Website Construction is Like Traveling

The mental processes of running a large website are similar to the ones you use to travel. In fact, the hyper charged intake of impressions output of action that traveling demands daily is just about the same as running this site.

This website is becoming its own world. It is my job to find the paths through it.

For me, traveling and operating VagabondJourney.com fills a similar place. I think about both all day long — they are becoming one and the same. I once asked myself: Do I write because I travel or do I travel to give me something to write about?

I am unsure which one I enjoy more.

My enjoyment of making webpages is a recent phenomenon. I don’t know where it came from. I use to HATE working with code — I just wanted to write words — full words, real word, human words — but I soon found myself entrenched in the fox holes of computer words.

Then I began to enjoy it. A challenge is a brick wall if you do not know where the cracks are, but a challenge can be fun if you know how to come out the other side. I am learning how to come out the other side.

Then I began really enjoying the INTERNET way of writing. I no longer even thing about selling pieces to magazines or newspapers. To my wife’s dismay, I am a blogger.

But I am no longer just a blogger. I feel as if I have learned the ropes of web design well. I know HTML inside and out, I can work PHP as well as almost anyone who is not a techie. I learned most of this within the past 6 months.

I came back to the USA with one main goal: to learn website construction inside and out. So I worked at it. I learned. It was a surprise that I would come to enjoy this.

In fact, the mental processes of traveling, writing, and web construction are very much the same.

In travel, I think of where I am and where I want to be, and I connect the two points. I know that there is a way — there is always a way. “If I take this bus to this corner, I can walk two blocks, jump a train, go to X town, walk a few miles and be on the south side of that mountain.” There is always a way to get anywhere — there is always a way to get what you want.

In running Vagabond Journey.com, I also think of where I am and where I want to be, and I connect the two points. I want a world wide travel guide. How am I going to make it. [Think, think, think, click, click, click] Done.

What I really probably need to do is swallow my pride and watch a WordPress tutorial for beginners which shows me the ins and outs of actually using the software.

I appreciate WordPress themes because someone out there had to push a lot of buttons for me to construct the themes I work with. But to get a theme to do what I want it to, I need to add a little elbow grease. I need to take the jumpstart that the theme designer gave me, and then run with it and work the code myself.

It is like making a sandwich. The theme is the bread. You need to add the meat, cheese, lettuce, and tomatoes yourself. No one except maybe the French would call a chunk of bread and a thin slice of cheese a sandwich, likewise the preset themes of WordPress need your own fillings.

This is what I did this weekend. Visit the new Vagabondjourney.com.

I am standing on the brink of being in the game. I glanced at VagabondJourney’s Alexa ranking today and it read 123,000. I am hesitant to say what Alexa rankings really indicate, but I do know that under 100,000 is in the game. I am about to step up to the man’s table, my bets are set to be laid on the poker table in the back room.

We are getting there.