Loading...I’ve spent the past day or so thinking about the Blog. By many standards I think it is going very well. As I’ve pointed out on numerous occasions, we managed to raise $37,000 last year for the charities that the blog supports, all of them dealing with hunger and homelessness. If we do that for a number of years – we’re talking some serious money! Most of that amount came from membership fees; a good chunk came from extra donations, some of them extraordinarily generous. I anticipate that we will have an even higher total this year, although it is yet to be seen. In any event, we are slightly ahead of where we were last year at this point.
But I never seem satisfied! Maybe it’s my driven personality. But I wonder how we can do better. Much better.
Some things we simply can’t do *more* of. I already post about six times a week, and I try to mix up what I do: some posts are “public interest” items (like O’Reilly or that crazy mythicist Atwill); some are “answers to readers”; some are just issues related to Christianity in Antiquity that I’m thinking about/teaching/doing research on/ etc. Even though I can’t do any more than this, I wonder how we can do better.
Why, for example, shouldn’t the blog have *ten times* as many members? Why shouldn’t we raise $370,000 a year? What’s holding us back? My problem is that I also can’t think of how to pull it off!
We do constantly get new members. As you might expect, when I post something controversial or of broad interest – e.g., on O’Reilly and his Holy Ghost Writer (as Colbert calls him) – is when the membership goes up significantly (more than when I post on something else). But I can’t *always* be posting on controversial topics, both because there aren’t that many to go around and because I want the blog to have some *substance* as well as glitter.
In some ways the biggest part of the problem is that as we get new members (usually it is about 4-5 a day, which is *great*) we appear to be losing old members as well, as they choose not to renew their membership (which is definitely *not* great!). And so while the money keeps coming in, it is not at the rate we could hope for.
And so I’m wondering what we can do both to get more numbers and to *keep* those we have. Whatever it is needs to be something that does not take any more time or effort (since, well, I have neither to spare!)
If anyone has bright ideas, feel free to pass them along. Even if they’re ones you’ve tried on me before! And please, encourage everyone you know – family, friends, acquaintances, sworn enemies, members of Congress, everyone you know – to join up!
Moreover, and just as important, anyone who is so inclined, please feel free to make additional donations to the Bart Ehrman Foundation. Every dime goes to charities dealing with hunger and homelessness; donations encourage all of us to continue with keeping up this blog as well as we can, with as much energy as we can; and all donations are fully tax-deductible.
Here’s an almost certainly not-doable idea : have a Platinum Level membership that would allow the viewing of your Great Courses Lectures .
I think one thing that would help, is to make the blog a little bit more of a topical resource. An easier way to navigate the blog posts by subject matter, and perhaps with that, links to other sources as well to help readers become well-rounded on the evidence cited. And as with many readers of blogs, graphics are nice as well. We don’t always have long attention spans. In particular, I’d love to see more charts, maps, etc, that enhance the subject being discussed. It doesn’t have to be with every post, but that kind of thing is always great for visual learners like me.
Also, to gain more readership, advertising is key, and one way to do that is by participating with other blogs out there as appropriate to the subject matter.
Lastly, I think some technical tweaking is needed to streamline the member vs non-member reading. When a non-member reads the post, it should be an effortless sign-up process to both continue reading and join the blog. Same thing for members when for example clicking the non-member link from a FB page, it can sometimes be a navigational pain to get to the member version.
Those are my off the cuff thoughts.
I just want to take this opportunity to thank you for the great work you’ve done! I just subscribed for my second year. The first exceeded my expectations tenfold.
You queried about bright ideas regarding increasing money/membership. Anyway, here’s one possibility. Next book invite yourself back on Stewart’s and Colbert’s show and tell them god told you to write the book. Simple, What the hell, maybe 60 Minutes will give you an interview, too.
(Ever consider a FOX news interview? I didn’t think so.)
Just a thought: The few times I’ve taken a casual glance at your “Religion in the News” category, there was nothing in particular there – even though interesting things *were* going on (such as the new Pope’s sayng things that might or might not imply doctrinal changes). Maybe it would be a good idea, sometimes, to really discuss “religion in the news”?
I’m only mentioning it because you asked for suggestions – I love the blog, just as it is! And by the way, your textbook’s praise of the Book of Ruth (which I’d hated in my youth, probably because of certain personal issues) induced me to read it again. And at this distance in time, I can recognize that Naomi isn’t taking advantage of her widowed daughter-in-law, and Ruth’s going with her could be perceived as admirable.
OK, thanks!
I agree with your view about Atwell. I am annoyed when so-called historians jump on the “Jesus didn’t exist bandwagon”. But one thing struck me in a review I read ,of one of his books . To what extent did any of the authors of the Gospels have had access to Josephus? It seems plausible that there are some correlations between Josephus and the Gospels? I am thinking of Joseph of Arimathea. Thank you, and I hope I am not asking you to go “slumming”.
My sense is that they were writing before Antiquities, and didn’t have access to Jewish Wars.
Hi Bart,
I’m a huge fan of your work, and I think it’s great that you’re using this blog to raise money for charity. So I want you to know everything I say in this comment, I say because I want you to succeed.
The first thing you need to realize is that making money writing online is hard. Very hard. I have a paid blogging gig on the Patheos network’s atheist portal, but I and my fellow bloggers at Patheos get paid on pageviews and most of us will never get enough pageviews to blog full-time. JT Eberhard is full-time, but I think he’s the only one of us on the atheist portal who is. I know I would be absolutely thrilled to be able to make $37,000 a year blogging. Making $370,000 a year is probably not realistic.
I mean, Andrew Sullivan has raised over $650,000 in subscription revenue in this year, but he’s a blogging superstar, doing it full-time (rather than as a supplement to a teaching gig), and has full-time staff he has to pay. It’s safe to say he’s not taking home even half that $650k for himself, much less $370k/year in excess of what he needs to live on which he can then give to charity. His initial goal for his first year of moving to a subscription-based model was $900k, and he’s said he does not expect to reach it (because new subscriptions tapered off rapidly after the initial burst of sign-ups).
One thing you should ask yourself is whether you’d be better off making your blog free, treating it as a way to promote your books, and committing to donating a larger percentage of your book royalties to charity. That’s a more common business model for bloggers who also write books, and it’s common because it works (or at least, works better than the alternatives. )
Thanks for your ideas. If the blog was free, it wouldn’t make any money; if it didn’t make any money, I wouldn’t be doing it!!
The blog is going great and has a great balance of “public interest items,” personal anecdotes, scholarly work, summary blogs, etc. You also often personally respond to comments. Just keep going. I have no idea why anyone would not renew his/her membership. I still think it would be okay if you blogged a couple of times per week rather than six times per week. You expect way too much of yourself, but maybe that is why you have been so productive. I would be thrilled to have just written your New Testament textbook. For you, on the other hand, that is just one of many, many projects. You have no idea what it means to us to have so much of early Christianity explained so clearly and in such volume.
Ah, hit “send” before finishing my comment. Continuing…
I know you’ve talked about wanting to have a portion of your work that’s specifically charity work, but if the charity work is really what you care about, you should do whatever will raise the most money for that, which may be “make the blog free, donate more book proceeds to charity.”
Note that it isn’t just the initial cost that will keep readers away from your blog as long as you stay on the subscription model. Frankly, between Facebook, Twitter, e-mail, etc. etc. I just have too many username/password combinations to remember. Even though I love your blog’s content, this issue had had me thinking I would not resubscribe to your blog once my current subscription expired. Keeping readers away in this manner interferes with your ability to use the blog to sell books.
Finally, even if you stick with the subscription-based model, you may want to look at getting someone to improve the layout of the blog. For example, if I click on a “members only” post and log in, it should take me straight to the original post I had been planning on reading. I shouldn’t have to hunt for the link. Such are another factor in why I’ve been considering not renewing my subscription.
Best,
Chris
Why do you have to hunt for a link? It is the first one given on the list to the right of your screen?
If all of the members “shared” the partial postings we get on Facebook, we could get these “teasers” in front of a much greater audience, especially if we make an accompanying comment on the entire posting. For example, only 39 people have “shared” this posting as I write. I know more of us than that have read it.
Bart, I’ve said this once before and I’ll say it again. I think a good idea would be to start a twitter account for this blog. It wouldn’t be much work at all. All you’d need to do is to tweet links to your preview posts for non-members….just like you already do on facebook. You may wonder why I mention Twitter. Well, I think Twitter is becoming the preferred social media of choice over facebook. Twitter certainly couldn’t hurt the blog.
Thanks! I’ll look into it.
Agreed, especially for informational news. I like the Twitter feed better for finding interesting links to articles I might like.
I like the mix of your content. I think you might be able to exploit your readership a bit more. I see a lot of good stuff in the comments but since it seems that you have to approve each one, there’s no real discussion going on. I don’t know if you have a problem with spam or inappropriate comments but if there were a way to open it up a bit more, without making extra work for you, that could make it a bit livelier.
Thanks. I’ll look into this.
I like the model that the Joseph Campbell Foundation uses. Included in membership fees are usually some digital lectures: audio or video. It’s fairly easy to maintain since there is nothing to mail – it’s all online. I’ve been a member there for about 10 years.
I suppose the problem is that my lectures are already available on youtube.
Your question is a good one. I think I’ve already spoken to you about this in the past. I am also starting a website that helps highlight small and medium companies that are socially responsible. The challenge is twofold: produce great content (something that you have no problems with!) and then have that content easily accessible. The site isn’t always intuitive.
I’ve been a member of your site since its inception and I’ve been able to follow along pretty well. My personal experience is that sometimes the subject material is not to my liking. So, when I see that a series of the same topic is going to come along, I unconsciously tune out. A couple of days turn into weeks and then I come back to the site when I see something compelling on a Facebook post. And then I’m hooked again until the cycle is repeated. Maybe other members have had a similar experience.
The answer then is to have a blog where you can see “other” content. It’s the same content but packaged differently: Most Popular (most views), Most Commented, Bart Ehrman’s Top 10, etc. There are many permutations. You can also have contests and quizzes about past posts (don’t make it complicated—it’s not a university exam!) that can win prizes (Free autographed books). There should be a way to be able to save your favorite posts, and maybe follow the more interesting users on the site (there are some users who really “get it” and make some really good comments and ask relevant questions). There are many ideas and your hope is to keep the person “clicking away” on the site even if the daily topic is not of particular interest.
You responded to me once that you don’t have time for that type of thing. That is 100% understandable considering how busy you are. Unfortunately, there is no other way but to re-think the way the content is offered. If you want the masses to join, then you have to build something to interest the masses. It’s regrettable, but in this day and age of easy access to information, user experience is king. My site is learning that the hard way!
Interesting ideas! Thanks!
It IS the Internet. Have you considered “Naked Bart Picture Tuesdays?” It probably wouldn’t take as long as writing that day’s entry.
Yeah, *that* would scare off some users.
One thing that could be driving off old subscribers is that the site is annoying to navigate. In particular,
1) There should be a way to get the full members feed without the non-member posts.
2) If you try to go to a member post but aren’t logged in, after you log in you should go to that post rather than getting an error page.
3) There should be a link from the non-member version of each post to the member version. Currently it’s very difficult to search for old content because google sends you to the non-members page and then it’s hard to find the members page.
OK, thanks. I’ll look into this.
I second all three of nsnyder’s ideas for improvement, as they have all been annoyances I have run into at one time or another… Cheers!
> 1) There should be a way to get the full members feed without the non-member posts.
> 2) If you try to go to a member post but aren’t logged in, after you log in you should go to
> that post rather than getting an error page.
> 3) There should be a link from the non-member version of each post to the member version.
> Currently it’s very difficult to search for old content because google sends you to the
> non-members page and then it’s hard to find the members page.
Thanks — we’re working on some of these already.
Suggestions:
1) Can the blog send out emails of new posts to subscribers (full article) and non-subscribers (just first para)? Otherwise people have to remember to check out latest posts.
2) Divide your articles into 3 classes – open to everyone, open to standard subscribers, open to premium subscribers. Current subscribers are “premium” ones – can read any article. Standard subscribers pay much lower fee e.g. US$5. This will entice readers with tight budgets.
3) Offer 3-month, 6-month, 12-month, 24-month subscriptions
4) Allow subscribers to subscribe to email posts (different from the free-standard-premium classes) by categories e.g. some people may be more interested in those relating to the NT, some to early Christianity, others to historical Jesus, the gospels, Bart’s personal musings, etc. Each post needs to be categorised. hence this reduces number of emails arriving in their inbox.
5) Attract sponsorship from The Teaching Company, and other educational company, amazon (e.g. books purchased via links on the blog earns a fee; blog posts should have links in the post)
6) Everyone who first creates a user account get free membership for 3 months, and then automatically charged for subsequent 6 months. The big step to casual readers i to get them to follow the blog in the first place. Maybe many will then become hooked.
Thanks for the suggestions! Apparently there are technical problems with #1 involving the # of emails that a site can send out without begin in danger of being labeled a spam site…. I’ll think about the others.
Regarding #1, one way to reduce the number of emails is send out a Digest email once a week – with the title of the posts over past week, with first couple of lines of the post – just like newspaper digest. Users can opt for daily digest, weekly digest, or monthly. All users – subscribers & nonsubscribers get the digest. Right now, only dedicated readers would check your blog daily. The blog’s associated Facebook page shows latest posts on my Facebook newsfeed, but they are easy to miss.
Interesting idea! I’ll look into it.
How about making some form of online degree available to members or just people on your Facebook page? People could pay whatever fee you suggest for a semester and complete homework on topics pertaining to the new testament and the books you write. You could have current students at Chapel Hill grade the work and the fee would go to charity, $500, $1000, whatever you set?
The degree would be for the users own gratification and nothing else. It would have no real value in the academic world but would help educate the lay person who has a real interest in the subject but does not have the time to learn Aramaic, Hebrew, Greek or Latin.
I’m a restaurant manager working 50 hours a week who has a real interest in your work on the history of the New Testament and the Historical Jesus, but my schedule will never allow me to take course at an actual college and I would jump at the chance to learn more on the subject while working around my busy schedule.
Interesting idea!
Dr. Ehrman,
Why not invite a guest to write one of your posts each week. It could be another well respected scholar who has similar points of view to yours, or one who sees things a bit differently. It could be one of your former or current students who intrigues you, or even a “so called” scholar who’s opinions drive you nuts, and all us members could take him on! It could be someone different every week (or month). At first it might be a bit of extra work to track down guest writers, but eventually they’d be lining up to do it. It would help lure more interested minds into the fold, and would also give you a day off!
P.S. Speaking of days off, “Happy Thanksgiving” today to any of my fellow Canadians who are members of your blog (we celebrate ours in October). Thanks Dr. Ehrman. Love all your books and your blog!
Yeah, you know I’ve tried this and only one of the scholars I’ve asked has been interested in doing it!!
I would suggest having a Bart Ehrman Foundation page that includes a running tally of how much money has gone to the different charities for this year and as a cumulative total. This page would include the names of the charities and description of their work promoting their accomplishments. I know you want to give some to North Carolina local charities but the emphasis may need to be more on national and international charities because that is where your readers are.
I shall gladly renew my subscription. However, what about a better index to the articles? As it is now, i frequently search for old entries browsing the calender months, and keeping track of interesting stuff using bookmarks. Is it very hard/expensive to implement a topical index ?
Yup, great idea. I’m working on it!
One other complaint regarding website design – this business of having two versions of every post, one for members and one for non-members. At minimum, the non-members version should always have a prominently-displayed link to the members version, so I don’t have to hunt for it. Ideally, though, it the site would take you there automatically if it notices you’re signed in, or even have 1 page that displays differently based on whether or not you’re signed in.
I don’t understand why you have to hunt for the members version. Isn’t it listed on the right side of the page, at the very top? Why would you be going to the non-members’ version at all? (Sorry — I really don’t understand what you’re seen on your screen!)
The right hand sidebar only has recent posts. This is a problem for when I’m trying to find an old post.
For example, I recently tried to find something I’d remembered you writing about the martyrdom of the disciples supposedly proving the resurrection. I Googled it, and Google took me to the non-member version. The right-hand sidebar had no link to the member version, because it was no longer a “recent post.”
Ah, I see what you mean now. Yes, we’re starting to work to provide a massive recategorization of all the posts to make searching easier. But for now, don’t Google! There is a search engine on the blog itself: upper right hand corner (magnifying glass). Just search for the key word and you’ll get a number of relevant posts. For now!
This blog is doing extremely well relatively speaking.
What you need, I think, is simply more exposure. If more people knew about the blog, more people would sign up. A lot of your readers simply don’t know about it. You’ve done a great job enticing those who know about the blog, just need more people to know about it!
Possible ways you can increase exposure:
-Mention the blog in one or more of your future trade books (I’m not sure if your publisher would allow this or how/where exactly you would do this…). But it would no doubt generate numbers.
-Every time you are given an opportunity to talk about suffering in the Bible or your God’s Problem book in an interview or lecture, mention your blog and its purpose.
-When people introduce you when you speak and if they ask you for information (I don’t know if they ever do this!) — ask them to mention your blog and its purpose.
Great ideas! thanks!
If you agree to share your knowledge about the role of women in the early church in a documentary about women in the church and home, I’ll renew my membership. Well, to be honest, I’ll probably renew regardless. My wife and I enjoy your books and your blog tremendously. We’re reading God’s Problem out loud to each other – not at the same time, we take turns!
Dear Dr. Ehrman,
The paleoanthropologist John Hawks has a deal with Amazon where he gets a percentage of any sales in which the customer has reached Amazon through a link that Hawks put on his website. Rather than go directly to Amazon, I often use Hawks’s portal. The details are on the right-hand side of his website: http://johnhawks.net/weblog
With very best regards,
John Dash
Fairport, NY
Interesting idea. Thanks!
I was just looking at your speaking engagements and it occurred to me that perhaps you could have “A Day with Bart Ehrman” hosted by the Bart Ehrman Foundation. Universities have off time between semesters and in the summer when perhaps once a year you could use one of the small auditoriums professor use for large classes for a lecture followed by a question and answer period before lunch, a two hour break for lunch, then a second lecture and question and answer period. For this you would charge $100. You would promote that the point is raising money for the needy. 100 people at $100 would be a fair amount.
Unfortunately I have no idea how many people would respond but it wouldn’t have to be limited to blog members. Maybe you could shame friends into joining you so that you don’t have to do all the speaking. There could be a book table and autograph session where you would shame your publishers into donating proceeds to the Foundation. Go for broke and have a luncheon with people who donate $250.
The point of course would be the question and answer periods which would allow people to interact with you and ask you questions that interest them. And just like the blog, the charge would limit people to those who are seriously interested in your work in Christian origins.
Interesting idea!
Do you inform your freshers students about your blog at start of the term?
Yup! Some are on it!
WordPress is a little outdated only with respect to the Thumbs Up and Thumbs Down icon. Get those and this blog would have a significant “bell and whistle.”
Second, I would think you’ve travelled to important Biblical sites (when it was not dangerous to be there). Post a picture every now and then. I know you study the New Testament and you’re not an archaeologist, so you may not have the best pictures.
However, Third, clips from National Geography videos, History Channel videos, might be nice additions. I know you say some of your best work was left on the cutting room floor but video pizzazz is cool. For example, one of my dreams is to go to the museum of York because I’m thinking there may be good art history regarding Constantine. I’d like to get to the British Museum since I write about the Post-Rosetta Stone Perspective of Understanding the Bible. (You did not spice up your From Jesus to Constantine lecture with any slides from the Museum of York. How about a movie clip of Constantine riding his horse across Europe? (I read Constantine the Great by G.P. Baker. I’m remembering something he wrote. Historian G. P. Baker (1879-1951) is the author of Hannibal, Augustus, Sulla the Fortunate, and Tiberius Caesar. )
Let us know your favorite book/books on Constantine.
I suppose my favorite is Constantine’s Sword.
Why not have member only contests, like lunch with Bart, or a hour with Bart, as a way to promote membership? You could have the giveaway once a year to encourage people to renew, maybe you get one entry for each year you are a member. Love the blog but I only found out about it recently, do you reference it in all of your books?
Great idea!
Bart.
Sorry; I have no advice on how to improve the site! I think it’s excellent, and I’m often surprised, when I go back to check on some detail of a particular subject, by the amount of helpful information, on a range of topics, that you’ve managed to make available. I would like to see a little bit more on the historical Jesus, but I realize how many different areas of CIA you get questions on….and there are only so many hours in the day!
Could I make one suggestion that I think might be useful to users of this site (it’s not to do with improving the site per se)?
From time to time, I see comments about NT scholars such as you or JD Crossan….I’m sure you know the kind I’m talking about….y’know, that you are “not historians”. The people who make such comments seem to think that your training is more akin to the training that a linguist or something would go through, or that you are theologians; they don’t seem to have the first clue as to the breadth of knowledge that you’ve had to acquire in order to reach the position that you have in a reputable university.
I’m not asking you to write a refutation of such silliness (I’m quite sure you’re long past the point of paying attention to such tripe), but I wonder would it be a good idea for you, maybe on a day that you’re not in the mood for anything heavy{!}, to give an outline of all the training you go thru’ and the areas in which you’ve had to become an expert, e.g. 1st C Palestine, the early Church, or the historical Jesus, so that it can be easily demonstrated that the term ‘historian’ is perfectly apt.
I know you’ve probably given such details ‘here and there’ in different posts, but it would great to have all the information in one place….and maybe you could make it available to subscribers and non-subscribers alike.
Sorry for the length of the comment.
Yeah, I have to say, those comments are aggravating. But they’re made by people who must not have ever read my scholarship, cause if it ain’t history, then I don’t know what it is!!!
Not directly related to your request, but you may want to check out his series of posts on “The Work of a Professional Scholar.” Provides insight as to what Bart does and has done as a scholar.
I think a good way to keep old members would be to show (on the philanthropy page) in more the detail the impact of their membership in regards to charity. I believe that would be very rewarding and motivating. I have to add, though, that this blog is very intellectually enriching and that alone is a reason to keep participating.
Dr. Erman,
As a new member and avid fan of your work, it infuriates me that it took so long for me to do the right kind of search to lead me here to your blog. I can only imagine all of the amazing things I have missed. I’m not offering advice on an approach here; just offering a short breakdown of the staeholders who may have an interest in your blog, and may continue to support it with the right incentives. First, there are those of us who have been raised Christian and are beginning to explore our misgivings about what we have been taught. What you might term “truth seekers” who are trying to understand and discover what is true and accurate.
Then you have the atheists and agnostics who have found a valuable resource in your work; since it certainly does challenge some popular religious notions and give them tools for debating Christians. What both of these first two stakeholder groups have in common is an interest in having a resource for debate. Organizing links to the appropriate information would make this blog an invaluable resource for both groups.
But you may want to also consider the third stakeholder group to have an interest in your blog: Those who want to argue against you. Namely Christians, who may come here seeking to argue with your conclusions but may be enticed to stay if given the right incentives. A deciding factor for them will probably be creating an atmosphere of acceptance of all points of view regarding spirituality, while maintaining the integrity of the information you present. As you have said, even people who know everything that you know are still able to maintain their faith sometimes.
My one suggestion would be to facilitate open debate among members by introducing a debate forum. You can utilize some of the members who have been here the longest, or who may know your work better than others, as moderators. This shouldn’t require any more of you than to check in occasionally with your moderators, or comment if you feel like it. I want to offer you my deepest thanks for sharing your life’s work with us common folk. It is scholars such as yourself who have the opportunity to change the course of human events by making your work accessible to everyone.