Thoughts on Blogging Part 22
Back in March 2019 I wrote a blog post about the operating costs of running this website. I went into detail with regard to hosting and domain costs, as well as the other software and hardware used to write posts and at that point produce a podcast. Let it suffice to say that five years on, those costs have all increased. If we’re just looking at maintaining a blog simply in terms of hosting and the domain registration, it costs about £20 a month to run Contains Moderate Peril. Theoretically, if I want to reduce those costs I could dispense with a specific domain name and use a free blogging service. However, I feel that such a compromise comes with its own set of problems, such as advertising and a lack of control (to a degree) over your content. I therefore choose to pay to mitigate these concerns. If I then wish to do more, such as produce a podcast, create videos for YouTube or live stream, then those costs increase.
Now there’s nothing unusual about a hobby having a cost. If you fish, play golf or even spot trains, then you’ll end up spending money in the pursuit of your interest. However, blogging and content creation online is often about being part of or indeed creating a community. There is often a strong social dynamic running through what you do and motivating you. One of the major aspects of online culture during the early days of the internet was a sense of community and creating resources that were accessible to others. Sadly, that ethos seems to be in retreat and the internet is far more transactional these days, with content being commodified. Although the democratisation of media still exists, increasing online operating costs will slowly begin to exclude people. Such a thing may seem at first glance, inconsequential, but if you consider the matter it is not such a good prospect.
However, equality of access is ultimately a different blog post to the one I am writing. Of late my thoughts about blogging and wider content creation have mainly been about scheduling versus available time. I began the year with aspirations to write more often and also produce some video content. I was even considering a weekly 30 minute podcast, hosted just by me. None of that has come to pass because other issues have come up and there just aren’t enough hours in the day. It irks me to a degree but not as much as it did a decade ago. You ultimately do what you can do and be content with it. Another matter that concerns me is the template that Contains Moderate Peril currently uses. It is ten years old and beginning to look its age. However, replacing it would mean having to manually adjust 1,930 plus posts. Sooner or later that is a nettle that needs to be grasped.
Finally, although I am not going to stop blogging, I am continuously reminded that I can get more eyes on my posts via other platforms. I’ve mentioned before about how posts on Reddit provide detailed metrics and that a well received article can get thousands of views in an hour. Recently, I wrote a review via Google for a local restaurant and posted a few accompanying photos. I subsequently received notification via my phone that over 25,000 people had read that review. I appreciate that to a degree this is a bit like comparing apples with oranges but I would love to write a blog post on my own site that generated those sorts of numbers. But that’s not how blogs work. They have to be discovered and give the reader a reason to stick around. Reddit already has an audience, gathered in one place. Ready and waiting to consume material.
