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In an effort to
understand the magic ingredients that make up the recipe of a
successful website, I went out in search of successful bloggers that
have formed popular, profitable websites. The fruits of that search
turned up two big names in the blogosphere - Vitaly Friedman of
Smashing Magazine, and Joshua Topolsky of The Verge.
Writing is such a personal, private
thing. On the other hand, the act of blogging
is such a public and transparent thing. When you put the two together,
you have this highly visceral, raw act of casting ideas out into the
Internet.
It's hard to imagine that those ideas
could ever grow into something highly successful, popular and dare you
hope - profitable?
There are a lot of very cool stories
out there about how some of the world's most popular blogs and websites
got started. Look at the story of Arianna Huffington. She began her
online writing career with a website called Resignation.com, where she
burst onto the scene calling for the resignation of President Bill
Clinton. From the founding of The
Huffington Post in May of 2005 to its acquisition by AOL on
February 7, 2011, Arianna and her team of journalists established one
of the most popular news blogs on the Internet.
Then you've got a site like the Daily Beast, founded in 2008
by Tina Brown and Barry Diller. It eventually grew and merged with
Newsweek to become the "online home" of Newsweek Magazine.
Then there's the story of Darren Rowse, one of my favorite bloggers,
who quit his job working as a laborer to try and earn a living through
blogging. He founded b5media in 2005 with fellow bloggers, he founded
the extremely popular site ProBlogger,
and openly admits that today he comfortably earns a six-figure income
through blogging.
So, what's the secret? How do certain
sites do so well, while so many others fall by the wayside?
Why I Turned to
Blogging
According to WordPress.com, there are
over 60.6 million
WordPress.com hosted blogs
across the entire world. That's right. Million. There are over 100,000
new WordPress sites created every single day. It's difficult to get an
accurate picture of just how many websites are created on the Internet
every day, but if just the WordPress stats are any indication, the
number is massive.
Much like Darren Rowse, I turned to
blogging more out of necessity than anything else. We were due to have
our first child, my wife would no longer be working, so we needed
income. I attempted to buy and sell antiques on Ebay to make extra
income. That effort was moderately successful - I did manage to
establish a Powerseller status with 100% positive ratings - but the
work was enormous and the resulting profit was miniscule.
So, I turned to a passion that I've
had since I was just a kid - writing. I've always had an overwhelming
love for the written word, and the joy created by a well-crafted
sentence. At the time in 2006, I didn't think it was possible to really
earn anything by writing, but I started doing it online just for the
joy of it. I loved crafting articles, and if I could earn a few pennies
in the process, all the better.
My story was a long road of countless
late nights writing blog entries and articles for peanuts, and an
endless search for newer, better-paying clients. Of course, there was
also lots and lots of coffee. Probably too much coffee.
Fast forward to 2012. I now write for
one of the top technology blogs on the Internet, I am an editor and
writer for an educational technology site, and in 2009, I founded by
own blog called TopSecretWriters - my first endeavor independently
publishing my own work, which would provide no immediate income in
return at the start.
No - TopSecretWriters was different.
It wasn't work. It was less about making money, and more about having
lofty goals and ideas to share that I am passionate about. It was my
way of tossing my message in a bottle into the vast ocean of the
Internet, hoping that someone would eventually read those words, and
that it might inspire them to bring friends.
Today, I would consider myself to be
a moderately successful blogger. I earn a comfortable income writing
for others, and my own site is what I would consider to be an
on-the-rise new blog, on the cusp of breaking through into that magical
area of financial self-sufficiency. It's an exciting time.
Considering that I'm about halfway up
this mountain that so many before me have climbed, I decided to take a
breather and take a closer look at those explorers that have come
before - co-founders of their own websites that are wildly popular
today. Both of these writers are passionate about the work they do, and
they both lead websites that nearly everyone reading this article will
recognize.
I am speaking of none other than
Vitaly Friedman of Smashing Magazine, and Joshua Topolsky of The Verge.
Both of them have agreed to give us a
little bit of insight - and dare I say some inspiration - into what it
takes to create and grow popular and extremely successful websites on
the Internet today.
The Verge -
Editor in Chief Joshua Topolsky
The Verge is listed around the web as one of the top 10
technology blogs out there. It is unique in that it covers not just
tech news, but focuses holistically on the entire culture of technology
and science in the world today. Its rise to fame has been astonishingly
quick - the site was only founded in 2011 and began making it on the
top 10 lists shortly thereafter.
Joshua Topolsky, co-founder and
editor-in-chief of The Verge, agreed to sit down and chat with us about
the founding of the Verge, and what he felt gave it the ability to grow
so quickly, so fast.
Of course, my first question was
exactly that - what made the site so popular? His response - repeated
throughout the interview - was actually rather simple. His secret to
success is teamwork.
"The two people that
founded the site were myself and Marty Moe. We kind of cooked up the
idea and co-founded the site, but we have a group. Even though we're
the founders, there's a group of editors that were here from the very
beginning that built the site into what it is."
That's fantastic, however, your about
page also mentioned a partnership with Vox Media, was that from day one
as well?
"It was originally a
site called SB Nation, which is a network of sports blogs. When Marty
and I brought the idea for Verge to them, we sort of decided that we
needed to form a new company. That new company became Vox, and now Vox
is The Verge, SB Nation, and then Polygon, which is a games site that
we launched in the middle of 2012."
Joshua told me that Jim Bankoff, the
CEO of SB Nation, decided to fund the founding of The Verge, and in
collaboration with him and Marty, they founded the site while also
creating a new company called Vox Media.
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