Update on the Update
There’s an old axiom about never telling people your plans publicly until they’re set in stone, and I recently made that mistake when I shared a blog post a little while ago about what I had planned for this website. I had mentioned that I wasn’t happy with Squarespace, and I was planning to move back to WordPress. Well, you may have noticed that nothing has actually happened.
Sigh.
I was originally planning to do this during a break in client work a little while ago, but I ended up with more work than I was expecting (not exactly a bad complaint). So, I never had the chance to test out how well I could move the site. It needs a good deal of behind-the-scenes work to make the move a success, and it’s by no means easy, especially as I’ll be trying to do this myself. I’m still planning to do it, one way or the other, but it will more than likely be the new year now before I get to it.
I have to get away from Squarespace. It’s really beginning to drive me mad. Occasionally, it will just stop working properly in safari, and you have to switch to Chrome. I’m sure that WordPress will be no picnic either, but at least you have some control over it. I’m still deciding whether to start a whole new site, with a new domain from scratch. Maybe I will also cover some different topics, or the current topics a little differently, but in the meantime I’ll keep posting sporadic posts here whenever I can (even though the process is painful).
On the plus side, I’ve stopped worrying about why my viewership was dropping off. It’s obvious to me now that the problem is simply that my content was getting stale, the site was getting stale, and I’m getting stale.
Someone left a comment before saying I shouldn’t get so worked up over a website, but the point they missed was that it wasn’t just something I did for a hobby. It was part of my income, and when this drops off to a fraction of what it was with no obvious explanation, it can be quite troubling and very stressful.
I have come to terms with that now, and the need to change, but I’ve also stopped getting annoyed by it. In fact, I stopped looking at my web stats altogether, and it’s been a huge boon for my mental health. I realised that I’ve actually been through this transition a few times before, and it’s always worked out in the end. It’s one of those circle of life things. It had been seriously stressing me out, and it was affecting me, but now I’ve made peace with it.
You may have also noticed that I haven’t been posting that often recently, if at all. This is down to two reasons. Firstly, I’m simply too busy. Ever since the summer, I’ve been working some design projects that have taken up all of my time. I’ve tried to keep posting whenever I can, but it’s difficult to switch mindsets between the two different disciplines, especially when you’re in the zone. Secondly, I’ve been deliberately taking some time away from it. I’ve had a difficult year from a stress and mental and physical health perspective, so I’ve tried to cut back on working myself into an early grave. For now anyway!
A while ago I made the decision not to rely on my website full time any more as it was too uncertain, and I’m glad I made that decision. If I hadn’t the current climate would be killing me. But it has given me an understanding of how difficult a job it is for people who rely on their online presence full time. I often see pot-shots taken at people who make YouTube videos or who are “creators” or “influencers” on various forums and website comments, as not having a real job, but if you think it isn’t hard work you’re kidding yourself. I’ve seen this from both sides of the window, and it's just as much stress being a “creator” as it is working for clients full time. Furthermore, I’ve spent my whole working life in the creative industry, and it’s pretty much the same goal regardless of where you work in it.
The same goes for my YouTube channel. I’ve made peace with the fact that it is slowly unravelling, and it's no one’s fault but my own. Well, mine and the incredibly annoying YouTube algorithm. You really do need to feed it, or it chews you up and spits you out.
It still annoys the life out of me that all the work you put into making a video is pretty much irrelevant compared to the secret magic formulae of getting the right combination of thumbnail and title, and how often you post. It used to be the case that you could rely on a percentage of your subscribers, but as YouTube now is de-emphasising subscribers unless you hit the magic formulae right away, your video never gets shown to many of the people who subscribe to you. And the other thing is regularity. The more regular you post, the better you do, regardless of how good the content is.
My problem is that I’ve fallen victim to both of these traps, and now I’m not sure If I can ever get back out of it. I love making videos, although I haven’t been able to make them as regularly or as featured as I used to. But this too is something I’m working on addressing next year. I wish there was some way of posting videos, like small updates, that would reach an intended audience without risking tanking your ratings. But at this point, from lack of regular posting, I think my ratings are toast anyway. Maybe this is where a second channel would come in?
At the end of the day, I realise now that I could be annoyed about it, but it is what it is. You need to work within the confines of the platform and the expectations of the audience. It can be frustrating, but if you want to make it work you have to realise that all this stuff that may seem like side issues, are actually just as important as shooting and editing a decent video. I wish there was a better way of promoting apart from your one shot with a thumbnail, but it is what it is.
Anyway, reading this back it all sounds like an exercise in self-pity and excuse making, but it’s really not my intention. I actually wanted to give you all an update on what’s been going on, but I’ve got completely off track here! The upshot of all this is, I’m still here, and I’m still planning on changing some things, but it’s going to take a bit longer. I’ll keep posting when I can, but the posting regularity won’t be as often as I’d like until I get a better handle on things. That probably won’t be until next year at this point, as I want to have the time to make sure the change will be truly worth it, both for me and you, the reader.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned more than anything else this year, it’s to look after your mental health. With the world in constant flux, this matters more than anything. I’m trying to apply that to my creative life too. I need to get back to it being a source of joy and inspiration, not stress and frustration. Sometimes you need to break things and rebuild them. I hope that when I did get to fulfil my goal of a relaunch it will get back to that philosophy and creativity, inspiration and joy will be at the heart of it. A lofty goal perhaps, but definitely a worthwhile one.
So stay tuned, as hopefully the best is yet to come.
The cover photo (above) is from a recent trip to Washington DC. More on that soon (it’s a funny story).
