Updated on August 15th, 2022
What makes a good tech blog? While there’s no simple answer to that question, there are so many attributes which contribute to the success of the top technology websites. Here’s the answer in a nutshell:
The best tech blogs stay on top of industry trends. They help readers to make choices and purchasing decisions between tech products through engaging and detailed articles. They target reader intent and share their interpretation of technical detail in a digestible and fun way. By doing so they are helpful to both the novice and pro alike. They share many of the characteristics listed below.
Technology sites have become super popular in recent years due to the pervasiveness of electronics. It’s all around us and such a necessity of day-to-day living for most people.
There’s currently more than 600 million blogs in existence. Of these, we don’t know how many are tech related, but a large proportion are.
So how do we stand out from this busy crowd with an amazing technology website?
Here’s how to do it:
1. Focus on Reader Intent
It’s so important to focus on the intent of visitors to your website.
Consider whether your website is Type 1 or 2 below:
Is your website directed towards readers who are:
- Looking to make a purchase decision?, then focus on:
- Product Reviews
- Product Comparisons
- Roundup Posts eg Top Ten Lists
- Looking for the latest tech industry news?, then focus on:
- Tech News articles
- Tech News roundups
Figure out what the exact intent of your reader is why they are coming to your site.
Then serve them up exactly what they are looking for. Link out to related posts that they might also be interested in. Consider the key issues that your reader base is interested in and write about that.
2. The Importance of Fresh Information
It goes without saying that readers want recent, fresh information. New posts should be published at least on a weekly basis.
Why so? Because people often have the specific purpose of making a buying decision. They’re wanting to compare products and features and work out what’s the best value for money for them.
Just as news sites live and die on fresh information, so the success of your tech blog depends upon the supply of updated information.
3. Fast Page Load Speed is Critical for a Good Tech Blog
OK so a visitor clicks through to your site from the search engines. Then what happens?
Crickets? Is there an interminably long pause until your page loads? Then the potential visitor backs out and moves on to the next listing in Google?
You’ve just lost a reader and a potential customer.
Readers of tech sites expect and appreciate more than this. They want speed.
It sends an important message to our customer when we’ve got a fast site.
Accordingly, do everything you can to optimise the speed of your website. Choose fast hosting, preferably cloud hosting.
Some examples: Kinsta for Google cloud hosting. Siteground for a slightly more price conscious cloud hosting offering.
If you’re using WordPress choose a super fast theme such as Generatepress or Schema. Generatepress has been consistently rated as the fastest WordPress themes and is one of the most highly rated on WordPress.org.
Furthermore, minimise plug-ins and turn off the unused portions of plug-ins.
For further information, read: How to Speed up Website Loading Time : 12 ways
4. Good Tech Blog will have a Clean Page Layout
Try to use a really clean and modern page design. Your page wants to look open and inviting and uncluttered.
A great example of a clean design is Gizmodo. There’s plenty of white space and the home screen isn’t too cluttered. I really like the open design.
Having a clean, uncluttered design, will make your page more inviting and will focus reader intent on your message.
5. Use a Review Plugin
There’s many great WordPress Plugins that’ll facilitate a beautiful and seamless review format for your blog post.
For example I really like the WP Product Review plugin. It’s super easy and it’s free to use.
Here’s a sample review panel which can be added to a post using this plugin:
As can be seen, this adds an attractive review box to the top or bottom of your blog post which can help to crystallise the buyer’s decision on whether to buy the product you are promoting.
Furthermore, you can turn on an option in general settings which allows visitors to submit reviews:
6. Obtain a Star Rating in Google Search Results
You might have seen a star rating system in Google search results. This sounds a powerful message about the validity of your product as users have left genuine reviews.
These star ratings are at the discretion of Google. You can’t control them. However there are 2 main ways you can encourage them:
- Manage your business name on Google. Once your business is verified, you can obtain a unique URL which you can share with customers and on your website to achieve reviews.
- Add organic review markup code to your e-commerce listings. There’s a detailed process that’s explained very well in this article.
7. Deliver a High Level of Technical Detail
The best tech blogs tend to provide a ton of technical detail. Having said that they’ll usually summarise that information so it’s really usable for the layperson.
What you want to achieve is a review that has a highly readable summary of the pros and cons of each product. It will also have a lot of technical detail listed underneath so that the more tech savvy reader can dive into that detail.
There’s some great examples of technical information delivery on the Dong Knows Tech blog.
8. Use High-Quality Images & Video
Words are great but what really sets tech blogs apart is the quality and use of images.
If you’ve got a video don’t hesitate to utilise that video in your blog post. It’ll really help to improve your time on page metrics.
Use a plugin such as WP Youtube Lite to embed videos into your articles.
9. Community – Necessary Requirement for a Good Tech Blog
The best tech blogs thrive on community. They are a place where you can share your latest blog posts. Also, community members can answer each other’s questions.
This thriving community around your brand can do a lot to drive interest in your blog and website.
A great example is Matthew Woodward’s Facebook group Inside Search.
10. Monetisation of your Tech Blog
Let’s be honest although you love writing your tech blog, you should be compensated for it.
The two main monetisation sources are affiliate marketing and PPC advertising.
The most popular affiliate for tech blogs would hands-down be Amazon associates. There’s so many products that you can promote on Amazon so you’re never likely to run out of items.
Also due to the huge level of acceptance and reach of Amazon it’s the marketplace of choice for many buyers anyway.
With Amazon, particularly in the US, there’s a high level of acceptance and it’s very likely that buyer’s will complete transactions. So you should have a higher chance of earning an affiliate commission.
With PPC advertising, you can apply to have advertising blocks put on your site. You’ll earn commissions each time readers click on the ads. Two of the main providers are Adsense and Ezoic.
11. Table of Contents
Many tech blogs include a roadmap of their article i.e. a table of contents in blog posts.
They can be added to the top or bottom of the post. It improves the user experience by allowing the reader to navigate the article more quickly and jump to the main points.
Elementor Pro includes a table of contents widget which can easily be integrated into your blog posts.
12. Add FAQ to the End of Blog Posts
A list of Frequently asked questions (FAQ) is great to put at the end of your article. It doesn’t take much time to prepare, and can improve the information provided to the reader.
Another major advantage is that your questions and answers might get picked up in Google search results as questions and answers.
Summary – What Makes a Good Tech Blog?
We’ve laid out all of the features that an amazing technology blog will have. Obviously you don’t need all of them and every blog will be different.
What’s important is to stand out from the crowd with an impressive design. Having said this, you shouldn’t be too left field in that your site looks too different for readers.
Your site should be welcoming, engaging and informative. This will make the reader want to stay longer and keep coming back to look at other articles.
Frequently Asked Questions
How can you make money with a Tech Blog?
Are tech blogs still relevant today with so many YouTube tech videos in existence?
Yes, because text search is still better for SEO than YouTube videos. Also many people want to read reviews at times when they cannot listen to audio visual content such as when they are at work.
Furthermore, comparison charts and infographics are often more conducive to viewing in a fixed format. Readers want to spend time looking at and mulling over comparison graphics when making a buying decision.
Is it too late to start a tech blog?
It’s not too late. There are new tech blogs starting all the time as the sphere of technology continues to increase in our daily lives. New technologies are constantly being invented and improved upon. There’s always room for another voice and an alternative view.
Photo by Marvin Meyer on Unsplash
