Blogging Journey: Content First, Website Second

I’m an idea person. My StrenghsFinder traits include Strategic and Futuristic, which accurately depict me as somebody who can get grand visions and plans; I can see what a project has the potential to be (which is odd because I’m no daydreamer – it’s always very logical, practical long-term realistic success.) The point is, once I decided I wanted to start a website, I knew it was the implementation part that wouldn’t be my natural inclination to push on. So, I forced myself, knowing otherwise my plans and thoughts and dreams would keep me awake at night thinking, “Oh come on. It can’t be that hard to learn. What’s one more project?”

And here I am now.

I won’t pretend like it was a series of easy decisions, but I ended up getting my Bluehost domain and hosting combo and now I use ElegantThemes on my WordPress.org site to try to figure out how they all work together.

My biggest lesson and suggestion of the day for all newcomers walking the path alongside me:[click_to_tweet tweet=”Blog Beginners: Have written content and photos before trying to find the perfect layout. ” quote=”Have written content and photos before trying to find the perfect layout. “]

Maybe this is obvious to most and I missed the memo. But I was so consumed with doing everything right the first time that I didn’t want to start adding my precious, polished final product to my sloppy, not-really-existent site.

Whatever I installed or removed, whoever I trusted with admin powers to come in and tinker along the way, I wanted full immunity for the little completed content I held closely to my chest.

I was wrong.

Very, very wrong.

As I started tinkering with free WP themes, I’d install one and immediately wonder why my page looked nothing at all like what I had just selected. I started believing that perhaps the thumbnail showed what was possible only if you spent a lot of customization time, not what the theme download automatically creates for you as a baseline.

So I made a jump to paid themes. And on a parallel website venture I embarked upon (a long story for another day) I hired a WordPress expert and website designer to custom build and upload a site for me so I could get ideas out of my head and start getting them on (virtual) paper.

Admittedly, I wish it didn’t take me so long to realize this, but the truth is:
You need to add your content and photos first to truly understand the capabilities of your layout.

So many of the theme samples look fantastic because they are professionally tied together. Photos have been properly sized and have beautiful overlays that pop when you scroll over with the curser. Headshots have already been edited and formatted into circular borders, giving them that immediate “blogger” look.

There are no placeholders in the themes I have worked with, and that threw me off. There is no grayed-out box where a photo will be placed. And that, my friends, is when I gave up and started adding content to see what the heck I would ultimately be looking at. I added fake photos and a lot of “content goes here” placeholder text.

Finally, I’m now seeing results in live-time. Some home pages are simple, straightforward, and highlight one new post; others have the optionality to show eye-catching text from dozens of recent articles.

Until I have dozens (or at least half a dozen) articles, I can’t truly gage what I like, what I want, or what will work for my content.

Because I’m jumping through the hoops and see how easy it is to get lost in the weeds, I’m setting small, specific goals along the way (not quite SMART goals because I’m cutting myself some slack on the timeline!)

Sharing my goals does two things:

1. It keeps me accountable and focused on exactly what I need to do the next time I sit down to work on my site.

2. It shares my exact steps and thought process with you as I build a website from nothing – and hopefully opens the door to meet and talk to some of you out there at the same stage!

Goal Setting: Generate and upload 6 initial posts, complete with featured image (and not just a placeholder!)