Business 2.0 revealed a story today written by Paul Sloan and Paul Kaihla called Blogging for big bucks. At first I cringed when I read the headline because too much hype around blogs and making money soured the typical small business marketer from looking into the medium.

The article, however, is a great overview of how bloggers have become serious (legitimate) media players, the measure of which is the amount of mainstream ad revenue flowing into them. This new media is no longer a “hot” new play, but a part of the overall marketing mix that makes sense for an advertiser in terms of ROI.

The article profiles some of the biggest names in blogging, most anyone who follows the blogosphere won’t be surprised with who gets named, but it’s the way they are named, that I find interesting. It’s no longer, get rich quick doing the hottest fad, it’s, wow, look at the media model these folks have built by combing hard work, open mindedness and a dash of luck. (That last sentence was my opinion.)

My friend and mentor (he may not know that’s what he is) John Battelle’s company Federated Media Publishing gets lots of credit for bridging the gap between mainstream advertisers and bloggers. In fact, advertisers on this blog are put there by Federated.

The article is well worth a read.