How to write blog posts that developers read

My general takes (as someone who also has a somewhat popular blog) is that

The inverted pyramid is almost always the correct format for your text. I often put the tweet-length version of the post in the title or first paragraph. Get to the point quickly, then elaborate. Means you can bail out at any point of the text and still take home most of what mattered, while the meticulous crowd can have their nitpicks addressed toward the end.

The problem of finding an audience is best solved by being really transparent about what you're about. Inverted pyramid solves that. There's no point to drawing in people who aren't going to be interested. Retaining existing readers beats capturing new readers.

I'm less bullish on images, unless they are profoundly relevant to the text. Illustrations for the sake of having illustrations are no bueno in my opinion. You want to reduce distractions and visual noise. Images should above all never be funny.

This works for blog posts, certainly. But it falls apart if you're doing anything even slightly long form, or have multiple points to make.

It's also why LinkedIn posts all sound the same.

"It seemed like any other Monday. Little did I know, it was going to be the day that changed my life forever..."

"Marketing isn't about getting the most traffic. It's about converting the most traffic. A thread:"

Why do you think the inverted pyramid doesn't work for longer form?

If you have multiple points that don't both support a larger point, they should probably be split into two separate essays.

Your first example could be the start of an inverted pyramid if the thesis of the post is how the Monday was just like any other. But the next sentence dashes that notion.

The second example could be an example if it quickly follows up with the ways to convert traffic, but better to lead with the novel way(s) to convert traffic, then follow up with why conversion is more important than generation.

To :+1: this, even if it's a book - there is a central thesis - a headline and a sentence that tells you whether you want to read more. "Your pet could save your life" - The six surprising reasons that people with pets live longer than others.

Then each chapter has the same: "Getting in touch" - why stroking your cat soothes your body. Etc

You may even have sections within the chapters and each can follow the same format.

Thousands of years ago it was enough just to write down stuff you've learned, call it "Meditations" and hope people would still be reading it in the distant future.

Now if it's just "stuff I've learned about coding" or "things that make me happy" you're going to need an extremely strong hook to tie that together and build an audience.

So start with a single thesis and decompose from there. Inverted pyramids all the way down :)