\”But don\’t look back in anger\”, I heard me say…

jan van iperen • 27th Jul 2006 • dev

\"Blogging I try to focus on the here and now and only a few steps ahead. But still, there are some moments that I look back and wonder how or whether I would have done certain things in life differently.

Triggered by the current \”group writing project\” Darren Rowse has going over at problogger.net – If I had to start my blog again – I see a nice excuse to look back and ponder whether I would have done things differently.

First I must say that although it is quite a long blogging path I have been walking, I am fortunate that I did. Because of the way things have developed for me, I have been learning a lot by own experience. This have given me quite some assetts for the future. By just starting, going, falling, getting up again, making mistakes and even more, I have trained my blogging senses to be aware of possible pitfalls for every next step.

But would I have done things differently? Yes. I was eager being part of the whole blogging scene, and looking back (not in anger) I think I would do some things in a more rationalized way:

  • Read, read, read. I would spend way more time reading other people\’s blogs and guidance sites before preparing and building my own blog.
  • Preparation. I would try to be patient and firstly get all parts of my blog optimized for both visitors and publisher.
  • SEO. Mmm, this was a road too long, only because I did not read enough about it until lately.
  • Monetization. This part has gotten a lot of my attention lately, but as being part of your blog it should be optimized before your blog is released to the public.
  • Content over design. I have been worrying a lot on the design of my blogs, where I had spent my time better writing content.
  • Diversification. I think I would try to offer visititors more than just the blog. Every other adequate way of offering visitors a total package should be anticipated. Blog, forum, mailinglists, community participation, store… everything in 1 style and with a clear image representing the identity of the main blog.

Where you might think this calls for a totally different approach than what I have done, I must include a few points that I would definitely NOT do differently:

  • I would definitely choose WordPress again as backbone of my blog
  • I would love to experience the feeling of switching to Mac again
  • I would always have a sandbox blog to try out things and make stupid mistakes un-publicly
  • Ecto would be my editor [keep looking out for the release of ecto3!] again
  • And I probably would read a lot of problogger.net again too… =)

So, I do not look back in anger, it is more a question of shortening the timeline by better preparation and anticipation. In general I am quite happy how things worked out and what it has learned me along the way.

Do you look back in blogging anger?

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