Although I wish this was my first ever post, one month and a half later, here is the post about the minimum viable product of this blog. This is not about why I started a blog or why I have always enjoyed writing in general. Instead, it draws upon some characteristics of a minimum viable products I kept in mind while working on it.
The Initial Strategy
I set myself a hard deadline of three days to learn, consolidate the knowledge during my sleep and then execute. It spent a total of 12 hours of focused work throughout these days and I released it even if I felt embarrassed. So here is a picture of what it looked like when I launched it at exactly 1:58 PM on the third day:
My Self-Doubts About The Blog
I launched it regardless of the following now obvious statements:
- It only had three web pages, because I did not know how to publish a post (I figured it out a few hours later).
- Because the WordPress dashboard felt overwhelming to me, I literally replaced the text on THEIR default homepage with mine and with a random picture and I clicked on “Publish Website” .
- None of the pre-launch checklist outlined by WordPress were met except for any security-related measures.
- I knew nothing about modern Web design, optimal picture-text arrangement, mobile-friendly viewing, traffic retention, etc.
- Nothing about the launched blog was shared on any social media platform.
- The contact form submission did not even work.
- I worried that something random about the pages was broken and that it would redirect to some other obscure website.
- I was clueless about any ideal metrics for effective blogging monetization.
The Time Bottleneck
I do want to mention that I spent most of my time just choosing a domain name. That was crucial because:
- I would have to buy another if I change my mind someday and I would not be able to get refunded.
- I needed an extensive list of backup names that I was equally as satisfied individually in case any were taken.
- It needed to be timeless and relevant regardless of my current or future content topics.
- I wanted it to be appropriate, relatable and somewhat professional for anybody anywhere.
- It should be easily understandable and translatable in the four languages I knew.
- It should be short enough, easy to spell without numbers, hyphens or special characters other than letters
- The best domain should be a “.com” one
I was worried, because on my first day, I generated 30 exceptional and thoughtful names, but ALL of them were taken. Luckily, I persisted and focused deeply until I found one that I am still proud of !
Bottom line is, once I got it right, I just launched and generated some momentum by writing consistently and improving every post!
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