How to write a great technical blog post

Five steps to get from idea to polished result

I’ve been working in the open source community for almost 5 years now, building and promoting developer tools including Meteor and Apollo. In that time, I’ve found that blogging is one of the most effective ways to spread ideas.


A blog post doesn’t take as long to prepare as a video or conference talk, but is easy to consume and can reach a ton of people. I’ve also personally gotten a ton of benefit out of writing: it has helped me organize my thoughts, teach people about technologies I love, and get my name out there.

https://hackmd.io/@alexaa34/ryLL0ifgGx

https://medium.com/@alexharris59600/how-to-write-a-great-technical-blog-post-71f8ef8804d3

Since publishing my first blog post ever in 2014, I’ve ended up writing 68 posts so far here on Medium, some with over 50k views and 1000 fans, and edited many posts for my friends and coworkers. Over that time, I’ve picked up a few strategies for taking a post from concept to publication.


In this article, we’ll go over five main steps of my process for writing a post:


  1. Find a good topic and commit to it
  2. Make your goals and audience specific
  3. Have a beginning, middle, and end
  4. Get feedback and iterate
  5. Add finishing touches: packaging, publication, and promotion

Let’s get right into the first step!


1. Find a good topic and commit to it

You can’t get started on a post unless you have something to write about! When I talk to people who want to start blogging, this is often their main blocker.


The simplest strategy is to write about what you know. If you spent many hours learning about something, and you think you could explain it in just a few minutes, you’re going to provide a lot of value to your readers.


Another idea is to write about an area you think is lacking content. For example, right now there aren’t a lot of posts about how to apply to technical conferences, so content about that could fill a gap in the community.


Here are some specific types of posts you could go for. Examples are from the GraphQL-related posts on the Apollo blog:


  1. A step-by-step guide to achieving a specific goal: “Building a great scrollable list in React Native with FlatList” or “Simplify your React components with Apollo and Recompose”. These are great for readers that are looking to get in, do a thing, and get out fast.
  2. An in-depth survey on a particular topic: “Using nullability in GraphQL” or “Anatomy of a GraphQL query”. These are useful if you’re targeting a more interested audience that wants to grab a cup of coffee and learn a ton.
  3. A numbered list of useful facts around a common topic: “4 simple ways to call a GraphQL API” or “5 benefits of static GraphQL queries”. These are a fun, lightweight read since you don’t have to commit to reading the whole thing, and it’s easy to consume the bite-sized pieces.


Now, let me dispel a few common concerns:

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