4 ms·

I've been blogging since 1998 and can trace every major step forward in my career to my blog. In 2003 I started writing about social networking and education -

I've been blogging since 1998 and can trace every major step forward in my career to my blog. In 2003 I started writing about social networking and education - the replies to that blog post helped me kickstart my first startup. In 2009 my blog posts about technology ethics led to me giving a talk at Harvard, which led to my becoming the first employee at a media tech startup. That in turn led to me learning more about media tech accelerators. I applied to one with a new startup idea, and got in, in part because my blogging on the open web was picked up by the New York Times as part of a story. Blogging for that startup helped us find customers and a like-minded community. When that startup was acquired, blogging both externally and internally at the acquirer helped me make friends and share ideas that wouldn't have reached the right people otherwise. And so on. Sharing ideas - not just tips, but thoughts about the why and who behind technology, as well as being vulnerable in public - has let me cut through from being a nobody in Edinburgh to someone with a pretty great technology career in SF. And even if none of that had happened, writing is a wonderful way to structure your thoughts, consider what really matters, and reflect. I recommend it. Start a blog - on your own domain, on webspace that you control.

erikerikson 4y ago
Edinburgh is a pretty fantastic place to start off, FWIW
- benwerd 4y ago
  No shade to Edinburgh! I miss it every day. But I'll tell you this: there was no startup ecosystem there worth talking about in 2003, and a lot of people who would side-eye you and tell you to get a real job.
- pvaldes 4y ago
  Their botanical garden is a very nice place
- jjgreen 4y ago
  Too polite
ludovicianul 4y ago
Any particular reason for emphasising the "own domain /control"?
- TacoSteemers 4y ago
  One reason is that someone else's platform means you don't have full control over presentation and discoverability. Also, at some point in their existence each platform start to decline. People move to the next platform and lose some of their readers. A few years later the same thing happens again, and readership is reduced again. Personally I have had a lot of fun adding random bits to my website such as small tools, some explorations on creative expression with CSS and things like that.
- HPsquared 4y ago
  If you're a tech person it serves as portfolio piece and example of stewardship skill.
  - flybrand 4y ago
    … and for us non techies it shows we can at least try and RTFM.
- benwerd 4y ago
  A blog is a long-term endeavor. You want to be able to run it long after any particular platform has declined. Ideally, it should be your portfolio that follows you throughout your career. That means you should minimize dependencies. Also: a domain means links add value to your online identity, not the platform you happened to choose.
- moneywoes 4y ago
  Yep especially compared to substack
Vibgyor5 4y ago
> I recommend it. Start a blog - on your own domain, on webspace that you control. Following up on this - any specific reason behind this? I am considering starting a newsletter soon to first gather audience and Substack looks like right solution for this without requiring much technical setup, esp. as a non-tech. Idea is to first start blogging, get into that mindspace, build an audience and then you can move it to a proper blog on your own website, if required. Curious what would be your thoughts here?
- nigamanth 4y ago
  Whoever you use, Medium, Substack, Wordpress, your blog is in their hands. If one day you forget to do XYZ task, they can take it all away. You need to control your audience to reduce chances of "unforeseen circumstances"
  - Vibgyor5 4y ago
    I see your point and agree - Substack etc may exist today but might not in 2-3-5y down the line and it'd be valuable to have hold of your own writing from Day 1. On a different note, what has been the value of "creative posts" and even "creative name for your blog" for you? I am overthinking this but sometimes I find myself wondering whether my post is really all that useful, that my blog should have a more creative/captivating name to catch audience's eyes etc. Did you ever face that? If yes/no, how'd you suggest to overcome this?
    - zerkten 4y ago
      >> On a different note, what has been the value of "creative posts" and even "creative name for your blog" for you? Why do we name anything? There are many reasons, but it's important to distinguish your site from others. Content is the primary way to distinguish a blog because the original consumption tool was an RSS reader. Things have changed a lot, so more people go directly to most blogs. If you have web design chops then there is an opportunity to create a distinct experience. The value of this is felt most by people who can appreciate good design, so unless you've goofed up usability, most people probably won't notice the design much. Don't mess up the usability because people remember bouncing from those sites or complain in comments here. There are tons of developer blogs out there so unless you are notable in some area (big or small) for some set of readers then your name may not be enough. "Joel on Software" as a blog name stands out more than "Joel Spolsky's Blog". It is possibly easier to communicate verbally, signifies the content, feels informal, etc. Does it matter if the content is only useful to you? It doesn't. The act of blogging improves your writing, creativity, tech skills, forces you to learn etc. So, you move forward in area of your career that many software people struggle: communication. If you write about stuff close to the area you work in then you'll find you reference your own blog posts a lot. Scott Hanselman recommends writing a blog post and referencing it an email instead of sending the same content in that email. There is some good stuff linked from https://www.hanselman.com/blog/your-words-are-wasted https://www.hanselman.com/blog/your-words-are-wasted. You overcome your problems by dealing with your anxiety. Why do you care about these specific aspects to the point that it blocks you from just writing and publishing? This is the differentiator between highly trafficked blogs and those that aren't. For a subset of people, noodling on these aspects and their blog template is the point itself. You need to decide on the true purpose, the why, and come up with a plan. There are lots of in-between steps like buying a nice template, drafting a lot of content to see if a name falls out of that, adopting a name like "Vibgyor5 on Software" etc.
a4isms 4y ago
Way back when Joel Spolsky was a high-profile blogger in the "starting your own software business" genre, I asked him for advice about my blogging, and he replied "Stop what you're doing and get your blog onto your own domain." I had procrastinated because other platforms made everything so damn easy, and hosting my own blog meant being a part-time web admin. But I took his advice, and set up http://raganwald.com http://raganwald.com. Some years after that, Posterous launched on HN, and I gave it a try. It was great, so very convenient! But I carefully kept copies of everything I posed there, and sure enough... One day it closed its doors, and I republished evrything on raganwald.com (some of my urls are raganwald.com/posterous/xxxxx.html, this is why). But what about all the links to the old posterous articles? All dead, so some threads right here on HN point to dead URLs. This is bad for me and for HN. For this reason, I personally reject the strategy of posting on my own domain and republishing it simultaneously on some other platform. Everything I write is on a domain I control, and if I get less traffic, so be it. Running my own blog on my own low-traffic domain is like running a store in a building I own. The mall is very attractive, but I'm done with landlords. p.s. There are hosted solutions that respect you your own domain. Some are free, like... Github Pages. And that's what I use. It is not essential that I own the server, just the URLs. https://github.com/raganwald/raganwald.github.com https://github.com/raganwald/raganwald.github.com
- simonw 4y ago
  When I moved my blog to a domain I owned I added little notes to my old content saying "Previously hosted on ..." in the hope that searches for that content by URL would find the new homes. Example: https://simonwillison.net/2004/Jan/22/defendingWebApplications/ https://simonwillison.net/2004/Jan/22/defendingWebApplicatio... - at the bottom it says "Previously hosted at http://simon.incutio.com/archive/2004/01/22/defendingWebApplications http://simon.incutio.com/archive/2004/01/22/defendingWebAppl..." I just tested it and it works! https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=http%3A%2F%2Fsimon.incutio.com%2Farchive%2F2004%2F01%2F22%2FdefendingWebApplications https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=http%3A...
  - indigodaddy 4y ago
    Very clever, nicely done!

erikerikson 4y ago

Edinburgh is a pretty fantastic place to start off, FWIW

benwerd 4y ago
No shade to Edinburgh! I miss it every day. But I'll tell you this: there was no startup ecosystem there worth talking about in 2003, and a lot of people who would side-eye you and tell you to get a real job.
pvaldes 4y ago
Their botanical garden is a very nice place
jjgreen 4y ago
Too polite

ludovicianul 4y ago

Any particular reason for emphasising the "own domain /control"?

TacoSteemers 4y ago
One reason is that someone else's platform means you don't have full control over presentation and discoverability. Also, at some point in their existence each platform start to decline. People move to the next platform and lose some of their readers. A few years later the same thing happens again, and readership is reduced again. Personally I have had a lot of fun adding random bits to my website such as small tools, some explorations on creative expression with CSS and things like that.
HPsquared 4y ago
If you're a tech person it serves as portfolio piece and example of stewardship skill.
- flybrand 4y ago
  … and for us non techies it shows we can at least try and RTFM.
benwerd 4y ago
A blog is a long-term endeavor. You want to be able to run it long after any particular platform has declined. Ideally, it should be your portfolio that follows you throughout your career. That means you should minimize dependencies. Also: a domain means links add value to your online identity, not the platform you happened to choose.
moneywoes 4y ago
Yep especially compared to substack

Vibgyor5 4y ago

> I recommend it. Start a blog - on your own domain, on webspace that you control. Following up on this - any specific reason behind this? I am considering starting a newsletter soon to first gather audience and Substack looks like right solution for this without requiring much technical setup, esp. as a non-tech. Idea is to first start blogging, get into that mindspace, build an audience and then you can move it to a proper blog on your own website, if required. Curious what would be your thoughts here?

nigamanth 4y ago
Whoever you use, Medium, Substack, Wordpress, your blog is in their hands. If one day you forget to do XYZ task, they can take it all away. You need to control your audience to reduce chances of "unforeseen circumstances"
- Vibgyor5 4y ago
  I see your point and agree - Substack etc may exist today but might not in 2-3-5y down the line and it'd be valuable to have hold of your own writing from Day 1. On a different note, what has been the value of "creative posts" and even "creative name for your blog" for you? I am overthinking this but sometimes I find myself wondering whether my post is really all that useful, that my blog should have a more creative/captivating name to catch audience's eyes etc. Did you ever face that? If yes/no, how'd you suggest to overcome this?
  - zerkten 4y ago
    >> On a different note, what has been the value of "creative posts" and even "creative name for your blog" for you? Why do we name anything? There are many reasons, but it's important to distinguish your site from others. Content is the primary way to distinguish a blog because the original consumption tool was an RSS reader. Things have changed a lot, so more people go directly to most blogs. If you have web design chops then there is an opportunity to create a distinct experience. The value of this is felt most by people who can appreciate good design, so unless you've goofed up usability, most people probably won't notice the design much. Don't mess up the usability because people remember bouncing from those sites or complain in comments here. There are tons of developer blogs out there so unless you are notable in some area (big or small) for some set of readers then your name may not be enough. "Joel on Software" as a blog name stands out more than "Joel Spolsky's Blog". It is possibly easier to communicate verbally, signifies the content, feels informal, etc. Does it matter if the content is only useful to you? It doesn't. The act of blogging improves your writing, creativity, tech skills, forces you to learn etc. So, you move forward in area of your career that many software people struggle: communication. If you write about stuff close to the area you work in then you'll find you reference your own blog posts a lot. Scott Hanselman recommends writing a blog post and referencing it an email instead of sending the same content in that email. There is some good stuff linked from https://www.hanselman.com/blog/your-words-are-wasted https://www.hanselman.com/blog/your-words-are-wasted. You overcome your problems by dealing with your anxiety. Why do you care about these specific aspects to the point that it blocks you from just writing and publishing? This is the differentiator between highly trafficked blogs and those that aren't. For a subset of people, noodling on these aspects and their blog template is the point itself. You need to decide on the true purpose, the why, and come up with a plan. There are lots of in-between steps like buying a nice template, drafting a lot of content to see if a name falls out of that, adopting a name like "Vibgyor5 on Software" etc.

a4isms 4y ago

Way back when Joel Spolsky was a high-profile blogger in the "starting your own software business" genre, I asked him for advice about my blogging, and he replied "Stop what you're doing and get your blog onto your own domain." I had procrastinated because other platforms made everything so damn easy, and hosting my own blog meant being a part-time web admin. But I took his advice, and set up http://raganwald.com http://raganwald.com. Some years after that, Posterous launched on HN, and I gave it a try. It was great, so very convenient! But I carefully kept copies of everything I posed there, and sure enough... One day it closed its doors, and I republished evrything on raganwald.com (some of my urls are raganwald.com/posterous/xxxxx.html, this is why). But what about all the links to the old posterous articles? All dead, so some threads right here on HN point to dead URLs. This is bad for me and for HN. For this reason, I personally reject the strategy of posting on my own domain and republishing it simultaneously on some other platform. Everything I write is on a domain I control, and if I get less traffic, so be it. Running my own blog on my own low-traffic domain is like running a store in a building I own. The mall is very attractive, but I'm done with landlords. p.s. There are hosted solutions that respect you your own domain. Some are free, like... Github Pages. And that's what I use. It is not essential that I own the server, just the URLs. https://github.com/raganwald/raganwald.github.com https://github.com/raganwald/raganwald.github.com

simonw 4y ago
When I moved my blog to a domain I owned I added little notes to my old content saying "Previously hosted on ..." in the hope that searches for that content by URL would find the new homes. Example: https://simonwillison.net/2004/Jan/22/defendingWebApplications/ https://simonwillison.net/2004/Jan/22/defendingWebApplicatio... - at the bottom it says "Previously hosted at http://simon.incutio.com/archive/2004/01/22/defendingWebApplications http://simon.incutio.com/archive/2004/01/22/defendingWebAppl..." I just tested it and it works! https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=http%3A%2F%2Fsimon.incutio.com%2Farchive%2F2004%2F01%2F22%2FdefendingWebApplications https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=http%3A...
- indigodaddy 4y ago
  Very clever, nicely done!