An opinionated article on the topic!
Definitions
- Blog - Generally a collection of one’s absurd ideas. Marketed as ‘interesting’ ideas instead.
- Blogging - Transfer of said ideas from the human brain to the digital cloud.
Why
- Why suffer alone with your nonsense?
- What If I forget the nonsense?
- Free, unlimited, permanent real estate for nonsense is already available.
How do I blog? Do’s? Don’ts?
Domain
- You would need to buy a unique domain from a domain registrar. (Eg: GoDaddy, Namecheap, and literally every other link from the first page of google search results for ‘domain registrars’).
- For most people, this is the text to enter in the address bar of the browser application, when they (mostly only you) decide to visit the blog to see what’s up. Eg: https://neophyte.me
- This is the branding for your blog so choose wisely! Try to make it short and memorable.
- Extra points if you can choose a domain name that can be used for Domain Hacks. These are domain names that suggest word/phrase when read as a whole. Eg: Using the country code top-level domain of Belgium -
.be, Youtube has a domain calledyoutu.be. - Lease the domain for a longer period of time. Domain names are cheaper the first time your purchase them. Renewals are generally expensive.
Hosting
- A host is a physical infrastructure (computer) where your articles live when in the digital cloud. There are both free and paid options.
- Host for free on Github Pages using Jekyll. Probably the best option at the moment because it is free while still allowing you to take full control of the look and feel of the blog.
- Once done, make fun of anyone hosting themselves on paid plans from providers such as Medium or Wordpress.
Do’s
- Be clean and simple. Clean themes are easier for the readers’ eyes. The navigation controls on the site should be straightforward. There should be a way to list all your posts grouped by date or categories. Optionally, there should be a way to search through your posts.
- Be blogger-friendly Make sure that, outside of writing and drawing, you don’t do too much work to put out a new post.
- Be responsive. The site should load just fine and adjust itself on all devices. Most people are likely to open your site on a mobile device.
- Be lightweight. The site should load within a few milliseconds. Nobody wants to wait 10 seconds looking at a blank browser tab. Even if they did for the first time (because you pestered them), they wouldn’t visit the site again :(
- Be RSS friendly. Add a Really Simple Syndication feed to your blog so that regular blog readers can simply add yours to the list of blogs they already read on their RSS reader application.
Most importantly, Do have fun! (whatever that means)
Dont’s
- Lock yourself to a vendor Try to look out for free stuff and read the copyright licenses properly for all digital content. Do not place yourself at the mercy of some vendor for your blog. You’ll end up paying a fortune as time progresses.
- Place ads. It makes the site look ridiculous. Also, respect anyone who wants to read your blog. You wouldn’t slap an ad on your friend’s coolers just because they are looking at you. You shouldn’t do that to their browser too.
- Add trackers. This is the ultimate disrespect for anyone giving their time to go through their blog. No one deserves to be tracked. If any model requires tracking personal information, either change your model or get roasted by me!
- Add comments section This is yours and yours only! No one is allowed to pass comments on what you say. (But seriously, this is only here because there isn’t a free solution available for tracking comments that also doesn’t track the users…yet. I’m currently working on such a solution and if it works, I’ll change my stance on this particular point :D)
- Think too much Often, we feel strongly about what we think for a limited period. Take advantage of that window or you’ll never write that down again! (You can dissect its cringiness when you are sane again).