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Fabian Reinders
Fabian Reinders

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I Tried Blogging as a Developer for 7 Days 🧑‍💻

Here's what I learned in the first 7 days of actively blogging as a developer.

Introduction

Saying I'm new to blogging wouldn't be entirely correct. Before signing up on dev.to, I had already written a handful of blog posts on my own domain.

But even though they've been online for years, they never really reached any audience.

Last week, while reading an article on dev.to, I thought:

"Hmm... Why not try writing an article here to see how much (if any) attention it gets?"

To start things off, I decided to write a helpful, tutorial-ish article about something I came across while working on a side project.

My first post on dev.to

And there it was, my first post (exclusively) on dev.to:

Screenshot of my first dev.to post

At first, not much was happening.

But 3 days later:

The Twitter account behind dev.to (@ThePracticalDev) gave me a shout-out on Twitter:

I immediately saw people reading my post and following me on the platform.

Cross-posting

I stumbled across an article on "cross-posting" articles on dev.to.

I decided to cross-post one of my previous articles "Automatic Deployment using Docker and GitHub Actions" on dev.to.

The same thing that had happened to my first post, happened to the second one:

3 posts later...

After posting another article exclusively on dev.to, this is how my stats look like, 7 days after creating my first post on dev.to:

Screenshot of dev.to statistics

  • 1,069 reads
  • 200 followers
  • 9 reactions

Conclusion

Posting or cross-posting on blogging platforms like dev.to, Hashnode or Medium can help your blog reach an audience.

However, keep in mind that blogging is about so much more than just clicks. Blog posts document your projects, personal journey, and growth as a developer.

Your posts don't need to be perfect and even if they're just a digital diary/glossary for yourself, they serve a very important purpose.

But still... There's a chance that your posts can help someone out there. So why not share your projects, research, and experience with others?

I'm curious what you think. Do you have a blog as a developer?
Feel free to share your experience in the comments!

Cheers.

Top comments (8)

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fpsd profile image
Francesco

I've rebooted my blog recently too, and it is a mixed bag of tech and product related topics. I agree that spreading your post in different places can give good results, and I agree that good results are not just views, but the feeling that your content can be helpful to other people!

If curious fpsd.codes

I usually cross-post the more techy ones to dev.to, which is the best audience in this case 🙂

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fabiancdng profile image
Fabian Reinders

Very interesting, thanks for sharing your experience! 🙂
I like your blog as well. Keep it up!

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Rajeev R. Sharma

@fabiancdng Thanks a lot for taking that step to post your articles here. The whole community will benefit because of that one step 👏

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fabiancdng profile image
Fabian Reinders • Edited

Huge thank you for these kind words! Appreciate it! ❤️

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nghialele profile image
Nghia Lele

Inspiring story. 😄

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fabiancdng profile image
Fabian Reinders • Edited

Thanks! I'm glad you find it inspiring! 😊

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Rachel Fazio

Hey! I am super happy to see your posts gain traction after we posted on Twitter!!! Glad to see it, keep doing you!

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Fabian Reinders

Thank you! 😊