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Dumb Bloggers Debate Whether You Can Make Money Blogging, Failed Blogger Dan Lyons Debate Part Deux

Posted by Timothy Sykes on Sat 2nd of May, 2009 01:30:10 PM
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Thanks to this WSJ article that says:

The best studies we can find say we are a nation of over 20 million bloggers, with 1.7 million profiting from the work, and 452,000 of those using blogging as their primary source of income. That’s almost 2 million Americans getting paid by the word, the post, or the click — whether on their site or someone else’s. And that’s nearly half a million of whom it can be said, as Bob Dylan did of Hurricane Carter: “It’s my work he’d say, I do it for pay.”

Demographically, bloggers are extremely well educated: three out of every four are college graduates. Most are white males reporting above-average incomes. One out of three young people reports blogging, but bloggers who do it for a living successfully are 2% of bloggers overall. It takes about 100,000 unique visitors a month to generate an income of $75,000 a year. Bloggers can get $75 to $200 for a good post, and some even serve as “spokesbloggers” — paid by advertisers to blog about products. As a job with zero commuting, blogging could be one of the most environmentally friendly jobs around — but it can also be quite profitable. For sites at the top, the returns can be substantial. At some point the value of the Huffington Post will no doubt pass the value of the Washington Post.

The barriers to entry couldn’t be lower. Most bloggers for hire pay $80 to get started, do it for about 35 months, and make a few hundred dollars. But a subgroup of these bloggers are the true professionals who work at corporations, serve as highly paid blogging consultants or write for sites with substantial traffic.

Sounds good, right?

Well, that started a backlash from the hardworking but narrow-minded, basically dumb bloggers who work their asses off, but don’t know how to make $ from it! Dumb people like Megan McArdle who says:

The estimates of professional bloggers seem wildly inflated–if you help update the company blog once a week as part of your marketing internship, you are not a paid professional blogger. And the numbers they themselves link to tell a much different tale from the article: most blogs bring in pitiful amounts of money for their owners.

This seems to follow the model of Mark Penn’s book: find some bizarre number and mindlessly extrapolate it to an absurd conclusion. Yet I still don’t understand why common sense did not keep him from publishing this article. Anecdotal evidence would suggest that almost all of us know many more computer programmers than professional bloggers–this is true of me even though I am a professional blogger, as are half my friends. Or he might have called some professional bloggers, who would have (sorrowfully) told him that no one is making $75K a year off of 100,000 pageviews a month, that being about how much traffic I pulled when I was starting up in 2002. Or, hell, he might have noticed that in the very BLS survey so nicely transformed into a table for his article, there is not entry for “blogger”–but that if you add up every writer, reporter, editor, PR person, technical writer, or “media and communications worker, other”, there are only 499,890. Since Penn says that there are 452,000 paid bloggers, this implies that 9 out of every 10 communications workers are professional bloggers.

There may be one guy with some incredible niche–or moronic employer–making a ton of money with a modestely well-trafficked blog. But the plural of “anecdote” is not data.

Believe me, I’d love to think that blogging is a surefire path to riches and job security–but I’m afraid all most people get out of their blogs is the satisfaction of a job well done.

This all reminds me of when the surprisingly narrow-minded Dan Lyons posted his tirade on how despite all his education and effort, he was still just a poor dumb blogger.

Again, I’ll speak on behalf of the 1% of bloggers who do make $–this is my best month ever as I’m closing in on $80,000+ for April–it all comes down to trying new tactics, products–not just ads dum dums–and most importantly, not taking anything too seriously because they’re always new news, readers and ways to profit.

I’m reminded of the few people who claim my trading strategy, making my 30 hours worth of content on my instructional DVDs totally worthless and full of lies (I’m not talented enough to lie for 30 hours), is a fraud because they think it’s impossible to short sell stocks under $5 or $3…no truer words than the following have ever been spoken:

JUST BECAUSE YOU’RE TOO IGNORANT/INCOMPETENT TO PROFIT FROM ANY STRATEGY, BE IT BLOGGING OR TRADING, DOESN’T MEAN OTHERS WHO ARE SMARTER & MORE DETERMINED THAN YOU AREN’T ABSOLUTELY CRUSHING IT!

….aka it sucks to be mediocre, but that’s the vast majority of the world…stop the pity party, stop whining and work your butts off until you make something of yourselves!

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  • lol das cuz 99 percent of people are sheep TIM,
    99 % are Dumb,
    99% like to be bossed,
    1% like to be the boss, smart and think nothing is imposible,

    under 5 junk can be shorted , yes!
  • Craig
    This is proof that Tim's DVDs work. Try it for yourself. If you purchase his DVDs and you don't make major bank that same week, then send an email to Tim, and tell him for yourself, that they don't work. But guess what, that won't happen. You can stay ignorant and incompetent all you want, and let others crush you in this market, or you can bank of the best strategy for shorting there ever was. This is real, not fake like others. Check it out:

    http://www.timothysykes.com/store
  • Jim
    If all this makes sense to you, and even if it doesn’t, it is about time you buy the dvds on this site. You will save a great deal of time, and wont ask any more incompetent questions. If you want to be crushed in this market, then forget about the dvds, but if you don’t want to be one of those losers on wall street, who don’t have anything close to a record as tim, then buy the dvds

    http://timothysykes.com/store/
  • dannb
    Tim,
    I just finished going through my Timfundamentals dvd. Great stuff! I have pennystocking and part deux. They are very good, but for me personally, think this has by far the most usefull information. I actually find Tim pretty darn entertaining. Although occationally he goes off on a tangent and wastes video space that could be filled with usefull information.
    I just opened my first trading account today. The first profits I make will be invested in more of your educational material.
    I do actually have some criticism though. The video quality pretty much sucks. I have a 46" Sony Bravia HDTV with a similar quality Denon dvd player, and I can barely make out some of the tickers and other numbers that were refrenced on the video. Some of the stuff I couldnt read at all. At 80 g's a month I would think the video quality could be improved. And the first half of the dvd might as well be an audio cd. Why werent you showing what was on your computer monitor. Are ther some copyright laws that prevented that. There was no benefit to watching to video at all. none. Lots of great information audibly, but no corresponding video. Whats up with that? Instead I had to watch that goofball with all of his disturbing movements and maneurisms. Mabey you are limited on your selection, but that guy was horrible to watch.
  • dannb
    After I read my post, It sounded too negative. I just want to say that I am very thankfull for Tim Sykes and all of the great information that he is providing. My criticism is about details. Tim provides very valuable information in an entertaining and easy to understand way, its well worth the price.
  • glad u liked the timfundamentals dvd, i'll answer all your questions in a blog post
  • Perhaps rudeness is something that most bloggers should add to their style. By putting others down, it's easy to look superior.
  • danb
    Fake comment: the comment above was not mine. Tim or someone else typed it up. The DVD quality is horrible and Tim wastes way too much time talking about other things (namely how we are all idiots and how he is brilliant). Also, I think Tim or his girlfriend are posting other posts about how we should all buy his dvds. Look at Jim's comment, sounds like the same things Tim would say.
  • Jeff
    MoneyEnergy, you are dead on. Tim gets off on telling others how they are morons, and how he is brilliant. The guy has less than 50k in his portfolio. He is a joke. Any money manager will tell you that they deal in the order of millions, and this little curly-haired Cramer-wannabe thinks he can outsmart the entire market.

    waiting for your response timmy boy, and please no request to buy your dvds. I have seem them, and like dan said, the quality is shit, just like your trading style.
  • jeff, the 50k was 12k, its a friggin demo account to show poor people how to build their account using my strategy.

    i dont have time for aliases, u idiots waste enough of it already, probly should close down comments entirely given the degenerates on here but i do like hearing feedback of my DVDs considering all the testimonials i get
  • and most people in these industries deserve to be put down, too bad others arent doing it
  • Jeff
    Tim, if you truly make 80K a month from the money that sheeple pay for your dvds, then why not make the quality worth $300, as opposed to 3 bucks. With all the tech that is available today, you can produce a DVD for a fraction of the cost, and even if the information is worthless, at least the presentation can look reasonable.
  • jeff, the DVD cost several thousand dollars to make, the presentation is fine, but i will refine and get better over time
  • wallie123
    Hello Tim, I just so happen to come across your site, and I find it very interesting. The stuff you are teaching is amazing. I watched livestock for the first time last friday. I was able to catch COT at $3.55 and was out at $4.01. It was simply amazing. I have not bought your dvds yet nor have I subscribed to Tim alerts. I am a pretty small investor due to just getting out of college at the ripe age of 21, with 8k in my discretionary portfolio and 8k in my simple IRA. I have never shorted a stock in my life. My IRA is stuck at fidelity so I put my other portfolio there as well. I dunno if they will even let me short penny stocks or not. The only thing holding me back from buying the dvds is the fact i have never short sold and i don't know if my broker allows me to short sell penny stocks.
  • aweosme wallie, yes, COT was sweet, crazy how much it went up during my show, glad u rode that!
  • wallie123
    I have a question for you Tim. I am continuing to browse your site and was wondering if Thinkorswim will let me open a margin account to short sell pennies with only 8k? That is pretty much all i have to my name aside from the other 8k in my IRA. It sucks being out of college and poor. I am fortunate i have a job and make eh ok money.
  • yes, thinkorswim's minimum is 3.5k, i highly recommend them, tell em i sent u!
  • wallie123
    Thanks Tim, I will give them a call monday morning. Even though my IRA is stuck at fidelity, and can't short with that account at all. I can short with my other account. Once i get everything switched over i will probably be getting some of those dvds. You recomended pennystocking basics and penny stocking part duex in your livestock video as starting videos. I will probably buy those two first. I may subscribe to tim alerts as well, even though i would rather learn to catch fish rather than be given fish. I was just now looking at thinkorswim's website and so glad they offer web based trading as an option. I am at work when i trade so this makes it so wonderful. I was so afraid i would have to download a big software package and my boss might not like that. To be honest with you if i had not seen you call COT in real time I probably would have moved on and called you a scam. I saw it was real. what you were saying was happening in real time. No way you could have staged it.
  • check out my timfundamentals dvd, it teaches u to fish on your own:

    http://timothysykes.com/timfundamentals/
  • Frank
    Wallie, you gotta get the dvds man. what are ya waiting for. All the other losers claim to be making money. This dvd set will make you money. You will be at an extreme loss of you don't get Tim's dvds.

    http://timothysykes.com/store/
  • younggunz
    OK, seriously Tim, who's the one that keeps posting these obviously fake comments linking to your store all the time? They're just making your blog look shady.
  • Mike
    Its his girlfriend. Not too hard to figure it out.
  • ha its not girlfriend, she hates how much i market my dvds, i dont know and i dont care who it is, these comments will be free for anyone to post
  • Shilove
    Don't forget this lovely gem: http://blog.penelopetrunk.com/2009/04/21/8-reas...

    Pathetically sad, isn't it? Eh! Forget 'em!
  • Tim, I thought you were going to post about CY Group last week...I need info!
  • workin on it!
  • dannb
    Danb, what a dumbass! My name is Daniel Berg, I live in San Diego, Ca.(google me) Im genuine and I dont apprecaite you imposing as me just because youre too stupid to absorb the information on Tim's dvd's. Like I said the video quality is a little lacking, but the information provided is well worth what I consider an investment. Get a life!
  • danb
    How much time do you guys have on you. How can I prove that the above comment is not me. Whatever. Tim's DVDs are good, but they need a lot more effort to make them worth the price he is selling them for. For all the imposters out there, read a book, stop wasting your time with this site. Quite honestly, you can make a heck of a lot more money just doing your own research. Tim's only source of income is from this site, and that is it. Trust me, you can do better. I can photoshop pictures of Italy as well Timmy. Mr. Berg, Mr. Stein, Mr Roth, whoever you are, please get a life!!! and by the way, the "b" in dan B stands for Brucks, not Berg.
  • dannb
    I dont give a shit, thats your problem dumbass! You dont need to prove shit because youre an idiot and nobody cares. I am doing my own research. But Ive learned how to my research from Tim's dvd's. Besides that, havent you ever heard of covestor. Its all there in black and white for you to wheep over. If you are such hot shit, why arent you on covestor showing Timmy up? Because you are full of shit and you have ZERO to offer anyone.
    Yeah youre right,I have a great family, a beautiful girlfriend that you could only dream of. I own my home in one of the most desirable places in the country, which is a gated property high up on the hill with an awsome view of downtown San Diego, sunsets on the Pacific ocean to the west, and sweetwater reservoir to the south. I could continue, but why bother? And I need to get a life? Dream on asshole!!!
  • guys stop littering my comments section with your nonsense, these are comments best saved for useless sites like sucking alpha and elitewannabetrader.com
  • dannb
    Why do sooooo many Idiots waste their time posting negative comments. Everything on this site is completely transparent. Apparently there are a lot of morons who are too stupid and lazy to research the facts.
    Keep up the good work Tim!!!
  • dannb
    Sorry Tim, I shouldnt waste your space or my time with nonsense like that. This whole thing is new to me and Im not used to dealing with people like that.
  • akaME
    lol, you can tell that most of the comments here are fake. anyway, the post has some interesting points. Im wondering if those 80k are coming just from the dvds because in that case, the blog is not profitable, the dvd is.
  • the blog promotes the DVDs and subscription products genius...lots of people pitching instructional DVDs, not many/any showing all their trades/superior track records
  • hey guys stop the yada yada and focus on trading!!!

    duuuuh
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Start Here

Who Is Timothy Sykes And Why Should I Care?

See Tim's full bio HERE. Tim turned a few thousand dollars into a few million by taking small gains time after time on hundreds of volatile penny stocks, discovering that his trading strategy, while consistently successful, works best for those with smaller accounts.

Determined to teach others this PennyStocking trading strategy (learn more HERE), he went back to his original $12,415 roots (already $58,000+ even though the stock market has crashed) to show everyone how to turn thousands into millions, even while having a life (somewhat) and making plenty of mistakes. Currently he is the #1 ranked trader out of 25,000+ on Covestor)

How Can I Consistently Make Money In The Stock Market?

Hard work, Determination and Know How.

Hard work to learn how the greatly misunderstood niche of penny stocks provides opportunities every now and then on which you should pounce.

Determination to seek those probable profits out and know how in order to actually profit from them.

Long story short, wait for stocks that are extremely volatile - for whatever reason - and then aim to take small profits (between 10 and 50% within a few hours, days or weeks) here and there, either from betting on higher or lower prices (yes, you can make $ betting on lower prices, it's called Shortstocking (learn more HERE).

Why Penny Stocks?

As Tim explains in several ALL-NEW instructional DVDs (see them HERE) and in over 2000+ blog posts, penny stocks are the most hyped and corrupt niche in the entire investment world. These two qualities make them the easiest to profit from (legally) because the vast majority of people who play penny stocks are suckers and all-around ignorant people. If you have any intelligence whatsoever, you have a clear advantage and it's like playing basketball against mental midgets.

Where Do You Find Stocks To Trade?

This is the #1 FAQ (see more HERE) and it is answered in THIS instructional DVD.

Of course, that's just a brief introduction - to receive a full education, there is Tim's book An American Hedge Fund which is the story of his remarkable rise and lessons learned.

To truly increase your odds at profit, Tim has designed an entire set of detailed instructional DVDs, covering all the variables that amount to over 24 hours of instruction (see them all HERE)!

TIM Trades

View All
Date Stock Buy Sell Net
Nov 6 QXM $4.31 $4.80 $1936
Nov 4 COT $8.66 $8.88 $642
Nov 4 QXM $4.61 $4.89 $822
Oct 30 DDRX $25.70 $26.53 $812
Oct 29 CTDC $4.00 $4.42 $781
Oct 26 AWSL $3.24 $4.10 $2516
Oct 23 RODM $5.27 $5.23 $301
Oct 22 AMLM $2.69 $2.97 $820
Oct 22 USEG $6.12 $6.09 $85
Oct 20 CBOU $8.93 $9.06 $243
Oct 16 VRMLQ $16.79 $18.65 $2773
Oct 13 YONG $11.05 $11.66 $1202
Oct 13 NPHC $0.59 $0.71 $583
Oct 12 IMGG $0.60 $0.70 $682
Oct 9 ZAGG $5.50 $6.10 $2380
Oct 7 GVBP $0.03 $0.27 $702
Oct 1 NPHC $0.70 $0.85 $1482

Total: $92,304 (644%)