How does Kelly Sonora make money?
I, and many other procurement bloggers, have just received an email from Kelly Sonora informing us that we’ve made the top 100 list:
Hi Doug,
We just posted an article, “Top 100 Blogs For Small-Business Cost Cutting Inspiration” (http://www.webdesignschoolsguide.com/library/top-100-blogs-for-small-business-cost-cutting-inspiration.html). I thought I’d bring it to your attention in case you think your readers would find it interesting.
I am happy to let you know that your blog has been included in this list.
Either way, thanks for your time!
Kelly Sonora
The link takes you to a list of procurement and cost saving / efficiency blogs. The site itself appears to be a search engine for web design schools. It carries no advertising.
A blog search for Kelly Sonora turns up another email to thefantasyblogger.com, a fantasy football site, saying that Kelly has compiled a list of the top 100 armchair quarterback blogs. The site appears to be a search engine for sports management colleges and seems to sit on the same code base as the web design school search engine. Curiously, the linked article was written not by Kelly Sonora but by Kelly Kirkpatrick (leading me to speculate that Kelly Sonora married, changed her name to Kirkpatrick, and has now sadly divorced Mr Kirkpatrick and returned to her maiden name).
A blog search for Kelly Kirkpatrick and Kelly Sonora turns up over 70 references to lists ranging from inspiring lectures, space and astronomy, ancient history, chick lit, libertarianism, iphones, food, mental health, Christian relationships, positive thinking and my personal favorite:
Kelly Sonora presents Beyond Blood Diamonds: 5 Other Products That Are Soaked in Violence posted at Organicasm.
Curiously, this article appears to be written not by Kelly Sonora but by Jessica Merritt (leading me to speculate that Kelly, distraught from her recent divorce, has opted for an entirely new identity – however she still can’t kick her compulsion to create and post lists online).
Jessica is particularly prolific. Adding her name to our blog search now returns 150 results.
How does creating lists and driving traffic to sites without click-through advertising generate revenue for Kelly, Kelly and Jessica (or perhaps more accurately “Kelly”, “Kelly” and “Jessica”)?
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Well, according to the site, it is maintained by “Tuckers Crossing”. A search for such turns up over 14,000 hits – including a large number about “subdivisions”. Trying to narrow down with “web development” turns up nothing of relevance.
A WhoIs search says the domain is owned by one James McIver in Kingwood, Texas.
A search through the search tool takes you to “searchschoolsnetwork.com”, owned by QuinStreet, Inc and, according to WhoIs, registered in VA.
Maybe, Kelly, and her alter-ego Jessica, who are both addicted to creating lists for no discernible reason, talked their new boyfriend, owner of Tuckers Crossing “Web Design” (a company with no discernible web presence) into paying them to create content for his search engine, because content-heavy sites get high Google Rankings, and that’s the only way any of his sites are going to be found.
Does it make any sense? Not really, but, as you pointed out, it doesn’t make much sense as it is.
Hi Doug,
Both Kellys are fictional, created for privacy reasons by my employer.
I’m the writer of the cost-cutting blog post that you reference-I hope you enjoyed it! The blood diamond one is mine as well.
As for the business model, I encourage you to take a closer look. Click through advertising is just one of the ways to monetize a website.
All the best,
Jessica Merritt
Hi Jessica,
Thanks for the response. Let me say at the outset that I am fan of your work. The breadth of topics that you and your colleagues cover is impressive and your writing style is clear and concise. I’m interested in how your company monetises your work. Can you describe it further?