Hi everyone,
I wanted to share a bit about my recent journey building my very first gaming blog website: jurnalgaming.com I come from a graphic design background, and this is my first attempt at stepping into the world of web development. The idea behind the project was simple — I love games and wanted to create a platform where I could post reviews, gaming tips, and community updates for local gamers.
As a beginner solo dev, there were a lot of things I had to figure out along the way. Here are a few key points I’ve learned and what I believe anyone starting a similar project should pay attention to:
Choose the Right CMS
Since I’m new to coding, I went with WordPress because it’s beginner-friendly, has a huge community, and offers tons of plugins and themes to customize without writing much code. It was important for me to start with a platform where I could focus on content and design while gradually learning the backend.
Pay Attention to Page Load Speed
Gaming websites tend to be heavy on images, banners, and sometimes embedded videos. I noticed early on that my pages loaded slowly, so I had to learn about performance optimization. I used caching plugins like LiteSpeed Cache, compressed images with Photoshop before uploading them, removed unnecessary plugins, and switched to a lightweight theme. These small changes made a noticeable difference.
Mobile Responsiveness Matters
Most of my target audience accesses content from their phones. I regularly tested the mobile version of the matador168 site and had to adjust padding, font sizes, and layout several times. It’s something I now check as carefully as the desktop version.
Focus on Clean, User-Friendly Design
Coming from a design background, this was my strongest area. I opted for a dark theme to match gaming aesthetics, kept the navigation simple, prioritized big article headlines with engaging images, and made sure call-to-action buttons were clear and easy to find.
Start SEO Optimization Early
I quickly realized that creating good content isn’t enough if no one can find it. I installed Yoast SEO, learned basic keyword research within the gaming niche, and set up meta titles and descriptions for each post. While I’m still learning SEO, starting early has made a difference in visibility.
Challenges I Faced
There were plenty of obstacles. Some plugins conflicted with one another, image-heavy pages slowed down the site, and I occasionally broke the layout while tweaking custom CSS. I also don’t have a strong grasp of hosting optimization yet, which is something I plan to work on.
What’s Next?
I’m considering migrating to a VPS or cloud hosting for better performance. I also want to add a community forum feature, integrate a local game database, and gradually learn more coding — starting with HTML, CSS, and basic JavaScript.
Final Thoughts
For other designers or non-devs thinking about creating their own website or blog, my advice is to just start. You’ll make mistakes, but you’ll learn a lot through the process. I’m still figuring things out, but it’s been a valuable experience so far.
If anyone has time to check out matador168 and share feedback about the page load speed or anything else you notice, I’d really appreciate it. Also, if you have suggestions for beginner-friendly WordPress optimization tips or resources, feel free to share.
Thanks for reading!
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