Anniversary Post

While configuring my domain's DNS in order to point it toward another web hosting service, I became aware of just how old my registration is. Before long this website will turn one year old—a year in which I have learned far more than I expected and grown in ways I never imagined. Looking back on the road traveled, I realize that a year ago I did not know exactly what I wanted to do or how I was going to do it; what I was certain of was that I wanted to start something. Shortly before formally taking up the task of web publishing, I documented myself as thoroughly as I could on everything involved in the creation, configuration, and maintenance of a website. The subject had interested me for a long time, but I never took the decisive step. I had always been curious to know how the web looked from the side of those who produce the information; I was already weary of being a consumer, I wanted to create and contribute knowledge, experiences, or opinions in a format that entailed more commitment than the one the world of social media can provide. By March 2016 I was learning everything necessary to venture into building a site. I have always had considerable aptitude when it comes to technology, since I have always trained myself in that area. At that moment all my interests were focused on refining my knowledge of everything related to: CMS, hosting, domains, SEO, HTML, Javascript, Wordpress, Blogger, templates, tags, copyright, Creative Commons licenses, information propagation, search, graphic design, video editing... For a long time I had accumulated material to publish: articles, essays, photographs, videos, but I had not organized it properly, nor had I bothered to implement a standard procedure to process it. When I began to organize all my information I had close to 1 terabyte of data. I always tend to record every kind of information—financial, academic, audiovisual—and I often fall into the bad habit of making many copies of the same content to avoid losses, so I spent a good while deleting and cleaning up the data so that I could make the most of that whole treasure of information I had stored over the years. I went from having 1 terabyte to having close to 300 GB, that is, a significant reduction of more than 200%. Soon after having my information well organized, the next step was to build my own folder system. Since I had set out to manage a website, I thought it best to have all the information not only organized but also easily manageable, so that I would not have to invest more time than necessary searching for the information to launch my projects, turning the publishing process into a task with the greatest possible efficiency. In order to make use of all the audiovisual material I had recorded, I spent several years familiarizing myself with recording techniques and photography styles, but last year my interests were oriented toward learning to use, at a professional level, a video editing tool and a graphic design tool that would allow me to express my creativity and build a style for presenting my content. I chose free software products to lower costs and to be able to ensure the continuity of my projects over the long term. Perhaps the learning stage regarding graphic design and video editing techniques was one of the longest, since it was the area I was least familiar with. I had a lot of ideas I wanted to implement but did not have a well-defined method to carry them out. Shortly after refining my knowledge, I realized how indispensable it is nowadays to know about graphic design and video editing. There are more than a few times when we must promote or sell something, give resonance to an idea, an event, or a project, and it is in those moments that whatever skills one has in graphic design or audiovisual editing are greatly appreciated. Now that I had tentative material to publish, the next step was the construction of the page itself. We usually have an idea of what we want according to the type of content we intend to publish, the references we draw from similar websites, and our own tastes and philosophy; however, the difference between what we want and what is right for us is very great, and only with time do we come to understand what we truly need and reach an optimal efficiency. I used to have a predilection for magazine- or grid-style web templates, but before long I realized how difficult it is to rotate content in this type of template, given that most have been designed for publishing at a very high frequency. The other setback I encountered was that this style of web page tends to end up overloaded with information, and consequently its loading speed decreases significantly. After so much searching, halfway through last year I found the template with the design I was looking for, and at the time it kept me entertained exploring its possibilities, configuring the correct size of the site and the proper layout to display content under the premise of a publishing frequency that could range from one post per week to one post per month. The need to adjust my content according to my own rules led me to learn more about HTML and Javascript oriented toward web publishing. As my needs grew, so did my reach in programming with these two languages. Once the base structure of my web page was defined, what remained was to see what I could do to improve the reach of my posts; here the famous SEO techniques and propagation through social media come into play. Integrating the potential audience with my networks, with my website, and getting my content, my stories, and experiences across to them—this last part became one of the most interesting activities, because after a while you begin to receive the interactions from your posts, and in the process you tend to receive feedback that allows you to envision the topics you can develop in the future to grow your audience and to think up new ways of presenting your content to attract more traffic. When 2017 began, I set about improving the quality of my posts. I used to underestimate the work of those who devote themselves to web publishing; most of the content you can find tends to be unoriginal, poorly presented, and even riddled with errors, but now being on the editor's side I realized that for content to meet all those quality criteria it requires a considerable investment of time and energy, something you can rarely achieve if you are not exclusively dedicated to the project. Little by little I improved my writing techniques, the way I approach topics, present them, and share them, so that, without the need for an editor, I might at some point reach an acceptable level of quality. After concentrating on improving the content, it was not long before I ended up adopting the minimalist philosophy. I understood that if I was looking for a fast website oriented toward the reading of its content, then I should aim for a style that would give me both properties and that would also be easy to manage; for that reason, minimalism emerged as the path to follow for the website's style. I could say that the final stage in the process of building my website was oriented toward finding the ideal size and the frequency best suited to my possibilities. Sometimes we set ourselves the goal of publishing every day or several times a week, but between the commitments of daily life, university, or a lack of inspiration, we end up recording achievements below our initial expectations. For that reason I established a realistic publishing frequency without falling into the trap of setting myself quotas that are hard to meet and that would end up exhausting my motivation to write. Shortly after being honest with myself, I truly began to enjoy writing the posts and to reflect on many topics in the process, a combination that I believe can bring me many benefits in the long run. Only a month ago did I set out to integrate, in a stable and definitive way, some advertising platform. For many, the only motivation for running a website is to obtain additional income through the advertising displayed on the page; so far I do not think it will become a significant source of income for me. From the information I have, there are few cases of websites that achieve considerable income by displaying advertising that does not hinder readers' interaction with the site. My first year managing this website has undoubtedly left me with great lessons. I have learned to invest my energy more intelligently, to prioritize tasks correctly, to make better use of the available tools to create something valuable, to reflect on many topics I might not otherwise have paid attention to, and to organize my ideas better. Now that I have an established methodology, I intend that this year I will be able to contribute even more to this site; I plan to add an additional category to publish short stories and works of fiction I have been working on, and to contribute more technical content related to the topics I am passionate about. There are statistics that reflect that a large percentage of websites tend to be abandoned before completing their first year of life; I am glad to confirm that I have been able to overcome much of the obstacles that present themselves to a web editor and to keep my domain active for more than a year. I hope to keep sharing and publishing my ideas through this window for a long time; interesting projects await this year. © Alejandro Guipe | All Rights Reserved.