending on views.

Essentially, you need to be able to sell subscriptions to make any decent amount of money (see Matt Brown’s paid newsletter). If you’re depending on views/impressions, you’re better off hitting it big in the YouTube and/or podcasting space and even then it’s going to require being at the 99.999th percentile compared to all of the other millions and millions of content creators spanning all genres.

(04-17-2024 04:36 PM)Hokie Mark Wrote:  "Retired or want a second income?"

If that is your goal then get a job at Taco Bell -- you'll make more in a week than the my blog makes in a year!

(I'd like to think mine is typical, and not that Google is cheating me out of thousands of dollars... right?)

Mark you are the Sgt. Joe Friday of bloggers. Nothing but the facts Ma'am even though as with all of us you have a bit of conference bias. Still all in all it is mild and plays well to your target audience. If you had the Dude and Flug on you would get a lot more hits, but in the end be a loss less believable. Just keep doing what you are doing and maybe your nice logo will remain the same instead of ending with B1G or SEC.

I actually started a blog back in 2008. I got bored just talking to myself so I turned to the message board world.

It really is amazing when you think about it that the best way to make money in realignment is pretending to have inside info and/or mindless speculation. Basically, everything you’re taught not to do in journalism school. People have turned those two things (pretending to have inside info, mindless speculation) into full-time incomes.

(04-17-2024 06:09 PM)IWokeUpLikeThis Wrote:  It really is amazing when you think about it that the best way to make money in realignment is pretending to have inside info and/or mindless speculation. Basically, everything you’re taught not to do in journalism school. People have turned those two things (pretending to have inside info, mindless speculation) into full-time incomes.

Ha! Nothing new under the sun! P.T. Barnum turned B.S. into Gold a century ago. None of these guys have done that yet! The Fiji Mermaid and Tom Thumb! They needed NIL!

I loved being the Gulf South Conference blogger on D2Football.com for several seasons before UNA reclassified. But, that's a bit different. It was a labor or love for a very niche audience who really appreciated the effort and most of whom I'd known on that message board for years.

Since then, I've become a music YouTuber. I'm a singer and voice teacher who became a sports superfan as a band nerd back in the day. My YouTube channel exploded right off the bat and it's been a wild ride the past 4.5 years. In that time, I've made over $100K just from the YouTube Partner Program not including sponsorships and reposting to other platforms. I have almost reached 600K subscribers and have over 84M views most of it by luck. But, I have learned a lot (mostly the hard way).

I feature a very random assortment of international artists usually dictated by what my subscribers suggest in the comments. So, y'all won't know half of the folks I review on my channel probably but feel free to check it out.

My Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@MasterofVoice

Starting a sports channel on YouTube is very popular but it takes a certain personality type for it or some type of different hook to compete with all the existing channels. I've definitely thought about it but it's a lot of work to keep it up consistently.

(04-17-2024 04:36 PM)Hokie Mark Wrote:  "Retired or want a second income?"

If that is your goal then get a job at Taco Bell -- you'll make more in a week than the my blog makes in a year!

(I'd like to think mine is typical, and not that Google is cheating me out of thousands of dollars... right?)

(04-17-2024 05:33 PM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  Oh yeah - not that I wrote my blog for money, but the economics are simply not there for the written word on a non-subscription basis on the Internet. Doesn’t matter if it’s blogs or newspapers. I got a fair amount of traffic and it was essentially pocket change - it’s effectively impossible for anyone to make a living at it if you’re solely depending on views.

Essentially, you need to be able to sell subscriptions to make any decent amount of money (see Matt Brown’s paid newsletter). If you’re depending on views/impressions, you’re better off hitting it big in the YouTube and/or podcasting space and even then it’s going to require being at the 99.999th percentile compared to all of the other millions and millions of content creators spanning all genres.

Good news: simply not sucking will get you to 99.9th percentile, though you'll still have to work for that last 0.099%

(04-17-2024 05:50 PM)JRsec Wrote:  Mark you are the Sgt. Joe Friday of bloggers. Nothing but the facts Ma'am even though as with all of us you have a bit of conference bias. Still all in all it is mild and plays well to your target audience. If you had the Dude and Flug on you would get a lot more hits, but in the end be a loss less believable. Just keep doing what you are doing and maybe your nice logo will remain the same instead of ending with B1G or SEC.

Yeah, I feel like if the ACC breaks up or even if Virginia Tech moves on, that would kill my ACCFootballRx brand...

I just wish I had a Dragnet I could use to reel in more readers!

(04-17-2024 06:36 PM)unalions Wrote:  I loved being the Gulf South Conference blogger on D2Football.com for several seasons before UNA reclassified. But, that's a bit different. It was a labor or love for a very niche audience who really appreciated the effort and most of whom I'd known on that message board for years.

Since then, I've become a music YouTuber. I'm a singer and voice teacher who became a sports superfan as a band nerd back in the day. My YouTube channel exploded right off the bat and it's been a wild ride the past 4.5 years. In that time, I've made over $100K just from the YouTube Partner Program not including sponsorships and reposting to other platforms. I have almost reached 600K subscribers and have over 84M views most of it by luck. But, I have learned a lot (mostly the hard way).

I feature a very random assortment of international artists usually dictated by what my subscribers suggest in the comments. So, y'all won't know half of the folks I review on my channel probably but feel free to check it out.

My Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@MasterofVoice

Starting a sports channel on YouTube is very popular but it takes a certain personality type for it or some type of different hook to compete with all the existing channels. I've definitely thought about it but it's a lot of work to keep it up consistently.

This is amazing! Love that you’ve been able to turn a passion into a successful YouTube channel!

When I’ve analyzed it before, I thought that if I could move what had been my blog audience to YouTube, that could conceivably be a material income stream. It has been more the motivation over the last few years with this stage of life with my kids and the frequency that I’d need to post to make it viable.

By the way, I’ve always told people that I really stumbled on conference realignment and the college sports business as a blog focus by accident. Before that, I just wrote about totally random stuff - Chicago sports, Illini game recaps, politics, pop culture stuff, etc. In relation to your YouTube channel, one of my old schticks was a breakdown of a Classic Music Video of the Week. Of course, I wasn’t breaking it down like a voice teacher like you, but rather commenting on the types of Starter jerseys the artists were wearing or how Journey was playing air instruments in the Separate Ways video.

To your point, it wasn’t until I ended up with a more focused hook that the blog audience grew. With so many options out there, you definitely need a “sizable niche” to break through the clutter.

In any event, congrats on your success on your YouTube channel. Great stuff!

(04-17-2024 12:51 PM)JRsec Wrote:  ....
1. You must have an inside source to be deemed credible, or at least more credible than honest bloggers who say up front that everything is just their opinion.
....

And if you run out of ideas, remember:
Plagiarism is a great 'insider' source, and aways available!

(04-17-2024 07:02 PM)Hokie Mark Wrote:  Yeah, I feel like if the ACC breaks up or even if Virginia Tech moves on, that would kill my ACCFootballRx brand...

I just wish I had a Dragnet I could use to reel in more readers!
....

Please don't let that go. Why not make one of those pivot moves?

CFBRx? M2Rx? CFPRx? SOSRx? NILRx?

I was a college radio sportscaster once. Finally a career where I can be more wrong than a political pundit without the sleaziness of the US political system (not valid if you specialize in D1 sports, Gary Bettman, boxing, or FIFA).