Jonathan's Digital Garden

How much was your salary? We need to inspire the young generation.

This was my Facebook News Feed a couple of days ago when I remembered how I started blogging. I was a freelance blogger back in the early 2000s, if I remember around 2007, when I discovered Smorty and Pay Per Post. The pay was decent during that time. $5 for a 50-word article while you get around $25-$30 for a 250- or 300-word article. Jobs were consistent as well, as it was the height of blogging.

I started out with Xanga when I was in high school. Most of my classmates were blogging through the platform, which prompted me to make one. We shared everything there. From what's going on during the day to probably school announcements because, if memory serves, it has a dashboard where it shows updates when you're subscribed to someone.

Eventually, the Xanga hype died down, which prompted me to move to Blogspot, but I wasn't feeling it, so I signed up with Multiply instead, as my friends were also using it at the time.

One fateful night, while I and my friends were talking about blogging, someone introduced us to Blogie. He was really into blogging, and I think he was also a community leader for bloggers in the metro. He gave us tips about blogging and introduced us to WordPress. Both I and my other friend, who was into blogging, were convinced and moved our stuff to WordPress.

The platform was so young at the time (v2.3). I was blogging almost every day, writing about anything under the sun. SEO during the time was easy as well. I was able to afford my first personal domain and a web host because of my blog.

I stopped blogging around 2009-2010 because I was busy with school. Likewise, I was about to make a comeback into blogging with WordPress but discovered 🔗 Posterous, which lets you post articles using your email.

When Posterous announced they were going to stop their service after being acquired by Twitter, I stopped writing. This was also the time I was working.

Two years ago, the .com domain was having a massive sale where it only cost almost Php 4,000, or $80, for a 10-year contract. This is considered a steal, and I didn't think twice about buying the domain.

I don't know what prompted me to use Hugo, but after buying the domain, I had to look for a web host. This is a drawback when using WordPress. You have to shell out more money because you're paying for a web host and the domain. Although there were free alternatives out there, but we all know nothing is free nowadays.

WordPress is a dynamic blogging software. Meaning, most of the work happens server-side, and another drawback is when your site is hacked. Once it's hacked, you'll lose access to your data, and you'll lose your investment. You're lucky if you can recover your account. There are tools out there that could help protect your web host and your site, but with a price.

Hugo is a static site generator (SSG) written in Go, and it's super-fast! You write your post in Markdown. Once done, Hugo takes the markdown file and converts (or builds) it to HTML with CSS. You'll use version control apps like GitHub, GitLab, or BitBucket to store your code and your content. You can also use edge networks like Vercel, Netlify, Cloudflare Pages, or similar to deploy your website.

The problem with using SSG is you have to take extra steps. In WordPress, once you're done installing the app, you grab a theme from WordPress themes, and you begin writing away! With SSG, you need to familiarize yourself with how Git works and learn HTML, CSS, and Javascript. There are apps that could help you focus on content once you've built your site. Git-based apps like Forestry and Netlify CMS are a few.

Most people who use SSGs are developers. I've also seen a few graphic designers who also went this approach. I'm not a developer, but I loved this approach because it eliminates the need for a web server. Would-be attackers would not know where to begin since I don't have an admin panel. Everything is served as is. I also get to learn HTML, CSS, Javascript, and Go.

I was able to use the new WordPress (v5.4.2) and its new editor. Furthermore, I was used to TinyMCE, but I liked the SSG approach instead. It eliminated the need for a web server.

*2/16/2026 Update: Corrected grammar and thought process for clarity.*