After resigning as a professor of chemistry for personal reasons, I began writing The Photon Fantastic (
http://photonfantastic.tumblr.com) as my full-time occupation on March 7th, 2010. It's always been a maxim of mine to take stock of where I am at significant milestones. So, after one month of writing, I can present this statistical snapshot of TPF:
112 posts (3.7 per day)
437 unique visitors
949 visits (2.2 per visitor)
2,669 pageviews (2.8 per visit)
8 min 44 s average visit length
637 visits from Canada, 193 from the U.S., 119 from the rest of the world
$1.09 in revenue from Google advertising (US)
$4.15 in revenue from Amazon affiliate sales (Can)
Mike Johnston, writer of The Online Photographer (which all of you should read every day), had this to say when I emailed him to announce the birth of TPF: "Blogging is a long slog -- I tell people that it's not a 'get rich quick scheme,' it's a 'get moderately prosperous excruciatingly slowly scheme.'" I think that I would have to agree. Consider, for example, that a potentially rich source of revenue, B&H affiliate fees, is unavailable to sites averaging fewer than 500 unique monthly visitors, i.e., not TPF -- yet! In addition, Amazon does not offer much by way of camera equipment for sale in Canada, which also removes another possible revenue stream.
Considering TPF's paltry traffic and these other limitations, things seem grim for the future of this fledgling blog as a stand-in for a "real job". (From what I learn incidentally through leaked bits of information here and there, on the order of hundreds of thousands of monthly visitors would probably be necessary to support an independent living through writing for the web.) However, Mike advised me to "keep accruing content, as content is what draws search engine hits. That's the main thing." I've truly taken this to heart. From the TPF's inception, it has been my steadfast goal to bring you, the reader, the best writing on the web about all things photographical: I am dedicated to generating new and interesting articles, if not daily, then at minimum once every couple of days. I hope that you will find that there is always something here worth reading.
Currently, only 2 % of TPF's traffic comes from search engines, 23 % is direct traffic, and 75 % comes by way of referring sites. The last number is important: it reflects how crucial it is for a young blog to have a built-in ecosystem -- Tumblr, in this case. I cannot stress enough how much TPF has benefitted from the interconnectedness and general friendliness of the fine folk who live in Tumblr, and especially some of the bigger, better-connected fish. For example, my post about the Flickr/Getty deal caused barely a ripple when I first posted it; however, when it was reblogged by photographer-and-designer ck/ck several days later, it took off like wildfire and was liked and reblogged all over the Tumblr-sphere. This attention had the ancillary and not insignificant benefit of drawing some 20 photographers to TPF as followers -- a small network of interested people to whom any new post of mine appears instantly and who are more likely than others to spread the word.
Here is TPF's most popular content, in order of decreasing pageviews:
Notable: Amber Hughes
Fantastically Forlorn
Notable: Ed Verosky
The Obligatory “About” Page
Why Film Matters (Part 2)
Why Film Matters (Part 1)
Notable: Aaron Feaver
The Stradivarius (Part 1)
On Colour in Photography (Part 1)
Flickr and Getty -- An Update
What I learn from this list is:
(1) Writing about other photographers is a great idea (see articles 1, 3, and 7, above) -- and one that I don't see done very often around the web, especially by small sites like mine. As I see it, this approach has two distinct advantages from the point of view of traffic -- quite apart from getting to know your subjects and their work: (i) photographers bring their own networks of colleagues and clients to your site; and (ii) it's hard work, but in doing it you develop truly original content, aka search engine bait, for your site, which should eventually attract new readers.
(2) And speaking of original content, original content is king. Not one post on this top-ten list is a quote, or a re-blog, or a link to another website. That's just boring. Jason Kottke can make a living doing that, but not me, both practically and philosophically. Why do you think television stations create original content? Compelling, original content brings viewers, which attracts advertisers. That's how it has to be here at TPF, too.
Some other things that I've learned along the way:
(1) You have to, have to, have to know your stats. Don't be obsessed by them, but know them. TPF uses Google Analytics, which to my mind is just an unbelievable tool. Without this knowledge, you're fishing in the dark and you'll have to be very lucky to survive. (Wasn't it Woody Allen who said, "I'd rather be lucky than good?" I think that he was onto something!)
(2) To my reasoning, there are basically 5 ways to monetize a website like TPF (e = easy to implement; h = hard to implement): (i) through Google's contextual advertising (e); (ii) through affiliate links, e.g., with Amazon and B&H (e, but you may need to maintain a traffic minimum to qualify); (iii) through bona fide advertisers (h: you need major traffic to make this happen); (iv) through subscriptions/donations (e, via Paypal); and (v) by selling goods and/or services (h). Currently, TPF does the easy things (i) and (ii); in the near future, I envisage (v) -- stay tuned -- and, possibly, (iv) on a purely voluntary basis: all content will remain free. In the distant future, (iv) is also possible. This being said, it's important to make sure that the execution does not drive readers away. Horrible flickering advertisements, for example, degrade the reading experience dramatically and just annoy the people you're supposed to be servicing. I plan never to support Flash-based advertising.
(3) I haven't yet made up my mind whether I want to venture into either the Flickr-sphere or the Facebook walled garden. These sites might have the advantage of drawing more readers to TPF (already almost 12 % of visits originate with FB), but I'm wary of FB's content ownership rules, and Flickr's recent deal with Getty images has left a sour taste in my mouth.
(4) People like photos.
One more thing: although this article is written from a "business" perspective, I make TPF because I fundamentally love both writing and photography (probably in that order; I'm certainly a better writer than I am a photographer). And it's likely that TPF will continue to exist whether or not I'm forced into a traditional job. For now, I just hope that it doesn't come to that.
I'm glad you're wondering how you can support TPF. Well, for one thing, this site is supported by contextual advertisements courtesy of Google. Hopefully, these will point to goods and services that you may actually find useful. It’s against Google’s terms and conditions to ask you to click on these ads, but know that every time you do, literally a penny falls into TPF’s jar.
The Photon Fantastic is an affiliate of Amazon. When you buy books and other goods from Amazon through affiliate links, TPF gets a small kick-back. It doesn’t cost you anything extra, and it helps me to keep bringing you interesting original content every day.
To all of you who have been reading along, I say a heart-felt, "Thank you!" On the day I announced TPF to this forum, there was a dramatic spike in readership -- you guys are great! As always, I welcome your feedback and suggestions for improvement.
