# My Journey to Choosing the Right Blog (6 Tries and a Bit of FOMO Later)

Making decisions can be tough, especially when every option seems like “the best” until the next one comes along. If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed by too many choices, welcome to the club—that’s FOMO (Fear of Missing Out). And guess what? I was a proud member of it for quite some time while trying to decide where to host my blog.

# The Swirl of Choices (and Regrets)

This wasn’t my first attempt at blogging. Not even close. Here’s a quick recap of the platforms I tried:

1. Hashnode: Great for the community, but too rigid for my customization needs.
2. Dev.to: Simple and quick, but I wanted something more personal.
3. A DIY React Native Blog: Big ambitions, little results. Building my blog from scratch while learning full-stack development was a dead end.
4. GitHub Pages: Geeky and free, but not practical for managing a full blog with newsletters.
5. Substack: Excellent for newsletters but limited customization, and I wanted to own my data.
6. Hugo: Spoiler alert: this is where I landed. This article is not sponsored by Hugo, by the way.

Yes, all of this for a simple blog. But this journey taught me one thing: trying to create the perfect blog can become an excuse to procrastinate on what really matters (in my case, writing articles and working on projects).

# Why I Chose Hugo

At some point, I had to get real with myself. I wanted a tool that was:

• Quick to set up.
• Simple but customizable.
• Compatible with Markdown, an essential standard for documentation writing.

And that’s where Hugo stood out. With its static site generator, I was able to:

• Create a functional blog without spending weeks on it.
• Focus on content instead of site structure.
• Use Markdown to ensure my work could easily be reused elsewhere if needed.

Is it perfect? No. But it was good enough to help me move forward with more funny projects.

# And What About the Newsletter? Another Dilemma

Of course, a blog alone wasn’t enough—I needed a newsletter too. But again, the abundance of choices brought back my indecision:

• Build my own solution? (Amazon SES for sending and Firebase for subscriber management).
• Use an all-in-one tool? (And risk losing control).

I initially went down the DIY route with Amazon SES and Firebase. It worked, but managing every detail became a distraction. I finally opted for KIT (not sponsored, again).

# Why KIT?

• Seamless integration with Hugo.
• Analytics and A/B testing for optimizing emails.
• Easy subscriber and group management.
• Free for up to 1,000 subscribers (I only have 10+ so far, so I’m good).

Will I explore its advanced features like campaigns? Perhaps. But for now, the priority is clear: move forward and keep things simple, without unnecessary complications.

# What I Learned Along the Way

1. Perfection is the Enemy of Progress
   Trying to build the perfect blog from the start slowed me down. A tool that does 80% of the job is often good enough.

2. FOMO or Fear of Failure?
   Testing multiple platforms helped me refine my needs, but I had to set a deadline to make a decision.

3. Flexibility is Key
   Markdown for articles and KIT for newsletters allow me to adapt my workflow as needed.

# What’s Next?

With my blog on Hugo and my newsletter powered by KIT, I can finally focus on creating content. The perfect choice doesn’t exist, but the one that lets you move forward without too much friction is often the right one.

So, if you’re stuck in indecision about launching your project, ask yourself this: Do you really need the perfect tool, or just a starting point?

Let me know your thoughts and experiences in the comments!