Well, I did plan on having a few months without coding, but finances told me otherwise. The cost of living crisis is getting out of hand, so I decided to do what I'm good at and create something new which I know people will subscribe to ...
sBlogIt! Oh, the place, Where words and thoughts come alive, Sharing our stories
Ok, so it's not something new, it's something better. An evolution of my existing blogging platform sBlogIt! which I've been running quite happily for the past decade. I originally wrote it back in 2011 when I started business blogging for my subscribers, but it grew and evolved as I added additional functionality.
But it's a little old and a little tired after a decade!
It's a bit slow now because it's bloated with code, not responsive (because ... reasons), and needs to be brought up to V2 specs, like I did last year with YourPCM. And I've made a great start as I estimate I'm at around 70% completed and will be good to go on the 1st of May 2025.
Apart from being "smaller, faster, better baby!" which is the project premise I give to all V2 upgrades, I now have responsive blog posts and home pages, a much faster load time and in my tests, I'm scoring 100% on Google's own SEO tester. In addition, I've added structured data behind the scenes of each blog post that makes it appealing to AI Search too.
I'm pretty much done with the workflows now and simplified what I had before so I can move through the editing process faster which means I can definitely support 25 blog posts per week, more if I jiggle my diary around a little, but five a day will be perfect for me, so that's my goal.
Currently, I'm working on the sharing tool!
For years now, I've been using the Buffer API to share my subscribers' blog posts on Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin. As I'm going for a direct approach I'm coding directly with the platform APIs. Once I've got test shares sending, I'll create a daily selection tool and update my schedule queue to accommodate the direct connections.
It also makes it more secure for my subscribers because they only need to click a single button to reauthorise the sBlogIt! Sharer rather than me having to log in on their social media accounts. Saving myself money and adding to my subscribers' security? That's the way (uh hu, uh hu) I like it.
After that we have the mailer tool, the actual sBlogIt! website (built in the V2 environment) then I need to put together some special offers. When I think of where I am now compared with the beginning of March when I made the decision to build sBlogIt! V2, I'm leaps and bounds ahead already. I could support new subscribers today if they only want a blog post each week without sharing and mailers.
Anyhoo, that's my update for now. Eat, sleep, code, repeat and I'm really pleased with my work so far. As usual, watch this space.
If anything in this blog post resonates with you and you'd like to discover more about SaaS, sBlogIt! or YourPCM, it would be great to hear from you. I love what I do and it's always nice to speak to those with similar passions.
Based in the charming village of Hanslope in Buckinghamshire, UK, I bring over 30 years of experience in web development. From creating my first website for the Open University in 1993, through being part of the dot com boom, to my explorations in SaaS and AI over the last few years, my journey has been a rich tapestry of web projects, big and small, both funded and bootstrapped.
Originally developed during the pandemic, at the start of 2025, I released the next iteration of YourPCM, version 2, which is all about 'Easy Contact Management for Small Business Owners'. Is it a CRM? Yes, but I don't call it that because people glaze over at the mention of such things. CRMs are boring, difficult to get to grips with, and it's a nightmare to get help when you need it.
YourPCM is none of those things! It's simple to use, well-supported, feature rich and beautiful, right out of the box. It's available on a simple monthly subscription with no long-term tie-in. Book a demo or grab your own 14-working-day free trial and discover why YourPCM is all about easy contact management for small business owners.
My head is in the cloud, my heart belongs to the web, and my soul is filled with such beautiful code 💗
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