When I started researching epic or silo blog posts in April 2023, I discovered their unique purpose. These comprehensive posts serve as a valuable resource for readers interested in in-depth information on specific topics. For bloggers, they allow the demonstration of authority and expertise. Additionally, epic posts play a role in search engine optimization, potentially improving blog rankings and establishing the writer as an expert.
The Idea Behind All Things Content Blog
In this blog, I aim to catalog and summarize my learnings as a content creator. I want to present a well-compiled and condensed repository of knowledge for my own use and provide useful resources for readers. Over the years, I accumulated numerous handwritten notes and wanted to bring them into a structured and searchable digital format.
To cater to the specific interests of readers, I decided to create a separate subdomain for this blog, distinct from my main author website. This would allow me to separate my writing on sustainability and podcasting from the technical topics covered in this blog. By migrating relevant topics to this blog, I can provide focused content to different audiences. For example, those interested in shared hosting may also find AI-based writing tools relevant, but not everyone would share this interest.
Over the years, I had collected nearly 20 notebooks, diaries, sheets of paper with lots of notes, lots of how-to’s, resources, structures for the website,and blog post ideas.
This blog will help bring all those handwritten notes into a digital format which could be structured and searchable.
This blog will feature three types of posts.
1. Epic or silo posts exceeding 3,000 words
Epic posts also have a role to play. They may help take your blog to the next level by higher ranking and possibly establishing you, the writer, as an expert of sorts on the topic that you are writing about. So goes the theory. Many YouTube tutorials, blogging guides, as well as posts by SEO plugins such as RankMath, helped me really get to the bottom of this concept. And I was convinced that for some of the topics that I had in mind, having silo structures was the preferred way forward.
2. Add-on posts of 1,500 words or longer
These will provide more specific insights on the topics discussed in silo posts.
For example, if I wrote an epic posts titled “My journey with Content Management Systems”, the add-on posts could be on “Self Hosting your own blog or website”, where I could talk about using a PHP-based Content Management System such as Drupal, Joomla, WordPress, or flat-file content management systems such as Bludit, on which this site is hosted.
3. Feeder posts of nearly 1,000 words
Each of these posts will focus on specific tools or resources within the broader topics.
I have learned so much particularly since 2017 in the space of websites, servers, imaging, Linux, and open source, the feeder posts would be a great way to catalogue and summarize some of these learnings.
In this blog, I will cover topics that are relevant to content planning, creation, and marketing.
Major Categories
Some of the topics I will write about include Image Compression and Optimization, Technology tools (SaaS tools, Generative AI, Linux and Open Source), Webhosting (including Content Management Systems, and Content Delivery Networks).
Way Forward
While exploring content management systems, I tried various options before finalizing originally on Bludit. As a PHP-based, open-source CMS that doesn’t rely on a database, Bludit is lightweight and responsive, making it suitable for the long-read nature of the blog. However, it has a smaller community, and the transition from version 3.4 to version 4 may pose challenges. Nevertheless, as the content is stored in markdown or text files, migrating to another CMS is possible, albeit with customization.
Update: I will migrate to ClassicPress shortly. Read my note on why I took this decision.
I also tried a couple of other Content Management Systems, including ClassicPress, Pluck, and Serendipity. All three of them do use a database. I had thought about trying out Textpattern CMS, but in the end, it was a choice between a flat-file structure versus a CMS that uses a database. I did try Grav, and like always, I managed to mess it up.
Let us move on to this site itself. A lot of the content is from 2020 onwards, the majority of it between the years 2020 and 2022. A lot of the posts are based on my first hand experience, and some content may be dated by the time it is published. But like they say, “Better Late Than Never”.
I am excited that this long-pending project is finally seeing the light of day. I hope readers will find the information contained in the blog useful.
A Blog focused on technology for all things content
This blog chronicles his journey with using various software applications, operating systems, and tools, as he overcame his initial discomfort with them. With a background in construction, Amar was more inclined towards physical work. However, as he ventured into the world of Linux, open source, podcasting, content creation, and social media automation, his curiosity led him to explore software tools in depth. Along the way, Amar invested a significant amount of time in learning and understanding these tools, while also making several mistakes. The blog posts serve as detailed explanations of his experiences and provide insights into how things work.
Between 2016 and 2022, Amar meticulously documented different software, tools, computer upgrades, and hardware configurations. While some of the information may be outdated now, his intention is to catalog his journey in the hope that it will be useful to the readers of the blog. The posts on the blog are quite comprehensive in length.
On Amar’s main author site, amarvyas.in, he focuses on topics like sustainability, writing, his books, podcasting, and travel.
On this blog, Amar covers a wide range of topics including web hosting, software as a service tools, content delivery networks, content management services, Linux and open source, productivity tools, and AI technology.
He strongly believes that information should not be limited to users of a specific language or region. With this goal in mind, he aims to include summaries of his posts in Hindi and Marathi languages as well. Most of the images used in this blog have been generated by Amar himself using AI technology or graphic design tools. The content of the blog is entirely his own, and he has utilized AI writing tools to assist with formatting and structure.
लेखनाबद्दल सर्व गोष्टी
“All Things Content”हा एक ब्लॉग आहे, ज्याचा लेखक अमर प्यास त्याच्या तंत्रज्ञानसंबंधी अनुभवांची आणि सॉफ्टवेअर टूल्सच्या संबंधातील कामगिरी ह्याची माहिती देतो. अमर निर्माणशास्त्रा (construction) काम करतो, पण त्याला सॉफ्टवेअरच्या टूल्स अत्यंत आवडतात. त्याच्या लिनक्स, ओपन सोर्स, पॉडकास्टिंग, कंटेंट निर्माण, सोशल मीडिया इत्यादीच्या क्षेत्रात अनुभवाची आवड आहे.
त्याने २०१६ ते २०२२ या कालावधीत विविध सॉफ्टवेअर, टूल्स, कंप्यूटर अपग्रेड, हार्डवेअर कॉन्फिगरेशनची नोंद घेतली आहे. त्याच्या उद्देशानुसार, ह्या ब्लॉगमध्ये व ेब होस्टिंग, सॉफ्टवेअर सेवा टूल्स, कंटेंट डिलिव्हरी नेटवर्क, कंटेंट मॅनेजमेंट सेवा, लिनक्स आणि ओपन सोर्स, उत्पादकता (productivity) टूल्स, AI तंत्रज्ञान यांचे संक्षेप प्रदान केले आहे. या ब्लॉगमध्ये वापरलेल्या छायाचित्रे अमरने AI तंत्रज्ञान वा ग्राफिक डिझाइन टूल्सच्या सहाय्याने तयार केलेल्या आहेत.
Resources
- SEO tutorials from Rankmath: RankMath
- Content management systems: Dotclear | Textpattern | Serendipity |ClassicPress |Grav | |
- Web hosting: My journey with Shared Hosting (to be added soon) | My experiences with CMS (to be added soon)
- AI-based writing tools: AI Tools
Cover Image generated using AI Imaging, this image was one of the concept designs for my book “An Eye for AI“