So in my last post in this series, I talked about some of my experiences with some of the successful high traffic websites I actually built. This is part two of my blueprint that will help you begin the process of building a high traffic profitable technology blog.
So you want to build a technology blog that will actually pick up steam but before you actually get started, you have a few pivotal decisions to make.
After trying to build tech blogs randomly and failing, I figured out the best technique to use when preparing to start a technology blog.
I call it…
The Belly of the whale strategy
Have you heard about the Remora fish? They are really fascinating.
Check this out:
Remora are small fish with front dorsal fins that have evolved to enable them to adhere by suction to smooth surfaces. They spend their lives clinging to a host animal such as a whale, turtle, shark or ray. It is probably a mutualistic arrangement as the remora can move around on the host, removing ectoparasites and loose flakes of skin, while benefiting from the protection provided by the host…
Now what the heck does that have to do with digital marketing? In this case, everything.
When you decide to start a tech blog, you want to make sure that you become the Remora fish.
You need to find a large technology company that has the following:
- Millions of customers
- Millions of fans
- Lots of promotional/advertising money
- Complicated software that is relatively hard to understand
- Complicated software that people want to understand
- A topic you are (somewhat) interested in
Once you identify that software company and decide you want to become an evangelist, you stick with them and monitor everything they do and figure out how to make money off their scraps.
I say “scraps” but remember, in many cases, these are multi-billion dollar companies. If you do your homework, their scraps can set you up for life. But more about that later.
It becomes a win-win situation.
- What does the company get from you? They get an evangelist who is spreading the gospel of their software to the world.
- What do you get? You get money, some level of “fame” and the ability to build your own community.
If you execute this properly, it becomes a mutually beneficial win-win situation.
The not so obvious mistake
The majority of bloggers who start technology blogs look at successful blogs like ZDNET, CNET and The Verge and think they can replicate those types of online publications.
You can’t. You simply can’t.
It’s real simple, those blogs are run by COMPANIES with TEAMS of writers and editors who can pump out 20 to 30 stories a day in different categories.
In addition, since they are so established, they pretty much will eat up the top 10 search engine results of almost anything they decide to cover.
It’s not fair but that’s just how it goes. So what should you do?
Real simple, you have to pick a niche.
What is a niche?
A niche is simply defined as a specialized market.
You see, in 2018, there is simply no market for “a tech blog”.
There are tons of general tech blogs out there
People know where to go for those and most of the people you want in your audience already know where to go to get general technology news.
You need to think about something more specific than technology to focus on if you want to carve out your own reliable section of the multi-billion dollar tech news industry.
You want to drill down and get really specific.
I’ll get more specific.
Here’s an example from my experience.
I wanted to start a technology blog and I focused on Microsoft.
Microsoft was a fantastic company because they made software that BILLIONS of people used, had a (relatively) great reputation and had lots of fans and customers. It was in many ways, a great whale to latch on to.
Remember my criteria?
- Millions of customers
- Millions of fans
- Lots of promotional/advertising money
- Complicated software that is relatively hard to understand
- Complicated software that people want to understand
- A topic you are (somewhat) interested in
It fit the bill perfectly so I thought I found my niche.
Niche -> Microsoft
Now at this point, the problem was, Microsoft make a TON of software and hardware. Windows, Windows Server, Surface, The Cloud, Surface, Azure, IOT and on and on.
Since we talked about not being a generalist, I realized that I didn’t have the resources to cover all these sectors so I had to drill down and pick a subset of the software that Microsoft makes.
Each of their business units has millions of customers (and potential readers of my blog) so it was hard to go wrong. At this point it was a just a matter of my preference so I chose Windows.
Niche -> Microsoft
Sub Niche -> Microsoft -> Windows
Looking good at this point but Windows had multiple versions on the market at the time (Windows Vista, Windows XP etc) and I knew that I couldn’t handle all that information so (in 2007) I had to drill down one more level.
Niche -> Microsoft
Sub Niche -> Microsoft -> Windows
Sub Niche -> Microsoft -> Windows -> Windows Vista
At this point, I decided that I would build a blog about Windows Vista and that crowd would be my crowd. That audience would be my tribe and I could focus on just one software package.
One decision made.
Why is drilling down so important?
Drilling down is critical for three major reasons.
FOCUS
First, it gives you the ability to focus. You can avoid running down many other rabbit holes and getting distracted if you find the right technology niche.
USER DEFINITION
Second, it allows you to define your readers, visitors and (hopefully), future customer. Once you identify your audience, you can start creating a concrete business plan about the types of goods and services you can sell in the future aside from your daily informational content.
SEO
SEO is critical. Identifying what niche you are attacking allows you to create a concrete content plan that you can use to optimize your organic audience acquisition down the lane.
This is critical.
If you’re thinking about starting a technology blog, think about what product you want to focus on. Does it have millions of interested readers? Is the company large enough to latch on to? Do they qualify as a whale? Do they have lots of informational resources out there?
These are some of the things you need to think through before you actually pick a topic.
Think about this step for a while. In the next post in the series, I will walk you through how to write a baby business plan for a technology blog and help you figure out all the things you should be planning for EARLY.
This information will save you a lot of time and money so stay tuned.