Value

When I first started writing here, I mentioned the number of websites on the internet. I talked about websites, not blogs, so if I narrow it down to only blogs, the statistics show me a dazzling amount of 500 million. Give or take. 

Why do I keep telling you about the numbers, you ask? Well, it’s to show you how much content there is to consume. Simply not enough for a lifetime. My writing and scribbles adds up to it. Just more content, added to the big pile.

So, if I do, then at least it has to have some value. It should be worth taking your time while you read my stuff. It can be entertaining, informative, educational, or a little bit of everything. It can? No, it should. There is already too much rubbish, clickbait, and pure noise on the web. I can’t and won’t add to it. Value is the magic word.

High-quality standard

Put in the effort

To make something valuable, you have to create something with high-quality standards. And to make something with high quality standards you simply need time and effort. This is the reason why so many products have a paid subscription model. With a continuous stream of income, you, as a maker, ensure yourself of having time to produce something worthy. Good products need time. This is why a new GTA takes ten years to make. This is why Donna Tartt takes ten years to write a new novel. This is why Apple makes only one phone.

I could do it differently. Creating an assembly line for my writing, producing one or more blog posts per day. Let the output be a content flood for you, my reader, with one simple goal in mind. To let you click on the ads ¹ Obviously, I would need far more ads, with tracking of course, and lots of hysterical banners. Because in the end, it’s all about making money, one way or the other.

Raison d’être

Why I started

It makes me think about why I started this website in the first place. I started it three years ago amid the COVID-19 pandemic with nothing on my hands but spare time, looking for a new “hobby” at home. Although I did spend a decent amount of time developing the website itself, it didn’t result in an archive full of posts. 12 articles to this day, which means 4 posts per year. Not very impressive, to say the least.

Though, that is in line with my earlier thought, that I didn’t want to become an assembly line of writings. But do those 12 articles contribute value? Is it worth subscribing to? it’s a slippery slope to ask myself this question because it’s easy to say that it’s not.

So this all will leave me with a simple question: What to do? Two choices. Option 1, I quit and hoist the white flag. Option 2, I will put in the effort. More and more so I can create an output of valuable, high-quality content. Option 1 is easy. Cancel the hosting, delete the files, and wave one last time to you, my audience. Option 2 is hard. It means more energy and effort in my writing. More focus and attention towards research. More blood, sweat, and tears towards the design and coding of the website. More precision towards writing in English, which (as you’ve probably guessed) is not my native language.

Easy or hard? What do you think?

Is value related to a price? And if so, does it mean that a higher price automatically means more value? An iPhone is more expensive than a OnePlus phone, so it should create more value. The Financial Times costs me €69 per month, while The New York Times asks only €2 per month. So the FT should give me 34 times more value.

I know what I just did is ludicrous. It’s comparing random things with each other, although I compare a newspaper with a newspaper and a phone with a phone.

You probably wandering why I wrote this post. Well first of all I think it’s healthy for every creator to ask yourself the question I just did, namely, do I create value? And secondly because if I boot up a membership, it better be worth it, right?