William Jacobson, full-time professor and part-time blogger, imparted his start-up story to 17 pairs of eager ears. Jacobson writes a conservative blog called Legal Insurrection, somewhat contrasting to the largely liberal Ithaca community.
Nevertheless, despite his opinions and political views, his story is similar to many other bloggers worldwide. After deciding to start his blog and then setting up a Blogger account, Jacobson ran into his first problem. "How do I get people to come to my blog?" His is a niche blog, conservative views with a legal edge, so he had to reach out to that specific community. Once established, it's like a club. People will link to you, you will link back to them. It is the game of give and take in the blogosphere.
Jacobson quickly realized the importance of consistency in his postings. The news cycle nowadays is fast and ever-changing. In order to keep people interested, you have to give them something to read and it better be interesting and relative. That is the only way to get the repeat customers that will keep a blog alive.
After quite a bit of thought, and some encouragement from last semester's Independent Media class, Jacobson switched his layout. Legal Insurrection is now it's own URL, although you will be redirected from the blogspot.com site. This was one of Jacobson's most business saavy decisions. He constructed the layout, decided the features he wanted, all with ample room for ads. His strategically placed 'donate' button shows his softball approach.
He could find other higher paying ad companies or ask for larger donations. He could slip a donation plea into his posts. But Jacobson is about the content.
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