Why I’m starting The SEO Station and learning SEO in public

I’ve been working as a software engineer for years, building and shipping software professionally. On that side, things have always gone well: I’ve delivered projects, solved problems, and helped bring real products to life.

But with my own side projects, it’s been a different story. The challenge was never the coding — I could always build what I had in mind. The hard part was reaching people. I’d launch, and then… not much would happen. None of those projects ever really took off.

My one small exception was an Android app I sold, built with an ebook generator tool I had created. That brought in $100, plus the occasional dollar here and there from other experiments. But in the big picture, my attempts to turn side projects into something meaningful didn’t succeed.

This time, I want to approach things differently. Instead of just building and hoping people show up, I’m setting out to learn marketing and especially SEO properly. The SEO Station is my way of documenting that journey. Think of it as a journal in the open: I’ll share what I learn, the experiments I run, and what actually works.

At some point along the way, I’ll also be developing tools — partly for myself, partly for anyone else who finds them useful. They’ll serve as both a way to validate the learnings and a way to hopefully provide some real value. My hope is that by combining learning, building, and sharing, I’ll not only grow as a developer but also as a creator who understands how to reach people.

I don’t know exactly where this will lead, but that’s part of the excitement. If you’re also curious about SEO, building online projects, or just enjoy following someone figuring things out step by step, welcome aboard.

I’ve been working as a software engineer for years, building and shipping software professionally. That’s been my career. But when it comes to my own side projects, the story is different: I’ve built plenty, but none of them ever really took off.

My one notable “win” was selling an Android app I built with an ebook generator tool I hacked together. That deal brought me $100. Aside from that, a few dollars trickled in here and there, but that’s about it. Beyond that, my attempts at turning side projects into something meaningful never quite worked out.

This time, I want to approach things differently. Instead of just building and hoping people show up, I’m setting out to learn marketing and especially SEO properly. The SEO Station is my way of documenting that journey. Think of it as a journal in the open: I’ll share what I learn, the experiments I run, and what actually works.

At some point along the way, I’ll also be developing tools — partly for myself, partly for anyone else who finds them useful. They’ll serve as both a way to validate the learnings and a way to hopefully provide some real value. My hope is that by combining learning, building, and sharing, I’ll not only grow as a developer but also as a creator who understands how to reach people.

I don’t know exactly where this will lead, but that’s part of the excitement. If you’re also curious about SEO, building online projects, or just enjoy following someone figuring things out step by step, welcome aboard.

— Ivan Luque

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