From "Perfect Completion" to "Just Ship It": The Evolution of My Website Development Mindset

Preface

From one month to one day: My radical shift in website development philosophy and workflow evolution.

1. Newbie Pitfalls: Why My First Website Took Forever

• Domain Name Paralysis
  I obsessively sought a "perfect" domain - short, memorable, brandable. Spent days consulting AI tools like Deepseek and Grok, only to discover all good .coms were taken. Wasted 48 hours chasing the unicorn: cheap + premium + SEO-friendly domains 😭.

• Template Over-Engineering

  • Treated template customization like art restoration. Wasted Cursor's AI potential by micromanaging design details instead of leveraging its rapid coding capabilities.
  • Spent a week building custom comment system with open-source tools, ignoring SaaS solutions.
  • Over-engineered blog system: unique slugs, i18n, search - features nobody needed at launch.

• "Complete Before Launch" Fallacy

  • Held launch hostage to non-essentials: comments, auth system
  • Perfectionism became procrastination fuel

2. The 24-Hour Launch Playbook

• Strategic Prep Work
  • Keyword-first domain selection using Semrush, purchased in 1 hour
• Template Pragmatism
  • Adopted ready-made Astro template for Next.js, modifying only essentials
• AI Co-Development
  • Fed Cursor structured requirement.md for component generation
  • Focused QA on critical paths instead of cosmetic details
• CI/CD Blitz
  • Vercel deployment in <30 mins
  • Cloudflare DNS one-click integration
  • Full pipeline: Commit → Build → Live

3. MVP Philosophy: Launch Now, Polish Later

• Core Features Only
  • Launched landing page with keyword-optimized content
  • Deferred non-essentials to "Under Construction" sections
• Live Editing Mindset
  • Kept IDE open post-launch for real-time updates
  • Prioritized features based on actual user behavior
• Experience Through Existence
  • "No users, no UX" - Optimized for discoverability first
  • Let search traffic dictate feature roadmap

4. Reality Check: Two Approaches Compared

• 1 Month vs 24 Hours
  • Reduced anxiety through rapid validation
  • Time-as-currency mindset for indie developers
• Code Quality ≠ Value
  • Fancy auth/comment systems with zero users = vanity code
• New Mantra
  • "Make it breathe first" - Oxygenate with real traffic before scaling

5. Hard-Earned Wisdom

• Domains: SEO > Sexy
  • Keyword relevance beats brandability for organic growth
• Templates: Fit > Finesse
  • 80% fit template + 20% tweaks > 200% custom
• Websites Are Bonsai
  • Prune and shape AFTER establishing roots
  • See my living example: Middle Name Generator (AI-powered naming tool)