If you examine the World Wide Web, you’ll discover plenty of articles detailing the reasons why having your own website is a good idea. Curating creativity. Building business. Bringing bloggers together. Conserving credibility.
But why? Can’t you build your business or connect with others through Facebook? Sure, but really the most important reason for owning a website is because of the state of the internet itself.
The internet has turned into a large heaping garbage pile. Have you noticed? But you can do your part to make it a little bit more hospitable. And building your own website is much easier and affordable than you think.
But before we get to that, let’s look at the inimical path the internet has gone down.
What’s the Problem?
It has been a gradual process. And now we’re at a point where it might be difficult to go back to how it used to be. Why? Because one of the unfortunate disasters afflicting the internet is social media.
And it’s not going away anytime soon.
The social (control) media sites have taken over the internet. With Facebook’s societal engineering and Twitter’s multitude of trolls frolicking in their victim-hood, it’s become insufferable.
Most social media sites have become Asch conformity experiments. Algorithms are used to carefully filter what one has permission to consume, in order to compel herd agreement, all the while making it seem like one’s ideas are original thoughts. Many folks don’t realize this. Others do, but don’t care.
I acknowledge that social sites can be beneficial. But most of the content at places like Twitter and Facebook is rubbish.
The search engines are no better. What was once useful has turned ineffectual and impractical. Google has morphed into another community control tool, issuing results of a weak prop-up for the current mainstream doctrine.
It wasn’t always like this though.
I’m old enough to remember what the internet was like pre-Facebook and Twitter. (Actually, I’m old enough to remember life before the internet at all, but whatever.)
The biggest difference between then and now is this:
Production Vs. Consumption
Back in my day (uttered in grandma’s raspy old lady voice), the internet was full of creation. Pages and blogs filled the spaces with goods and services and information for anything you desired to learn about. Producers and creators and makers developed these places and filled them with useful knowledge and products. You could search the world wide web without the algorithm telling you what to think or how to behave or what to buy or read or consume.
Then came along social media.
And the world stopped producing and instead became devourers of defiled detritus. And lately, whatever newspeak nuggets social media wants to fling your way, whether you want it or not.
What to Do?
The bad news is that the future of the internet is most likely more of the same.
There is some good news though. It doesn’t have to be like this. For you anyway.
Anyone and everyone can, and should, do two things:
- Build your own website.
- Use social media. The right way.
Build your own website. Like back in the day, where businesses and forums proliferated the WWW, you can join the ranks of those site owners who created rather than consumed.
Having your own website has multiple benefits.
You get to share, and possibly make a living with your wares whether they be physical products, digital products, or information. Others can secure useful, quality content that will benefit them in some way.
Another benefit of your own website is that it’s more difficult to censor. Not impossible, mind you, but it’s less likely that your website will be removed than your Instagram account being deleted for some unknown, vague community safety standard “violation.”
Having and maintaining your own website bestows a realization of freedom and independence. And that independence will continue to become even more important as the world moves forward.
The second thing you can do is use those social media sites. Correctly, that is. Don’t use them for socializing. (Go talk to your neighbors and stuff, like people used to do.)
On the other hand, DO use social media for business purposes. Use it to drive folks to your website. Advertise your products or information or blog. Maybe even interact with your customers or followers. (Although you can do this on your website too.) The point is, used correctly, social media sites can be as useful as they are harmful.
(As an aside, you can “follow” blogs and business that you like without using social media. Just subscribe to their RSS feed with an RSS reader. More about that later.)
There you have it. Building a website is quite simple, and the benefits are worth the small investment it takes. Even if you’re not quite ready to pull the trigger, I suggest at least heading over to one of the domain registrars and purchasing a domain name. Maybe yourname.com or a business one if you’re already in the process of building a business.
If you’re convinced to start now, check here.
Let’s make the internet as excellent as we know it can be.
Please feel free to leave comments or questions below.
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