Why I like Ghost: a fresh start

Using Ghost
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TLDR: I like Ghost.

Long version: Here’s why.

2-3 weeks ago I ventured in the world of Ghost driven, partly, by my increasing dissatisfaction with Wordpress and its associated plug-ins. Truth be told, I spent more time keeping the infrastructure up to date than writing content and, upon reflection, the directions / suggestions given by Yoast were changing my writing style in a way that displeased me so I did the most natural thing, I stopped writing. Pandering to the rules is never a satisfying thing…

Cost-wise, I now have for $9 per month what was costing six times that and, most importantly, I have an editor I enjoy using. Regarding writing style, I also consider that Google’s algorithms must now be so sophisticated that “keywords” must almost be redundant - this from articles I have read about post length (the longer, the better the algorithm can work out what the article is about; more meat to work with, in other words).

So, inspired by @fatshark’s long form articles and the simplicity of his site, combined with the patient help of @Cathy_Sarisky, @jannis and @fueko, I am now plodding my way through what feels like acres of jottings, stripping out duplications and constructing long-form writings. It is, for the first time, a pleasure. It will take time but that time will not be onerous.

Subscription-wise, I am on the Ghost (Pro) Starter pack, using the Edition theme. At some point (as article numbers increase) I will probably shift to something like Ease (to highlight “Categories” rather that “Most Recent”) and, equally, as subscriber members increase (they certainly can’t decrease) a move to the Creator package will be considered and acted upon. A custom domain and other more professional aspects will be considered in due course.

In summary, stripping everything down to simply being able to write has meant a significant shift in focus and I thank the Ghost team for conceiving such a tool and the forum members for your help and contributions to my understanding of how Ghost works.

The site, in its WIP state: https://sjhay.ghost.io

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Just shared this with the whole Ghost team, @SJH! Thank you so much for the kind words. We hope to keep making writing easier and more focused for you in the future.

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I still do all of my ‘creative’ writing outside Ghost (in Obsidian) because that’s where my reference material, jottings etc are. But I do all of my proofing within Ghost, as well as adding the figures and tweaking the final layout if needed. The absence of plugins (no more Yoast nagging me about keyword density), or sub-heading section length, means I can focus on - and enjoy - the writing more. Time will tell whether readers appreciate the benefits, but I’ve started a paid tier and am perfectly happy with how things are going.

I should probably get round to properly reading the instructions for Ghost … I keep on finding features that help me. The recent addition of TK’s are very welcome.

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