This is Kawamura of Green Keys Management.
The keyket closed after a very successful event.
The coverage has been published, and from the reactions on social networking sites, we are very happy to see that many people are enjoying the event.
Our site can be read in English through simultaneous translation, so it seems that we are gradually reaching out to English-speaking people, and it will be a good opportunity to let them know how hot the Japanese home-brew keyboard community is.
Perhaps kbd.news will feature it in the near future.
I’ll write a little bit about the interview in the afterword.
Afterword – Miscellaneous Thoughts
It is really just a memo, so please don’t take it badly.
About the works of stall holders
I had read about all the works of the exhibitors before the interview, and it is true that a real product speaks louder than words, and I felt that there were many things that I could actually see and understand firsthand.
He said this is the best part of an exhibition and sale.
The atmosphere was very pleasant, with crowds of people in various places, as if at a bargain sale, making it a truly festive atmosphere.
points worthy of special consideration
The only mental reflection I had was that I was bursting with shyness.
I regret that I was quite nervous because I am not that good at talking to new people.
It was also a big regret that most of the booths were not fully occupied when we were ready to go talk to them, and time was running out as we were trying to find the right moment to interview them.
Since this was the first time for me to do the interview itself, I feel that I will be able to use this experience in the future.
We also saw challenges in terms of equipment.
I had been told by someone else that “you have to use your feet to get the shutter release!” I usually used a single focal length lens instead of a zoom lens for subjects that I could get close to.
However, in crowded situations such as this one, where the angle of view setting is not satisfactory, a single focal length lens with a normal angle of view proved difficult to use.
If I wanted to get a full view of the keyboard, I would have to move back quite a bit, and of course I couldn’t do that because there were customers behind me.
Even when I wanted to get a close-up of the Artisan Keycap, I could not get a satisfactory picture of it with a normal single focal length.
In these scenes, I wished I had brought a super wide-angle zoom lens and, if I had wanted, a macro lens.
Learning.
Encounter with a self-made keyboard
I entered the website management and web advertising industry in 2018.
To put it simply, website management is a business model in which a website = a box is created, articles are placed on the box, the box is ranked high in Google searches, visitors are attracted, ad clicks are encouraged, and rewards are earned.
It is no exaggeration to say that websites are basically composed of “text” and that heavy typing is a job.
The key to work efficiency is “how fast you can type the words in your head.
It was in this context that we came across “mechanical keyboards.
We started with the HHKB, went through various commercial keyboards, starting with the finished 7sPro, and then the first build of zinc.
The Jiki introduction is in May 2023.
Green Keys was started with the simple idea of “spreading the fun of the custom keyboard and home-built keyboard community.
However, as long as we operate as a business, we must consider monetization.
We surmise that the reason there are so few sites in the keyboard area is probably due to the small market size in addition to the low search volume, which makes it difficult to monetize through website operations.
(As for business, I am running many businesses in parallel, such as a supervisor of a certain genre, a web writer, and a website management contractor, so it does not mean that I am only managing this site).
Difficulty in monetization
Green Keys itself is not a retailer that sells products, but only an “advertising business” that receives “referral fees”.
Website management businesses are broadly classified as “advertising businesses.
Since we were conducting this as a for-profit business, we had to monetize it, so we mainly operated “click ads” and “performance-based advertising” to generate revenue.
However, due to search algorithm updates beginning around 2022, it will become difficult to achieve higher rankings based on “content quality” alone, and the company will have to stop operating its own website and switch to a form of business outsourcing from a corporation to monetize its operations.
In 2023, further algorithm updates made it difficult for even “strong” corporate websites to be ranked high one after another, and a dark cloud was looming over the situation.
The algorithm update at the end of 2023 is the decisive factor, and a number of client companies are withdrawing from the market…and the current situation is sluggish.
Then began the major update in March 2024.
They seem to be trying to eradicate SEO hacks, but I don’t know what will happen.
It’s quite a difficult world we live in, isn’t it?
How do you operate?
Green Keys operates primarily with profits from performance-based advertising through partnerships with overseas keyboard operators.
As for the content, we are trying to negotiate with the businesses to provide “coupon codes” so that they can offer the best deals to those who use our services whenever possible.
I don’t use Google’s click ads overall because of their devilish specifications that make them unskippable, the fact that they appear in the middle of reading an article and I personally don’t like them, plus the small absolute number of page views and small cost per click to begin with (well, I simply don’t like them).
from now on
However, it is still “homemade keyboards” that we want to promote.
There are many different ideas among those who design and sell their own keyboards.
Most people will say, “It’s just a hobby, so I don’t want to monetize it.
However, there may be some who think, “This is just a hobby, but it would be fun to sell my products,” or who have ambitions to develop it as a business, or to collaborate with major manufacturers in the development of their products and spread their designs throughout the world.
However, no matter what your thoughts are, I think it is genuinely gratifying to know that something you have created is appreciated and used by many people.
I want to support people who are doing such wonderful “manufacturing”.
However, we must continue to operate this site as a business as well….
I have often been ridiculed by people who say, “What is he talking about, running a website in the doujin genre and monetizing it?
We still need to find a way to somehow intersect these two opposing axes and walk along them.
(I think it is easy to partner with those who have mother platforms that can implement performance-based advertising, such as shopify, but in many cases, the pricing does not include the cost ratio or profit margin. (It’s not like they were in the position of being “the kind of media that advertises your work” in the first place, so to speak.)
Since this is not an issue that can be solved immediately, we think it would be a good idea to start by expanding the content to provide a starting point for mechanical keyboards.
summary
Sorry for the totally uncoherent writing.
The keyket itself is scheduled to be held for a second time, and if allowed, I hope to be able to visit next year to cover the event.
This year, I hope to be able to participate in “Tenkey,” which I have not yet done.
The end.
