Two online biz topics today and a third at the end that’s just silly to encourage you to keep reading. For those of you who don’t have jobs like mine – or don’t much care for Web nerd talk – come back tomorrow for a new 25 in 12 post that’s been brewing for months.

For the two of you who are still reading, here are two interesting articles from this morning’s MediaBistro Newsfeed:

Mark Glaser at Media Shift thinks paying bloggers by page views is wrong. He lays out some solid arguments as to why, though I’d note that if you’re the editor of a site these days, your job performance is going to be judged, in part, by page views even if there isn’t a direct link from your salary to your PVs. While more people are starting to recognize that the number of returning visitors you have and the time a reader spends on the site is more important, your base hits or views is still going to be a benchmark.

Glaser’s best point is this:

“I believe that a blog with 50,000 loyal, repeat visitors is much more valuable to the publisher, advertisers — everyone on the business side — than a blog that has sensational posts that bring in 100,000 one-time visitors for entertainment snacks who are then gone the next moment.”

Niche topics do really well in the online world, mainly because it’s easier for the writing to find a larger audience than it would in a print publication. I’ve found this to be particularly true at TOC with our Theater coverage. It’s a small audience, but a fiercely loyal one that returns often, and comments frequently.

Also, Wired is unveiling a Web stylebook. With so many people coming onto the Web from other mediums and industries, this is something that’s sorely needed. There’s an ethics and method to the way Web publishing works that flies in the face of what works in print. Oddly enough, a “dead tree” product might be just what the industry needs.

OK, this isn’t related to wonky Web shit at all, but I’m curious: is Eddie Murphy’s “Party All The Time” secretly good? Forget that it’s by Eddie Murphy for a moment and consider it as a Rick James song. It’s not bad, right?