As a reader, I want to get to know the author, understand their point of view, learn something or get entertained. Fine-tuned articles in most cases turn out to be very alike. And they get traction and other authors are engaging in the comments so that their conveyor articles can get some too, creating an endless cycle of content for the sake of noise which overshadows rare unique pieces more and more.
And as a writer I could sit and write "10 creative ways to shoot yourself in a foot with Redux" or "How to master Kubernetes in 3.5 seconds" every day before breakfast and they still will be better than yet another "Difference between var, let and const in JS". My most popular article had 30000 views and 1k+ reactions and it is a result of said optimisation and it's almost entirely useless :-)
My favourite article has 3k views and 40 reactions, it's 1 year old, yet still relevant and keeps getting views from search engine and rare but positive feedback from readers. But this article "expired" and no amount of engaging is going to bring it back to the feeds.
But that article at least had some google-able keywords (and that's how the new readers find it). I doubt someone would actually search for e.g. "build server with css" one year from now unless they are high as a kite. Yet Pascal's piece has a lot of valuable insights and doesn't deserve to be covered with tons of "999 way to iterate an array in JavaScript".
There, did I make it any clearer now? (NOT sarcasm 😅)
Accessibility First DevRel. I focus on ensuring content created, events held and company assets are as accessible as possible, for as many people as possible.
Much clearer and I agree on your points, there is just one thing missing - the popular and optimised article...is that the entry point for people to follow you and read your favourite article?
That is my whole argument really, write some optimised pandering "rubbish" as we see it, get more eyeballs on the stuff you care about.
So I would say, go write that article before breakfast you don't care about...then write one that you care about and link to it from you crappy and pandering article as a "you might also like" type link!
And yet again, I can easily track how a crap article prompts people to read my better ones, so although an old article of mine might be dead in the feeds it will still get the occasional like as a result of a new article I posted if it is shown in the sidebar or I link to it deliberately.
Don't get me wrong, I totally get it, we live in a world that rewards people for licking toilet seats on planes or literally sitting there while they watch a video of someone with talent, and receiving 100 times more views than the original piece of content. We can't move that needle, so we need to compete, so I say "play the game a little, your hard work deserves to get noticed".
Hopefully I have made myself a little more clear now!
Yup, but there's nothing wrong with your article, I got it the first time :-)
And that's a valuable advice for a newcomer that tries to get his first job and needs something to show to the hiring manager (huge market, wise choice for target audience, not sarcasm).
And as you rightfully noticed I haven't placed a link to the articles I've talked about, because as weird as it is I come here to talk to you, get to learn your perspective, not to do a plug. Thank god my articles don't have business needs and I can choose not to do it! But wouldn't world be a better place if we won't need to do it?
Accessibility First DevRel. I focus on ensuring content created, events held and company assets are as accessible as possible, for as many people as possible.
The only thing I have to say is share the article you love with me in the comments, I have no issue at all with that and would love to see your favourite! ❤️
Massive difference between genuinely sharing something that is relevant and just spamming a link to your article for views. Your intentions are pure, fire away 🤣
As a reader, I want to get to know the author, understand their point of view, learn something or get entertained. Fine-tuned articles in most cases turn out to be very alike. And they get traction and other authors are engaging in the comments so that their conveyor articles can get some too, creating an endless cycle of content for the sake of noise which overshadows rare unique pieces more and more.
And as a writer I could sit and write "10 creative ways to shoot yourself in a foot with Redux" or "How to master Kubernetes in 3.5 seconds" every day before breakfast and they still will be better than yet another "Difference between var, let and const in JS". My most popular article had 30000 views and 1k+ reactions and it is a result of said optimisation and it's almost entirely useless :-)
My favourite article has 3k views and 40 reactions, it's 1 year old, yet still relevant and keeps getting views from search engine and rare but positive feedback from readers. But this article "expired" and no amount of engaging is going to bring it back to the feeds.
But that article at least had some google-able keywords (and that's how the new readers find it). I doubt someone would actually search for e.g. "build server with css" one year from now unless they are high as a kite. Yet Pascal's piece has a lot of valuable insights and doesn't deserve to be covered with tons of "999 way to iterate an array in JavaScript".
There, did I make it any clearer now? (NOT sarcasm 😅)
Much clearer and I agree on your points, there is just one thing missing - the popular and optimised article...is that the entry point for people to follow you and read your favourite article?
That is my whole argument really, write some optimised pandering "rubbish" as we see it, get more eyeballs on the stuff you care about.
So I would say, go write that article before breakfast you don't care about...then write one that you care about and link to it from you crappy and pandering article as a "you might also like" type link!
And yet again, I can easily track how a crap article prompts people to read my better ones, so although an old article of mine might be dead in the feeds it will still get the occasional like as a result of a new article I posted if it is shown in the sidebar or I link to it deliberately.
Don't get me wrong, I totally get it, we live in a world that rewards people for licking toilet seats on planes or literally sitting there while they watch a video of someone with talent, and receiving 100 times more views than the original piece of content. We can't move that needle, so we need to compete, so I say "play the game a little, your hard work deserves to get noticed".
Hopefully I have made myself a little more clear now!
Yup, but there's nothing wrong with your article, I got it the first time :-)
And that's a valuable advice for a newcomer that tries to get his first job and needs something to show to the hiring manager (huge market, wise choice for target audience, not sarcasm).
And as you rightfully noticed I haven't placed a link to the articles I've talked about, because as weird as it is I come here to talk to you, get to learn your perspective, not to do a plug. Thank god my articles don't have business needs and I can choose not to do it! But wouldn't world be a better place if we won't need to do it?
Oh 100% I wish we didn’t have to play the game!
The only thing I have to say is share the article you love with me in the comments, I have no issue at all with that and would love to see your favourite! ❤️
Massive difference between genuinely sharing something that is relevant and just spamming a link to your article for views. Your intentions are pure, fire away 🤣
NOTICE: This is not a plug 🤣
dev.to/valeriavg/how-to-use-custom...