So the person who writes the Weblogs channel for About.com recently created a blog network which she is mashing up with B5 media.

Whenever there is a new launch of any sorts it is bound to take some criticism from competitors and onlookers, but this is a way for mutual gain by leveraging authority and distribution. The fact that New York Times owns About.com also grants more authority to those blogging there.

I think some people forget how new the web medium is. Beyond how new it is as a whole it has only recently got easy enough for just about anyone to be able to profit from it. Combine that with

• the social nature of blogs
• the tracking and feedback tools that come along with them
• the ease of link acquisition with running a well read channel
• search engines like Google getting smarter at looking at unnatural linkage paterns
• search engines like Google tuning up the duplicant content filters to the point that it kills off the business model of many empty shell affiliate feed and product database type sites
• the ability to leverage Google’s advertising base & other contextual programs like Chitika

and it starts to make a bit more sense why everyone and their dog is quickly trying to put themself atop some sort of channel driven network.

You don’t have to be a good salesman if you can get an audience. All you need is the audience and the targeting is moreless automated.

Recently NickW launched Performancing, which will surely be a stellar site about how to make money from blogs. This post by Andy really highlights how much profit potential there is on the web.

I spent most of today screwing with information architecture of a clients empty shell merchant site, knowing eventually it will lose marketshare and profitability to someone who makes their site social / a cause. I would much rather be out linkbaiting somewhere.