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Ask HN: How to you monetize a tech blog?

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Re: Ask HN: How to you monetize a tech blog?

#31

Post by halgir »

Assuming your core strength is to produce valuable content, you can view it in one of three ways (from the perspective of monetization):

- As the product. Sell access, early access or extra partial access to it.

- As a loss leader. Use it to establish credibility and influence, then advertise for and sell consultancy services using your demonstrated insights through blogging as your pedigree.

- As a generator for qualified traffic. Choose an advertisement format that makes sense for you and your audience. Depending on the exact nature of your blog, this could be standard exchange-served ads (broader audience), direct sold ads (niche but valuable audience), sponsored content (with very clear disclaimers), job boards, affiliate links, etc.

Re: Ask HN: How to you monetize a tech blog?

#33

Post by carlosjobim »

wil421 wrote: post #19
criley2 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I long for the days of the pre-internet where everyone agreed writing was worth paying for. The worst thing the internet had done to society is convince us that writing isn't worth paying for. The amount of writers (journalists, novelists, etc) who have abandoned the profession these past 30 years is heartbreaking. But just as every newspaper and magazine has learned: the internet means writing is free.

The old internet was full of hobbyists and passionate people who wanted to share their knowledge. There’s nothing wrong with paying for a real news outlet with real journalists, I pay for PBS. Everyone is trying to make a buck and it’s harder to find passionate blogs that aren’t gaming Google’s SEO to show 100 ads. Even with woodworking or gardening I found everyone wants you to buy their videos, plans, or swag.

The early internet wasn't full of this, it was sparesly populated by it.

You hit the problem on the nail though, most people think like you and will have no problem paying hundreds of dollars in tax or subscriptions to traditional media, while staunchly refusing to pay a dime to independent online writers that they themselves read more and know are of much higher quality.

Re: Ask HN: How to you monetize a tech blog?

#34

Post by sfmike »

vanilla_nut wrote: post #30

- Create some "paid only" articles a la substack. - Small ads on the right side of the site. Can be standards ads, even better if you can get "sponsored" directly by companies with no adtech middle man. - Store of probably-not-actually-worth-the-price merch that people might still buy if they like you. - Be content with not monetizing everything. I personally don't follow any monetized blogs (besides substack and min…

great tips, also more inadvertent is add in calls to action to a squeeze page for consulting/subscription/anything selling

Re: Ask HN: How to you monetize a tech blog?

#35

Post by c0nsumer »

jwr wrote: post #3

I don't! I long for the early days of the Internet, when you published because you wanted to, and things didn't have to be "monetized". Yes, you do have to make a living, but let's be honest: you won't make a living "monetizing" a tech blog anyway.

Same here. While my blog is more an infrequent dumping ground for (mostly technical) thoughts, I try to write up new info, things that I can't quite find elsewhere, in hopes others find them useful as well. Years ago, when ads didn't feel quite so smarmy, I had a simple banner on the page and would get an extra $100/mo or so. But then this fell off a cliff and the ads started feeling cheap, and I pulled it all off and now just have things up for free.

Yes, it costs me a bit out of pocket, but it's a useful shingle to hang, a place to dump thoughts, and an easy way to reference them in the future. It's not worth the time it'd take to even make the site pay for itself (~$20/mo).

Re: Ask HN: How to you monetize a tech blog?

#36

Post by czue »

What I do (and would recommend) is building an adjacent product and selling it.

The product could be just a higher quality version of the content (e.g. book, course, etc.), or it could be something in the space, like a SaaS that helps your audience solve a problem the blog talks about.

This is a good way to upsell the people willing to pay without upsetting any of your readers. Also, positioning it as a different product breaks the "blogs should be free" mental block many people have.

Re: Ask HN: How to you monetize a tech blog?

#37

Post by ProllyInfamous »

dools wrote: post #9

Monetising content happens in a handful of ways: 1) ads on the site or via email 2) subscriptions 3) build a rep via the blog then sell high value consulting and/or build an agency around it 4) affiliate links or lead generation I think that’s all there is. So the list of possible options is pretty small. One thing I will say is that whatever you think you might do, start building an email list today.

I keep thinking that some relatively-simple plugin is going to be made which allows for easy, instantaneous, irreversible access to news/blog articles — obviously a centralized issuer could accomplish this, or preferably a blockchain that isn't so slow nor expensive to utilize — and provides some privacy from data aggregation.

One of many reasons I don't PAY for news websites (let alone blogs) is because there is not an easy method to do so without having to create logins and then be trace-able [i.e. tracked]. The cost isn't really an issue, but until I can easily pay to read content, I will just continue to access archived copies of anything behind paywall [but WOULD rather pay writers!].

My ideal environment would be something like Privacy dot COM which allows you to create burning credit card accounts for each purchase — e.g. so that I could utilize above-described plugin to pay for content, quickly and cheaply (per article), that does not track me as a reader.

Re: Ask HN: How to you monetize a tech blog?

#39

Post by keiferski »

tcfhgj wrote: post #28
keiferski wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The early internet had infinitely less content available than today. It was also populated by technical people that didn’t, and still don’t, have any difficulty in getting a high-paying job. There’s a really easy way to get high-quality content: pay for it so that people can make a living from it. If you aren’t willing to do that, don’t be surprised when advertising is the only business model.

If one isn't willing to pay for it, the price is obviously too high for the content. PS: it's not like ads aren't payment. It's just the price to you isn't transparent and only a fraction of it ends up at the blogger compared to a real payment

There are plenty of things that people “aren’t willing to pay for” on an individual level yet are overall beneficial for society at large. That’s why the tragedy of the commons is a concept.

The point is that unless you’re willing to pay people enough money and provide enough job security to create high-quality content, you will inevitably end up with advertising, attention-seeking, and subsidization as the main business models.

Re: Ask HN: How to you monetize a tech blog?

#40

Post by mrprogrammerguy »

c0nsumer wrote: post #35
jwr wrote: post #3

I don't! I long for the early days of the Internet, when you published because you wanted to, and things didn't have to be "monetized". Yes, you do have to make a living, but let's be honest: you won't make a living "monetizing" a tech blog anyway.

Same here. While my blog is more an infrequent dumping ground for (mostly technical) thoughts, I try to write up new info, things that I can't quite find elsewhere, in hopes others find them useful as well. Years ago, when ads didn't feel quite so smarmy, I had a simple banner on the page and would get an extra $100/mo or so. But then this fell off a cliff and the ads started feeling cheap, and I pulled it all off an…

I use a github pages site for my technical notes. Costs nothing to do You could use it to a host a blog if you really wanted to
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