Alan Meckler: Few Blogs Will Generate Money

Alan Meckler is Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Jupitermedia. The publicly traded firm is a global provider of original information, images, research and events for information technology, business and creative professionals. It operates major tech sites, including ClickZ and internet.com, as well as JupiterResearch and a burgeoning conference and events business.

Alan is the few publicly traded company CEOs (at least that I am aware of) who blogs. And what a Weblog it is. Alan pulls no punches. He comments on competitors, vendors, and of course, his own business.

Back in 1993, while he was at the helm of Mecklermedia, Alan created the Internet World trade show, which was later sold to Penton Media and now is no more. But Alan’s back in the Internet trade show game with the Internet Planet Conference and Expo, which takes place next week in New York and again in November in San Jose. One of the highlights is a session on "Building Your Business with Weblogs and RSS," featuring Robert Scoble, Buzz Bruggeman, and others.

I caught up with Alan via email for a brief interview on his blogging and the upcoming Internet Planet event. (Note - CooperKatz & Company, my employer, at one time did some project work for Jupitermedia. We no longer are engaged by Meckler’s company.)

MP: You are the first and one of the only public company CEOs who blogs. Why do you feel CEOs should blog? Which CEOs do you wish would start blogging?

MECKLER: I do not necessarily feel that CEOs should blog. I have chosen to do so in order to get out the message about doings at Jupitermedia. Also I feel I have an interesting perspective on media so I enjoy providing observations.

MP: How does Sarbanes-Oxley impact what you write?

MECKLER: It has no effect. Sarbanes-Oxley is more geared to financial reporting than anything else. It certainly effects our costs of doing business.

MP: The launch of Internet Planet is a harbinger of the renewed excitement in Internet innovation. Do you feel that we are entering an Internet renaissance? What most excites you?

MECKLER: The internet never "left." The press made it seem that way by blasting those associated with the so-called internet bubble. The internet has turned many industries on their respective heads and this trend is accelerating. Internet Planet is devoted to the topic of "growing business online." I think this is the key to the internet industry going forward.

MP: What's your view of the blog vertical business model that Nick Denton's Gawker Media and Jason Calacanis' Weblogs, Inc. have developed? In some ways they're emulating what you created with Internet.com way back when. Business 2.0 reports Denton pulls in $250k per year. Not too shabby for blogs.

MECKLER: Very few blogs will be able to generate money. Within the Gawker and Weblogs Inc. empires one will find a handful of blogs that can generate income. Therefore I am not a big fan of the concept as a way to make big income. Blogs associated with network sites like our Jupiterweb, on the other hand, can in fact tangentially generate revenue because the readership is likely to want to find out more about a writer and this in turn can lead to lead generation. We see this with our Jupiter Research division. Several analysts write blogs which are free. Readers of these blogs might be impressed with the opinions expressed by one or more of our analysts -- and this can lead to sales leads.

MP: Finally, what lessons can you share with CEOs who want to start blogging?

MECKLER: Writing even once per week can be a chore. I have to really think about the fact that I should be posting. Therefore, if one sees posting as a burden, stay away from starting a blog.