Tech Tag: Blogging

There was a time when blog monetization relied heavily on ad revenue, especially from platforms like Google AdSense. However, with the rise of AI, the traditional pageview-driven advertising model is reaching its limits. Here’s why:

The Decline of Traditional Blog Advertising

Content Commoditization
AI tools now generate vast amounts of automated content, making it increasingly difficult for human-written articles to stand out. SEO-focused posts, even when optimized for large language models (LLMs), are easily buried under a flood of similar AI-generated articles.

Falling Ad Rates
Advertisers have become more rigorous about measuring ROI, causing cost-per-click (CPC) rates to decline year after year. To earn significant revenue, bloggers now need massive pageviews—something out of reach for most small-scale creators.

Ad Fatigue and User Resistance
Widespread use of ad blockers and growing user frustration with excessive ads have dulled the effectiveness of online advertising. As a result, monetization efficiency continues to drop.

The Limits of LLM-Optimized Content

Lack of Originality
While AI-generated content can be produced at scale, it often lacks originality. Google’s guidelines now emphasize E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness), making it harder for generic AI content to rank highly.

Quality Control Costs
AI-generated drafts still require human editing and fact-checking. The time spent reviewing and revising often outweighs the convenience, leading some to conclude it’s faster to write original content from scratch.

Poor Differentiation
With so many people mass-producing similar AI-generated posts, it’s difficult to stand out. This lack of differentiation leads to fierce competition and declining traffic for individual blogs.

The Power of Unique Personal Experience

To monetize a blog in the AI era, the best strategy is to focus on content only you can create—your unique experiences and expertise. Here’s why:

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When running a blog, I constantly face the dilemma: “Should I split or merge my content?” “Should I aim for order or embrace chaos?” “Should I pursue consistency or allow for variety?” This struggle is especially deep for people with ADHD tendencies, those with many interests, or anyone who finds it hard to wear different masks and prefers to present their whole self authentically.

The Endless Loop of Splitting and Merging

• When I have multiple sites or projects, I feel like I can’t give each one the love and energy it deserves. So I decide to merge everything and express my “true self” in one place.
• But once I merge, everything becomes a jumble of topics and information, and I lose sight of the big picture—I get lost. Eventually, I think, “Maybe I should split things up again…” and the cycle repeats itself.

The Trap of Categories and Tags

• Even if I organize my blog with categories and tags, it feels like nothing gets a strong spotlight, and the whole thing becomes blurry.
• Too many categories or a reverse-chronological list of posts can be overwhelming, making it hard to know what to focus on.
• Even if I try changing themes, using random post displays, or creating featured sections, I end up feeling guilty about neglecting other posts.

The Struggle of Wanting to Be “My Whole Self”

• Splitting myself into “Beatmaker Genx”, “AI Artist Genx”, “Blogger Genx” (or my own versions of these) feels unnatural and exhausting. I want to share everything as my whole self, not as separate personas.
• But if I don’t split, things get chaotic; if I do split, I feel like I’m diluting who I am.

Hints for Solutions

• Make “yourself” the core
  Categories and tags are just tools for organizing topics. If your experiences and values are the backbone of your blog, even a variety of content will still feel like “your blog.”
• Set a “loose” main theme
  It’s fine to run a general blog, but having a loose direction—like “daily insights + hobbies + work”—can provide a sense of security.
• Limit the number of categories / use subcategories
  Keeping to 3–5 main categories, with tags or subcategories for more detail, helps prevent the overall focus from becoming too diffuse.
• Use random or featured sections to rotate visibility
  Multiple random or featured sections (like “This Month’s Picks”) help rotate the spotlight and ease guilt about neglecting some posts.
• Give up on “perfect equality”
  It’s impossible to keep all posts and categories equally visible at all times. Enjoy spotlighting one post at a time.
• Prioritize your own comfort in site design
  Reader experience matters, but your ability to keep blogging without stress comes first.

Differences in Attitude Toward AI Are Part of Authenticity, Too

• Even people with similar struggles and personalities can feel very differently about AI. Some hate it; others love using it for organization or creativity. That, too, is part of what makes each of us unique.

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Conclusion

• Whether you run a general or niche blog, prefer order or chaos, AI or analog—there is no single “right answer.”
• If you want to be your whole self, don’t force yourself to split; instead, find a way to blog that feels fun and sustainable for you.
• Categories and display methods are just tools. If you feel overwhelmed, don’t over-organize—it’s fine to let things be a bit messy.
• Don’t chase perfection. Find a blogging style that feels comfortable for you right now.

Don’t write for someone else or for SEO—write for yourself. That’s what will keep you going, and that’s what makes your blog truly “yours.”

Introduction

When running a blog, the dilemma of “Should I split my content by topic?” versus “Should I present everything as my whole self?” is a common struggle. People with many interests often face the paradox: splitting means diluted energy, merging means chaos.

I love clean, organized WordPress themes, yet I want to express everything in one place. The digital garden concept offers a way to reconcile this contradiction.

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What Is a Digital Garden?

A digital garden isn’t a traditional blog with chronological, finished posts. Instead, it’s a web of interconnected notes and articles, always evolving. Posts don’t have to be complete; ideas can grow, branch, and connect freely.

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Why Digital Gardens Ease the “Split or Merge” Dilemma

• Self at the Center
  No need to divide yourself by genre or persona. Everything grows in one “garden,” reflecting your authentic self. Multiple interests and activities coexist naturally.
• Balance Between Chaos and Order
  Internal links and flexible tags create structure, even when topics mix. Over-segmentation isn’t necessary; the “mess” is part of the design.
• Embracing Incompleteness and Diversity
  Digital gardens welcome unfinished notes. You can publish drafts and update them over time. The pressure for perfect organization or equal visibility fades.

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Practical Tips

• Create Nodes (Posts) Rooted in Your Values and Experiences
  For example: “Thoughts on AI,” “Music Production Insights,” “Daily Observations.” Let your unique mix of topics grow freely.
• Use Categories and Tags for Connection, Not Just Organization
  Broad tags like “AI,” “Music,” or “Blogging” help link posts across topics. Avoid excessive granularity.
• Highlight Current Focus or Featured Posts with Links and Lists
  Show “currently growing notes” or “recently updated nodes” on your homepage or sidebar. No need to keep everything equally visible.
• Digital Gardens Work on WordPress
  Custom menus, tags, and widgets for random or featured posts allow for a digital garden structure, even on WordPress.

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Conclusion

When torn between splitting and merging, chaos and order, the digital garden mindset offers relief. Treat your ideas and interests as a “garden” to nurture and connect. This approach lets you balance authenticity and manageability.

Enjoy clean design and categories, but allow a bit of chaos and incompleteness. That’s how blogging stays fun and sustainable for the long run.

A digital garden isn’t about perfect content or broadcasting to the masses. It’s a space to gradually cultivate your own thoughts and knowledge, like tending a personal garden.

As one digital gardener puts it: “A blog is for speaking to many people, but digital gardening is for speaking to yourself. You focus on what you want to grow, over time.”

This approach frees you from the pressures of external validation or monetization, letting you nurture your ideas in your own way.

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The Reality of the AI Scraping Era

But the rise of AI scraping casts a long shadow over this ideal.

AI now collects and analyzes web knowledge at unprecedented speed and scale, extracting information as easily as a human reads a page.

This new reality brings risks that can’t be ignored.

Key Risks

• Unauthorized Copying and Theft
  The fruits of your digital garden can be harvested and reused by AI or others without your consent.
• Obstructed Monetization
  Openly shared knowledge is easily copied and repurposed, undermining the original creator’s value and potential revenue.
• Privacy and Security Threats
  Ideas or personal information can be misused by AI scraping, exposing you to risks you never intended.

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Is the “Open Blogger” Still Viable?

The original purpose of a digital garden was to make your thinking and creative process transparent and accessible to anyone.

But with the spread of AI scraping, open knowledge sharing is shifting from a “cycle of goodwill” to a breeding ground for exploitation.

In fact, many business and recipe sites already suffer from unauthorized copying and ad revenue theft via scraping. Individual digital gardens are not immune.

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How to Protect Your Garden Now

• Consider Limited Access or Paid Models
  While openness is at the heart of digital gardening, today’s reality makes access controls and membership options worth considering.
• Implement Technical Countermeasures
  Tools like CAPTCHAs, access restrictions, and bot detection can help deter scraping.
• Reevaluate What You Share
  Not everything needs to be open. Distinguish between information to share publicly and knowledge to nurture privately.

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Conclusion

The ideal of “open knowledge sharing” in digital gardens faces a major turning point in the age of AI scraping.

Goodwill alone is no longer enough—public sharing doesn’t always benefit you or society.

Deciding what to protect and what to open is the new wisdom digital gardeners need.

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Who is your garden for, and how much of it should you open? Now is the time to reconsider.

Kagi Small Web is an initiative by Kagi, a privacy-focused search engine company, designed to surface and promote content from the “small web.” The “small web” refers to the non-commercial segment of the internet—websites and blogs created by individuals for self-expression or knowledge sharing, rather than financial gain. This part of the web is often nostalgic for the early days of the internet, before large-scale commercialization and ad-driven business models became dominant.

How Kagi Small Web Works

Kagi Small Web curates and highlights recently published content (typically within the last week) from a handpicked list of personal blogs and independent sites. The aim is to make high-quality, human-driven content more discoverable, especially as such content is often buried by commercial or algorithmically generated material in mainstream search engines.

You can access Kagi Small Web content in several ways:

• Directly within Kagi’s search results for relevant queries (for Kagi users, this is automatic)
• Through the Kagi Small Web website, which is intentionally designed to be lightweight and free of JavaScript
• Via an RSS feed
• Through Kagi’s Search API, which incorporates Small Web results into its news enrichment features.

The initiative is open-source, and the curated list of sites is available on Kagi’s GitHub. Anyone can suggest new blogs to be included, following criteria such as being non-commercial, English-language, regularly updated, and free from advertising or spam.

Key Features and Philosophy

• Curation: Only personal, non-commercial blogs and independent sites are included. Sites must have recent posts, be in English, and not contain ads, popups, or spam.
• Human-Centric: The focus is on genuine self-expression and high informational value, aiming to revive the more personal, community-driven spirit of the early web.
• Transparency and Openness: The list of included sites is public and open for contributions, with clear guidelines to maintain quality.
• Interaction: On the Kagi Small Web website, users can “appreciate” posts or leave temporary public notes, which are cleared weekly as content is refreshed.

Why It Matters

Kagi Small Web is a response to the increasing dominance of large, commercial platforms and the flood of low-quality, AI-generated, or ad-driven content online. By surfacing independent voices and original perspectives, Kagi aims to make the web more human, diverse, and meaningful.

Lately, I’ve been seeing this trend in the indie web community. People are getting spooked about AI scraping their content, so they’re putting everything behind login walls or email gates. But is this really the right move?

Stuff You Put Online is Meant to be Seen

Look, when you publish content on the web, it exists to be consumed. Being afraid of AI reading it and slapping access restrictions on everything? That’s basically shooting yourself in the foot.

The whole beauty of public content is that you never know who’s going to stumble across it. Someone unexpected might connect with your work, or you might get surprising feedback. Put up gates, and you kill all those serendipitous moments.

Fans First, Money Later

This is business 101: “Fans first, monetization second.” It’s a golden rule for a reason.

Why fans first? Simple. Real fans aren’t just customers. They actually get the value of what you’re creating, and they’ll spread the word for you. These people become the foundation of your community, and eventually, that translates to revenue.

Flip it around and focus on money from day one with access restrictions? You’re basically telling potential fans to buzz off. For solo creators especially, this is a massive missed opportunity.

The Email Address Reality Check

Let’s get real for a second. Put yourself in a reader’s shoes – would you hand over your email to some small-scale creator you barely know?

Honestly, unless their content is absolutely mind-blowing, most people won’t. Especially with unknown creators, there’s always that nagging thought: “Is this person’s newsletter actually worth it?” or “Are they going to spam me with junk?”

Your email inbox is personal territory. Giving someone permission to enter that space is a much bigger deal than hitting follow on social media. It carries real weight.

So the moment you make email registration mandatory, you lose most of your potential audience. You end up with great content that never reaches the people who should be reading it. Talk about counterproductive.

Let’s Just Get Along with AI

Sure, AI scraping is a new challenge, but do we really need to panic? Maybe having AI learn from your content means you’re indirectly reaching more people. That’s not necessarily a bad thing.

What matters is keeping that human touch that AI can’t replicate. Personal stories, individual perspectives, emotional insights – that’s where real differentiation happens.

The Value of Staying Open

When you keep your content open, amazing things happen. You get unexpected responses from completely different fields, random collaborations pop up, people you never imagined reach out. None of that happens when you’re hiding behind gates.

The indie web was supposed to be about this kind of open information exchange. Just because AI showed up to the party doesn’t mean we should go into defensive mode. Embrace the change, keep being authentically you, and things will probably work out better in the long run.

The digital garden flips the traditional idea of publishing. Instead of posting finished articles in chronological order like a blog, you build a living “garden of knowledge” online — a place where unfinished thoughts, notes, and ideas can grow and evolve over time.

Key traits:

• Not organized by time, but by connection
  Entries are linked by topic or theme, not by date. It’s about building relationships between ideas.
• Unfinished is fine
  Rough notes, half-baked thoughts, and early drafts are welcome. Everything is part of the process.
• Mistakes and experiments are visible
  You don’t hide your learning curve — you share it. The garden reflects growth, trial, and error.
• Form is flexible
  There’s no standard format. You can mix text, diagrams, audio, video — whatever fits.
• You own it
  It’s not tied to a platform. You build and host it yourself, making it truly your own space.

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If a blog is a shelf of polished articles, a digital garden is an ever-growing ecosystem. Some ideas bloom, others wither — but everything contributes to a broader landscape of thought. It’s a personal, evolving way to publish and connect ideas on the web.

Use the ActivityPub plugin.

ActivityPub

Additional plugins:

• WebFinger plugin: Works better with ActivityPub
• Fediverse Embeds plugin: Allows you to embed posts on Fediverse into your WordPress site

When it comes to distinguishing between free and paid content on your blog, the key is to strategically allocate different types of content to each section. Here’s how you can differentiate the content itself:

Free Content

1. Introductory Topics

• Basic Guides: Offer beginner-level guides that introduce readers to the main concepts of your niche.
• Glossaries and FAQs: Provide essential definitions and answers to common questions.

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The First Step to Building a Membership Site with WordPress

Thinking about creating a membership site with WordPress? You’re not alone. Whether it’s an online store, a learning platform, or a private community, the possibilities are endless. But when it comes to actually building one, the big question is: Which plugin should you use?

There are countless plugins for WordPress membership sites. Some are packed with features, others are simple and minimalist. Some support Japanese natively, some don’t. Payment integration, content restriction, email automation—the list goes on. The right plugin depends on your site’s purpose and scale.

Here are three key factors to consider:

1. Ease of Management
   Look for something intuitive. If the settings are too complex, you’ll probably get stuck or frustrated early on.
2. Extensibility
   You might want to start small, but later add advanced features or integrations. A flexible plugin that lets you scale up is ideal.
3. Support & Documentation
   When you hit a snag, is there detailed documentation or a user community? Easy-to-find answers make all the difference.

With these points in mind, there’s one plugin that stands out above the rest for a hassle-free membership site.

The best choice is,

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