Few months ago, I was stuck on if I should start my own blog or rather start a podcast because I always felt as a developer I needed to document my journey and also put into writing, topics that could help someone out there when they are stuck. I made series of research on Google and I was dazed by some of the results I got. I was almost discouraged on blogging because some of the blogs I saw had these "well structured grammatical statements, some graphical illustrations, very large audience and thousands of likes." I exclaimed, ah! Jimi are you sure you can handle any of this? However, My blogging story changed when I came across a tweet on twitter about Technical Writing and how I should analyze the reasons WHY YOU WANT TO START BLOGGING?
After the Third session "Michaela Greiler" gave on the Hashnode Technical Writing Bootcamp II where she asked us to write an article on what "Successful blogging means". I felt it will be just right to share my experience on how the first two months felt when I started writing on Medium. The conviction I got from that tweet on twitter prompted me to open an account on Medium and start writing. I always monitored the views counter on my Articles analytics and for every view or like I had, I felt on top of the world, I felt so happy and complete. Every little audience I got made me continue to publish great and quality contents.
WHAT IS SUCCESSFUL BLOGGING?
After the tweet that motivated me to start blogging and learn a thing or two about how to blog successfully, to me successful blogging is the one which has the following Characteristics
- You need to Understand the Why? Why do you want to start blogging, what motivates you to write. It could be for some many reasons, but this should be the first question you ask yourself before you start blogging. This should be the question you ask yourself when those likes or views aren't coming. Always remember why you started writing.
- When I was stuck on which route I should take on either the blog or podcast. I came across so many blogs that I felt, Nah! this is too much! What's up with the big grammar. Successful blogging doesn't necessary mean usage of big grammar and vocabulary. Keeping it simple and clear does the trick most times, that way your message is passed across without your audience picking up their Oxford Dictionaries just to translate your words.
- Quality over Quantity: Don't lose focus on giving your readers a 100% quality article. Always keep your audience at heart, let all your blog post be the finished product. Never treat your audience to an empty content article. Don't feel the pressure of always writing an article every day. Just as Chris Bongers mentioned in his session "Set a consistent time frame as when you will post out articles." Pick what works for you, and be consistent with it, that way you will always prepare for the next article and the ones after that.
- Credibility and Authenticity: Nowadays there are lots of false information on the internet. You wouldn't want your blog to be regarded as a place for false information. Blog about what you know, don't try to be an expert when you're not. For example A newbie with JavaScript trying to write an article on React Hooks. The article will be full of unverified contents because the author has no knowledge or experience using React.
CONCLUSION
Always remember,
Rome wasn't Built in a day
Stay Motivated and committed to the process. "Most overnight successes took a long time"
P.S: This article would serve as a guideline for me whenever I feel less motivated or whenever the pressure becomes too intense for me.
Thank you for reading this article, please do like and leave a comment in the comment section below 😁👇 You can also follow me on twitter [here] (twitter.com/JhimmyOfficiaL)