So, if you are here it means that you considered at least once to write an article or you did it already. (or just curious)
The scope is to present my “roadmap” writing my first technical article, simply and funnily (I hope) and give you the main elements that you need to do it yourself (or maybe improve your process).
My first technical article posted on the internet is named “6 JavaScript WTFs and what to learn from them”. Check it out if you didn’t already and hit me with that juicy feedback.
Before we start, here are some things about me. I am a Romanian Full-Stack developer who worked for almost 3 years in the field, interested in web technologies, especially in ReactJS, practice-oriented and keen to help others find their passion for programming and improve their skills.
The reason I wrote the previous article is tied to my medium term objective to create web oriented content for begginers. (and also to improve my skill down the road)
Why write? Three reasons:
First, you are giving back to the community and help others. For me, this is the greatest motivator, it fills me. (if this is not you, bare with me for the next two reasons)
Second, it helps you learn. Wait, I shouldn't already master the subject? Yes, but when you research deep into it you can find some missing pieces from your knowledge and also explaining a concept may develop you even more. Take the learning pyramid as the argument for this.
Finally, an appreciated skill at most jobs is the capacity to mentor others and transfer knowledge. In this way, you develop this ability and build a “portfolio”.
This introduction is already too long, so let’s start with my past weeks journey.
Find a topic
My first dilemma was: what should I write about? I know that I am excited about web development and that it is my area o strength, but what people would like to find out from me? What content would bring value to them?
The process was the following:
Brainstorming in a document. Anything from keywords, technologies, subjects, etc.. I was trying to start the brain rolls.
My next stop was Google, especially Google Trends. I wanted to discover what people want to find out about web development, JavaScript, ReactJS and others. I couldn’t say that it gave me the answer, but I noticed a large interest in general topics related to JavaScript (duh, of course)
After that, I was thinking a lot about that complicated JavaScript interview questions that always have a little trick.
In the end, I decided to combine the previous thought with my desire to help others understand those concepts, not just to recall the answer.
Therefore I decided that the topic will be about strange things that happen in JavaScript, explained with examples. Also, the article should be informal, friendly and funny. (I hope I got that part)
The title
I know what you are thinking. Why choose a title before the content was written? It’s not a little bit superficial? Yes and no, I would say.
Picking your title may help you clarify the big picture of the article, the general approach that you will apply.
Let me give you an example. My first article could have taken many forms, with similar content. It could be just a fun article where I expose the WTFs without any explanations, or maybe I could have chosen interview questions instead of WTFs, less fun, more productive. You got the point.
Now, let’s dissect the title of the article, “6 JavaScript WTFs and what to learn from them”. My objective was to summarize the content and to add some small clickbait crumbs.
The content was described by “Javascript, WTFs and learn” and the clickbait is formated only by that “6”, which helps to provide something specific and also because brains are attracted to numbers. (“JavaScript WTFs and what to learn from them” doesn’t sound that good, right?)
I will recommend the following article if you want to go deeper into this subject: Choose your next article topic with this exercise by Glenn Stovall
Build a structure
My simple construction started with the principal chunks of the article: Introduction, Content, and Conclusion. For each of them, I started to add small bullet points with the main ideas.
For example, for the conclusion, I wanted to speak about the habit of checking the official documentation when facing a problem, that those WTFs are funny, but may hide bugs and that this is my first attempt in writing a technical article.
Start developing each point
After the structure was ready the focus was to implement each small idea and research for the WTFs.
I tried to read enough to make sure I fully understand the subject and therefore be able to expose it in a simplified manner. After each WTF I asked myself the following questions: The content it’s clear enough? It explains the subject correctly?
Also, for each of them, my idea was to add as many code examples as possible to visualize the explanations.
In the end, I thought of some funny images that are suitable for that case, with the idea of making the article more friendly. (but not overuse them)
Markup or text
My approach was to write the content directly as markup. I didn’t have significant experience with it, so I googled for an online markup tool and my choice was StackEdit. It had a simple interface, with everything I needed.
For this article, I have written the content as text and I will transform it into markup, at the end. Until now I can say that the writing process was quicker, but I should see how much time I will invest in transforming it.
Let me know in the comment what method works best for you.
Prepare for publish
Besides good content and great ability to present information, the “promotion” and the general aspect of the article is essential.
First, I created a cover image, using Photoshop, that has the scope to steal your attention for just a fraction. If you aren’t familiar with Photoshop, you can use other free online tools like Canva to create it. I followed the editor guide advice and made it 1000px x 420px.
Research for the best time and day to post your article. As it was my first article, I also took this aspect into consideration and I found this article that presents (based on data) what could be the best option. I combined it with the fact that the majority of dev.to members are from the USA and I picked Monday 14:00 (Bucharest time).
Review
Review it’s also valuable, therefore, I read the whole article a couple of times, used Grammarly to correct some typos or mistakes and also ask other persons to give me some feedback.
Further, I wrote a short description for the social media platforms and I was ready to publish.
Social Media
My first step in the social media strategy was to identify the platforms where my public should be and try to grab their attention (and 5-8 minutes of their lives). I know that not everyone is a social media person but I think that, in this case, you should see it as the process that helps you get in touch with your public.
The platforms that I used are:
Dev.to as the publishing platform. This platform was a recommendation and I found it perfect for the first steps. It's free, popular and made for developers.
LinkedIn, where a have a 2000 contacts network. I consider LinkedIn a place where I can find my audience, people that are oriented on learning and development and also start building my portfolio.
Twitter, where I opened the account only for this article, as it is not so popular in Romania.
Reddit, one of the largest platforms out there. Hard to believe, but I didn’t have an account on Reddit either (you can judge me for that), but I knew that it’s a large audience here and I gave it a try.
Why not Facebook or Instagram? In my case I thought that my target is not on those two platforms. (at least for the moment)
Numbers, numbers, numbers
Dev.to: The main activity of the article took place here. It exceeded my expectations for my first article (it was a blind shoot) and I was glad to see interest in my content and style of writing. The number of followers also amazed me, we will talk about it in a moment.
LinkedIn: I was more relaxed with this environment because my presence there started 5 years ago. The activity started slow, but in the end, it was nice seeing people that appreciated the content.
Twitter: I didn’t invest so much effort in this one. I just shared the article on my 0 followers account and hope for the best.
Reddit: I failed miserably. My first and second posts were removed and my third one, on another JS group, didn’t get any upvote
Reactions progress
Another interesting aspect was the things that I felt after hitting the publish button. In the first two hours, I tasted some agitation and concern.
The article only got 5-8 reactions (deep down inside I knew that those were my friends), and the LinkedIn post 3-4 likes. That was the moment that I said, ok, this is not for me, I failed, I should focus on other matters.
Around 18:20 I left work, I got on my electric scooter and “drive” for 10 minutes. After that, I check dev.to and something wonderful happened. Almost 40 reactions, all the numbers went up and I received some positive comments. It’s hard to explain that feeling, but it was lit.
For 2 hours I have other activity scheduled (where I didn’t check my phone) and after that, the reactions reached almost 60, the views went up, another motivation dose.
At that moment I just wanted to take my laptop and dig for my next topic. After that, it went up until the morning.
The life span of the article activity was pretty much 24h. (yes, short life)
Moral of the story, have the patience for your content and take as much fresh feedback as you can.
Note: The Time Zone Bucharest, Romania (UTC/GMT +3 hours in the summer)
Followers
An aspect that I didn’t take into consideration was the followers from the dev.to platform. As the article got traction, the number of followers started to raise and hitting almost 700 in two weeks. (thank you all)
Looking at the numbers I realized that there are people in the community that consider my content useful and valuable. That gave me the motivation to continue this path with a lot of energy.
Comments
The comments from LinkedIn are all positive, two of them from known people and two from persons that I never talk with.
On the dev.to platform, there were three positive comments, one neutral (I can’t decode the feeling from it) and one constructive/negative. (that person pointed me to a part of the article that was debatable)
I responded to all of them (didn't take me long) and I took them as great energizers.
P.S.: Here is the funniest notification for views achievement I have ever seen.
My objectives for this article are to share my story and help others start creating content. The advice that I received a couple of weeks ago was, of course, “just start”. Deeply inside you know that is true but sometimes it's hard to “just do it”. With this article, I want to add a small brick to people's trust wall.
After you manage to start, focus yourself on delivering quality content. Again, research your subject and existing content in order to get a strong context, then bring something new, always with your target audience in mind.
Maybe the previous points may seem that they don’t have the best fit, but it’s not the case. You can force your brain to start doing the task you are thinking about and focus afterward on giving your best.
Don’t try to make it more than perfect. Even Ben Halpern says that 85% perfect is better than 100% perfect. (check his article on writing principles)
Thank you for reading it through the final, I hope it was helpful and you got 1% more motivated.
Happy writing!📰
Top comments (1)
Planning to write my first article very soon, and this has helped a lot.
I loved the humor, looking forward to more content