19 July 2007 - 22:00
How Much do Bloggers Make in France ?
Have you ever wondered who the famous Frenchbloggers are and how much they earn. Do they have a
ProBlogger or a
John Chow ?
Well, I came across this interesting post about French bloggers and how much they earn from their blogs written by SimpleEntrepreneur –
Simple Entreprenur Earnings of French Bloggers – because I understand the lingo I have translated into English, as I thought other people may like to know how things are progressing in la Belle France.
In his post Mr SimpleEntrepreneur (Stéphane Thomas) points out that compared to the amounts made in the USA and elsewhere, by people such as
Michael Arrington and
Darren Rowse the French have a long way to go with regard to blog monetization, but as far as I can see that merely means that there is a vast untapped market out there.
He also points out that there have been a number of articles on the subject recently e.g. –
Strategies – so it could be a sign that things are about to change. Certainly I shall be taking a closer look at the French blogging scene from now on.
RankingWith the help of those directly involved Mr SE has drawn up the following and very first list of blogs in French, with their earnings: (1 euro is about 1.4 dollars – so multiply all these earnings by 1.4)
.......................................,......
RSS ...................
Visitors .............
Pages ........
Amount............................................June 2007 .........June 2007 .........June 2007 ...June 2007
PresseCitron
http://www.presse-citron.net/Eric Dupin ..........................11 004 ................278 056 ............656 085 .......2 630€
Emob
http://www.emob.fr/dotclear/Nicolas Chaunu .................4 329 ..................205 790 .............428 332 ......1 900€
Blog Web 2.0 et Marketing
http://www.vincentabry.com/Vincent Abry ......................650 ......................20 000 ..............40 000 ..........662€
AccessOWeb
http://blog.accessoweb.info/Philippe Lagane ................5 000 ...................19 000 ................69 300 .......484€
Frédéric de Villamil
http://fredericdevillamil.com/Frédéric de Villamil ...........761 .........................16 115 ...............59 870 ........280€
Benoit Descary
http://descary.com/Benoit Descary ...................2 810 ....................22 522 .................39 042 ......120€
Simple Entrepreneur
http://www.simpleentrepreneur.com/Stéphane Thomas ..............2 457 ....................20 570 .................41 192........ 84€
Le techno-blogue à Steph!
http://www.stephguerin.com/Stéphane Guerin ................920........................ 8 621 ...................19 556 .......38€
Some bloggers he contacted did not want to disclose how much they made ! (Lol – I’m constantly surprised that anyone wants to disclose how much they earn, but it seems to be part and parcel of the blogging world that people let it all hang out (or else they make it all up !), but he says that the number 1 in the list ‘PresseCitron’ would not be number 1 if certain others had agreed to disclose of their earnings.
He points out that traffic is a determining factor when it comes to making money, (see my excellent post on the connection between Alexa ranking and earnings
Alexa Ranking and Blogger Revenue ) However it is possible to diversify earnings streams like Blog Web 2.0 et Marketing who wrote several sponsored articles in June (which meant that he considerably increased his earnings, as they are usually around 80€ per month).
Sources of RevenueProfessional bloggers have, in fact, several systems available to them: contextual ads., sponsored links, sponsored articles, affiliate programs etc…
Some are very easy to implement or more profitable (per click, based on the number of ads. displayed , …). Payment frequency also needs to be taken into account (at the end of the month, after 90 days, …). You also need to assess the return from each and take care not to have so many ads. that you put readers off. (If you don’t have any readers it doesn’t matter, you can put up as many ads. as you like – Ed..)
You might also get yourself noticed by a specialised advertising company in this new communications vector, but to do that you need to get up to the top spots in the various current ranking systems such as Alianzo or Wikio (theymust be French ‘cause I’ve never heard of them –Ed.). It is difficult to assess the relevance of these rankings without knowing the exact criteria used to determine them, but advertisers use them so ….
TipsHe asked each blogger for tips. Frédéric de Villamil recommends focussing on niches with high added value, but he says to avoid any technological niches (video and audio players, IPhone, electronic gadgets, …) because there is far too much competition already (but he doesn’t say which niches he recommends !)
Vincent Abry says that the best solution is to be able to get direct deals with advertisers or to make use of advertising companies such as Adrider.
Ouriel Ohayon from TechCrunch.fr (yes that Techcrunch – more money for Monsieur Arrington no doubt) considers that it is indirect fallout that can be very important, but not earnings (hmmm that sounds abit fishy to me) :
The problem with the French market compared to the US market is simple – the size of the potential audience, which makes direct monetization of a blog complex if you want to make it a main source of income. Apart from one or two exceptions (GénérationMP3, Le blog auto…), I don’t know anybody who lives from his/her blog in France. And I don’t think this will change any time soon. (I disagree – Ed. !)
And Stéphane Guerin says:
My earnings are obtained directly from clients that I get via my blog. So, you can live from your blog , not only from advertising but by using it as a marketing tool!
ConclusionsThe most important thing Mr SE noted was that ‘content is king’ – where have we heard that before ? and also your community of readers. It is clear that you should not put adverts up as soon as you set up a new site. (Oops).
On the other hand, you need to very quickly get your self listed on search engines as traffic from them is an important element in any blog’s monetization strategy. Finally, if we are to judge by the earnings shown by some US bloggers you need to diversify your sources of revenue.
He nevertheless gets the impression that by creating two or three very targeted blogs and by choosing their theme with care, it should be possible to quickly generate enough money to live. But you need to work at it full-time and you need to be able to manage a blog’s whole production chain (he’s right there ! ) - design, development, writing, … The second solution which consists in starting a blog in your spare time unfortunately takes much more time.
He says he will carry on studying all these monetization tools and he will talk about the methods he uses in later articles. Simple Entrepreneur has had a space for advertisers for the last two months and he still doesn’t have time to make best use of it. A new ‘monetization’ category will no doubt soon see the light of day.
Finally I would like to thank all those bloggers who agreed to take part in this survey. Some of them are particularly accessible, even if they are considered to be influential bloggers. But that’s part of the magic of blogs …
So, how much do you make with your blog? Do you think it is really possible to become a professional blogger in France or in a French-speaking country ?
***********
As we can see from this list the highest earner makes around $3,500 a month, although there are some earning more who did not wish to disclose their earnings.
Personally, (me the Old Vic) I agree that you need a niche and you need to find the high paying keywords that pay more per click. My other blog is a stockmarket/finance blog –
Shares City – and it brings in more money than this one as I know more about the stockmarket than I do about blogging !
To see the equivalent US/English speaking list compiled by Paula Mooney see here -
Paula MooneyAny comments, opinions, observations are most welcome ! Take care.
french bloggers earnings bloggeurs francais revenus pressecitron simpleentrepreneur techcrunchpaula mooney
My first post on this blog since 19 July mainly due to the floods in the UK, which fortunately for me did not come in through the front door, although my neighbours were not so lucky, there doorstep was not as high as mine.
water for around a week. Even now there are thousands of people in Gloucester, and Tewkesbury without drinking water. Water is being provided in bottles by the government or in tankers or 'bowsers' on the streets.
