Why do I have my own website (and what’s next)

This blog (or any blog for that matter) could exist on services like Medium, but yet I chose the route of having my own website. I build, and maintain everything here.

Doesn’t that mean more work for me where a large majority of my pull requests are just new posts? Using a service would make things much easier, right? Yes, but there is one main reason why; control.

I have control over the following:

• The domain address
• What framework I want to use
• The styling; from fonts, colours, to layouts
• The user journey
• How someone can interact with my website
• If I decide to change the way it looks, I can start from scratch!
• And so on…

Ryan Barrett also thinks this and describes owning a website as a home, and I completely agree. Like a home, you can do whatever you want to it. Knock down walls, refurbish a room, get an extension, and that’s what owning a website is like. My website has made some very big changes over the years:

• At first, it used a CSS framework (and we shall never speak of it again). While the blog was a separate Jekyll application.
• Then I moved everything onto a single Gatsby application in 2020 (which was a much improved website)
• Then three years later, in 2023, I moved everything to NextJS (and it looks much cleaner)

I could post the exact same content on something like Medium or Tumblr, and leave the provider to handle package updates, redesigns etc. But I view those services like a hotel room.

Sure, the room is nice but you’re very limited on what you can do. Plus, all the cool upgrades you want are behind the minibar. And nobody pays for the minibar.

But it’s not just customising or choosing the tech stack when you own a website, you also control and own the data.

All the posts on here can’t be found anywhere else, and I can move the posts to any platform I wish. If I was on a platform ran by someone else, do I really own the data?

Let’s go back to the house and hotel analogy; what if the hotel closes down and you lose everything? If you were in your home, you wouldn’t have to worry about that as you’re in control.

But what are the other reasons for me having my own website? Because it’s a fun hobby. I enjoy writing blog posts about all sorts of things, and making changes to how it looks. I get to own a small piece of the internet and that’s cool.

This leads to my next reason, career. I work in software development. It’s important that I have something that I can show an employer that I understand the process of writing and understanding software. In the past, this website has come up in interviews, and it makes a great conversation starter. It sticks out and grabs attention.

I’ve been running this blog now for five years, and it’s definitely something that’s helped me to relax after work, or work on over the weekend. Writing these posts has led me to discover software such as Notion.

What next?

You might think there isn’t that much to do for a blog. Sure, you could rewrite some text on the pages but this website is pretty much feature complete.

Except for a few new ideas that I have…

One idea I have is using a service like Buttondown to create a newsletter. I have plans to create posts that are slightly more casual, which don’t really deserve to be shared on LinkedIn. So the newsletter would be a great way to notify readers of new posts (it would be free to sign up to).

Then there is the fediverse. I wrote about this a few months back and I thought it would be great if this blog was on the fediverse. Then people could follow it on platforms like Mastodon or Bluesky. Which is cool!

Should you own a website?

At first, you’d think this might be very easy to answer. But actually, my answer depends on a few factors.

If you…

• Are comfortable with programming, and ready to get your hands dirty.
• Are willing to put the time in.
• Happy to own everything when it comes to running a website.

Then you should take a look into owning a website.

If not, then using a service like Medium will be great for you. Something like Medium gives you the tools that you need to start writing, which to some that’s what they’re looking for.

Regardless of what you pick, having a place where you can write and share your work with others is key.

Until next time 👋