Blogging in HTML – Two Years Later
Posted on August 4, 2024 by Aywren
Back in 2022, I decided to do something I never expected after having blogged under the WordPress umbrella for a very, very long time. I saw the business choices that WordPress.com was making, and didn’t like what was happening there. So, I decided to pull my blog content from their platform and re-code it into a static HTML website.
This was a HUGE project, one that I only finished coding last year, motivated by Blaugust to do so. From there, I added a few quality of life bits, such as a topics section. Since then, things have pretty much just been smoothly sailing and adding new content to the site, business as usual.
Or has it been?
Fast forward, two years later – do I have regrets for making the move from Wordpress?
Motivational Thoughts
I do admit that I haven’t posted nearly as much as I did back in my Wordpress days. It’s true that it takes a lot more work to manually create a page in HTML than it did to toss a post into the WordPress editor.
Also, keep in mind that this blog is over a decade old now, and no one can keep up the same momentum forever. Yes, I do want to write and post more. But I also have other creative outlets, such as my FFXIV Tumblr (I run a couple of communities there), and my own personal analogue journal that I’ve been hand-writing this year.
I do wonder if the paper journal has had an effect on my overall desire to push digital content, because I’m getting a lot of my thoughts out in another format somewhere else. I’ve always said that when you blog, you should blog for yourself first and foremost, so if I feel satisfied in putting my words in another place, then it’s only logical that I wouldn’t feel as much drive to create blog posts.
Analytics
There’s also the fact that my blog traffic has taken a hit – partially because Google had delisted a bunch of my pages without me knowing it. Because I don’t post as much as I used to, that only feeds into a circle of lower traffic, I’m sure.
I hate having to use Google Analytics to track my stats, and do very much miss the built-in WordPress stats. I’ve tried other stat sites, and either they’re too limited on a free version, or they just don’t perform well enough to keep up with the sort of stats my site still does get.
I already knew going into this project that my traffic would likely take a hit. Again, I’m not blogging for the numbers at this point, just blogging for myself. So, I’ve had to remind myself to be grateful for whatever traffic and comments I do get.
Thank you for reading this, by the way! 😊
The Final Word
So, with those things hovering over me, the question still stands: Do I regret my choice to move away from WordPress? Would I do it the same way again, if I knew then what I know now.
The answer: I do not regret it one bit.
Yes, there’s more work involved per post. But there’s satisfaction in coding my own blog pages and knowing my site belongs to me and me alone, with no company holding my content hostage.
Yes, I do pay a host to display my website to the interwebs – and I am happy and grateful for Neocities. However, the truth is, I can always find another host if things should go south here. Since I keep an updated backup of my files, and I don’t have any database needs, moving my site is just an FTP program away.
I feel like the “cons” that I mentioned here are things somewhat within my own control. I could choose to write more posts (like I am for Blaugust), which could also help to boost traffic (as long as I keep an eye Google indexing my pages).
I’ve watched the news with WordPress over the past few years, and I’ve had no desire to go back to the platform. Do I miss the simplicity of posting sometimes? Sure. But there are some things more valuable to me – namely content ownership and knowing whichever way the wind blows, my blog will still be here.