Every day, millions of people are turning to blogging as a way to reach their audience. According to abdalslam.com, in 2023, There will be more than 600 million blog sites worldwide, generating around 70 million monthly posts.
Whether it’s through a popular platform like Medium, Substack, or a CMS like WordPress, the number of content creators has exploded in recent years. Many of these bloggers are looking to build influence, generate leads, or just share their ideas. But how can you build a content library and ensure that it is safe from being removed online?
If you’re using a service like Medium or Substack, it’s pretty easy to get started; all you require is an email address, but you’re trusting a third party to host your content, and they can purge you at any time. If they do, you might not even have copies of all your content, and those posts could be lost forever; that is years of work down the drain.
Another reason people use blogging services like Medium or Substack is that you can build an audience through it; people can follow your blog, receive notifications of new content and provide commentary on your content. And again, if you’re de-platformed, all those followers may not migrate along with you to a new platform, and you’ve effectively lost some of your reach, and you would need to start over.
But what if you didn’t have to trust third parties? What if you could get the same blogging experience but have complete control over your data and maintain a connection with your readers? Well, that’s what Nostr blogging is all about.
Nostr blogging clients
Most of Nostrs early clients have focused on providing a Twitter or Reddit-style social media experience, with users creating short notes or sharing links to other websites. While banter, memes and zaps take up most of the current nostr experience, new clients have emerged to offer content creators the option of going Nostr native.
Instead of creating your blog articles on Medium or Substack, you can use a Nostr blogging client to post your articles directly to relays and later share them in a short format note on the social media Nostr clients.
You would mimic the same process as before, but both posts would be available on Nostr.
BlogStack
Blogstack is a Medium-like blogging platform built on top of the Nostr protocol, which allows users to easily sign in with their Nostr private key and have a similar blogging experience.
- Website
- GitHub
- Creator: Christian Chiarulli
Habla News
Habla News is another Nostr-based blogging platform that provides a WYSIWYG editor with a dual edit and review window for content writers.
- Website
- Creator: verbiricha
Note:
If you post on one of these blogging clients, despite them pushing to the same relays, you will not see the same post on both these clients as you would with short-form Nostr content.
In addition, these posts will also not automatically be added to your short-form content feeds, and you would need to repost the link every time you create a blog post.
Your Nostr followers, however, will be able to comment on your blogs and zap you as per normal using their accounts.
Why migrate your blog to Nostr?
- Have a backup for your current blog.
- Have a place to store posts that might get you flagged or removed from other services.
- Have a post and account that is automatically monetised to accept bitcoin donations.
- Turn some of your short nostr posts into a more substantial read.
- Collect ideas you find on nostr and turn it into a long-form piece.
- Create more engaging and interactive content on nostr.
Tips for migrating over to Nostr as a blogger.
Step 1: Start researching what makes Nostr different from social media platforms and blogging platforms. While the front-end clients might seem familiar, the quirks in how you handle your account might seem foreign since there is no email account or central authority to manage your account. It’s all on you; if you lose your account, it is gone for good.
Step 2: Create a set of private keys on Nostr and start familiarising yourself with key management tactics and key management tools. Also, try to make backups of your private key (nsec key) and take note of your public key (npub key), so you can share your account with others.
Step 3: Learn about Nostr and how it works. Ensure you understand the protocol works, along with the client you wish to switch over to; test it out first, and get used to the features a client may have and the ones that might be lacking when compared to your current blogging service. That way, you can get the most out of making the switch, and you’re not in for any surprises.
Step 4: Start promoting your blog on short format nostr clients and your traditional social media platforms. You might want to avoid using the keyword or hashtag nostr on the traditional platforms, which tend to limit the reach of posts trying to promote people leaving their platform for a rival social media.
Step 5: Reach out to other Nostr users and build relationships; since there is no algorithm to boost your reach, it’s more of an old-fashioned grind to network and find like-minded people. Join conversations, share content, and become part of the community.
Step 6: Keep blogging! Make sure to post regularly and to keep up with the latest trends and conversations happening on nostr clients or on traditional social media. Consistency is key to growing your following and attracting readers to your account.
Nostr is not a one-trick pony.
Nostr might have started out with clients offering a Twitter-like replacement for short-form content, but it’s not the only application for housing and distributing content, and it can be applied to a host of formats.
As blogging clients begin to leverage Nostr’s censorship-resistant protocol, it can be a powerful tool for bloggers and long-form content creators. Once set up, no one can remove your content from all relays, nor can they shut down your account, making it an essential resource for protecting free speech and ensuring users can connect with audiences in an unfiltered and meaningful way.
Through its use of secure public and private keys, Nostr maintains the integrity of digital conversations and keeps content secure from outside forces and protects them from suppression, tampering, or interference. But most importantly, Nostr allows for anonymity, making it a way for bloggers, creators, and readers alike to take control of their online content and spread their ideas without fear of retribution or censorship.
Permission to speak freely, sir.
As we continue to expand our use of internet-based channels for communication, let us remember the importance of our right to speak freely, and let us use resources like Nostr to ensure our voices are heard.
With Nostr, we can stand firm against any kind of censorship and ensure that digital content is distributed and shared without any boundaries. The censorship-resistant aspect of Nostr is a promising new tool for journalists, bloggers, and authors to share stories that may not have been able to reach eyeballs on traditional social media or blogging platforms.
By allowing creators to remain in control of their content, Nostr allows them to create and share without worrying about censorship or other forms of interference. While there is still much to be explored and improved, it is evident that Nostr offers an exciting new way for content creators to securely and reliably share their work.
If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor
Archbishop Desmond Tutu
Do your own research.
If you’d like to try out Nostr or want to learn more about it, we recommend checking out the following resources to kickstart your research.
Are you on Nostr?
If you are a Nostr user and want to hang out and chat with us or follow our content on your preferred Nostr front end, feel free to add us using our PubKey below.
7ecd3fe6353ec4c53672793e81445c2a319ccf0a298a91d77adcfa386b52f30d
The Bitcoin Manual’s Nostr Pubkey
Please give us your notes.
If you have used Nostr, which client do you prefer and why? How do you find Nostr followers? Are there any tips and tricks you know for sourcing followers that you think deserve mention?
Let us know in the comments down below.
