Every team I talk to has the same instinct for their content: go where the audience is. Chase them on search. Chase them on social. Now they’re chasing them on AI answer engines.
Whether you think that’s lazy or not, it can be valuable in the short term. But long term, it’s a trap.
Your only goal is to get a strong, direct relationship with your audience and your customers.
It’s the same with the software you choose for your site. If you build on a closed system, you’re stuck. You’re dependent.
One of my favorite publishers has consolidated two dozen sites onto WordPress VIP in our global private cloud. Every new site they acquire gets migrated in. Because they know that they are in control of their future. They own the stack. Everything they do is portable. If we don’t give them what they need, they can move to other WordPress hosts or even self host.
My indie web friends have been saying this for decades. But it’s not about nostalgia or freedom or being part of a movement. It’s about survival.
Brian Alvey 