SEO can kiss my a-s-s and the algorithms can follow in line.
First time opening Squarespace in idk how long and an immediate “ehh..” of disinterest came to my lips, looking at the site title “A Biker Babe’s Guide to Life in Los Angeles.” It was cute and fitting, but now I’m over it. The sous titre is even less appealing, “riding aroundLA sharing what we figure out along the way.”
It worked. It was cute. Past tense.
What’s more fitting of me writing about any and/or everything under the sun that comes to my mind then gets lucky enough to come out of my pen?
How did my personal blog about life become a niche blog about bikes?
I made an attempt to niche down, as a result of wondering will my blog be successful. I’m glad that I did. Now, I rather say f*ck the algorithms and honor the multipassionate against whom I unsuccessfully wage a war. Occasionally, I win a battle, sticking to one singular focused topic.
I wanna be a bad b*tch, a kept woman.. that’s the mood I’m in.. knowing before long, I’ll change my mind again. That’s a pitiful puddle, shallow. It neither would hold my attention.
AROUND
with TK
aroundwithTK. No more LA. Well, it’ll still be in the domain name because I’m pivoting, not starting from scratch completely. Wait, I think I can purchase another domain name and have it all lead to the same site. Yeah, that’s what happens when anyone types in tekeyakrystal.com. [goes to check] Oh… well, that’s what used to happen. If I happen to meet a professional website editor in-person, I’ll ask him about it and maybe hire him for his services. Figure out all this foolishness. For now…
How to define a personal blog?
Let me go define a personal blog again, the way that I did years ago when I decided to build this one. Start from scratch, in a sense. Before I go to the Internet and find an article or a tutorial, give it a go, let your own once-brilliant mind work.
personal blog (noun) [TKV] — a microscopic (until otherwise developed, if ever) corner of the Internet where a highly sensitive individual with a chaotic mind sorts thoughts, expresses opinions, and shares seemingly trivial day-to-day happenings of one’s own human experience via prose on a digital platform (see also: vlog = video blog)
Yeah, I like mine. I almost don’t want to taint my own definition by reading whatever will come up on the Internet, especially if it’s AI-generated. However, this is a rather safe question to type into a search engine, “what is a personal blog,” as blogs have been a bit antiquated since before I had ever even heard of the concept. I remember telling my co-workers at Neiman Marcus about ideas for creating a blog and both of my closest girlfriends at the time, two trendy ladies, said “if anything, you should make a YouTube channel.” “Yeah, TK,” the other agreed, “who reads?!”
Are blogs a thing of the past?
That was everyone’s perspective, really. And it was clear in the numbers as well. More Internet users were consuming once popular blog website types of content via video blogs (vlogs) on platforms where folks were already browsing the web (YouTube). Not even being aware that had a boom, I certainly didn’t know when it was over, I didn’t know it had happened!
Ever receptive of feedback on ideas, I considered. Pre-confinement-2020, I typed in the search engines “how to decide between a blog and a vlog,” “are blogs still a thing,” “should my content be a YouTube channel or a traditional blog” and every other way the question could be asked. All answers pointed toward filming vlogs for YouTube… so I went with writing blogs.
Granny always said I was a hard-headed a** lil’ girl. [shoulder shrugs]
Five years since the initial launch of aroundLAwithTK.com, as I consider a pivot upon returning to creating content, why am I still hard up ‘bout a got dawg’on blog?! Why didn’t my mind say, “ima hop back into content creation with a central and primary focus on making videos”.. ? There’s still YouTube, that’s been around since we were born, with a new and (I’m sure the company would say) “improved” features for consuming and creating content, such as YouTube shorts. Then, there are altogether new platforms for hosting video content, such as Instagram with its Instagram Reels, and Twitch for streaming.
Though there are a plethora of options to “sort thoughts, express opinions, and share day-to-day happenings” on the Internet, all of which have a higher probability of visibility in our nearing-illiteracy society, I’m still drawn to the written form of expression.
The traditional blog life chose me.
As I write these words, they’re drawn on physical paper with an ink pen. I wasn’t intending for this to even be a blog post. I wasn’t planning to write at all. I only pulled out this pocket notebook to scribble scratch ideas for a new personal blog title upon gagging at that other bullsh*t. (It’s not bs, it’s really my way of living, but I’ve been transparent from the jump ian wanna write about that junk.. I just like riding my bike).
Yeah, this is going up. My lil’ site, on which I spent my hard-earned money, hasn’t gotten anything from me in how long?! Mm hm, lemme wrap up these thoughts, go’on’head and transfer these to the keys.
Oh, yes, a personal blog as defined by [insert credible source]:
Does no one blog anymore?
That’s funny, I start typing, “what is a personal…” and everything but blog comes up! [stale face emoji]. Someone pass me a tissue. I missed the era of blogging and it may not ever be a thing in my lifetime. I probably was supposed to be on Earth during the time of the scrolls and pigeons or typewriters and telegrams — or I was and I’m currently living my 2nd or 3rd reincarnation and that’s why I send friends and family postcard by mail carrier and can’t let go of making a traditional written blog happen in 2026.
statement
brand
assistant
loan
pronoun
shopper
narrative
reference
Giiiiirrrrrrrrl. And my PERSONAL BLOG is open in another tab! You’d think autofill suggestions would’ve immediately said “BLOG,” hein?!
What is a personal blog?
aperçu IA
a personal blog is an online platform where an individual shares thoughts, experiences, opinions and interests on a variety of topics, often in a conversational tone
[gentle grin] I’m really that b*tch.
I haven’t completely lost my ability for recall and creative thought. (This is an example of a Medium author’s suggestion in practice, working a thought or problem out on one’s own first then using AI as a support tool. I’m glad I read that article, about how the use of AI can prevent our brains from thinking, before navigating to Squarespace to revisit my personal blog. Otherwise, I may not have proved to myself that I’m not a bimbo just yet.
A personal blog, that’s what I really want, that’s what I always wanted, but trying to please SEO and niche-down for a target audience interested in a particular topic, I tweaked it until it wasn’t even a personal blog anymore.
Does niche’ing-down help build a brand?
Did it help me? Sure. From the perspective of analytics, shifting my personal blog into an informational topic blog did help. The niche-ing down may have made it more readily digestible for a search engine, but in my gut, nah, it didn’t sit right with me.
aroundLAwithTK.com as an informational site probably collected more clicks in a day at some point than my previous personal blog, tekeyakrystal.com, did in its entire existence. aroundLAwithTK as a guide to life in Los Angeles even brought me some teeny tiny opportunities, a complimentary ticket to a show here, a collaboration with a local business there. It wasn’t enough. And I’ll venture to say that even if my door were to have gotten knocked down with grand opportunities from aroundLAwithTK as an informational/topic blog, it still wouldn’t have been enough.
It may have been enough to make me fight through my feelings and keep creating whatever gets clicks, but I wouldn’t have been happy with what I was creating; I wouldn’t have been creating.
I want to create content that makes me proud to have created it, not simply happy that I got something done.
Okay, maybe a website title and subtitle will come to me on my walk home. Let me get out these people’s coffee shop; I’m knowing they’re trying to close, wondering why my tail is still perched. Shoot, fifteen bucks for a nasty latte and a croissant, I had better soak up some of their A/C and WiFi. (The croissant was delicious, the latte and barista’s unpleasant disposition was the problem). Okay, bye!