The Technographer’s Money Making Secret

Posted by Jozzua on Mar 18, 2009 in Random Blabber | 4 comments

I remember how Rico told me about a great domain name that ended with a .PH. Having done a bit of research on available .PH names, he found one that would make an excellent brand name. After a web-hosting purchase and set-up, he bought Technogra.ph.

By far Technograph is my most successful online project. Few websites provided regular updates on the Philippine tech scene, what gadgets were available in the Philippines, how much, etc. Basically information that Filipino geeks and locals interested in technologically-related developments would find interesting, useful, and relevant. So, drawing on my experience as a blogger, I set out to provide that.

For a long while, Rico didn’t want to be publicly associated with his technology website. Even though everyone in the office knew, he would tell us not to mention it online. We’d joke about how he’d start sentences with “We, at technograph…” He’d just laugh with us and quietly grin at the extra income he’s earning.

Compared to my day job salary, my online earnings are more or less the same. I definitely make more than the minimum wage, which is an amount most Filipinos are lucky to earn in the first place.

He’d work on his blog when time permits it. How often?

I typically schedule an hour or two every weekday for my various online sidelines, so yes, I did something today related to my online income business. A lot of people forget that earning online is just like earning any other way; you need to devote a significant amount of time and work to get anywhere, at least in the beginning.

Rico carved out a niche for the technology blog by offering small but regular tidbits of tech information. Surrounded by web technology experts at work, he’s leveraged on the availability and accessibility of his social network.

Turns out there was lot happening locally, at least from a tech point of view. Stories such as the Philippine Web Awards plagiarism controversy, Brian Gorrell’s blog, and the failure of the SSS online inquiry system actually mattered to a lot of Filipinos.

Financial success to Rico, though, comes from valuing alliances. He partnered with another popular Gaming and Babes blogger, Kevin. It showed promise.

Eventually I discovered that a key to success online is to find and work with partners who make up for your weaknesses. Once Kevin (of codamon.com) agreed to come on-board and become a partner—after a lot of urging on my part—the profitability and reliability of the site increased greatly. Kevin understands how to keep a site running smoothly, and how to turn our ever-increasing traffic into money (mainly through ads).

Last month he changed his blog design. He approached the marketing, design and usability experts in the office for their opinions of it. After several weeks of tweaking, he deployed it online.

It’s a never-ending process: I continually provide updates through Technograph, while Kevin constantly tests new ways to make the site more efficient and lucrative.

Seems all is going well for this technographer. He’s making extra money while updating people about technology – something he really loves doing.

Rico offers his advice to would-be bloggers:

The appeal of making money online continues to be the low start-up cost. Starting a website for any purpose is very cheap, at least in the beginning. Good ideas are very easy to execute on the internet, so long as you have a clear long-term plan, and the willingness to devote the time—and money—needed to make your idea grow as much as possible. In other words, online entrepreneurship can be very rewarding, at least to those who are serious about it.