Advice for starting a blog in 2023 (are blogs still a thing?)
September 19, 2023 1:35 PM
I want to embark on a self improvement journey (specifically in terms of getting my finances in order and learning to be better with money) and the idea of blogging about my progress is appealing to me, but I'm not sure where to start.
I've made some big changes to my internet habits in the last year or so, which has involved deleting all my social media and rediscovering the non-soul destroying bits of the internet (which has been a relevation, I had no idea metafilter was still here after all this time.) I have no clue if anyone still reads blogs in the time of influencers and big tech walled gardens monopolising the entire internet, but I figured if anyone still does it's the people here.
Do any of you maintain active blogs? Do you read them? Where do you find new ones and keep track of updates? (I'm guessing maybe RSS feeds?) What would be the best way to set a blog up in 2023 - bearing in mind frugality is key due to the concept? It doesn't matter too much to me if I get very many readers and I'm not interested in monetising this in any way, I just like the idea of putting my thoughts out there as I go (I thought maybe I should consider a neocities site? But I'd be starting more or less from scratch with html and while that sounds like a fun skill to learn, it might distract from the main purpose of the exercise.)
I've made some big changes to my internet habits in the last year or so, which has involved deleting all my social media and rediscovering the non-soul destroying bits of the internet (which has been a relevation, I had no idea metafilter was still here after all this time.) I have no clue if anyone still reads blogs in the time of influencers and big tech walled gardens monopolising the entire internet, but I figured if anyone still does it's the people here.
Do any of you maintain active blogs? Do you read them? Where do you find new ones and keep track of updates? (I'm guessing maybe RSS feeds?) What would be the best way to set a blog up in 2023 - bearing in mind frugality is key due to the concept? It doesn't matter too much to me if I get very many readers and I'm not interested in monetising this in any way, I just like the idea of putting my thoughts out there as I go (I thought maybe I should consider a neocities site? But I'd be starting more or less from scratch with html and while that sounds like a fun skill to learn, it might distract from the main purpose of the exercise.)
I still blog! And my dad blogs on a sub-domain of my site.
My blogroll is totally dead, though. Most of the links go to sites long-abandoned, like, no activity since 2014, or are just straight-up missing ("this domain is for sale!").
I'd say your main concern will be archiving. If you pick a free site, figure out how to backup what you post there; if you buy a domain and host your own site, figure out how to keep the content if you get too broke or bored to continue paying for hosting.
I'd love to find new blogs to read too, but I no longer know how to do so? I hope you get some good advice here!
posted by goblinbox at 2:06 PM on September 19, 2023
My blogroll is totally dead, though. Most of the links go to sites long-abandoned, like, no activity since 2014, or are just straight-up missing ("this domain is for sale!").
I'd say your main concern will be archiving. If you pick a free site, figure out how to backup what you post there; if you buy a domain and host your own site, figure out how to keep the content if you get too broke or bored to continue paying for hosting.
I'd love to find new blogs to read too, but I no longer know how to do so? I hope you get some good advice here!
posted by goblinbox at 2:06 PM on September 19, 2023
Wordpress is still a primary place to start -- it makes it easy without needing to know a whole lot of HTML or coding. They still have a free level, which is pretty much just the "I want to blog" features so you should be fine there.
I took a long break from blogging but started posting at my blog again...last time I posted was over a month ago, I gotta keep on myself to keep posting. But, there was a time when I blogged all over the place, had multiple blogs and people paid me to blog for them, but the growth of social media and stricter/stupider algorithms at search engines (which preferred social media shares) really makes it hard for a blog to get found these days. So, you end up promoting your blog on social media, which kinda defeats the purpose because why not just post on social media then?
But, even in the olden days you put your blog's link in your email signature and in your message board profiles and eventually people will find you. It's slow, but keep at it and you'll find an audience.
posted by AzraelBrown at 2:13 PM on September 19, 2023
I took a long break from blogging but started posting at my blog again...last time I posted was over a month ago, I gotta keep on myself to keep posting. But, there was a time when I blogged all over the place, had multiple blogs and people paid me to blog for them, but the growth of social media and stricter/stupider algorithms at search engines (which preferred social media shares) really makes it hard for a blog to get found these days. So, you end up promoting your blog on social media, which kinda defeats the purpose because why not just post on social media then?
But, even in the olden days you put your blog's link in your email signature and in your message board profiles and eventually people will find you. It's slow, but keep at it and you'll find an audience.
posted by AzraelBrown at 2:13 PM on September 19, 2023
Ten years ago, lonnng after the Golden BlogAge, I started a new job and thought it would be nifty to blog the transition. I went with - free - Blogger / Blogspot which was then super easy to access. You don't need any HTML chops but there is an HTML editor that allows tweaking what it looks like. Everyone tells me my design sense is crap because I took/take the defaults. So it looks quite '90s. Lots of potential and past readers say I should promote myself on Twitter or FB. But I blog as a diary and as therapy and if anyone else gets edutained from reading then that's fine. I can't think of any advantage to having more readers since those I have rarely comment - again people tell me that blogger makes commenting harder than it could be. I conclude that pageview stats are meaningless: because bots - for the last 6 or 8 weeks blogger says I'm getting 2-3,000 eyes a day but that sort of blip has happened before and ebbed away back to ?1-200? hits/day.
There is a legitimate annoyance that Blogger's customer service is non-existent and that subscriptions die or choke off for random indeterminate periods. Blogger has been under threat of being axed [for lack of interest?] (with little notice) for at least the last 5 of those years. I did open a free Wordpress account but it was made hard to keep my involvement fr€€, and I was too old a dog to learn a new interface, so I carry on under the sword of Bloggocles. I daresay Wordpress is as good as blogger if you start there. Every 100 posts, I scrape the site into a Word file for backup /posterity.
My entire life [all that I can remember of it] is now recorded in fragments and anecdotes 'related' in my 'mind' to what I read in the papers, experience in class or on the farm or hear on the wireless. I do my best to add value to each post rather than just rechurning what other people have written. Some of it is funny. Come on in, the water's lovely.
posted by BobTheScientist at 2:51 PM on September 19, 2023
There is a legitimate annoyance that Blogger's customer service is non-existent and that subscriptions die or choke off for random indeterminate periods. Blogger has been under threat of being axed [for lack of interest?] (with little notice) for at least the last 5 of those years. I did open a free Wordpress account but it was made hard to keep my involvement fr€€, and I was too old a dog to learn a new interface, so I carry on under the sword of Bloggocles. I daresay Wordpress is as good as blogger if you start there. Every 100 posts, I scrape the site into a Word file for backup /posterity.
My entire life [all that I can remember of it] is now recorded in fragments and anecdotes 'related' in my 'mind' to what I read in the papers, experience in class or on the farm or hear on the wireless. I do my best to add value to each post rather than just rechurning what other people have written. Some of it is funny. Come on in, the water's lovely.
posted by BobTheScientist at 2:51 PM on September 19, 2023
I have various blogs, which I am not going to pimp in general because if people see you, bad things happen these days. I'm not going to recommend you as to where to set yours up (my main blog host is for pay, my free one, well, I'm surprised it's still up after all these years) and everyone WordPresses now anyway. (Or maybe use Dreamwidth, the non-Russian-takeover version of LJ.) I don't know about finding new ones exactly other than I just randomly find them and add them to Feedly if I can. If they don't have an RSS--I use feedly.com--then I don't keep up so much. One of mine is so old it doesn't have RSS as an option and the mailing list I used went out of business, so I just keep it private for the most part, which is fine.
Really, these days blogging is fine, but I wouldn't share any of my blog links on social media because if anything you post makes it there, that's when things get crazypants. If you're just looking to blab your thoughts and not get a lot of hits, I'd say old school blogging is for you these days.
posted by jenfullmoon at 2:54 PM on September 19, 2023
Really, these days blogging is fine, but I wouldn't share any of my blog links on social media because if anything you post makes it there, that's when things get crazypants. If you're just looking to blab your thoughts and not get a lot of hits, I'd say old school blogging is for you these days.
posted by jenfullmoon at 2:54 PM on September 19, 2023
I don't post to my blog a lot, but I do sometimes. And I use an RSS feed reader to track a lot of others.
You can get a free hosted blog at Wordpress.com, which seems most people's go-to option; you can get your own hosting space pretty cheaply and host your own installation of Wordpress for no additional cost. I like WP, but it has more bells and whistles than a lot of people want.
Blogger.com still exists. Tumblr.com (which is now owned by Wordpress' parent company) is very simple blogging with some social-network features.
posted by adamrice at 3:20 PM on September 19, 2023
You can get a free hosted blog at Wordpress.com, which seems most people's go-to option; you can get your own hosting space pretty cheaply and host your own installation of Wordpress for no additional cost. I like WP, but it has more bells and whistles than a lot of people want.
Blogger.com still exists. Tumblr.com (which is now owned by Wordpress' parent company) is very simple blogging with some social-network features.
posted by adamrice at 3:20 PM on September 19, 2023
Do any of you maintain active blogs?
Why, yes I do.
What would be the best way to set a blog up in 2023 - bearing in mind frugality is key due to the concept?
Wordpress.com will suit you fine. It is totally free that way, particularly if you pick one of the free template styles; there are straight-out-of-the-box layout styles you can pick from, and it can get a little too easy to get up your own butt trying to decide which of the bells and whistles you want, but for what you're doing, I would suggest just picking something simple and minimalist. Then blogging is as easy as clicking on one button to say you want to make a post, typing into the box, and then clicking another couple buttons to publish it. My own blog costs me about $75 a year, but only because I have a fancy domain name; if I didn't have that it would be totally free.
It doesn't matter too much to me if I get very many readers and I'm not interested in monetising this in any way, I just like the idea of putting my thoughts out there as I go
This is actually going to be the thing that helps you most. So many people who "get into blogging" are doing it with an eye to monetizing it, and SO many people who write online articles about "ideas for side hustles" suggest "just start a blog!" but there are whole lot more people who THINK they can write well enough for pay than actually CAN do so.
Like you, I also don't so much care about monetizing things, I just wanna say shit and get into the habit of a writing routine, and that's all I'm doing. And it's still enough that I've got about 40-50 regular readers worldwide (this one dude in Denmark comments on nearly everything, I have no idea how he found my blog but i love that guy).
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 3:50 PM on September 19, 2023
Why, yes I do.
What would be the best way to set a blog up in 2023 - bearing in mind frugality is key due to the concept?
Wordpress.com will suit you fine. It is totally free that way, particularly if you pick one of the free template styles; there are straight-out-of-the-box layout styles you can pick from, and it can get a little too easy to get up your own butt trying to decide which of the bells and whistles you want, but for what you're doing, I would suggest just picking something simple and minimalist. Then blogging is as easy as clicking on one button to say you want to make a post, typing into the box, and then clicking another couple buttons to publish it. My own blog costs me about $75 a year, but only because I have a fancy domain name; if I didn't have that it would be totally free.
It doesn't matter too much to me if I get very many readers and I'm not interested in monetising this in any way, I just like the idea of putting my thoughts out there as I go
This is actually going to be the thing that helps you most. So many people who "get into blogging" are doing it with an eye to monetizing it, and SO many people who write online articles about "ideas for side hustles" suggest "just start a blog!" but there are whole lot more people who THINK they can write well enough for pay than actually CAN do so.
Like you, I also don't so much care about monetizing things, I just wanna say shit and get into the habit of a writing routine, and that's all I'm doing. And it's still enough that I've got about 40-50 regular readers worldwide (this one dude in Denmark comments on nearly everything, I have no idea how he found my blog but i love that guy).
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 3:50 PM on September 19, 2023
No one reads blogs, but if you want something easy and don't care about being read: dreamwidth.org. It's a great choice if you are truly disinterested in making money from your blog.
Wordpress is fine, but they will put ads on your blog unless you pay them, which might go against your frugality, and because no one reads blogs, the ads tend to be bottom of the barrel.
posted by betweenthebars at 4:29 PM on September 19, 2023
Wordpress is fine, but they will put ads on your blog unless you pay them, which might go against your frugality, and because no one reads blogs, the ads tend to be bottom of the barrel.
posted by betweenthebars at 4:29 PM on September 19, 2023
Self hosted Wordpress is so easy these days.
Buy a web address and some cheap server space from somewhere like Dreamhost. It has tools to help you setup wordpress on that new URL built right into it. Find a good free template and install. Then start writing.
posted by 0bvious at 4:31 PM on September 19, 2023
Buy a web address and some cheap server space from somewhere like Dreamhost. It has tools to help you setup wordpress on that new URL built right into it. Find a good free template and install. Then start writing.
posted by 0bvious at 4:31 PM on September 19, 2023
I blog, though not regularly. I use wordpress.com and pay for the second level tier. I actually have 2 over there and used to pay for the second one, though I let that and the domain name lapse.
I don't really care if anyone reads it. I know I have one regular reader (my HS Spanish teacher). Just putting something out there is enough for me.
posted by kathrynm at 7:03 PM on September 19, 2023
I don't really care if anyone reads it. I know I have one regular reader (my HS Spanish teacher). Just putting something out there is enough for me.
posted by kathrynm at 7:03 PM on September 19, 2023
I'm a Feedly user for consuming RSS. I am not as religious about following it like I was back in the day. But I check it once or twice a week.
posted by mmascolino at 7:33 PM on September 19, 2023
posted by mmascolino at 7:33 PM on September 19, 2023
I have been thinking about this for a while too. Thanks for asking this!
posted by samthemander at 8:55 PM on September 19, 2023
posted by samthemander at 8:55 PM on September 19, 2023
Both I and Ms Fabius, and many of my friends, have blogs. Some of us write "weeknotes", one post a week about what we've been up to, which is a great way to keep up with each others' lives without social media. A self-imposed deadline is great for making you write something!
I don't have enough time in the day to keep up with all the blogs I would like to read. I use Feedbin to read RSS feeds (and email newsletters) which costs money but is excellent and independent.
At the risk of violating a code of conduct by promoting my own site, last year I started ooh.directory – a categorised directory of blogs – to help solve the "I don't know how to find blogs to read" problem. And also to demonstrate that there are still plenty of blogs (currently over 2000 active blogs listed).
There are SO MANY blogs. I've no idea whether there are more or fewer blogs than there were 15-20 years ago but the internet is definitely much bigger, so it certainly feels as if there are much fewer, proportionately.
But I'm in no danger of running out of blogs to add. I love finding seams of blogs about a specific topic, linking to each other. I'm currently in no danger of running out of new blogs to add about classic movies, beer and pubs, model railways, fishing, and mathematics for example. A bit "blokey" as we'd say in the UK, so suggestions for good blogs by other demographics (or anyone) are very welcome.
I'd second what others have said about using WordPress.com. It still seems like the best, most future-proof, option for running a blog for free, although there have been one or two previous Asks with other suggestions over recent months. Because people are still blogging!
posted by fabius at 12:15 AM on September 20, 2023
I don't have enough time in the day to keep up with all the blogs I would like to read. I use Feedbin to read RSS feeds (and email newsletters) which costs money but is excellent and independent.
At the risk of violating a code of conduct by promoting my own site, last year I started ooh.directory – a categorised directory of blogs – to help solve the "I don't know how to find blogs to read" problem. And also to demonstrate that there are still plenty of blogs (currently over 2000 active blogs listed).
There are SO MANY blogs. I've no idea whether there are more or fewer blogs than there were 15-20 years ago but the internet is definitely much bigger, so it certainly feels as if there are much fewer, proportionately.
But I'm in no danger of running out of blogs to add. I love finding seams of blogs about a specific topic, linking to each other. I'm currently in no danger of running out of new blogs to add about classic movies, beer and pubs, model railways, fishing, and mathematics for example. A bit "blokey" as we'd say in the UK, so suggestions for good blogs by other demographics (or anyone) are very welcome.
I'd second what others have said about using WordPress.com. It still seems like the best, most future-proof, option for running a blog for free, although there have been one or two previous Asks with other suggestions over recent months. Because people are still blogging!
posted by fabius at 12:15 AM on September 20, 2023
I blog too, though embarrassingly it's been over a month since I last posted. I self-host and have told no one in real life about it, it's under an assumed name and my husband only learned about it many years after I started when I accidentally let slip about it. Since then, I think he's my only (occasional) reader. I have no idea, since I don't use comments or check analytics or anything.
I use feedly, and as an early user am grandfathered into being able to subscribe to any number of feeds for free. I also use it to read newsletters, like substack ones, as well as a selection of magazines and similar sites. If the RSS feed doesn't pull the full text I unsubscribe very quickly.
I love diary-style personal blogs that update fairly frequently but not more than daily, and generally have shorter posts.
posted by tavegyl at 2:53 AM on September 20, 2023
I use feedly, and as an early user am grandfathered into being able to subscribe to any number of feeds for free. I also use it to read newsletters, like substack ones, as well as a selection of magazines and similar sites. If the RSS feed doesn't pull the full text I unsubscribe very quickly.
I love diary-style personal blogs that update fairly frequently but not more than daily, and generally have shorter posts.
posted by tavegyl at 2:53 AM on September 20, 2023
I have a wordpress blog*, and use twitter and mastodon to promote it. Just writing regularly helps with brevity, concision and flow with my professional writing and drawing labels (twitter has been a huge part due to its character limit).
It's work-oriented (not monetetizable tho) and to some extent a client filter, so if they go there and think I'm a Marxist greenie and leave immediately we both win. Also a place to explain spatial theory, human space ... promote trade shows and some of the ways I work eg
Electrifying Excavation, changing a steep lawn to an accessible alpine garden using #NZ’s first electric excavator.
posted by unearthed at 3:46 AM on September 20, 2023
It's work-oriented (not monetetizable tho) and to some extent a client filter, so if they go there and think I'm a Marxist greenie and leave immediately we both win. Also a place to explain spatial theory, human space ... promote trade shows and some of the ways I work eg
Electrifying Excavation, changing a steep lawn to an accessible alpine garden using #NZ’s first electric excavator.
posted by unearthed at 3:46 AM on September 20, 2023
Blogger is still there, as ever. I doubt Google has added or modified any features in years. Its very easy, but not as flexible as anyone with great ideas about formatting might like.
posted by SemiSalt at 4:35 AM on September 20, 2023
posted by SemiSalt at 4:35 AM on September 20, 2023
Thanks so much for all the really helpful and encouraging responses everyone, I've started my blog just through Wordpress and have been checking out all those that were linked here :)
posted by chives at 10:40 AM on September 21, 2023
posted by chives at 10:40 AM on September 21, 2023
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by smorgasbord at 1:40 PM on September 19, 2023