- The Downsides of a Technical Blog
- Write a Blog; Don't Code One
- Start Writing Right Now
- Share Your Blog (Assuming You Want Some Readers)
Like this article? We recommend
Like this article? We recommend
Like this article? We recommend
Share Your Blog (Assuming You Want Some Readers)
Once you're starting to feel good about the posts you're publishing to your blog, you need to prioritize getting some readers. Initially, that can mean emailing out links to your blog posts to friends and family who you know have an interest in the topics you're writing about. But think a little bigger in the long run.
There are plenty of options for getting your blog posts in front of new audiences. Social media, especially social news sites like reddit, can be useful: the users on most social media sites want to read new posts on a regular basis and share the best of what they've found.
You can also put your new-found blogging skills to use by writing guest posts for larger, more established sites. Many major technical blogs routinely publish guest posts, which can be an opportunity for you to tap into an established audience. Taking a look at the blogs you read regularly can yield a list of sites you can write guest posts for. In addition, check out the communities around the technologies you work with. There are many open source projects, for instance, that have blogs of their own.
Submitting your posts to the online communities that cover related topics can be another good opportunity to promote your site. On reddit, for instance, bloggers can submit links to communities as broad as ‘programming’ and as specific as ‘netbeans.’ You’ll need to be a part of the community to get full value from sharing your work, however: take the time to comment on others’ contributions, answer questions, and discuss the ideas shared in the community. There are plenty of opportunities, when you consider that most technical communities have their own mailing lists, news sites, and other community out posts.
The key to promoting your blog is the same as starting a blog in the first place: you need to start experimenting with what will work for you. Investing time in creating a blog and writing posts for it on a regular basis will pay off — but you have to make that continuing investment.