Dear Developers! Get Ready To Blog!!

Are you a website developer? Are you a blogger yet?

There are thousands of developers out there actively looking for new opportunities online. Most of them are excellent at what they do, but do you know only a hundred of those excellent developers are actually known on the internet. There are chances that probably, you won’t even get noticed. What if you too can show your talent, get popular and have an Army of followers just by adopting Blogging to your Schedule?...

You must be wondering about headaches you will get while writing a whole article…

Well Peeps, If Coding is Poetry, then writing about Poetic World is a Song !

...So Dear Poets, Get ready for your Debut in Singing now !

Why developers should start blogging?

Look at your followings on Social Media. Major chances are that you must be following some influencers from your industry or people who are a Great help to you . They share valuable information, share their knowledge and experiences, which directly or indirectly benefit you in terms of gaining and implementation of knowledge.

Being a developer, one of the best ways to return your industry apart from Coding is to share your work and industry experiences with others. Apart from sharing, you can create your own identity on internet as an Influencer and an Expert in your Industry.

Technical programming skills are certainly important. But general writing and communication skills are far, far more important. Even if you’re merely a humble programmer.__- Jeff Atwood

So Let’s start with some Inspiration..! Here are some solid reasons why you as a Developer should start your own Blog.

1. Showing your Contribution toward your Industry and Community.
2. Opportunity to get noticed and mentor others.
3. Will help you to think beyond limitations
4. Will make you famous
5. Own personal yet public place to share your heart out.
6. Amazing way to market yourself
7. … and here comes the most important one,  you can earn money too :P

In general, Web Developers are Creators. They create Softwares, websites, applications and whatever internet can run. But  limitations are their worst nightmares.

With blogging, there are no limits. Blogging is a platform to think and execute  ideas that can lead to your big break. Blogging can help you reach thousands of people out there who share similar interests and mindset as of yours.

Now that you are anxious to start blogging, which brings back my track to my topic, here is the step by step guide for developers to start their own blog.

Step by Step blogging guide for developers

Becoming a pro-blogger won’t happen overnight, it requires some serious efforts and continuous dedication, but once done, it will take your career to a whole new level.

1. W**hat to blog about**?

The niche of your blog is the most crucial part of your blogging journey. You can’t just start writing about anything, after all just writing is not enough to make your blog successful.

The simplest way to make your writing remarkable is to select the topic which  you are Passionate about or is Good at it. If you are writing on something you are not passionate about, after sometime you will start losing interest at it, eventually Blogging.. Once you are done with deciding the good topic, the next step is to find the suitable domain name.

2. Find the perfect domain name

Picking up a perfect domain name is very important since it will be the first point of contact between you and your audience. Always make sure that your blog name is easy to remember, short and easy to spell. There are two approaches here :

• You can put your name as domain name like Scott Hanselman, Phil Haach, Paul Irish, etc.
• In the next approach, you can decide to name your domain in such a way that it gives readers an idea about what this blog is about. Here is an example Coding Horror.
• If both the approaches aren't satisfying, you can opt for any name but don't forget to implement SEO Practices for that blog.

Whichever approach you use, make sure it is not too complicated or very long. Readers must be able to remember it without much additional efforts. Check out this article to know more on how you can grab perfect domain name. Once the domain name is picked, you need to host your website on a particular CMS. I am a big fan of Wordpress in this case, thanks to its amazing functionality and easy to customize features. Though you can also try other platforms like Tumblr, Blogger, Weebly, etc.

3. Design your blog with perfect theme and plugins

Nobody can deny the fact that Looks are important ! With an elegant yet attractive theme, impress your visitors on their first date with your blog. Don’t go with a default theme, instead try multiple themes in order to find out the best one. Every theme has its own pros and cons so make sure you do enough research and have Trials, before settling for one.

Here are some points you need to take care of while selecting a theme :

• Theme must be Responsive i.e., it must perform well on all kind of devices.
• Theme must match your blog niche.
• Don’t forget, Simplicity works best!
• Customize Theme Menus and Widgets as per your needs.
• Make sure the fonts are easy to load and read.
• Theme must not be too clumsy.

After selecting the theme, install required plugins that will work as an add-on and optimize your blog. Here are top Wordpress plugins that every blogger needs. Also don’t forget to make your blog Social Media Friendly by including Social Tools such as social sharing widgets, social based commenting, like box,  etc.

4. Grab your social media name before it’s gone

The next step is to pick up your name across various social media networks. It will not only protect your reputation but also prevent shady marketers to use your name for wrong reasons. Additionally, it will also expand the reach of your name. It’s great to have a strong presence where your audience hangs out as it will make it easier for them to find you.

So create genuine social media profile and share interesting content to make your blog successful and drive traffic.

5. Content is the King**!**

Here comes the most important factor! No matter how attractive your blog is, content is what will make them stay. Pick up some interesting topic related to your blog niche and start writing your first post.

Write about what you know and also do additional research to make your point more clear. Provide important links that can justify your points in a better way.

Here are some points that you need to take care of while writing a blog post :

• Write a catchy headline! The headline of your post must create curiosity among readers. You can add multiple emotions here like fun, humor, controversy, etc.
• Explain every point in detail. Don’t worry about the length of blog, make it as long as it needs to be.
• Divide your blog in short paragraphs, use bullet points, highlight links and headlines.
• Include visuals like images, infographics, videos, etc to grab reader's attention.
• Use simple and easy to understand language.
• Don’t make any grammatical errors. Proofread your blog before publishing it.

6. Make your blog optimized for Search engines

Once you are done with the writing, optimize it for search engines. Here are some tips that will help you :

• Include meta descriptions : Meta descriptions are displayed under your post title in SERP (search engine results pages) so make sure it provides users an idea on what your blog in about. An effective meta description will improve Click through rate.
• Optimize the blog for keywords : NEVER, I say, NEVER stuff a lot of keywords into a single post as it might get you penalized from search engines. Limit yourself to 2-3 keywords for one post. Instead of using tons of keywords, you can try your hand on long tail keywords too.
• Use H tags : Make sure to use H tags for your post titles. Use only one H1 tag on one page and maintain the sequence.
• Optimize images : Don’t use oversized images and even if you have to, compress them before including in your post as oversized images will decrease your blog speed. Also, as search engines are not able to read visuals, make sure to use relevant alt tags with every image.
• Use SEO friendly URLs : URL structure of your blog must be easy for the readers to understand your blog structure. The url should be able to make readers understand what the content is about. Search engine love user friendly urls. Here are some tips a. Keep the urls short and simple. b. The url should not contain dynamic parameter like www.abc.com/p?567/ .     Instead optimized your post url as per the content like   www.abc.com/blogging-tips/ c. Make sure to use Hyphens (-) instead of underscores (_) in URLs.

Optimizing your blog for search engines is very important as it’s the place from where most of your visitors will arrive on your site.

Top developers blog, you can take inspiration from

1. Paul Irish
2. Scott Berkun Blog
3. Scott Hanselman
4. David Walsh
5. Eric Sink

Wrapping Up

So guys, Here was the Step by Step Guide for our Developer fellas to try hands on blogging.

So get ready to start your first blog?? Don't mind if you Sing Hideous at start, Believe in your poetic Skills and Sing… Sing to Perfection Devs! Happy Coding & Happy blogging!

If you like this article, show some love and share it with your developer friends!! :P