The Next Step After Defining My Blog Philosophy
Now that I had shaped my blog philosophy, the next step was planning the structure. I know myself. There’s a good chance this blog will evolve into something more over time.
This part, the space planning, isn’t where the magic happens for me. But it’s what makes the magic sustainable. That’s where it gets tricky. It’s easy to lose hours tweaking things under the guise of progress. Website setup is structured, familiar, and safely impersonal. Writing — actually putting myself out there — is the edge I hesitate to cross. So yes, I’ll gladly spend an afternoon experimenting with layouts or fussing with menus if it lets me delay hitting publish.
Still, the space needs to move toward completion. And to get there, real planning is essential.
Why I Didn’t Just Use a Blog Platform
I wasn’t simply launching a blog. I was building a site that could hold more than a running list of posts. Maybe it stays a tidy little journal of thought. But maybe it doesn’t.
So I went with WordPress.org, hosted through Bluehost. Not because I researched every possibility, but because I’ve used both before and knew what to expect. Their support has been reliable, available, and responsive.
Planning for Growth Without Overplanning
Some of the questions I considered: Will I add an affiliate program? Do I need an LLC to support that? Should I have a contact page? A media kit?
Not all of these needed answers immediately. But I needed to leave space for answers to emerge.
The Essential Page Architecture
Core Pages: Home, About, Blog, Disclosures.
Personality Pages: Hi, I’m Kathi (author cards at end of posts), Recommendations.
Future Considerations: Contact, Work With Me.
The Visual Challenge: Graphics Without the Spiral
The question isn’t whether to include images, but what kind. I default to uniformity and symmetry, but maybe connected intent matters more than perfect execution.
Graphic style options I considered: No Graphics (clean, focus on writing, can feel bare), Personal Photos (relatable but time-consuming and privacy concerns), Stock Photos (polished but can feel generic), Branded Illustrations (strong identity but expensive), Icons/Simple Graphics (adds charm but risk of looking amateurish).
How AI Helped Me
AI didn’t build the blog, but it did help me check tone consistency across pages, define tags based on emerging themes, distill ideas into clear categories, translate outdated tutorials when interfaces had changed, and sanity-check when screenshots didn’t match current interfaces.