Do not get stuck thinking when is the right time. Any time you have a topic in hand and the willingness to start is the right time.
For me, it started with helping my colleagues with customer documentations. Anything can be a trigger.
Do you have a BLOG? Do you aspire to start as a TECHNICAL CONTENT WRITER? I have a few tips for you.
Here are 10 lessons from my TECHNICAL BLOGGING journey and a few Bonus tips. π₯
A Mega Thread 𧡠π
Do not get stuck thinking when is the right time. Any time you have a topic in hand and the willingness to start is the right time.
For me, it started with helping my colleagues with customer documentations. Anything can be a trigger.
The topic IDEA is always around you. There are two possibilities,
1. You are good at something
2. You want to be good at something
These possibilities build your niche in the technical areas. Tap on what you want to learn or share. You got your topic.
Yes, It's hard to create value with writing without reading. Build a reading habit to write better. Start side projects to write using your first-hand experiences.
Reading and side-projects around a technical area give you ample ideas to write.
You are unique, your style is unique, your expressions are unique, your writing will be unique too. Your writing style is a reflection of who you are.
Be AUTHENTIC. Inspiration is ok but No need to borrow the style. Your style gonna work.
It's perfectly fine to start writing as a hobby. I did the same way. But to get the most out of it or build a career around it, you need to translate the Hobby into a Habit.
You do it by putting yourself on a roadmap like 1 article a week for a month!
You need to have a plan. Note down each and every topic that comes to your mind. You may not end up write articles for all of them but note them down.
Have a plan for at least a week ahead.
I use the Notion tool to plan.
Do the creative work when you are most active in the day. Do not hurry because of tiredness or other work.
Primarily 4 areas to focus on,
- Cover: An image that is related to your content.
- Title: A precise title of the topic.
- Description: A short description of the content
- Content Body: The actual content where you want your readers to focus.
Give attention to the cover image. Gradually I realized, the more time you give to a cover design, the more creative you become about it. The good news is you don't have to be a UX expert for that.
I use Canva(free plan) to create the cover. Here is a few samples.
The cover and title are the most visible things of your article to your readers. When they visit your article, it is 100% assured, they will read these. So use them as the entry card to your article content.
Here are a few title structure works best for me
π
A description(aka, meta description) is very useful for your article's SEO. A search engine like Google suggests the title, description, and URL SLUG within a character limit.
You can use any SERP tool to frame all of them. Here is an example π
Ok, now the heart of the article, the actual content. I've seen much great content that doesn't get the deserved traction because it is not organized well. Structure the content body in multiple logical sections.
Use headings. Going up to 3 levels down is fine.
It is important but you don't have to know at the beginning. Once you move from Hobby to Habit, you may have to find your target readers.
Are you writing for beginners? Intermediate, or experienced? Stick to it for a while before changing.
Review the draft well for spelling mistakes, grammatical issues. You can use the following tools,
- Grammarly
- Hemingway App
Note: You still need to review it manually a couple of times after using the tools. Publish as you want. Again, no auspicious time.
I encourage republishing your articles to many other platforms. Please make sure to set the 'canonical' URL so that the search engine doesn't count the republished piece as a duplicate.
After publishing?
https://t.co/yLy8HWrChT
As a content creator, you must continue to engage with it even after publishing.
— Tapas Adhikary (@tapasadhikary) October 8, 2021
- Take questions(if any) and Clarify doubts.
- Respond to comments.
- Take the opportunity to Thank people
- Ignore negativity.
- Take constructive feedback
- Update the content(if needed)
I believe in these,
- WORD COUNT doesn't matter for your own blog.
- It's fine if you are writing on EXISTING topics.
- PERFECTION is subjective. Don't go for it.
- Views will come only when u are CONSISTENT with writing.
- A good blogger is a Gr8 EDITOR.
Where to start from? Check out these platforms,
- .@hashnode
- .@freeCodeCamp News
- .@ShowwcaseHQ
- .@ThePracticalDev
- .@thedevdojo
With quality blogging comes many opportunities,
- Paid writing
- Freelancing
- eBooks
- Jobs
- Notion: https://t.co/Mw1XRgj5if
- Canva : https://t.co/0eK2MeI9Fa
- Grammarly: https://t.co/RUK30KLGd9
- Hemmingway App: https://t.co/dGuY10U8G6
- SERP: https://t.co/oT4X2Aaxj9
- My technical writing experience is a little more than two years.
- Overall, I have written close to 200 articles so far including my Hashnode powered blog, freeCodeCamp news, CSS-Tricks, and paid engagements.
π
https://t.co/ovStFFRmdv
Was it helpful? If so, would you please share the FIRST TWEET of the thread? It may be helpful to many of your contacts. Thank you.
In case, we are not connected please give a FOLLOW @tapasadhikary
You May Also Like
And here they are...
THE WINNERS OF THE 24 HOUR STARTUP CHALLENGE
Remember, this money is just fun. If you launched a product (or even attempted a launch) - you did something worth MUCH more than $1,000.
#24hrstartup
The winners π
#10
Lattes For Change - Skip a latte and save a life.
https://t.co/M75RAirZzs
@frantzfries built a platform where you can see how skipping your morning latte could do for the world.
A great product for a great cause.
Congrats Chris on winning $250!
#9
Instaland - Create amazing landing pages for your followers.
https://t.co/5KkveJTAsy
A team project! @bpmct and @BaileyPumfleet built a tool for social media influencers to create simple "swipe up" landing pages for followers.
Really impressive for 24 hours. Congrats!
#8
SayHenlo - Chat without distractions
https://t.co/og0B7gmkW6
Built by @DaltonEdwards, it's a platform for combatting conversation overload. This product was also coded exclusively from an iPad π²
Dalton is a beast. I'm so excited he placed in the top 10.
#7
CoderStory - Learn to code from developers across the globe!
https://t.co/86Ay6nF4AY
Built by @jesswallaceuk, the project is focused on highlighting the experience of developers and people learning to code.
I wish this existed when I learned to code! Congrats on $250!!
THE WINNERS OF THE 24 HOUR STARTUP CHALLENGE
Remember, this money is just fun. If you launched a product (or even attempted a launch) - you did something worth MUCH more than $1,000.
#24hrstartup
The winners π
#10
Lattes For Change - Skip a latte and save a life.
https://t.co/M75RAirZzs
@frantzfries built a platform where you can see how skipping your morning latte could do for the world.
A great product for a great cause.
Congrats Chris on winning $250!
#9
Instaland - Create amazing landing pages for your followers.
https://t.co/5KkveJTAsy
A team project! @bpmct and @BaileyPumfleet built a tool for social media influencers to create simple "swipe up" landing pages for followers.
Really impressive for 24 hours. Congrats!
#8
SayHenlo - Chat without distractions
https://t.co/og0B7gmkW6
Built by @DaltonEdwards, it's a platform for combatting conversation overload. This product was also coded exclusively from an iPad π²
Dalton is a beast. I'm so excited he placed in the top 10.
#7
CoderStory - Learn to code from developers across the globe!
https://t.co/86Ay6nF4AY
Built by @jesswallaceuk, the project is focused on highlighting the experience of developers and people learning to code.
I wish this existed when I learned to code! Congrats on $250!!
