Two Years Of Building A Ghana Technology News Site
Highlights, lowlights and What’s to come
It’s late at night, close to 11 pm. Something is wrong with the website. On Google Chrome, everything looks perfect. All images look good and the written content on point.
However, on Firefox and other browsers, it looks like a jumbled mess. Images are out of place, links are broken. It all looks terrible.
After googling all possible solutions, the problem is finally fixed and it all looks good. It’s now 12 am. All to do now is sleep, get rest and hope the website looks good in the morning. Plus, I have to keep working on my Masters' research project. I don’t even know why I started this website….
That was in late March 2017. After getting everything in order, I officially launched Tech Nova GH, a website covering all things technology in Ghana. I launched the website while I was in the final year of my Master's program, in the middle of conducting my research paper. (Sidenote: I finished that paper and graduated two months later)
Fast forward to 2019 and Tech Nova is a bit bigger than I anticipated. Here’s a little more of the back story.
Origins (Tech Nova 1.0)
I started blogging about tech sometime in 2016. Actually, I have been blogging since 2007 when I was still in college. When I came back to Ghana, I restarted my old blog and called it The Tech Observer. It was just a personal blog about technology in Ghana.
The plan was never to actually develop a full-fledged website but after constantly not finding enough news on technology, startups, and events in Ghana, I decided to just write about it myself.
So in late March, I officially launched Tech Nova GH (technovagh.com), a website which covers all things tech related but a with more detailed perspective.
When A Passion Project Almost Turns Into A “Job”
Sometime in 2018, I was a bit overwhelmed.
Constantly following up on news and stories was basically becoming another job. The vision I had (still have) is for the website to become something of the TheVerge.com or Engadget.com.
But then I realized, it wasn’t going to be easy like that. I realized Tech Nova wasn’t going to be a mass-market site especially for a technology site. I was just going to make it a niche site and focus on the detailed story elements on tech.
The website wasn’t going to be as popular because it didn’t cover politics, sports or entertainment like the other big blogs but at least, it would be a site would be cover most of the relevant stuff.
Two Years On…Where Do We Go From Here
When I started this website, I wasn’t really thinking how far it would go. All I wanted the site to do was focus on the tech stuff which was relevant in Ghana.
After 600 articles and averaging about 3,000+ unique visitors a month, Tech Nova is in pretty good shape. The bi-weekly newsletter, which was an afterthought, currently has close to 150 subscribers and it’s growing. (Newsletter link in case you want to subscribe).
But where do we go from here? Not too sure.
The dream would be to start focusing on trying to monetize and hire more writers for more content. Unfortunately, it’s hard to focus on that right now in between a full-time job and other side gigs.
The question is how much energy do I have left in putting into Tech Nova. But now, I’m just living in the moment and working on new content.
Let’s see how long this journey takes us.
Happy 2nd Birthday Tech Nova 🎉
