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Hi everyone,
I'm looking at the new BlogHer logo live on BlogHer.com and remembering back to the kitchen-table conversations Elisa, Jory and I had when we wrote BlogHer's mission:
To create opportunities for women who blog to pursue exposure, education, community, and economic empowerment.
Goodbye 2009, hello 2010. It's already a huge year for women who blog! And I'm not just talking about BlogHer -- Blissdom was a blast, according to Jes Ferris. My email's already filled with fun plans for Mom 2.0 (thank you Kirtsy and OpMom). BlogHer Food '10, just announced, will be sold out soon as will BlogHer '10 in NYC. Entirely new networks like urbanAdserve have launched. Heather Armstrong's going to have her own show (which I hope I enjoy half as much as Momversation). And my favorite part: Entirely new and anonymous bloggers, like Dearest Fatty, continue to explode onto the scene.
Happily, BlogHer's publishing side also reflects this success -- I'll put on my business hat for a minute. This quarter BlogHer's advertising pipeline is 10 times bigger than it was last year. The terrific brands who sponsor BlogHer -- conferences, BlogHer.com and the 2,500 fantastic blogs in our publishing network -- increasingly appreciate, as I told a Financial Times reporter yesterday, the value and influence of communities who gather around women who blog. Why, she asked, do 85 percent of the 20 million women BlogHer reaches each month say they have bought a product on a blogger's recommendation? Because we trust each other, I said.
Trust is the reason I'm writing this post. We’ve gotten questions from a few folks about a new addition to BlogHer's publisher roster of which we are very, very proud: The Pioneer Woman.
First I'd like to confirm a couple of things. Membership in BlogHer's publishing network is about quality of writing, not quantity of traffic. We care how good your writing is, not how big you are. I also can confirm that our network is a diverse community, with blogs of all sizes and topics represented.
When we are asked about our most widely read bloggers, we take pleasure in sharing our experience that the long-tail (infertility, gluten-free cooking, etc.) tends to have the most fervent and loyal communities -- something targeted advertisers love. (Then I put my soapbox back in my laptop bag :)
And while we would never divulge the contractual terms of *any* blogger's agreement with BlogHer, every blogger signs a contract that lets them know that if they have more than 1 million impressions, they will receive a higher revenue share than if their traffic is lower than that amount.
There is one special consideration that we keep top of mind as we work to develop relationships with advertisers and sponsors: Every time we add a large blog to the network, one of our first questions is how including the site might affect the rest of the network. This care may mean that we consider how much advertising we expect to have, and bring only certain, network-appropriate sections of that site into the network, or even delay membership until the impact of the added impressions will be minimal.
Today BlogHer's entire publishing network is receiving higher fill-rates than in any previous first quarter of the year (you know the drill, holiday advertising is at full tilt, but winter can be slow). In fact, we used our January 7th newsletter to network members to share what a great pipeline our sales team has built for 2010. As we calculate January's payments, we know the average blogger is going to see a noticeable increase over last year for the same amount of traffic.
Growth has a terrific upside for member blogs: By selectively adding to our already strong community, our sales team will be able to continue to grow our inventory, and bring the highest quality campaigns. We’re so proud to be the publishing partner for the amazing women -- and men! -- writing in our network. With the right execution, we find that a rising tide can lift all boats.
So thanks for asking. Here's to 2010.
Best,
Lisa
for Elisa, Jory and Lisa
BlogHer Co-founders
Lisa Stone BlogHer Co-founder Surfette BlogHer is non-partisan but our bloggers aren't! Follow our coverage of Politics & News.
