How to write blog posts that developers read

Counterpoint: writing blog posts so that they are read by someone else completely defeats the point of writing for 99% of people. I do not mean to say that this the advice in the post is bad advice, just that if you focus on being read (i.e., checking rankings on HN, only writing articles that don't exist yet) you probably just will just stop writing at one point, because most of the stuff on the web just isn't read, and writing just to be read is probably not very motivating.

Writing, even if no one reads what you write, is super valuable, and fun! Writing something down is to structure your own thoughts so that you learn more about the topic and about yourself. In my experience, publishing a piece of your writing just ensures that you double check your thinking, but most of the benefit is learning more about what you intend to write about.

So here's my advice: just write posts on what you think is interesting on your personal blog. Don't install analytics, just write it down, publish it, and put it on your LinkedIn. Someone will see it someday and will like it.

Author here. Thanks for reading!

>Counterpoint: writing blog posts so that they are read by someone else completely defeats the point of writing for 99% of people.

I think it's totally fine for authors to write for themselves, but I think the number of authors who have that goal is far lower than 99%. Maybe 5-10%?

For almost every author I've spoken to, they get satisfaction from people reading what they write. It doesn't have to be millions of people, but I don't think most people find it satisfying to spend hours writing an article for it to only reach a single-digit number of readers.

So, I don't think it should be every blogger's goal to find a wide audience, but if it is, I think the recommendations in OP will be helpful towards that goal.

You're obviously very good at writing things that get read by many people. It seems to be a very high priority for you.

The link on your website says "Write Blog Posts that Developers Read". I'd have expected that to explain _why_ writing blog posts that developers read is worthwhile.

> It doesn't have to be millions of people, but I don't think most people find it satisfying to spend hours writing an article for it to only reach a single-digit number of readers.

I write a blog that gets read by no one. When I publish a blog post, I don't check how many people read it. The blog has no particular topic, just whatever random thoughts pop into my head. Yes I'd like to improve my writing, so I can formulate my thoughts better. But I'm a little suspicious of anyone who thinks reaching a big audience is so obvious a goal it doesn't even require explaining why.

[Edit]: Ah, I think I get it now! You write about how to write so that people read your blog. And you're good at it, which leads to many people reading your blog. Naturally, your readers are people who want their writing to be read more. You interact with your readers, and that's why you think people write blogs with the goal of them being read.