Every developer should have a blog. This is why and how to stick to it

There are many reasons why blogs are useful. In this article, I emphasized my thoughts on this topic.

There are many reasons why blogs are useful. It can be a source of potential customers, it can be a product sales place where you want to become an independent developer in the future, or it can be just a place to have an audience and express your ideas.

I have been blogging for more than 11 years and I am more or less consistent-even though I sometimes stop it for too long. I recently revised the blog and started writing consistently (very consistent), so much so that now I write every day of the week. I have seen a lot of good results.

I found my mission to help developers learn front-end development: I publish a new tutorial on my blog every day, explaining all I know about a specific topic.

This is my thoughts on Blog, why I think every developer should blog and blog consistently.

A few things I want you to forget

"I am not an expert"

Everyone has a unique perspective, which is worth sharing. You may think that you don't know much about person X, but person Y may have less experience than you and will benefit from reading your thoughts and knowledge.

Similarly, the best time to teach something is after you learn something, because you will remember not knowing something.

In this case, you can write a blog in the tone of a student who has just learned something. I am learning new things every day. When researching a topic, what I just learned accounts for about 50% of my writing.

"I'm not a good writer"

I am not either, but I don't care.

Remember: unless you practice writing every day for many years, you will never be a good writer. youWill becomeEventually become a good writer.

"I'm afraid of criticism"

Indeed, some places on the Internet are not afraid to express harsh opinions on things. The well-known ones are Reddit and Hacker News, but this is a good thing.

Remember, if there are no challenges, you will not grow. Also, if you don’t want to do this, you don’t need to post here. Are you worried about someone making crude comments on controversial posts? Delete the comment completely.

Why writing is great for developers

You learn faster

One of the best ways I learned is to do things. I literally decide on a topic I want to know, and then go deep into the unknown, or even things I haven't even thought of, in a spiral loop.

They say that unless you can explain a topic, you will never fully understand the topic. A blog is a low barrier to explaining things.

Kick your career

Thanks to the blog, I started my software career.

It was 2007. As part of the university course, I started to share the little knowledge I was learning while building some web applications.

Through this blog, I gained a lot of contacts and provided clues for upcoming careers as freelancers and contractors.

Since then, that old blog has died—I stopped writing about it a long time ago, and the content that is now completely outdated is long gone. However, without it, I think I would never have thought of starting my own company after school.

Switchgear or technology stack

I did it several times in blog writing. If I like a technology stack and find myself interested in other things, then I will write some articles about it.

For example, last summer, I entered Go programming and studied for two months. I do have recruiters send me job opportunities that I have never applied for, just because they found out that my post was shared online.

Some key aspects of a successful technology blog

Be consistent with the theme

I never subscribe to blog feeds that don’t follow something. In my case, I talk about front-end development and subscribe to other front-end development blogs.

Even though I talked a lot about Go last summer, front-end developers are still very interested (if you have the opportunity, please learn Go, it will be refreshing). Don't just yell at everything that comes to mind. Be professional.

Always show

If you plan to write a blog post every week, then do it. Twice a week, much better. I write every day because I know that if I allow one day to slip away, I will allow myself to skip another day, and so on, until I no longer post any content.

Write a post in advance

Don't blog on the day you are going to post. Write it out a week or more in advance. Even if you take a few days off or are sick, you are unlikely to miss the blog post day.

It is also a good idea to publish them in advance. WordPress is very easy, and static blogs can also do this (This is how I use Netlify and Hugo). Arrange a specific time and date to write consistently.

List posting ideas

James Altucher said to write down 10 thoughts every day. There are 3,650 ideas in a year. At least some of them are good ideas.

The same goes for blog post titles and topics. List the ideas of the blog post. When you are inspired to write, you will have the perfect argument of the day.

Reading. Read the blog post. Read on Twitter. Listen to podcasts

Keep you up to date with the topic to be written. I write articles about software development, and Twitter is a never-ending source of theme creativity. The same is true for books and blogs. The medium is great for that.

Podcasts are different, because you listen to podcasts, and I always wear them when driving or during a half-day vacation, and walk the dog naturally.

Wake up early

Set the alarm, actually wake up and start writing. I used to wake up at 8 in the morning-since I never have any commute time (I can only work remotely), I can relax a little bit. I now wake up at 6 in the morning, and by 8 in the morning, I plan to post a new post next week. When you complete a certain task (for example, create a new blog post before 8AM), you will feel very energetic to solve the rest of the day. If you can, please get up earlier (I can't, otherwise I will spend the rest of the day in the zombie state).

Stop distractions

When researching and writing blog posts online, it's easy to jump to distractions. I useself controlOn my Mac, and I cannot disable the blocker.

Write on your own platform

Write on your own platform. Write on your own platform. Write on your own platform. Use other platforms to get greater coverage. Play a long game. In the next ten years, every blog post you write may attract thousands of visitors. Maybe not, but Google’s favorite next hot article is the next article you will write.

Don’t just write things on other people’s platforms: you don’t own them, they may even go bankrupt (which happens all the time) or shut down the service, and you will lose all of the service.

Have an audience

This is closely related to the previous point. If you are just starting out, then if you actively share your posts, you may attract 10 visitors a day (unless you have achieved great success on a sharing platform like Reddit or Hacker News).

Stable traffic comes from search engines, but this is a very long game. If you write with enthusiasm but no one has read your post, it can easily be frustrating.

So look for an audience. Write an article on your own blog, import your post into Medium (so it will add a canonical tag and not make Google angry with duplicate content), and then try to publish it in a large publication. Publications are hungry for content, they can meet the needs of the audience, and they are looking for you. The early audience will increase your enthusiasm and determination. Link back to your blog.

Promote your content

When you click "Publish", you have completed 50% of your work: you have an idea, you have completed the topic research and actual writing, searched for typos, found a good picture... Now you need to improve your writing Level. If you have the following content, please post on Twitter. Look for other ways to "show up". Some locations may welcome your self-promotion, but it really depends on the location and its rules.

Your blog is your media platform

A few weeks ago, I read this sentence on Hacker News:

Don't think of it as a blog. Think of it as your own media platform, whose sole purpose is to disseminate information that can drive sales-

This suggestion was made on the spot. I saved it and plan to read it once a month.Sales volumeIt may make you uncomfortable, but you can think of it as selling ideas or selling your own expertise. Saleyourself.

Set up email list now

Really. RSS is not dead yet, but only a small group of people use it. You don't have Twitter followers or Medium followers, but an email list. I recommendXiaoxin, It's simple, free and amazing.

Don't care about design

Really. Especially if you are not keen on design, choose the simplest theme you can find. Simple is beautiful.

Your blog has nothing to do with you

Readers don't care about you. Readers come to your blog because they want you to solve a problem for them (if they come from a Google search), or because they think they will find useful information to help them do something. Help them through writingfor them.

Avoid pop-up windows and ads

Really. There are no pop-up windows. If you use other developers as readers, they will not work, which is annoying, and Google may even penalize you for using them.

In addition, please do not place ads on your website. They are simply too bad, unless you have thousands of visitors every day, otherwise they are not worth it.

If you use the third part of the service, please check your comment for the solution. A very popular ad shows ads to users who have not logged into their platform unless you pay.

Don't let the dust settle on your blog

If you start with a new blog, then even before you publish a post, you have to prepare some posts.

Don't sit in these positions for too long-prepare a queue.

Choose a timetable, stick to it, and never give up.

When you see a blog with 3 or 4 postsPer year, Or abandon the blog, this is the sad dream of becoming a master. But these dreams were never realized, blogs were left alone, dusty, and increasingly irrelevant day by day.

Don't let your blog be one of them.