I’ve decided to build my own home on the internet — not just a website, but a space that reflects who I am, what I’m working on, and what I’m learning. This post is my first attempt to define what success looks like for this project. It’s a living document — something I’ll return to, revise, and reflect on over time.
I came up with a set of goals — on my homepage — and a deadline — 31st December 2025.
If I’m honest, the goals were so vague that no matter how this turns out, I could probably claim success by the end of the year. And just in case that wasn’t enough wiggle room, I also declared that I won’t put pressure on myself. I wrote those lines, so I understand my intention, but that should not stop me from planning for success. So what does success actually look like? Here's how I’m thinking about it — in two parts:
Baseline Success
- My site is live, with a few posts and updates.
- I’ve made the habit of sharing what I’m learning, even if sporadically.
Aspirational Success
- I’ve built a site I’m proud of, moved toward self-hosting, and people can actually find me online.
- It feels like a true reflection of who I am and what I care about.
I've learned the hard way that I need to break down big goals into smaller ones. So here’s my first attempt at refining them by adding sub-goals. (If you're interested in why each goal matters to me, click on the goal to read more.) -
To build a web presence on my terms
- Design my website to be welcoming for family, friends, and people in (or wanting to be in) my professional network (document this)
- Run my own email server and slowly transition website-related communication to it
- Launch the first iteration of every design element — and the email server — before the deadline
To have a place where I can show my work
- Make it easy for visitors to find the projects I’m working on
- Build a habit of posting about what I’m learning and/or have learned (at least once a week)
To rediscover the joys of building
- Phase 1 - To fall in love with the process of building by seeing quick results
- Start building with a website builder - I have picked Zoho Sites (where this is currently hosted)
- Experiment with different layouts and themes to figure out what I like and what represents me
- Phase 2 - To host surajsudhakar.com by myself
- Buy server space, and host my website on my own
- Learn & understand basic HTML, CSS etc
- Shorlist & install open-source website building tools that can help you re-create a better version of surajsudhakar.com
To learn SEO so people can actually find this home of mine
- Take at least one course on SEO to understand the fundamentals
- Play around with the SEO tools built into Zoho Sites
- Create an SEO strategy (and document it)
- Put the strategy into action — and get surajsudhakar.com to the top of search results for my name
I think this is a decent first draft, but I plan to keep updating this document as I learn more. More than anything, I hope this space feels like mine by December 31, 2025. Even if I don’t check every box, I hope I keep showing up.