I thought my blog post last Monday was a jumble of ramblings. A meandering, collection of words formatted into paragraphs posing as a story. It made me consider, albeit briefly, whether to continue with the writing or not.

I know, sometimes, some stories might seem a little less organised, and a little more all over the place. Truth be told, I usually start with a good idea/premise. Then, I muddle or lose the plot along the way😊

I also know, sometimes, some stories may have a hint of ‘deja vu.’ Maybe.  Afterall, I have over 300 stories on my blogsite since I started some years ago. I can’t remember all the stuff I have posted, thus far. What I remember is most of what I’ve written and write reflect my thoughts (sensible or not), opinions (correct or not), feelings (fraught or not), about people and things/events that have happened and are happening with and around me at a particular time. 

I know, of late, my focus has been on my mum and my journey since her passing. She was centre stage in my life, and still is. I miss her.

So why the question? Why the consideration?

I’m not entirely sure but it forced a rethink and a reaffirmation. I write because I want to have something purposeful to do each week. It’s quite easy to let weekdays morph into weekends, and repeat. A Monday blog is the start of my week. 

I write for me. It’s a bit of fun. It’s a bit of knowledge gathering. I choose topics that interest me enough to want to ruminate, research, and express my thoughts and views.

Yes, it’s a bit of a challenge to get something out every week. Not always easy. I run out of topics to write about. Then there are topics that irk me plenty but are dicey. I avoid them, just in case. And, I get brain fog and lazy, which happens.

I prefer a blog or a sort of online journal so that I can collate, weekly and regularly, all my stories/posts/ ramblings in one easy to access platform. I appreciate that it allows me, when I want or feel like, to revisit and relive –  happy, sad, gratitude, all sorts – that get churned and evoked from reading recent and long ago stories. Obviously, there are many on my mum, my husband and family. As well as holidays and issues that have piqued my attention. I know I could file the stories in a word document but I prefer publishing them on a blogsite with a theme, a structured page layout and photo visuals to boot.

But best of all, at least for me, I write with no deliberate plan to seek likes, page views or page visits to my blogsite. To be honest, I thought all three were one and the same. From the start, there was no want or effort to increase traffic or encourage comments or monetize or do promotions or have in-place an effective SEO. I am content with an email and website subscription.

That said, I’ve read enough to understand some of the essentials or must-haves or should-know to build and sustain a, hopefully, successful blog. For instance, content is still king/queen for a blog. It’s always useful to create quality content or stories that are informative, provide value and solve problems. Which could be why there are so many ‘how-to’ blogs like ‘1 to 5 or whatever number of ways to declutter, bake cookies, make money and meditate.’ I actually like this type of blogs.

What about the ideal length for a blog post? There is no perfect answer. The length might vary depending on the blog’s goals, industry – news or academia, device type – mobile or desktop, and frequency of posts.   

‘According to a Yoast research, blogs should have at least 300 words to rank but ideally have more than 1,000 words. If the writer isn’t experienced, reaching 700-800 words should be the target, otherwise, they may produce a lot of fluff to reach a higher count[1].Hmm.

Which brings me to another essential, SEO. ‘Search Engine Optimization is about helping search engines (like Google, Yahoo) understand a blog’s content, and help users find the blogsite, and decide whether they should visit the site through a search engine.[2] 

Also important is mobile-friendly blogs. ‘With over 5.44 billion people online and around 1.1 billion websites, the ways we interact with the World Wide Web is constantly changing. The number of mobile users is steadily increasing, overtaking desktop users in many countries. As of November 2024, 64.4% of all internet traffic comes from mobile devices, while 35.96% comes from desktop[3].

Equally pertinent is leveraging social media. Posting, sharing, engaging, and responding to comments/messages are must-dos. Big asks. Not quite for me.

I think … I shall merrily ramble on.