This is in response to Noemi’s latest post about what Marketing/PR Executives should expect from bloggers. I’ve been thinking about this for a long time now, and I think I have enough examples and put enough thought into this to publish it on this blog. Companies who want to tap bloggers should be aware of the different kinds of bloggers. Not all bloggers can influence your target market, and not all of them can have the same level of interaction with their readers.
I’ve generally defined the types of bloggers into these 4 categories: Value, Hobby, Journal, and Google. There’s a fifth type which I’ll share at the end of the post. Note that these categories can overlap, and in fact some of the best bloggers have stricken a balance on how to be all 4. However, these are rare bloggers. Most of the bloggers right now just fall to either 1 or 2 of these categories.
1. HOBBY BLOGGERS
Hobby bloggers generate content from the things or activities that interest them the most. The best example here would be Food Blogs. There are so many already in the Philippines! What’s amazing is that only a few restaurants are tapping the potential of driving more traffic to their stores by partnering with the top food bloggers in the Philippines. Other topics that Hobby bloggers talk about can be: anime, movie reviews, fashion, general merchandise, photography, etc.
Hobby Bloggers have good potential to grow communities and with that – authority and influence. This happens more if the blogger is actually good at what he’s doing. If a Hobby Blogger is also a Value Blogger, then you have one of the most influential types of online personalities (more on Value Bloggers below).
2. JOURNAL BLOGGERS
Journal Bloggers usually post about life experiences. Their topics can be really random and can be anything under the sun. A lot of Journal Bloggers can be found on social networks – especially on Multiply. Favorite topics of Journal Bloggers would be current events especially topics that are being discussed by media outfits and online communities.
The problem with Journal Bloggers is that their readership is usually confined to their circle of friends. This is because the people interested in finding out with what happened to Juan Cruz on Tuesday for example, would be the people who actually know and are close to Juan Cruz. The reach is not there. However, since Journal Bloggers are very credible (because they know each other personally) to their readers you can expect that they can easily convince their readers about something.
3. GOOGLE BLOGGERS
Bloggers who focus on Search Engine Optimization with no or little regard to relevant content, personal branding, and influence. Bloggers like this are really in it for advertising and the money. They prioritize building key words so that search engines like Google and Yahoo will point towards them, thus giving them a substantial amount of traffic.
The problem with Google Bloggers is that they may have really high readership, but you don’t know where it’s coming from and the level of influence and interaction is very low. Google Bloggers will have a hard time building communities and a loyal following.
4. VALUE BLOGGERS
Value Bloggers are writers who put content, personal branding, and service as their top priorities. Value Bloggers focus on delivering posts that add value to their readers by giving them insights, tips, tactic, and advice on how to improve one’s craft, hobby, or whatever. In other words, people go to Value Bloggers because what they write is relevant, makes sense, and something that they can actually learn from. Value Bloggers will rarely sell out content and advertising because they care about their personal brand and believe that their audience deserves more than paid PR releases.
Value Bloggers are the most influential types, because they have the strongest potential of building communities around their blog. They can easily get a following because what they offer is practical sound advice and insights on their particular niche. In fact, agencies and marketers may have problems with closing deals with Value Bloggers though because they will usually not compromise the integrity of their content with a few thousand bucks.
OVERLAPPING TYPES
Personally, I find Value Bloggers crossed with anything (especially Google) will be the most effective Blogger in terms of reach, interaction, and influence. What’s important here is that in order to build trust with a blogger’s readership and community, they must focus on a niche and deliver quality content that can actually offer something to their readers. They shouldn’t settle for copy-paste material from other bloggers or online news information networks. Bloggers are not just grapevines for information – they can generate good content.
FIFTH TYPE OF BLOGGER
EDIT: In light of recent events, I’ve decided to remove the 5th label since it has offended people in the blogging community. I could have used a better word to communicate what I was trying to say, and for that I humbly apologize to anyone who was slighted, insulted, or felt like that they were looked down on.
FOR MARKETERS: LET YOUR ONLINE MARKETING AGENCY DO THEIR JOB
If you hired a consultant or an agency to handle your blogger events, make sure they screen the invites well. The worst mistake you can do as a Product Manager is to just say “Get me as much bloggers as possible”. What if 90% of the bloggers that attend are PGB? Then you’re just wasting your money, effort, and time. Make sure that your consultant or agency does the following:
1. Don’t do open invites – tell them to show you the list of bloggers that they plan on inviting
2. List of bloggers should show URL, niche, blogger type
3. Ask for their stats as well – Unique Visitors is an indicator of traffic (reach), while Bounce Rate and a high ratio between Unique Visitors and Page Hits can e good tools to measure influence.
Don’t do blogger events just because it’s the “in” thing. Do it because you know that it is really a cost-effective way to get your communication across to your target market. However, make sure that what your offering is really good lest your PR event turn into a nightmare when your product disappoints the bloggers.
To Bloggers: What kind of blogger are you? Are you really giving value to your readers? Are you building an online community with your content? Are you blogging just for the heck of it or do you want it to become a tool for you to advance your career, profession, and business?
Here are some posts related to blogging that might also interest you guys:
Blog Marketing Will Overtake Online Ad Placements
Personal Branding Case Studies
New Media Philippines Blogger Features
Holeh moleh! z0mg you said PGB! lolololool11111!!! hahaha so true
PR Practioners, media and companies new to internet marketing have really no idea on the type of blog marketing approach. It is nice that you classified it to 4 type and a possible overlap. Very informative.
@J: Is it taboo to say that ba? hahaha.
I think I’m a Hobby-Value Blogger, my blog, Kelvinonian.com is about my passion in Photography and Photoshop. But I want my readers have a good reading experience in my blog.
There are also balanced bloggers who are into all of it: Hobby, Journal, Google and Value
Great post! I can say that I’m leaning more on a Hobby blogger because this is the reason why I started a blog, I love food and travel. A little bit of a Journal blogger too because I can’t help it not talk about personal experiences when writing. I hope to be a Value Blogger but definitely not a PGB.
hobby-journal blogger ata ako… hehehe
I started out as a journal blogger and as time passed by, I ventured into niche blogging. There are some bloggers who can do all four
Hi Carlo,
You just poured your heart on the issue and I agree with your thoughts
I’m not sure if you are aware that there is a food blog that goes with the title Patay Gutom, Here’s the url http://pataygutom.com
Readers may get mixed up
Very tight article you have here. Indeed, based on content, these are the most basic type of blogs / bloggers.
Every type of blog has its pros and cons and from observation, I see that it is because of this reason that many bloggers create several blogs. To reap the benefits of these basic types. “Balanced bloggers” according to Jehz.
Furthermore, may I add that a Value blogger also has a number of problems just like the other types. Them, being the most influential type, is also in my opinion, subject to the most criticism from others.
They are also the most vulnerable to “blogger burnout” because you have to admit, quality content is not that easy to come up with and of course, you have reader expectations that you have to satisfy.
Btw, it’s amusing that Sir Sonnie pointed out that indeed, there is a pataygutom.com blog and we do call ourselves Patay Gutom Bloggers. Thanks to him for clarifying that out to the readers.
@Noemi: Thanks. Wouldn’t have been able to write this if I didn’t talk to you and Sonnie to bounce ideas.
@Sonnie: Good thing you mentioned that. I’ll edit the post and qualify the “Patay Gutom” tag.
@Mica/Jeh: Yes you can be all four. In fact I think it’s more of phases than blogger types. Usually we start as journal/hobby, then move on to google/value. Will reflect on this more and make a new post if necessary.
@Fitz: You know you’re doing something write when you polarize people. I’ve also learned in life (not just in blogging) that there will always be people who won’t agree with you and will just suck the “blogging life and passion” out of you.
Here’s an old Chinese proverb that I read from an e-book. I always keep this in mind in whatever I do.
“The person who says something is impossible should not interrupt the person doing it.”
Best,
Carlo
Awesome post Carlo! Well, I still can’t classify what kind of blogger I am LOL! But I agree with the other comments, these are the basic classifications in our blogosphere.
And yes for PR and Marketing people, be careful on how you tap the wisdom of the crowd. We have new rules now and new types of engagement.
lol on PGB! i never thought there’s such thing as that. blogging for free meals, that is.
i think i am of the overlapping type. i started with a journal type more than three years ago.
Hi Carlo, interesting insights and very useful for companies.
nice post, carlo. i’ve shared this with our AIM Internet Marketing course group.
i tried classifying them, but i think professional bloggers — meaning those who blog for a blog network should be in another category mainly because even though they may write about their passion and do a little bit of SEO, they are subjected to deadlines, they are given quotas, and most importantly, they don’t own their blogs.
i just blog…and blog..and blog.
and i just dont know that i landed or become something more than a blogger.
after 7 years of blogging, i just realized that blogging is the new media
and take the advantage of it for my work and fun
i found this post great reading! makes me understand the media more….i actually blog for fun. =)
LOL @ “Patay Gutom Blogger“. They have no specific niche actually
LOL at PGB… Me, I am more of a journal blogger pero love ng google
Hey Carlo,
Great post! Uhmm… I actually don’t know where I’m at… I seem to relate to blogger types: hobby, journal & value haahah.. ang dami! pwd ba yun?
Nice post, very informative and eye-opening. I started as a journal blogger until I felt the need to categorize my posts and set up new blogs for my hobbies.
I’m definitely a journal blogger. I write about my experiences and my target readers are family and friends.
I’m still actually surprised when other people read my blog and comment to it.
funny that you actually mentioned PGB. no one’s really laughing about them, they give bloggers a bad name. they’re the reason why i shy away from events these days, for fear of being associated with their kind. a lot of these blogs are mostly copy pasted press releases and if they ever do have writeups, they’re usually badly written.
good post carlo! loved it!
I would think my blog would be a mix of “hobby and value” classification. This post is a great, a very interesting read and at least gives us an insight on how powerful blogging has become.
Cheers, Carlo!
Very good read, indeed! Got the lead from jayvee via the AIM Internet Marketing mailinglist.
Balance is best.
I, too, think that bloggers go through different phases in blogging, starting out as hobby/journal bloggers (Isn’t that where we all started before we discovered google adsense?
).
I’m primarily a value blogger + a dash of hobby/journal/google .
In an interview more than 4 years ago, I advised: “Blog, don’t clog” which was my way of saying : “Don’t blog crap”.
We have at our fingertips a compelling medium of expression.
Let’s use it for good, let’s create value
ka edong
“The problem with Journal Bloggers is that their readership is usually confined to their circle of friends.”
I don’t understand how this can be considered a “problem”, at least in general. It can be a problem if the blogger’s purpose is to get as many people to read their blog as possible, therefore earn some money, find connections, etc.
Not all bloggers look for something in exchange for what they do. Not all bloggers want to make money, not all bloggers want to “reach more people”. They just want to write something online, and don’t care at all if someone, anyone reads it or not. It’s purely for personal enjoyment.
I’ve been “blogging” ever since 1997, long before the word was even coined. I find enjoyment in just writing things from the top of my head. It just so happens people started to read it. I’m glad they do, but they are not the reason I do it.
@Gerry: I’m talking from the perspective of the Marketer or the Business Owner. There is no problem with bloggers who want to just blog for fun. What I’m saying is that as Marketers, you should really make sure you get the most “bang from your buck” given the recession and all the budget cuts.
Note that there is nothing wrong with being any of the types in terms of personal blogging goals (people blog for different reasons). I just want to bridge the digital divide/gap between companies and their agencies with new media channels.
@Ka Edong: Yep, I’m really more included to believe that it’s phases and not types. Will put some more thought into it.
@Cher/Arpee/Aiza/Mauie/Rochelle/Liz/Jenc/Az: THanks for the comments guys. Appreciate it that you found the post helpful.
@Jayvee: I completely missed that one. >.<;
@Francis and Rob: That’s one of the core values of this blog – to be able to have Philippine Marketers and business owners understand the various channels of New Media.
a welcome and commendable write-up in an effort to classify the types of bloggers in some way. It’s a good read for private institutions.
I would like to add the ‘Corporate Bloggers’ who are formally employed by companies and is paid for the service.
On Google bloggers: “..they may have really high readership, but you don’t know where it’s coming from…” – haha, this one made my day.
I would have to disagree on the last sentence however “…will have a hard time building communities and a loyal following. ” Sometimes, because of their high traffic, they easily gain a following and can form a community with minimum effort.
On the PGB issue in general, perhaps we could give them (to whom ever it is applicable) some slack, hoping they would learn from their experiences and look beyond the freebies as time goes by and eventually become one of those 4 types of bloggers (or a mix).
A v-ery interesting read, Carlo! You pointed the white elephant out in the room a lot more succinctly than I could ever have.
Thanks for mentioning patay gutom
haha 
I think I can classify myself as a hobby, journal and value blogger I have no idea about SEO thing and still a long way to go to learn about it. Anyway whatever others may classify it I enjoy what I do and nothing can stop me. As long as I have a story to tell I will.
About the PGB bloggers and not the PGB.com I think I agree with junel when he said cut them some slack. They are indeed newbies and have a long way to go learn from their mistakes.
It so sad that as a newbie blogger who attends this kind of events to hear from old bloggers who used to attend these kind of events look down on the newbie bloggers. Miss Janette pointed out this already.
Also I think we should let the PR/ Business/Marketing people decide who they want to invite in their events, after all it’s their events, their company and all.
I also observed something that is not right happening around. It’s the bloggers who are “competing” for attention that will ruin this level playing field not everyone understands google PR, traffic and stuff. When a non-blogger visits a blog they judge it by the content and the design not the google PR and traffic.
I hope whatever silent war is going around will end soon because they are not just ruining the “competition” but the entire industry itself. Miss Janette pointed out some people make a living out of their blogs and its not easy. We don’t want anyone go hungry here. We can all live dynamically. I believe.
But then its not just the bloggers who are PGB but there are also marketing/advertising/PR/ company taking advantage of bloggers also. So we all should look out for each other and not destroy each other.
I started as a journal blogger. And then from blogspot, where I kept my online journal, I jumped into self-hosted wordpress. Then when I learned the ropes of maintaining a blog, I tried different niche blogs (I had a game blog and a hamster blog) and got comfortable with keeping a personal blog, a food blog, and a medical/personal blog.
And oh, you forgot to include the “Review Bloggers”. These bloggers created blogs to earn from reviews
Joining reviewme, payperpost, etc., to make money ^__^ These bloggers are different from Google Bloggers. Yay!
Professional bloggers, network bloggers and Review bloggers are a different classification.
I believe bloggers can blog whatever they want, in form, content, design and motives whether to monetize or not. However, marketers want to know what blogs suit their marketing strategies. I think Carlo took the perspective of the marketer/business owner (than as a blogger) in this post.
We can learn a lot from this post because it was meant to help one another and not to put down either the PR or the blogger.
Carlo,
The same question exists for twitter. How can a company use twitter? the best example i think are @comcastcares and @vmware. The way they market is by creating a persona that people can relate to, can contact with. Thye create a community around their product. They’re “(tech)support” as much as a way for people to quickly get in touch with that company.
My point is this: the same can be said of any company who can use blogging as a platform to reach out to their customers and provide a conversation.
This is a very good read. Very informative and straight to the point. I actually started mine as a hobby. I think we, bloggers will learn a lot from this.
Keep it up and more power!
Very interesting read. I’ll be sharing this with my friends who’re looking into learning more about blogging as new media. Thanks!
@earthlingorgeous: Thanks for your comment. Appreciate that you really gave the post thought. Anyway, let me just emphasize again that this is from the viewpoint or perspective of the marketer/business owner. If they will spend budget on blog marketing, then they should do it wisely – which means that there should be a system in place for them that will help them make sure that they’re getting good ROI.
This post was not made with the intent to malign or attack other bloggers. It was made to at least attempt to share with marketers and business owners what blog marketing is and how effective it can be for them if used correctly.
With regards to new bloggers, I have nothing against them. We all started as newbie bloggers. In fact this post also aims to help them with their blogging – to show them the potential benefits of blogging in a certain way or type. PGB does not equal newbie bloggers.
When I started out blogging, I really had no idea what to write about. I just posted randomly about whatever it was that came my way. But eventually I zeroed in on a niche, then moved on to another niche, and then I learned about SEO, and finally I decided to make blogs that give more value to the readers by sharing what I know.
@Sago: I dropped by your blog man and I loved the food reviews. I disagree with the SEO blogger though. If he’s really just SEO and he offers no value whatsoever I don’t think he’ll have a sticky community. He’ll still have insane traffic, but he’ll also have really high churn.
@cocoy: nice point bro. Will write about twitter and Plurk on a different post.
@sassy mom: thanks for the comment. I checked your blog this morning and I think we have the same exact jade figurine you showed on your post. Or at least something that looks like that ^^;;
@Mistervader: Left a message at your blog man. We should meet up soon.
very interesting read.. mine’s a personal blog but based on the types enumerated, i believe am more of a journal type.. i blog on almost anything except politics/religion, i prefer not to. and what matter is sharing my thoughts, funny antics, experiences to everyone especially to my family..
“To Bloggers: What kind of blogger are you? Are you really giving value to your readers? Are you building an online community with your content? Are you blogging just for the heck of it or do you want it to become a tool for you to advance your career, profession, and business?”
The first kind of bloggers I knew, and the type I still most associate with is the blogger who wants to say something. It may not be relevant. It may not be of value. But it is his story to tell.
Having readers is just icing on the cake of freedom of expression and personal documentation.
Still, this may indeed be helpful to those who are planning to get bloggers to market their products for them, or at least create buzz about it.
This post tells me otherwise. We shouldn’t be typecasting people. Let them blog, for whatever reason. It’s a free country. Blogging is all about egalitarianism, not discrimination. Stereotyping bloggers according to categories is only fostering discrimination, which blogging ISN’T all about. Let it be a problem of publicists, not bloggers like you and me. We aren’t spending for the meals of PGs, after all
@delish: Exactly my point -
“this may indeed be helpful to those who are planning to get bloggers to market their products for them, or at least create buzz about it.”
The purpose is the most is again – from the perspective of the marketer and business owner.
@ajay: Appreciate the comment and agree with you that publicists and agencies should do the work. I’m just helping them out
I’m come from both – the blogging and the marketing/advertising/PR world. That’s one of the goals of New Media Philippines: to help bridge that gap.
Great blog post, Carlo.
Somewhat ironically, blogging, which is supposed to be an alternative to mainstream media, is replicating some of the latter’s negative aspects. Not media as a whole, OK, but the bad apples. The PGB would be the equivalent of the hao siao in media, freeloaders who pretend to have media credentials.
It’s also part of the warm bodies or “hakot” mentality of some PR companies, if they’re more concerned with filling up a room with “media people,” whether journalists or bloggers, rather than the credibility of the publications or the quality of the coverage.
It’s great that you’re doing your share in educating marketing and PR people, and perhaps bloggers and journalists as well.
Cheers!
How about “newbie bloggers” like me who have not decided what type of blogger to be. lol…
…but seriously, this is classification you made is more like a theory than a postulate. I understand what you’re trying to define, and that as you mentioned, the target audience for this are Marketing & PR execs, but I think this post is more about what characteristics they should be looking for in blogs or bloggers to “hire” instead of an outright declaration of blogger types (i.e. your post title).
In any case, great read. Thought provoking ika-nga, especially for “newbie” bloggers like me.
First, I consider myself as a journal and value blogger. I share tips on how to ‘make’ it in the call center industry ( starting from the job interviews, while they’re employed and when they decide to move on and try another industry).
But when I read your post, I realized that I am also doing the other two (in my other blogs of course).
I agree with you in terms of making sure that they’ll ( Marketing Practitioners) get value for their client’s money. After all, we are talking about business here.
I can consider myself as journal blogger since I don’t usually pay attention on other things except for those who only catches my attention.
=p
im a copy and paste blogger lol(dunno if can call it blogger)
I blog about nursing exam results and PRC exams. Where do I belong? Hobby?
may i ask: what is the value of inviting bloggers to events, marketing wise?
is there really an effect on demand/awareness?
are the bloggers then asked to tell people about the product in their blogs? how does it work?
if you can write a beginner’s guide to the ‘whys’ and ‘hows’ of marketing using bloggers, that would be great.