The Low-Tech Times

A little over a year ago, I started The Low Tech Times blog.  I thought that simple, low-tech living needed more advocates in an online world packed that is packed with pro-hi-tech sites.  I also secretly hoped that the site would make money.

There are a lot of articles written about launching a successful blog and I followed many of those tips.  I added Google Adsense ads to the blog and last month, I finally got my first $100 deposit from Google adsense.  Given the time I spent writing the blog, I am certain this works out to less than $1 per hour in earnings.

Here are some tips for anyone interested in how not to make money from blogging:

1.  Start a blog.  While a few blogs make good money, the vast majority of blogs do not make money.  I tend to agree with Bob Bly that if you want to make money by blogging, “forget it.”

2.  Write short blog posts.  In an effort to post something new each weekday, I usually publish very short posts.  Jason Miller suggests writing 200-300 words each day for better results from search engines, e.g. Google.

3.  Try affiliate marketing by selling things that people do not buy online.   I tried selling lawnmowers, snow shovels, and rakes from Amazon.com.  The problem is that people do not order large tools online; they go to the hardware store instead.

4.  Criticize things.  I criticized BlackBerry handheld devices, the Macbook Air, Twitter, and Facebook.  The problem is that when you criticize something, you are not selling something.  Google Adsense may present ads selling the very thing you are criticizing.

5.  Write about a lot of unrelated things.  When you cover a lot of different subjects, Google Adsense may run ads that don’t go along with your most recent posts.

6.  Write for a target audience that is thrifty.  While not all low-tech readers are cheapskates, many are generally thrifty.  Thrifty readers are less likely to click on an ad than readers anxious to purchase all of the latest gadgets and gizmos.

7.  Write for a target audience using a medium that that they don’t use.  The true low-tech folks of the world are not online at all, so publishing an online only low-tech living newsletter is an odd choice.

I do get some satisfaction and enjoyment from blogging so I will continue to publish The Low-Tech Times for now.  However, I plan to scale back the frequency of posting as to spend more time with my family and also launch some new web sites.

I also would like to write a low-tech themed novel this year.  I’m pretty sure that writing a novel will not be any more lucrative than blogging, but it is a story that I very much would like to tell.

Speaking of books, here’s a link to Bob Bly’s book that puts blogging in perspective: