Paul Scrivens writes about his so-called “failures” in the blog network industry, citing in particular Fine Fools.

This discussion brought out the passion in people who wanted to continuously remind me of my “failure” known as the Fine Fools Network. Fine Fools was my side project. It was my version of how a blog network should run. The idea was simple, you come up with a decent idea for a site and I would host it and you would earn all the ad revenue for the pages that you write. So essentially what I got was frontpage ad revenue while the writers got internal page revenue. My thinking was that if I am not going to pay them straight up for the work they put in, I might as well give them the opportunity to earn what they put in.

Things started off smooth, but some of the bloggers got hungry. Real hungry. The could taste success and they wanted more, which is exactly what you should want. That’s passion and I loved it (and hated it). Unfortunately I couldn’t keep up with what they wanted, albeit how simple their requests were because 9rules was/is my baby. That’s where my focus goes. If Fine Fools was my only focus and I could cater to the wants and needs of its writers I have no doubt that it would still be around today wreaking havoc. Instead I got rid of it to keep my focus.

Fine Fools seemed like a good model for a blog network. The blogger proposed a niche, and the network owner will set up the site and market the blog. Revenues are split his way: Network gets front page ad revenues, while the writer gets those from the individual pages. But then it went out of hand—partly because Scrivs says he could no longer give 110% effort to the network.

Still, Scrivs says these aren’t exactly failures, as Fine Fools has spawned excellent blogs and these have lifted several other people into A-list status.

And how exactly did I get rid of it? I gave the sites away to the people who wrote on them because they earned it. Again, giving away means not asking them to pay me for it. Let’s look at some of these people and you might have heard of some of their names.

Familiar names, indeed, like David Krug, Liz Strauss and Melissa Petri. These are now big names in the blogosphere. These people have also probably made big money from blogs!

Now don’t get me wrong, I do have some real legitimate failures where I lost money, time, friends, etc., but in some way they always turn out well for the sole reason that I learned from them. I’m just never going to see starting a Network for $0 and making thousands in return and helping people get their start in this blog world or watching non-failing companies buy up sites that I give away as falling into the failure category.

In this regard, I would call Scrivs a King-maker. While he’s not exactly at the top of the world when it comes to blog networks, those other people who are now king of the hill were anointed by this visionary.

Has Fine Fools failed? I would tend to agree with Scrivs that Fine Fools was not a failure, if you look at the success that the fine fools (sorry, I couldn’t resist) the community produced have achieved.

Abe Olandres has a comprehensive post about blogger compensation schemes at the Blog Herald. It’s not your usual post detailing how bloggers can earn from blogging (which includes network blogging), but this is about how to best give bloggers in your network the incentive to keep on writing, to write the great posts, and to stay on long. Abe notes that the retention rate of network bloggers is not really high, and this is perhaps because bloggers tend to jump at each good online earning opportunity they see.

Each blogger will look at it differently. The closest, I believe you can come up with is to mix a whole bunch of them. All the points I mentioned above are part of the the salary package. So, a base pay plus traffic benefits, plus performance benefits, plus coverage, plus others will more or less hit the sweet spot for a nice blogger payout.

For starters, Abe suggests offering a higher compensation package than the competition. this will especially be useful in attracting experienced bloggers, and bloggers who have gained renown in their own communities. This would help enhancing the readership and the reputation of any blog or blog network.

Abe then suggests various bonuses that blog network owners might wish to give their writers. For instance, traffic bonuses would motivate bloggers to write material that will easily get linked to in social news sites like DIGG. Link bonuses would motivate bloggers to write stuff that A-listers or popular bloggers will link to.

What’s the perfect formula? It’s still a case-to-case basis. But it’s a good idea for blog network owners to explore the possibilities. I agree with Abe that running a blog network is just like running any business. Your employees will not only be motivated by the money you pay them, but also the overall environment that they work in.

Read about it on the Blog Herald.

Ahmed at Tech Soapbox argues that the time of blog networks has passed. The luster is gone, and while blog networks were the hot thing on the Web in the past year, it’s time for online entrepreneurs to think of other business models.

I remember a time when Blog Networks were the it thing. Everyone and their mother was setting up blog networks. People actually cared when a name was changed from ‘Pajama Media’ to ‘Open Source Media’ (though I do agree OSM doesn’t sound very good).

Blogs were the path to easy riches.

About time reality set in.

Perusing around, I came across this sale: Parents Behaving Badly for sale. On its own not very notable, but what was interesting was that they were under the b5Media umbrella. For those that don’t remember, the network recently announced 2 million in funding.

This sale sets off some questions.

These days we’re seeing blogs and blog networks being sold left and right. Heck even this very blog you’re reading has passed hands at least one time. Does this mean then that the golden age of blog networks has, indeed, passed? Does this mean that those who have sold know something that the rest of us don’t? Does this mean blog networks are going the way of the dodo?

Well, perhaps in a way, yes. That’s why people are looking for new things to do, new ways to earn. People foresee that there are bigger things and better things.

But then again there are still those blog and blog networks—those brands!—that remain strong. It’s hard to be a Blog Herald, or a Blogging Pro, or even a b5media or a Weblogs, Inc. because these are already established in the blogosphere.

That’s why there are the new startups that try to be different. The focus today is not just blogs and blogging, but new media and social media!

That’s why blog networks are not necessarily passé. Blog networks are just evolving, just like the rest of the world—and the Web.

Here’s another Philippine-based blog network to watch: the Pinoy Moms Network, which has recently launched. It’s a blog network made by mothers for mothers—and other people, too. One of the founders, Connie Veneracion, believes in the value of sharing. Motherhood can be difficult, and it’s best when people can share stories and tips through their blogs.

I have come to a point when I realized that what mothers are saying makes more sense than what the self-anointed political pundits are trying to force down our throats. It is us, mothers, who nurture our children and help shape the persons they will become. I realized that contrary to popular belief that our “leaders” are the ones who shape our country’s destiny, it is us who determine what the future generations will be. The saying that “the hand that rocks the cradle is the hand that rules the world” has never been more true.

Isn’t it about time that our voices are heard with the same resonance as those who think they have a monopoly on the correct answers?

The network currently features 38 member blogs, and it’s more of the commune-type and team-blog setting. Instead of the network owning the member blogs, it’s the bloggers who own their respective blogs, and each contributes articles to the main blog based on their own posts. Anyone who is a Filipino and who is a mother could sign up and contribute to the blog.

The founders believe that it’s the hand that there are no experts when it comes to motherhood (and parenting, in general). But with collaboration, each blogger and reader can hopefully pick up some useful insights and information.

What’s the best way to get on your users’ desktops than give them free toolbar downloads? I’m not particularly fond of browser toolbars myself, though, since they take up precious browser real estate, and I still associate them too much with those sneaky spyware. But b5media thinks their readers get a better experience from having the network’s blogs more accessible, with the b5media toolbar.

We’re constantly on the look out for new ways to make it easier to find all the great content that our bloggers create. So, we’re really excited about the official launch of the b5media Toolbar (alpha version) – a quick and easy download that’s installed on your browser.

Here’s what you get: – You can get to any page on the main site easily – You can get to various areas of the forums quickly – You can chat with other b5 users in the toolbar chatroom – You can read content from across the network right in the toolbar (and then click through to read more) – We can send all toolbar users alerts – And you get regular features such as a popup blocker, search, e-mail notification, and the weather.

The best feature here, in my opinion is the user-to-user chat. That’s one way to build up a good community. However, I would tend to think that such a feature could have been best implemented on a Webpage and not on the browser itself. With most applications today moving away from the desktop and towards Web apps, you’d think people wouldn’t bother with installing local software anymore. And then of course, the more tech savvy crowd would probably be a bit wary about installing browser toolbars and such add-ons.

You’ve heard them, read about them, and even written about them one time or another. They’re buzzwords. And they’re popular. Just for that, we’d like to send them to hell. You may be aware that Buzzword Hell has been part of the Splashpress Media blog network for some time now. But with the redesign and all, we’ve decided to re-launch the blog.

So from Web 2.0 to Folksonomy to Social Bookmarking to the use of Beta. Buzzword Hell has condemned them all. And we’re going to send more of them to the different circles of inferno. We’ll be buzzword hunting. And of course, we cannot do it without your help.

Buzzwords, anyone?

It’s another big news day for Splashpress Media (parent company of Blog Network Watch). The owner of various blog-related properties (such as the Blog Herald) has again acquired another high-profile site, Performancing. David Krug reports on the Blog Herald:

New York,NY — February 14th,2007 — SplashPress Media, owner of numerous sites including The Blog Herald, one of the oldest sites on the internet covering blogging news and new media, has announced it is acquiring the core assets of Performancing.com including the bloggers’ community and Performancing Metrics.

SplashPress Media operates and owns 30 blogs, and a variety of other online web properties. SplashPress Media has been online as a hosting company and a support agency for publishers for a few years before launching several blogs and acquiring others.

Performancing started as a service with the aim of “helping bloggers succeed.” The site focused on bringing together a set of tools that bloggers can use to enhance their blogging experience, including analytics, design and even monetization. First came the metrics package, then the community and the blog ad network.”

Only the Performancing Metrics and Community were part of the sale. The Performancing Partners blog ad network was not included.

Performancing will continue to operate as a separate division of Splashpress, though, similar to how the Blog Herald runs independently of Splashpress in terms of editorial content and management.

The Bloggy Network has announced that it has recently added Gadgetizer to its roster of blogs.

Bloggy Network started out as a very technology focused blog network, and we have since then diversified, but in recent weeks, we have been looking at our gadget offerings, and decided we needed a new and fresh site to join the network. We couldn’t be happier with our recent addition to the Bloggy Network as Gadgetizer covers the gamut of gadgetry being launched.

The Bloggy Network has been known to be tech-focused, particularly in its first year of existence, with popular geek-oriented blogs like ForeverGeek, and gadget-specific blogs under the “b” brand (laptops, cellphones, digital cameras, and the like). However, the network did not have a site focused on gadgets in general, until now. Having the Gadgetizer in its roster also adds to the brand factor, since Gadgetizer was fairly popuilar when it was still independent.

Brand and identity are some of the most important aspects of blog networks. These are usually enhanced by visual styling and elements that member blogs have. Some blog networks prefer to give their members a free rein on their respective designs, but just ask each to put up a badge with the network logo. Others, meanwhile, require that blogs sport matching themes. This is kind of like what we’re doing here on Splashpress Media–with the across-the-board theme revamp.

Bayanihan Blog Network, one of the newest blog networks in the block, is one of those that prefer matching looks. The BBN has recently launched its new theme on two of its member sites, particularly the Comic Blurb and You Had Me At Hello.

The theme is a clean-looking three-column layout that’s friendly to the eyes and easily accommodates advertising, with a big space at the header. The designer Gail dela Cruz-Villanueva sure knows what elements to include and how to best lay out a site optimized both for easy reading and clicking (of the ads, of course!).

I can smell the awards season coming, too, with the 2007 Oscars coming up in a few weeks, and a handful of other motion picture-related awards underway. Of course, blog awards are also abundant. For one, the 2007 Bloggies have recently concluded, with an announcement of winners expected on March 12th. Here’s another award to look out for, from Shiny Media. This time, it’s about gadgets.

Shiny Media announces this year’s Shiny Awards:

Each year Team Shiny, in conjunction with a crack possee of gadget know-it-alls from The Sun, Guardian, Q etc get together to vote for the best and worst gadgets of the year. Among the categories are serious stuff like Green Gadget, Best Smartphone and Web 2.0 innovation as well as a few more entertaining contests which we’ll let you know about very soon.
…
Over the next week or so we will also be posting the nominations on Shiny Shiny and Tech Digest. The awards will be held in a swanky central London venue on February 21st.

Don’t forget to send us some of your gadgets for review, guys! We’d love to be part of your crack posse of gadget know-it-alls!