Bala Vishal

Get blogging in 10 minutes

Note: Please excuse factual inaccuracies, that's not the point of this blogpost.

I've wanted my personal corner on the internet for over 10 years. Basically, for balavishal.com to belong to me. Two things kept me from it: (i) not wanting to spend money (ii) decision paralysis.

I finally bit the bullet last week and paid up.

But that was the easy part. The burden of making a decision and sticking with it was much more difficult. This process took me places I would've never found otherwise. I'm quite eager to write about it, maybe another post.

Now that I'm on the other side, this is a quick guide for anybody looking to set up their own blog. Anything I say is going to be a crude version of https://verysimpleblogging.com.

If you're still here, let's begin!

Option 1: Completely free
Blogger happens to be the only truly free solution in the market. You can even add a custom domain to your blog without paying up.

Option 2: Free with a caveat
Alternatively, you can begin with platforms like Medium, Substack, Beehiiv, etc. They give you a free subdomain (such as https://bala-vishal.medium.com) to host your blog. If you pay up for their (respective) premium plans, you can pay even more to buy a custom domain.

What does that mean?

Basically, whatever you see on https://bala-vishal.medium.com will be hosted on https://balavishal.com).

They also offer drag-and-drop website builders for design flexibility. Here are a few example websites built using Medium, Substack, Beehiiv.

Pretty good deal, but not for me:

  1. They're all focused on building newsletter solutions.
  2. I want something simple because I want to write more.
  3. I happen to be too alt to cede to the popular solutions.

Option 3: Do what I did pt. 1

  1. Build your landing page on Notion: example. Publish the page.
  2. Buy a domain from Porkbun (Eg. balavishal.com cost me $60 for 5 years).
  3. Go to your domain console and set up a permanent URL forwarding to your notion page.
  4. Now, people visiting https://balavishal.com will land up on your published Notion page.
  5. You can add a nested Notion page for every blogpost you write.

Although, this can only go on for so long before you end up wanting a proper website. Then, you'll have two options: Pay up for Notion premium or...

Option 4: Do what I did pt. 2

  1. Buy a domain from Porkbun (Eg. balavishal.com cost me $60 for 5 years).
  2. Sign up for bearblog. Find a list of other great alternatives in the next section.
  3. Buy the premium tier, it adjusts for the purchasing power of your country ($2.85 per month for me).
  4. Set up your custom domain.
  5. Get writing.

Option 5: Self-host
My preferred option for well over a decade, never got it done.

Listing down a few interesting alternatives for you to explore. They all pledge to make your content last until eternity.

  1. Bearblog - Cheap, light, customizable.
  2. Blot.im - Super interesting blogging platform without an interface.
  3. Micro.blog - Community-driven micro-blogging.
  4. Write.as - Most well-rounded solution for the open web.
  5. Svbtle - Minimalist take on blogging.
  6. Posthaven - Built by the CEO of YC, promises to host your content forever if you pay for one year.