How do you stay motivated to work on your site

[Uneuclid]

I finished my site a month or so ago and I've updated it every now and then adding some stuff like noises for the buttons, but i dunno I just feel like I've lacked any sort of motivation to update it or work on it more.

[Bede]

I like to go through other people's websites for inspo, and bookmark pages that I really love! I will also go through my guestbook for the comments there, to keep motivated. I keep a list of ideas that I have for my site, in case I ever run out of ideas.

[brisray]

There's a couple of nice things about writing your own website. One is that unless you're writing about something very specific, they are never really finished with. Another is they are hobbies and we write them for our own enjoyment; they are not supposed to be work in the sense they are something you have to do.

I'm not a very introspective person, you won't find a manifesto on my site, no deep insights into who I am, no great words of wisdom or deep thought, but it sometimes helps to examine my motives for doing anything.

Are you simply bored with the whole process of keeping a site together? Don't think you have something worthwhile to write about? Don't like how you designed it, which makes it difficult, in any sense, to work on and expand? It might be you have a zillion other, better, things to do with your time.

It could be you just need a break from your site. It might even be it has run its course and you might just rarely update it, if ever. I hope not, but then, I'm biased.

Like @Bede I visit lots of sites. If you've written in these forums and have a link to your site, I've problably visited it. I've also got a 155 page document of notes of things I want to write about, or things I could do to my site or how I run it. I may even get around to doing some of them.

[Memory]

I think it depends on the focus of your website. Mine is like a little journal, or I suppose you could call it a blog because it's digital, so I update it every day. Beyond that, I think that most of my pages are ones that are designed for me to revisit or add to later. For example, I have a page that I recently made where I write whatever I've been recently into, I have a video game log, I write little book reviews, have a dream journal, etc. I'm just someone who enjoys writing, so it's not really a matter of motivation to me, more so just habit. I will say that when I did first create my site, I did code & run. I think I just felt guilty for leaving it behind for months, so that gnawed away at my motivation. Things changed for me when I realized that anything I put down could be picked back up again: any book, any game, any hobby- my site included. So I guess my advice would be either:

1) Take a break from your site if you want to or
2) When you make pages, try creating some that are meant to be periodically updated

[Kallistero]

Motivation should be allowed to come and go. You don't have to stay on all the time; you're doing it because you enjoy what comes out of it.

However, while I'm not working on the site, I can at least come up with things I might want to do with it, and maybe one of those things will motivate me & start that momentum back up. There are two big things I keep in mind when conceiving where I'll want my site to move in the future.

One of those things is that a site can potentially include any of your other interests and convey them in any way you see fit! Is there music you really enjoy right now? You can put it all in one place on your site and categorize it however you want! Do you want a place to put doodles that you might or might not complete? Your site can have a section for quick drawings that are just conveyed as quick drawings! Are there things you want to read or watch but haven't had time for? You can put those on your site, too, just so you don't lose track! You can bring together any interesting places to go, skills you want to explore, foods & recipes you like, media franchises you're a fan of, it can really just have all the things you like, all in one place!   

Now, the second thing that inspires the future of my site is that there are a lot of pages that I'd like to see on the Web, but they seem to either not exist or exist only behind pay walls or account registrations. If you think that a page SHOULD exist on the open Web, then that is a page you can take steps toward creating in the future. It's partway what the Web Projects Wishlist thread is about, too!   

If I think up something I really like or that I can do right now, that's one big thing that can help to kickstart motivation that might otherwise be lost.

[Memory]

Don't like how you designed it, which makes it difficult, in any sense, to work on and expand?

I'd just like to add that this is a great point. At the moment, my site has no graphics, almost no CSS, & is basically just the bare minimum of HTML. I came to the realization a couple of months ago that keeping up with the visuals of my site just wasn't fun to me, it felt like a chore, and it was this barrier I encountered whenever updating the site. I wanted to start from ground zero, so I got rid of all of the excess & went back to only the most basic of coding, & now working on my site is much more fun. I'm not saying that you should go scorched earth on your site like I did, but maybe you should step back & see what serves you & what feels like a hindrance.

[Uneuclid]

There's a couple of nice things about writing your own website. One is that unless you're writing about something very specific, they are never really finished with. Another is they are hobbies and we write them for our own enjoyment; they are not supposed to be work in the sense they are something you have to do.

I'm not a very introspective person, you won't find a manifesto on my site, no deep insights into who I am, no great words of wisdom or deep thought, but it sometimes helps to examine my motives for doing anything.

Are you simply bored with the whole process of keeping a site together? Don't think you have something worthwhile to write about? Don't like how you designed it, which makes it difficult, in any sense, to work on and expand? It might be you have a zillion other, better, things to do with your time.

It could be you just need a break from your site. It might even be it has run its course and you might just rarely update it, if ever. I hope not, but then, I'm biased.

Like @Bede I visit lots of sites. If you've written in these forums and have a link to your site, I've problably visited it. I've also got a 155 page document of notes of things I want to write about, or things I could do to my site or how I run it. I may even get around to doing some of them.

its not that I'm exactly bored of the process, I'm just not entirely sure what to do next and i just lack motivation.

and like i have no clue what to really put in the news/updates/home page section of my site

[Uneuclid]

Motivation should be allowed to come and go. You don't have to stay on all the time; you're doing it because you enjoy what comes out of it.

However, while I'm not working on the site, I can at least come up with things I might want to do with it, and maybe one of those things will motivate me & start that momentum back up. There are two big things I keep in mind when conceiving where I'll want my site to move in the future.

One of those things is that a site can potentially include any of your other interests and convey them in any way you see fit! Is there music you really enjoy right now? You can put it all in one place on your site and categorize it however you want! Do you want a place to put doodles that you might or might not complete? Your site can have a section for quick drawings that are just conveyed as quick drawings! Are there things you want to read or watch but haven't had time for? You can put those on your site, too, just so you don't lose track! You can bring together any interesting places to go, skills you want to explore, foods & recipes you like, media franchises you're a fan of, it can really just have all the things you like, all in one place!   

Now, the second thing that inspires the future of my site is that there are a lot of pages that I'd like to see on the Web, but they seem to either not exist or exist only behind pay walls or account registrations. If you think that a page SHOULD exist on the open Web, then that is a page you can take steps toward creating in the future. It's partway what the Web Projects Wishlist thread is about, too!   

If I think up something I really like or that I can do right now, that's one big thing that can help to kickstart motivation that might otherwise be lost.

i do wanna eventually add stuff to the art section of my site maybe, or a random photos section. the problem with the art section is that the way i have my site laid out, it doesnt really fit neatly. So I guess I could probably create a separate "page" on the site for my art, but I dont really know what that would look like

[Uneuclid]

I think it depends on the focus of your website. Mine is like a little journal, or I suppose you could call it a blog because it's digital, so I update it every day. Beyond that, I think that most of my pages are ones that are designed for me to revisit or add to later. For example, I have a page that I recently made where I write whatever I've been recently into, I have a video game log, I write little book reviews, have a dream journal, etc. I'm just someone who enjoys writing, so it's not really a matter of motivation to me, more so just habit. I will say that when I did first create my site, I did code & run. I think I just felt guilty for leaving it behind for months, so that gnawed away at my motivation. Things changed for me when I realized that anything I put down could be picked back up again: any book, any game, any hobby- my site included. So I guess my advice would be either:

1) Take a break from your site if you want to or
2) When you make pages, try creating some that are meant to be periodically updated

the main purpose of my site is to have a place where my links and info about me can be organized, along with being as accurate as I can to the time period im going for (late 2000s early 2010s)

[Tiffany]

It's not always motivation, in fact it rarely is. Motivation comes and goes, often at the most inconvenient time. It's how I view exercise at times tbh, by force, it's more about action and habits for me. I say this as someone who love their website. I hope that makes sense. 

[Nickolox]

i check my website all the time, everyday sometimes. lol.
and whenever i notice gaps in content or see holes and mistakes i always get the urge to work more at it all...
I've got a to-do list too, it helps me remember things and keep track of stuff.
Keeping track of things helps a lot with motivation too I think.

[wygolvillage]

I see my website like a little garden, I tend to it and it grows outward. I use it for hosting personal blog posts, writings, etc, so whenever I'm in the mood to write about my life, the website gets to grow. But there's also things like my shrine pages... when I'm really interested in something, often my first thought is, "How do I implement that on my website!"

I guess it helps to never really think of it as "finished".

[shevek]

its not that I'm exactly bored of the process, I'm just not entirely sure what to do next and i just lack motivation.

and like i have no clue what to really put in the news/updates/home page section of my site

I think with the focus of your site being your links and info, you will likely not have to update it much, and that's okay and normal. Just if your info changes, your interests expand or you don't like the design anymore will be times where you work on it.
If you still wanna work on a website, you may wanna create a separate, new one that is topic focused, like on a hobby of yours, a game, or something like that.

As for the general question, I stay motivated because to me any online presence is like my online clothes or a little representation of myself similar to VRChat and SecondLife, just not 3D, and I care about how I look to the outside.

[Uneuclid]

I think with the focus of your site being your links and info, you will likely not have to update it much, and that's okay and normal. Just if your info changes, your interests expand or you don't like the design anymore will be times where you work on it.
If you still wanna work on a website, you may wanna create a separate, new one that is topic focused, like on a hobby of yours, a game, or something like that.

As for the general question, I stay motivated because to me any online presence is like my online clothes or a little representation of myself similar to VRChat and SecondLife, just not 3D, and I care about how I look to the outside.

that makes sense, this might give me an idea

[PurpleHello98]

Like others have said, looking at others' sites works really well! My site is one of my relatively recurrent interests, but I have about five of those, that rotate one or two at a time, so I go through spurts of lots of work on my site and spurts of only really blogging. I like to have sections whereby I can just add new thigns without having to make a whole new section, like song reviews and stuff, so I can do something other than just blogging and thereby feel like I'm actually doing something for my site without having to have a tonne of time.