In 2017, I decided to create a blog where tech enthusiasts could go and read about the latest news about technology in Ghana. I created this blog because I myself was getting frustrated with the lack of news from the tech ecosystem.
That place I built in 2017 was called Tech Nova GH.
It was modeled after the popular websites like TheVerge, Engadget and other popular US-based tech websites.
Fast forward and my little experiment has been great so far. Three years going and year on year, it’s been growing in views and visits. Last year, in 2019, Tech Nova had 106K + views with 59K+ visitors.
Tech Nova is a niche site focusing on technology in Ghana. We didn’t initially focus on monetizing but rather been focusing on promoting the site and optimizing on search engines and social media.
So as we enter Tech Nova’s 3rd year, where do we go from here…..
New Vision
Tech Nova started out us trying to be many things. From tech reviews to lists, to profiles. It started off as all tech everything.
But as the site grew, I wanted it to be more focused. Covering everything tech-related things was a lot but the larger ecosystem wasn’t being dissected or covered in depth as it should have been. As we wrote more stories related to the ecosystem and writing more about startups, the more feedback we received, especially from external companies and VCs wanting to know more about the Ghanaian ecosystem.
So going forward, Tech Nova will be undergoing minor branding changes as well a new vision. The new vision of Tech Nova is as follows:
“Tech Nova GH is a digital platform that covers the Ghanaian technology ecosystem. From entrepreneurship, startups, data, funding, policy and future tech. Tech Nova is your source of everything you need to know in the Ghanaian tech ecosystem.”
What does means is that we’re focusing more the ecosystem as a whole.
Growing Pains
There’s a saying about how nobody really wants to see how the sausage is made. They just want to eat and enjoy the meal.
I can tell you that making this particular sausage has been a lot of work. It wasn’t supposed to be “work” in the beginning. It was supposed to be “fun” but it looks like it has grown into something that has been taking more of my attention.
The more Tech Nova grows, the more it becomes difficult to maintain (Fun Fact: I currently ran the site by myself with some news stories coming from external sources. But most of the site is run by me).
In the difficulty in maintaining the site, I’ve had to ponder a couple of things:
- Do I shut the site down in the near future and focus my energy on other things?
- Do I keep running it but produce less than above par quality (The site is about quality stories, not quantity)
- Look for funding/crowdfund the site and raise money to hire writers, pay for servers and ads and just work on admin and editorial stuff.
The third choice looks more logical but it’s a lot of work. Monetization of content in these parts of the world is not easy. I can figure out the business model, look at ways to grow etc. But my energy is not as it used to be.
Monetization Of Content
Here’s the way we’re looking at monetization for Tech Nova:
Subscription For Premium Content
In the near future, we’ll be introducing a section called “Nova Premium“, where articles can only be accessed with a paid subscription.
These articles usually end up being between 800 to 1000 words but will be written with more focus and well researched with available data.
These “Nova Prime” articles will apply to future and past content.
Regular articles and news stories will still be accessible.
What The Future Holds
It’s been a great three-year journey with Tech Nova. But I’m grounded in reality and the current rate of my health (I’m fine really), it’s hard to scale it without putting measures in place to keep the site going.
There’s a lot of content to be covered in the Ghanaian tech ecosystem and I need writers to help cover it.
I welcome volunteer writers who want to pitch and publish stories but well-experienced writers will want to get paid and I can see the value in paying for content.
But Tech Nova is still in “bootstrap” mode. Maybe it’s time to look for funding or crowdfund the platform. I’ll be looking into those options in the near future.
But we will be experimenting with the subscription model and if it proves successful, that will help keep the site going for a bit.
In the end, this is a “passion” project which was gone a bit further than predicted. Hopefully, I can keep it going for a couple of more years.
Happy 3rd Tech Nova
