What is a Pro Blogger - Setting the Record Straight
For a long time now I’ve resented the term “Pro” Blogger … i.e. a short-form for the word “Professional”.
There are it seems hordes of so-called probloggers out there, some who even use the term in their blog titles. Disclaimer: please note that I’m not singling out anyone in particular and any similarity to someone you might know is purely coincidental. 
By now most of you know of my infamous rants about the so-called “pro” bloggers who seem to have no problem attracting sheep followers like flies on the proverbial poop. After all, there is no shortage of people who are looking for a guru to preach the great American Dream to riches, fame and fortune.
Some have even artificially fabricated an elite status for themselves by trying to convince you that you are somehow inferior if you publish your blog on Blogger and not Wordpress. While others have borrowed hard-sell techniques from their late-night TV Infomercial counterparts.
BUT wait … there’s more!
What is a “Professional” blogger — really?
According to the dictionary “professional” means someone who is:
- Engaged in a professional occupation;
- Occupations that require knowledge in a field or learning typically acquired through education or training pertinent to the specialized field, as distinguished from general education;
- Master — an authority qualified to teach apprentices.
I suppose I could be called a “professional” blogger because I have a attained a certain level of expertise in blogging. Whereas many of my … ahem, esteemed colleagues mostly recycle information off the net, aggressively pursue making money and exaggerate income levels to attain readers.
Obviously, according to the definition above there are a lot of allegedly “pro” bloggers out there who are grossly perverting the term “professional“. As you can see it’s not only about making money from blogging or if you should happen to publish on Wordpress.
It’s all complete poppycock … rubbish … nonsense.
In plain and simple terms it means exactly what it says — a “professional” blogger is someone who is an expert in blogging.
So today I am setting the record straight and will henceforth call them “money bloggers“, or “snob bloggers“, or perhaps more appropriately “greedy buggers, er bloggers“. You get my meaning.
Is that harsh? I don’t think so. I’m just being honest. After all, I didn’t make the definition, so don’t shoot the messenger.
What do you think?
More reading: Pro Splogs: What You Didn’t Know about Blog Spam
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1.jpg "The guy behind Blog Bloke")
I think blobber is appropriate, since they usually are blobs. Except you, of course. There is only one Blog Bloke, and you are most definitely not a blob.
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Thanks for the vote of confidence Kirsten. Just call me the not-so-blobber Bloke.
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Double-D uses Double Entendres like:
B.S. Loggers (Bait and Switch Bloggers)
or
M.S. Loggers (Money Scam Bloggers)
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Perhaps it would be fair to say that “link baiting” is the money-scam blogger’s version of the old “bait and switch” technique?
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Bloke, Totally disagree with you on this point.
Seems like you cherry picked non-income related definitions of the word. A quick look at dictionary.com’s listing for “professional” shows the first definition is
A professional is not simply an expert but one who is compensated for his expertise. Without that compensation a person is simply an expert hobbyist.
And that doesn’t say anything negative about the hobbyist’s knowledge. It could very well be more exhaustive than folks who are earning an income in the field.
I’ve leveraged my blog into a full time income. Yet you won’t see any adds there. Instead I sell my know how as a social media consultant to businesses that need help effectively entering this new era of two-way marketing communication.
I was able to build a full time business in part from the wealth of knowledge I gained for free from many of those same bloggers you so consistently deride. Yet they still have been compensated handsomely from the ads they run on their blogs.
It’s a system where everyone wins even though you don’t like it.
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Hey Bloke, Just because we are on wordpress and not on blogger, does that mean we can ignore all those great blogs on blogger:). I get annoyed having to comment on bloggers system but throughly enjoy reading their posts. You nailed it on the head.
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No cherries here Chris.
In fact the one who could be accused of cherry picking would be yourself because your interpretation is simplistic and out of context. The fact remains that no matter which source you look at all of the definitions state “pro” means a “Professional” or an “Expert” in a chosen field.
Of course a professional occupation expects to be paid, i.e. a Dr. or a Lawyer, but a professional who offers services pro-bono is still a professional regardless. And I resent your implication that I’m just a “hobbyist” blogger when in fact I probably fit the true definition of a “professional” more than most.
There’s a hell-of-a difference between legitimate business bloggers and sploggers. To accept your liberal interpretation would open the door to mean that every moronic splogger and spammer who wallpapers their blog with ads is a professional. I suppose you might also consider Kevin Trudeau of the late-night TV infomercial ilk to be a “professional” (as the Bloke rolls his eyes).
Hell, if anything goes then I guess I should just start selling my body (not that there would be any takers) or start a “professional” porn blog (with adsense of course).
Give me a break Chris. The fact remains that just making an income from blogging is NOT the point. Although a “professional” can make money, it is also about HOW you make the income (if you should happen to be making money from blogging).
BUT most importantly it is about your level of expertise. That is the true litmus test for a “professional” blogger. NOT if you just make an income from blogging.
With all due respect, your misguided attitude is exactly the problem because there are far too many Pro-Sploggers out there who have the same mentality and are ruining the blogosphere. Those friends that you mention are a big part of the problem because they are setting a bad example not stressing blog ethics and encouraging pro-sploggers to flourish out there.
Sorry Chris but that is completely NOT acceptable to this blogger.
As for you using your blog to leverage it into a full-time consulting business, I have no problem with that and in fact I applaud your efforts. I am bullishly pro-business-blogging so long as it is legitimate and perhaps you should read my blog(s) again because obviously you still don’t get my meaning.
I take great effort to explain my position in my posts and I’m surprised you still don’t get it. After all if I weren’t pro-business then why am I constantly being approached by respected business magazines to advertise (rhetorical question).
The bottom line is it’s the sleaze that I abhor. Blog Bloke will always be pro legitimate business. I hope that clarifies because frankly I’m weary of the so-called “pro-blogger” entourage twisting my words and accusing me of being anti-business. That’s utter nonsense and couldn’t be further from the truth.
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You’re a good man Curtis. We should continue supporting our Blogger friends and give them a gentle nudge once in awhile.
Thanks.
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Oh, I understand your intent, Bloke, your protestations to the contrary notwithstanding.
You just subscribe to an amusingly purist definition of blogger which runs something along the lines of “one who posts without ever running ads.”
By your standard Michael Jordan shouldn’t be considered a professional basketball player because he used his popularity on the court to make millions selling Nike’s. Nor should any NASCAR driver ever be considered a professional driver because they all have adds completely covering their cars & and even their driving jump suits.
Your standard simply doesn’t make real world sense.
Pulling up the straw man of sploggers is just an attempt to muddy the waters here and not on point. I don’t know anyone who defends that approach, least of all the very probloggers you so consistently deride.
I know because I follow those professional bloggers very closely. Of course they mostly publish full feeds, making it easy to keep up. And I don’t even see those ads you find so offensive from my feed reader.
Then again I might keep up with you better if you’d publish full feeds yourself.
Just a thought.
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Purist be darned. I don’t mind having a discussion with you Chris but do try to be sensible.
Take a good look at any definition you like and any reasonable person can see that making money is at best an incidental afterthought. Clearly you are speaking from a position of bias as a diehard friend of the pro-splog community, and no amount of reasoning can make you interested in a subject like ethics.
It’s been my experience that ethics always takes a backseat especially to those who are so driven to make money.
Neither do your examples have any merit or relevance to this discussion because if you read all my material you would know that I have no problem with advertisements so long as the blog content is of quality and original.
In fact it was you who boasted about not having ads on your blog, so perhaps you should be pointing the finger in your own direction. And the only amusement that I can see from all our conversations is that you obviously still don’t get it.
Regarding the full feeds issue that you bring up, you are obviously still subscribed to an old summary feed option that I once offered. I recommend that you update it immediately so you can read all of my content and fully understand where I’m coming from.
Nevertheless what we are supposed to be discussing here is the true definition of a “professional” blogger. That is all.
One last point. Although I appreciate you commenting please kindly keep your thoughts relevant to the topic. Please also keep in mind that personal attacks are not allowed on this blog which I think your comments are bordering on.
Not to worry though because I hear you loud and clear. In the blogosphere money talks and blog ethics walks.
Don’t I know it.
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Bloke, I strongly agree with everything you are saying. in my experience the major of probloggers offer almost nothing in the way of original material. When the only purpose for writing a blog is to advance some kind of commercial venture the content seems to be less than stellar.
Two blogs that I read regularly that are exceptions to the rule. Both are highly professional and both are apparently making a significant income from their blogs. But both are extremely entertaining. They are Confessions of a Pioneer Woman and Crabmommy. The world of problogging could learn a lot from these two women.
The argument over what defines a “professional” rages in almost every field of endeavor. The end result in most cases is that a profession will eventually institute a certification process to ensure that someone who calls themselves a professional this-or-that actually has the credentials to make that claim. I don’t see that happening in blogging for the obvious reasons. But there are a lot of folks out there making the claim of being professional that are anything but.
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Thanks Lee. It boggles the mind when those who are so obsessed with chasing the almighty dollar can’t see the light. No amount of reasoning seems to work with them.
I wouldn’t mind so much if they would go their merry way and stay beneath the cracks where they belong, but unfortunately there are numerous copycat bloggers who are in direct competition with my blog niche and leading a lot of unwary people down the wrong path.
So I feel that I have no choice but speak out. It’s something I’m passionate about and it can be frustrating to see so many UN-professional bloggers perverting the term for their own greed.
Like I said before I have no problem with making money by blogging, BUT like anything else there is a right way and a wrong way to do it. The word “Professional” should be a high standard for people to strive for like it was intended, NOT just simply any means to making money.
A reasonable person can understand that.
Cheers!
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I thought it might be a good idea to clarify where I’m coming from on the subject of blog ethics. You can trust me when I say there’s a lot more to this issue than first meets the eye.
Chris is friendly with the group that I wrote about and they have a history of only showing up when I write about the subject of blog ethics. He wrote another comment here that I had to delete because it was a personal attack against me which is against the TOS of this blog.
The pro-sploggers offer nothing of value to this community except only to make personal attacks against yours truly. I really don’t mind discussing the subject with anyone so long as it is kept civil. Frankly I’m fed up with them and from now on I will have to take a more heavy-handed approach.
So if I seem to have come across as being tough here I hope you understand and there is a long history of animosity over this subject.
The fact is my only beef with the pro-blogger crowd is the lack of ethics in their pursuit to make money. Certain leaders in the community have spawned a ton of sploggers out there and they never write about the subject of ethics. They have a responsibility to do so being in a position of influence, so every once in awhile I write a post to remind them until (hopefully) they will get it.
In the past I’ve tried using humor to get through their thick heads but nothing has worked. Business carries on as usual so perhaps a more direct approach is required.
I will continue to write about blog ethics no matter who it bothers and the hecklers will not silence me. My advice is if the subject really bothers them that much then perhaps they should start listening to their conscience instead of just the ring of the cash register.
It’s a subject that I’m passionate about and I think is necessary in the blog community. I’m not trying to mean, I’m just trying my best to clean up a very BIG problem.
Oh well, I thought you should know.
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When a writer reverts to personal attacks they know they don’t have a valid argument. The playground equivalent is to yell “you just a big poopy head” when a kid is losing an argument. The end result is always that meaningful dialogue ends and the opposing sides continue on thinking that they are each completely right. In the final analysis, there is always room to learn from those who hold opposing views. That can’t happen when you go on the attack.
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Well said Lee and you’re absolutely right. After losing an argument they cry foul and resort to character assassination. It’s so immature and happens every time.
I’ve come to expect this sort of thing every time I write on the subject of blog ethics. You think they would tire of it but they keep coming back for more. It’s also a reason why I have to moderate comments on this blog. I wish I didn’t have to but that is the reality I live with in the virtual world.
Most of my readers are timid folk and afraid to get involved and I sometimes feel like the lone voice crying in the wilderness. So I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your support Lee. Thanks.
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I’ve always been timid about referring to myself as a “photographer”. I guess because I did not make a living doing it or charge for it.
No more. From now on, I will give myself credit for all the years of work I have put into becoming knowledgeable of how to take a good photo. In fact, I could even teach it if I wanted to. Guess the same is true for bloggers.
Love ya, Teri
Tica Macha (Teri)’s last blog post..Manuel Antonio National Park
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Judging from the quality of your pics I would have to agree and call you a “professional” photographer. And you don’t even charge. You should be working for National Geographic!
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Who would have thought the world of Blogging was so convoluted? Man, but I’ve got a lot to learn.
Coming as a complete outsider into this whole thing, which implies, naturally, that I really don’t know what I’m talking about, but which also implies that I have no bias towards one position or the other…
Ethics are a given. You can’t just regurgitate other people’s material without citations or references. I have no qualms quoting other people, but it’s never more than a citation, ie, if I’m going to quote their entire post as the content of my own, I’m going to just put up a link to their post if I think my readership (such as it is) would find it interesting.
What strikes me here though, is this notion that prominence (ill begotten or otherwise) implies a social responsibility to set a standard or to urge towards furthering some social cause or the other (in this case, blogging ethics).
I’ve always found the notion unsavory that if I happen to be successful or prominent, I owe society some say in how I behave, or what I should do.
I’d be willing to go so far as to say that people in prominence should not detract from society, and not encourage negatives as we define them…
But there’s no requirement that one must be a model citizen or that one must work towards positive change if one happens to be so gifted with prominence.
The Raconteur’s last blog post..Conquering Trackbacks: The Raconteur Victorious
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Hi Raconteur
Prominent bloggers who are in position of influence and making money off us at least have a responsibility to set an example don’t you think. I certainly think so.
Without standards in the world of literature or the arts where would that leave us?
It’s not a matter of shoving my values down another. Like you said, “ethics are a given”, or at least it should be.
Thanks for dropping by.
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My kneejerk reaction is to agree with you. But looking at it from a different angle, I’m going to have to disagree.
The thing with such expectations is that, you look at the impact, both to the subject and to the persons that subject is supposed to provide an example for.
If someone, I’d argue, were the sort to lead by (good) example, they’d be doing it already. If they’re the sort of people that don’t set good examples, and do it because it’s -expected- of them… well, I don’t have a lot of faith in what example someone like that, with insincere motives, would be able to set in the long run.
I don’t think there would be much benefit from such a thing.
On the other hand, there’s human nature. If I engage in a selfless act of any sort, I do it for two things, one, because I feel it’s a good thing to do, and consequently, two, it makes me feel good about myself.
There might be some that do it for attention or image, but that goes back to the other argument, and I’m not referring to those folks here.
But what I might be willing to do, wanting to do even, out of the goodness of my heart… I might not be willing to do if it were, instead of something that I wished to do, something that was demanded of me.
That might turn off, the idea of, ‘How dare you not contribute to this charity’, for example, turn off a lot of people, myself included.
Just a ramble.
And thank you, sir, for an excellent blog, without which… well, newbies like me would likely still be googling without much success.
The Raconteur’s last blog post..Re: The Raconteur Bible - What About the JWs?
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Naturally we can’t force anyone to be ethical. I also agree that some people can’t even understand the topic let alone want to adhere to it. On the other hand it is also my right to discuss the problem and to point to those who are the worst offenders. After all, how will change come about if it is not first put on the table for discussion?
Anyhow, thank you for dropping by and joining the discussion. Thanks also for the kind comments about this blog. Do come back again soon.
Cheers!
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Oh! Wonderful job!
Very good and actual post.
Thx, your blog in my RSS reader now
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