How 90s-horror.com came to be… Or A Beginner’s Guide to Starting a Blog
As creator of 90s-horror.com, I wanted to give my readers a little insight into how I came to create this website. This is for a few reasons;
- I know some people like to learn a little about who’s behind a website/company, or how it came about. So hopefully I can satisfy your curiosity!
- Some of you might be interested in starting your own blog, so I thought I’d offer a little ‘how to’ guide for you.
Important disclaimer: I’m not one of those e-gurus who’ll tell you have to ‘hustle’ all day and all night, survive on 2 hours of sleep or profess some esoteric (hokum) magic – like drinking your own urine to gain the vitality needed to work both your day job and your passion! No. Just…. No. - Lastly, I want to show that my journey to creating a website hasn’t been straightforward. So if yours hasn’t either, don’t give up!
I know this isn’t the kind of content that I usually write, but I hope you enjoy reading it regardless!
So first of all, let me expand a little on that third point.
When it came to personal projects outside of my 9-5, I have to admit that I’ve never usually been the most… committed, let’s say. I have a lot of interests and hobbies, so my mind is always flitting from one thing to the next – reading, researching and learning new things, computer programming, retro video games, music, films, exploring the outdoors, fitness, photography… I would often get really enthusiastic about an idea or a project, start something and then get distracted by something else that’s equally exciting and appealing to me! I sometimes think of myself as a bit of a magpie – the slightest shiny, new project catches my eye and I’m gone!
There are also the day-to-day hurdles that we all come across – work, family, the running of the household, exhaustion, stress… just generally having a lot on my plate.
I often doubted myself. Others doubted me in the past too… which as much as I hate to admit, that stuck with me. I can remember my first job – a retail job which I worked alongside university. I was told by my self-important, chihuahua of a manager that I would never amount to anything. She was a horrible woman who’s opinion really shouldn’t have mattered to me… but as a young man who was still finding my feet in the world, that knocked my confidence a bit.
…But alas! I won’t bore you with a self-pitying diatribe about my past experiences of injustice or self-loathing. I bring thee good news! I turned this aspect of my life around for the better.
Feel free to take the following guidance however you please. If it works for you, that’s great! If it doesn’t, that’s absolutely fine! I’ll take no offence.
Why did it all Start?
So what is my origin story? Every superhero, anti-hero, or comic-book character has an origin story.
For the record, I can’t stand superhero comic book films! Superheroes are either born with their superpowers or are granted them in some way. Think of Peter Parker being bitten by a spider and suddenly having the superpowers of superstrength, enhanced reflexes and so on… Superheroes never work for their powers. In many aspects they’re mediocre until their powers are ‘given’ to them by an outside force or entity. Yes, yes… I know there are probably exceptions to this rule, and I know a lot of you will probably hate me for saying all of this about superheroes! I appreciate that they’re great for many people, but sadly I’m not one of them.
Anyway, let’s not go down that rabbit hole!
The point I’m trying to make is that none of this came to fruition overnight. No one is bitten by a magic spider and suddenly has the ability to see a project through. Starting this site, creating the content, creating and scheduling social media posts, and all the learning involved to get to the best running start in this endeavour… all of this took work. By no means am I professing that I’m a master of my craft! However achieving any modicum of proficiency in anything takes work – be it in programming, hair-dressing, cake decorating, weight lifting… or indeed blogging. Putting in the time, the effort and the work is what makes it worthwhile.
With that out of the way, as you can imagine, this project took a fair bit of time! I wrote my first post in May 2022 and barely wrote anything else for the rest of the year. Between family’s ill health and me having a diabolical work-life balance, let’s just say that 2022 was a write-off! Having a 2022 launch day was out of the question – I wouldn’t have had a site worth visiting at all! More on this later…
But I am a little ahead of myself. Why did I start?
Like a lot of horror fans, I listen to many Creepypasta stories on YouTube. For those not in the know, Creepypastas are a form of online horror storytelling that originated on internet forums but recreated in audio format on YouTube and in podcasts. These eerie tales typically feature fictional characters and spooky scenarios designed to unsettle listeners.
Creepypastas often have a supernatural or paranormal theme, exploring creepy urban legends, mysterious events or haunting encounters. There is however another theme that is prominent in Creepypastas, which happens to be the one which I enjoy most. That theme is what I call the “discovery of lost or forbidden media”. This is where the character in the story finds something like an old N64 game, a VHS or a floppy disk; wherein they find the content is cursed and their curiosity is the end of them! Much like in many M. R. James’ ghost stories, if you’re familiar with his work.
So that got me thinking. I’ve wanted to create and run my own website for many years, but never found that perfect niche for me to explore… Why not create one exploring the horror genre of the decade in which I was born – the 90s? I’m a big fan of horror from that decade, so it’s a passion of mine. Surely others would enjoy it too, right?
Once I had 90s horror in mind, I had to do some digging.
Q1: Are there already websites out there that specialise in 90s horror?
I couldn’t find a single website that contained horror only from that decade. I could find plenty for 80s horror! …but not one for 90s.
Q2: Would people be interested in this topic?
The next task was to check whether or not anybody was searching for keywords relating to horror of the 90s. If there was no traffic, I would be wasting my time! To do this I cross-referenced Google Keyword Planner and Ubersuggest. Thankfully my digging gave me some decent search traffic numbers!
Summary of How I Started
- I found a niché that I was passionate about
- I researched any competitors already on the net
- I checked the search volume of related key terms to my niché
With these 3 key ingredients, I felt confident enough to start in my endeavour. And I imagine, many of you will too.
How Did I Get Started?
I hadn’t used WordPress before, but I found it particularly easy to get started. Well, I did have some help prior to this. I fully recommend the following courses from Udemy (I am not sponsored in any way):
- Blogging for a Living – Perfect Small Budget Project
- Blogging Masterclass: How To Build A Successful Blog in 2023
These courses helped me with blog ideation, site structure, social media posting and best practices. Of course, there are videos on YouTube you can access for free, however, I liked the structure and depth these courses went into. These courses also give step-by-step tutorials on how to set up your domain and website through a domain provider.
I do also have somewhat of a background in web development. This helped me customise the colours of my site, and the look and feel of the site through CSS. If you find this interesting, I learned basic web development from The Web Developer Bootcamp 2023 course, but I also did some coding on their website during a previous job. You don’t have to learn how to code to start a blog, but it is a useful tool to have in your toolkit!
I also learned how to use Google Analytics during my daytime career, and completed the Google Analytics certifications.
Having these ‘technical’ tools will help you maintain your blog’s traffic, content ideation, and SEO strategy.
I would also recommend the following resources:
Even if you only study up on a fraction of the resources I’ve recommended, you’ll be in a great place to create and maintain your own blog. Good luck!
If you are planning to start your own blog, or already have, let me know about it in the comments! If you’d like to know more about me, please see the about me page.
With that, I wish you a terror-ific day!
