I’ve been wanting to start a developer blog for a while now, and I finally started blogging in September. With a few posts completed already, I’ve reflected on what successful blogging means to me. Here’s what I came up with:
Clarifying Ideas
When I brainstorm ideas to write about, I also have to consider what I already know about the topic. This makes me have to research the concepts a bit more to make sure I have it right. This means breaking things down, giving examples, and trying new ways to get a point across. I also have to consider my audience and what they may be seeking from the post.
Once I outline what I want to write about, I start the first draft. This tends to be a lot of notes, fragment sentences, and even questions I still have. Good writing involves a lot of editing. I might write several drafts before I feel my writing is clear enough to where I'm ready to publish, and this is where a lot of learning takes place.
Documenting My Journey and Growth
Writing posts helps me keep track of what I am learning and what sparks my interest. I can look back at my blog posts and consider exploring a topic again with a new angle or dive deeper into a particular concept. With more posts, I can analyze what I've been writing about to map out an area of specialization. Publishing posts also allows me to get feedback from readers. I might get comments that introduce me to new ideas and angles I didn't consider yet. I can easily keep these ideas written in a notebook or on my laptop, but there is something exciting about sharing ideas with others.
Publishing Consistently
From what I have learned about blogging, I understand that publishing consistently will help me become a better writer and communicator. To stay consistent, I joined a blogging accountability group. The goal is to write at least one post every two weeks. Having others who share this same goal is a great motivator because there is nothing like having a deadline to keep me on track.
Final Thoughts
Every day, I feel like I need to write something. It can be working on a post, jotting down ideas, or writing in a journal. Daily writing of any kind feels like a healthy habit. Do you feel this way? What does successful blogging mean to you?
Photo courtesy of Andrew Neel on Unsplash
Top comments (10)
Curious about this part, how does it work?
Thanks for the question, Ruan. We have a scheduled day when we all submit an outline and a couple of possible titles for our next blog post. Group members can give feedback and ask questions about these outlines and titles. Then a week later, the rough drafts are due. We again post our drafts for feedback, work on our drafts based on the feedback given, and publish our posts in a few days. For our submissions and discussions, we use a community platform called Circle and it works similar to Slack or Discord. Let me know if you have any other questions.
How do you find such a group, or is this a group of people you already knew?
It is through this writing community: bloggingfordevs.com/pro/
You can also start one of your own. Start by posting on social media and asking if people want to join. You can also ask specific people who also blog if they want to be accountability partners.
Awesome! It's already on my plans to join this one, I got a lot of value from @monicalent 's newsletter. Thanks for sharing!
It's a great community of writers! Lots of support and resources. Looking forward to seeing you there!
Haha, I came here to ask exactly this
Awesome post- you provided some solid info here. I think the impact of blogging is often overlooked, but your point on consistency pretty much nails it. I do write daily, though not on a personal level but for work. This is important because the more you practice, the better you get. To me, successful blogging is when it yields the results you are aiming for. While it can be utilized in a wide array of situations; whether as a personal outlet for creativity, as a journal, or as part of a content strategy to boost SEO rates for your company, blogging is a superior, versatile tool that can be used in so many ways.
Thanks for your comment! I agree that blogging experience is a great skill to have as it can apply to our jobs as well as personal interests.
Nice post,
I liked the idea of "Documenting My Journey and Growth"
Now I wish I had started my blog years ago