I enjoyed this deep, transparent history from Nat Eliason on how he built up his website over the past several years. He covers basic technology, content, habits, promotion, and monetization.

The precis:

• Tech stack doesn’t matter as long as it’s reliable, supports what you want to do, and doesn’t get in your way
• Habit-forming is hard; being intentional and setting goals is the primary tactic
• Topics and content don’t matter as much as you think in the early days; the best way to work it out is to start and gradually zero in on what you find enjoyable and what others find interesting
• Promotion and monetization are waiting games; tempering your expectations and waiting are essential to just keep going

It’s particularly insightful to see the open metrics on passive income he’s been able to generate with various tactics over time. An excellent lesson that being deliberate, habitual, and experimental in your tactics bears fruit. A key ingredient to building organic presence is time. So the key takeaway: start now!