For years I posted my work on Instagram, Twitter, and Behance. I watched the numbers go up and down. I felt the pressure to post every day, to use the right hashtags, to chase the algorithm. Then one day I realized I had hundreds of hours of content living on platforms I didn’t own. A single change in terms of service could delete everything. I wanted a space that I controlled completely. I wanted to write long essays, share high-resolution photos, and link to projects without worrying about character limits or feed algorithms. So I started looking for examples of people who had already done this. I stumbled upon a site like chakir.org that reminded me what a website could be. It was clean, fast, and focused on the content. No ads, no pop-ups, no tracking. That site became my benchmark.
The realization that hit me during a pandemic
In 2020 I had more time to think. I opened my Instagram account and saw a feed full of posts I had made. I realized I had no idea how many people actually saw them. The platform told me impressions and reach, but those numbers felt hollow. I asked myself: what happens if Instagram shuts down tomorrow? What happens if my account gets hacked? I had no backup. I had no way to show my portfolio independent of a third party. That was the moment I decided to build a personal website. I wanted something that would last longer than the next social media trend.
The false promise of reach
Social media platforms sell you the idea that you need to be where the people are. They tell you that if you post consistently, you will grow. But I saw friends with thousands of followers get zero engagement on their best work. I saw algorithms change overnight and kill months of effort. The platform owns the audience, not you. You are renting attention. That is a terrible long-term strategy for anyone who creates original work. I wanted to own my relationship with my audience. I wanted people to come to my site because they were interested in what I made, not because a machine decided to show my post to them.
My first attempt at a WordPress site
I started with WordPress because everyone said it was the standard. But I quickly got lost in themes, plugins, and page builders. The site was slow. It loaded dozens of scripts just to show a photo. I spent more time updating plugins than creating content. I felt like I was building a house on a foundation that could crumble with the next security update. I needed something simpler. Something that did not require a database or a server that could be hacked. I wanted a site that I could update with a text editor and upload via FTP. That is when I discovered static site generators.
Learning from a minimalist
I looked at sites like the one I mentioned earlier. They were built with plain HTML and CSS. No JavaScript frameworks. No unnecessary bloat. The pages loaded instantly. The design was clean and readable. I realized that the best way to present my work was to get out of the way. I stripped my site down to the essentials: a header, a few pages, and a way to contact me. I wrote every page by hand. It took me a weekend to build the first version. Since then I have added new pages one by one. Each addition is deliberate. I do not add a feature unless it serves a clear purpose.
What I gained by losing the algorithm
My site gets maybe two hundred visitors a month. That is tiny compared to my social media numbers. But those visitors are people who actually want to see my work. They found me through search engines or through a link someone shared. They stay for minutes, not seconds. They read my about page. They click on my projects. Some of them send me emails. That is more valuable than a thousand passive likes. I also sleep better at night. I do not check my notifications every hour. I do not worry about the latest platform update. I just write, upload, and move on. If you feel trapped by the platforms you use, try building a simple site of your own. You might be surprised how freeing it feels.
