A week and a half ago, as part of a review of the first 6 month’s of 40Tech’s life, we took a look at the technical details of starting the site, including some lessons we learned along the way.  Today, in Part 2, we look at some of the other factors that went into starting this site, and in determining what direction the site has taken so far.  As with the last post, we hope that this will help those of you starting your own site, and that the experienced bloggers out there will be interested in glimpsing behind the scenes of another blog.

The Beginnings – Motivation and subject matter

I had toyed with the idea of launching my own site for the past couple of years, as a means to express myself and communicate with others.  It was a talk in May with my sister, who was intrigued with the idea of starting a blog herself, that inspired me to finally take the plunge.  But what would be the topic?  Tech was a no-brainer, as it had been one of my primary interests for years (and, like some of you, I have always been the one that family and friends turn to with questions, or for help).

But there are a zillion tech sites out there.  How to narrow the scope?  Many tech sites seem to be written by industry insiders, or those who work in the tech field.  How about a site from the average guy’s perspective?  I had just had my 41st birthday a few days earlier, so I thought of that angle.

What followed next were a few domain name searches, using BustAName, to come up with a name that aptly described the site.  Tech40.com was already taken, so I snatched up both 40Tech.com and fortytech.com, and off I went.

The focus

I had the broad subject matter that I wanted to cover, but how about the particulars?  I knew that the site couldn’t live or die on the latest tech news, since I wouldn’t be posting every day.  We could take a look at the ramifications of tech new, but it wouldn’t be possible for us to be a news reporting site.  So what then?  One of the sites that I admired the most was Lifehacker.  I enjoyed the "how to" posts, as well as their look at new and helpful applications.  I knew that to keep a site going, I would need to write about what interested me, so that was the direction in which I headed.

Tip: Write about what you enjoy.  Starting a blog and keeping it going is a great deal of work, and it will soon become a chore if you’re not writing about what interests you.

Spreading the word

When you start any site, you want visitors.  We haven’t been too aggressive with marketing here at 40Tech, but have taken a few steps to get the word out.  First, we’ve made sure that our existing contacts are aware of the site.  I have a simple signature when I send email that references the site, and I have a link to 40Tech in my Facebook profile, my Twitter profile, and elsewhere.

Beyond that, I also try to comment on other sites that interest me, or that involve tech.  Being active on the internet in general is a help.  Stumbleupon has given 40Tech several big spikes in traffic.

If your site gets linked to by other important sites, that can be a big help to your "Google juice."  40Tech has been linked to in articles on both Lifehacker and Technologizer, two of my favorite reads.

If you have a site, you probably will see that your search traffic increases consistently over time.  The more articles that we post here at 40Tech, the more content there is to show up in search results.

There is much more that we could do, but it all comes down to time.  I’ve seen other bloggers run contests, write guest posts elsewhere, and more.  Eventually, we hope to be able to publicize the site a bit more, but we’re happy with our traffic given the little bit of marketing that we’ve done (more on that in the future).

Posting schedule

One of the important decisions to make when starting a blog concerns how frequently you will post to your site.  With a wife, and a busy and stressful job, I knew I wouldn’t be able to post quality material every day.  I ultimately decided that three days a week was "doable."  I initially wanted to have an entire month of posts ready before going live, but soon realized that without an impending deadline, I wouldn’t write.  I wrote just a few posts in advance, and then launched the site. 

Tip:  As nice as it would be to wait to launch your blog until everything is perfect, at some point just "do it."  That will force you to take the steps that you’d otherwise take at a leisurely pace.

Bobby comes on board

I had thought for a while that it would be nice some day to have other writers join 40Tech.  One of the most frequent commenters on the site, early on, was Bobby.  I liked his writing style and perspective, and thought to myself that it would be nice if he could write for the site.  But the site was new and not making any money, so I didn’t have anything to offer him.  He must have been reading my mind, though, since he mentioned to me that he’d like to kick in if he could.

That has been a blessing, on a few fronts.  Bobby brings a fresh and different voice to the site, and some of his posts are among the most visited posts on the site.  Bobby, who is the co-founder of his own marketing firm, also is very good at the ins and outs of social media, something that I’m still getting the hang of.  We get a fair amount of traffic here from different social sites, thanks in no small part to his expertise.  Bobby is also in on most of the decisions that affect the site.

I’d still like to add another writer or two some day, but it would need to be the right fit.  Bobby and I have known each other for a couple of years now, going back to an online multiplayer Neverwinter Nights 2 campaign that we played together.  40Tech still isn’t completely covering its costs yet, but perhaps someday we’ll be in the position to actually pay writers.

Monetization

While this site is a labor of love, I’d be pleased if it could some day bring in a little bit of cash.  That might make my wife happy, too.  Aside from the ads you see in the sidebar, and a few affiliate links when discussing products we like, we’ve spent almost no time on the money side of things.  That really isn’t what the site is about, and I knew at the outset that if I was getting into this for money, I would be disappointed.  We do have some ideas, though.  We want to make sure that any monetization plans we develop don’t ruin the user experience here, however, by becoming too intrusive.

Tip: Don’t start a blog for the money, unless you’re prepared to be disappointed.  While your site may make you significant money, it is more likely that it won’t.

The Future

In addition to thoughts on bringing in revenue, we have some other thoughts on how we’d like to grow the site.  We’re going to keep those under wraps, though, because we don’t know when or if they will take root.  Everything with the site comes down to one obstacle – time.  This isn’t a full-time job for either of us, so planning and the big picture often take a back seat.  But keep your eyes open, as new features may be coming at some point in the future.

We’d love to hear your experiences in starting a site, or what thoughts you have if you’re considering starting a site.  If you’re willing to share, sound off in the comments.