A simple blogging platform for individuals

It is hard to build a simple blogging platform. Everyone has a different idea of how the blog should be.

The definition of blogging platform is so wide that in essence no code platforms, CMS, programming frameworks, and twitter, all can be considered a blogging platform.

I think the only way to make a simple one is to narrow down to your target audience.

I wanted to build a simple blogging platform for my needs which is why I built lykhari.

It is pronounced lee-khaa-ree and it means writer in urdu.

How I niched down is that lykhari is built for two primary reasons. For writers and their readers. Every decision we make has to improve the quality of life for writers and their readers.

This is the north star. A simple blogging platform for writers. This is how we plan to avoid it becoming a mess. I remember how simple and beautiful Ghost was in the start but then they didn't niched down. They went for expansion and lost it.

Expansion is good for economy and business. Not so much for users. At lykhari, I made a deliberate decision to not go for commercial success but to serve the needs of a writer. Commercial success is only a side effect.

If you want a rundown of all the simple blogging platforms out there, I think this blogpost has done a good job at that. I have written my own comparison too, 7 best blog sites for writers.

Who it is for

Someone who wants to write. If that is you avoid Wordpress, Blogger, Substack, Squarespace and what not.

You don't need to learn tech, html, css, hosting.

You don't need a lot of money. Heck you can start for free.

The platform should take you from wanting to write to writing in 1 minute. That is what lykhari does.

It's so simple and minimal that you get to writing quick. No distractions. No plugins. No hosting issues. No bugs. No optimization problems.

You, your thoughts and a simple blogging platform that gets out of your way.

In practice that has turned out to mean poets, essayists, book reviewers, and people keeping a journal in public. I did not plan that, it is just who showed up. Some of them are on the blogs of lykhari page if you want to see what the writing looks like before you decide.

Individuals are first class citizens here

A lot of platforms start small and look great for individuals. Ghost started that way. It was great in the start. Hit all the right nerves for solo publishers but eventually they started targeting businesses. Now they talk about media publications and magazines almost exclusively. Individuals can use it but they are not first-class citizens.

Similarly, Wordpress is not just for businesses, it also need a programmer to maintain well.

I built lykhari after being fed up of platforms that made businesses their first-class citizen. They do so because the big money is in serving busineses.

I am here crafting a future of blogging for individuals, catering to individual needs. Solo publishers, solo writers, indie writers, journal writers, personal bloggers, authors, essayists, and the likes.

Business can use it but they are not the first class citizens here. I have written an explicit disclaimer that lykhari is not for businesses.

You might wonder, why I didn't mention Medium and Substack. Those platforms are neither for individuals nor businesses. Customers are second grade citizens there. For Medium and Substack first class citizens are investors. Choose a platform that is funded by customers not investors.

What it costs

It is built with price sensitivity as an important aspect. What is the price you may ask? It is free to get started.

For free you get

  • A beautiful blog out of the box
  • A beautiful markdown editor
  • A free .lykhari.com domain to host
  • World class search engine optimization
  • Pages and category pages
  • Image uploads
  • An RSS feed at yourblog.com/rss.xml
  • Scheduled posts

For $5/mo or $50/year you get

  • Everything in the free plan
  • Custom domain
  • Email newsletter and subscriptions
  • Comments
  • API access
  • Inspiration feed
  • Beautiful themes

The yearly plan works out 17% cheaper than paying monthly.

Our inspiration feed gives you random excerpts from your writing that you can share on social media to market your blog. We do it for you so you can spend more time writing.

API access lets you create, update, and read posts from outside the dashboard. Scripts, cron jobs, or an AI you're already talking to. The api docs have the details.

What it doesn't have

  • Business/teams support

Lykhari is built for individuals who are fond of writing and words. We made the platform simple by stripping away the noise.

Simple is not minimal

Simple blogging platform has to be intuitive. It should be easy to get started and stay that way for 100s of years.

Simple blogging platform has to beginner friendly.

What do we lose by this? Power users maybe. A writer who became larger than us so much so that they are not a writer anymore. They become a team of marketeers, SEO specialists, designers, ghost writers, and editors. That is the tradeoff.

Simple is not minimal. Minimalism for the sake of it often creates more complexity. Even though lykhari is a minimal blogging platform right now, we are after simplicity, not minimalism.

Here's an example blog built on the platform http://yakashif.com

You can own a space on the internet in next 1 minute. Go to https://lykhari.com and get started.