If I do link or mention other Yakezie members in my posts or tweets it’s because I liked their content, nothing to do with their affiliation.

I’m focusing on the valued added and monetization of my blog. If other members like and comment in my blog, then I’ve achieved my purpose. Being in Yakezie isn’t my purpose, nor do I think for most of the other members.

I believe the relationship is interdependance, so not it’s not a ponzi scheme. Both parties are getting something out of it.

I think your valuation of personal finance blogs and Yakezie are a little extreme. While I think it’s silly to valuate a blog at 4x annual revenue in most cases, 1 or 2 annual earnings for any small business is very typical. So to state it’s a bubble is silly, even if you don’t believe in the revenue model. 

There are many successful businesses that rely on advertising as a sole source of revenue. Yes as I’ve stated on my own blog Google can be a PITA with their SEO changes, but that’s one of the risks in this area. With any business you must identify the risks and minimize them. As the buyer of a web site you must understand these risks otherwise you are the “greater fool” and deserve exactly what you get.

For example, there was recently a blog sold on flippa.com for $5500 related to Lending Club:

https://flippa.com/2698026-764-last-30-days-adsense-affiliate-site-passive-income-1-no-reserve

I personally would never buy this blog as the income period was too short, and the web site IMHO qualifies as “spammy” Eventually the site will get hit by Google in their SEO updates. Even though this blog is ranked higher than mine in some keywords. So the site really adds little value to a vistor, and the buyer is taking a big risk recouping his money. This is unlike many of the other PF bloggers who focus purely on the content.

It is possible to make a living out a blog and actually be very good at it IMHO. I won’t state my exact income from my own blog, but I can assure you most individuals could live off the profit alone.

Though like writing in general, you won’t make much money writing your heart out. A blog is a means to an end, not an end in itself. Meaning in the end your blog should be selling some service or product. I see many bloggers without a purpose to their site, or talk about anything on their blog. It’s fine if you are doing it as an open journal and hobby; awful as a business model. 

So you have two extreme sides of blogging. Ones who are really SEO driven generate decent income but content is poor, and then others who focus on content but generate little income. A successful blog IMHO is a mixture of the two, though most PF blogs fall into the the latter category.

Many blogs I see are really just that – hobbies. Keep in mind most never owned a business and it’s a learning process for them. I commend anyone who’s taken the time and effort to really keep working at their blog and have started from nothing. They need guidance, and I do think Yakezie does help in this respect. It’s others helping others learn the ropes about how to great an online presence.

The eventual goal for a blog though is you should be selling a product or service. Maybe not at first, someone else’s eventually or your own product/service. If you aren’t selling your own product, then you are doing arbitrage via the affiliate links and ad banners. Just like in investing, arbitrage can be very profitable if you know what you are doing. You are still adding value to your web site visitors.

In looking around in Yakezie and other non Yakezie PF blogs I think many are under very monetized. Hell Sam himself has stated his own blog, which gets a lot of hits, gets only $2/CPM! In the PF blogosphere you should be doing at LEAST $10/CPM. I believe Mike from the Financial Blogger sees it this way and why he’s buying other blogs for such high multiples. Meaning if it generates little income to it’s full potential sure he’ll offer 48 x monthly revenue, because the revenue is small! It can be said Mike is a value investor buying companies with unreasonably low Earnings.

Finally, Sam and I disagree on a lot of things and without question can rub people the wrong way. My main beef with him is the secretiveness of his life (ie like what exactly does he do for a living) and at times makes me wonder if he’s full of BS. 

This is because he’ll reveal or boast about some aspects in his life and then be removed in other areas. Then will privately ask questions to me or other PF bloggers and expecting to get a direct answer (ie how much money do you make?) Bottom line, if you are asking personal questions about me, then I expect you to “show yours” also. Otherwise buzz off!

Some of it might be puffing himself up, while some of it might be true. There is an old cartoon that once said “On the Internet, nobody knows you’re a dog”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Internet,_nobody_knows_you're_a_dog

Meaning people can make up all sorts of crazy shit about themselves. You have to always look at the source, their overall trustworthiness, and possible motive. A perfect example of this is Internet Marketer John Chow who lied on his monthly income statements. 

So always take what anyone says with a grain of salt, unless you know their overall history how much they reveal about themselves. Everyone is trying to one up someone else and make themselves appear to be better than others. This isn’t just in the PF space but life in general.

Do I think Yakezie is a ponzi scheme no. Do I think it adds value to others yes, in some cases. Is it perfect model of an online community? No but no community with as many people can have unity.