There was a time when coding was something that the general public thought only geniuses could do. It could also be said that, at that time, a significant portion of the population didn’t even know what coding was.
As time has gone on, however, that thought process has changed dramatically. Today, through educational initiatives and a better understanding of how to expedite the learning process, coding has come to the mainstream.
This has led to a significant uptick in the amount of coding blogs that you will find online. But, unfortunately, many of these blogs are seen as nothing more than average.
To help make sure that your coding blog avoids being average, let’s take a look at three essential traits of any great coding blog.
#1 – They Know Their Audience
A few decades ago, coding wasn’t such a broad term. Either you knew how to code or you didn’t. There weren’t dozens of coding languages or hundreds of libraries to sift through.
In today’s world, however, starting a blog about coding takes a much more determined focus on a particular subset of the industry.
If you want to put together a truly remarkable coding blog, you need to understand your audience and who you want your readers to be.
From whether you want to focus on beginners or advanced coders to what language/s you’d like to talk about, you need to have a real understanding of the people you want to target.
Try to be as specific as possible, as this will make it much easier for you to find your audience.
#2 – They Understand What Great Content Means in Today’s World
One of the biggest problems with most modern blogs, no matter the topic, is that they often focus solely on the age old philosophy of “educate the audience”.
While this should certainly be a part of your goal, the fact that there are millions of blogs on the web means you have to go beyond the norm to stick out.
Simply producing educational content isn’t enough anymore. If you want to create a great coding blog, you need to focus on what expert blogger Jon Morrow calls the four D’s.
They include:
- Create some feeling and emotion in your content through storytelling.
- Gather data and find ways to analyze it in a unique way.
- Create longer, more detailed, posts.
- Use graphics, videos, power points, etc. to enhance your content.
In the end, publishing a bunch of keyword stuffed 500-1000 word posts isn’t going to cut it anymore in a crowded blogging world. If you want your blog to excel, you need to go above and beyond the norm.
#3 – Their Website Offers Easy Navigation
While coders may be a bit more tech savvy then most, that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t focus on creating a website that offers easy navigation.
People become disinterested when they’re confused. And when they’re disinterested, they aren’t going to stick around on your website for long.
Try to stick to a minimalist design, as this generally offers simplicity to the user. Doing so is also a great opportunity to showcase your coding skills.
