Tips and ideas to start your own blog

When I started this website on 03 February 2024 I was unsure if I would be able to keep it up. I had tried to start a blog some times before but I always struggled to keep it up. This time I take another approach and I am happy to say that I have been able to keep it up for over a year now. In this blog post I want to share some tips and ideas on how to start your own blog about Swift.

Benefits of having a blog

For me the benefits of writing blogs are:

• Learning: I learn a lot by writing blogs. I have to research the topic, understand it and then write about it. This helps me to understand the topic better.
• Sharing: I can share my knowledge with others. This is a great way to give back to the community.
• (Private) problem and solution database: I can use my blog to search for problems you have solved in the past.
• Networking: I can connect with other developers who are interested in the same topics.

Cons of having a blog

The only con I can think of is that it takes time. Writing a blog post takes time and effort. But I think the benefits outweigh the cons.

The system I use for blogging.

This will be discussed in a future blog post What powers this website.

Finding topics

When I started this blog I subscribed to a lot of other blogs to get email updates from them. If there is a topic that I find interesting I open a issue on Github, I add the category and a indication of the difficulty of the topic. I also add a link to the blog post that inspired me to write about it.
Another way for finding topics is, problems I have solved in the past, or new things I have learned.

Managing topics & time

I often dont feel like I want to write a blog post, but I have a schedule to keep up with (every Tuesday).
What I do is, I write blogs in advance, this post is made on 05-FEB-2025. I usually have for a couple of weeks in advance a blog post ready to be published.
I also have placeholders for some future posts, e.g. Hacktoberfest 2025 and some posts for Hacktoberfest about some Swift Packages I've created (ImagePicker, FilePicker, iCloudStorage, SecureStorage, XCUITestHelper, PreventScreenshot, NetworkMonitor, SwiftCronParser, SwiftExtras).

Creating a blog post

My target audience does not like reading (i think) and I don’t like writing, so keep it short and focused

I do think I'm still a beginner in blogging. I have been able to keep it up for over a year now.
I have tried various formats and writing styles, I have a template that I use for every blog post.

<post‎ title="SUBJECT" tags="TAGS"></post>
[Introduction]

## What is `SUBJECT`?

DESCRIPTION OF SUBJECT

## Installation

INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS

## Use Case: SUBJECT

EXAMPLE OF USE CASE

## Caveats

CAVEATS IF ANY

## Wrap up

WRAP UP

## Conclusion

CONCLUSION


Resources: 

Usually either "Wrap up" or "Conclusion" gets removed, I try to have one of them and not both.

Getting help with writing

I write my blogs in Visual Studio Code, in markdown with the Copilot extension.
This extension helps me to suggest text, and code. I really like Copilot, it helps me to write better blogs.

Proofreading

Mosts posts I just publish, it may contain some errors, but I think that is fine. I hope if someone reads it they will send me a message so I can correct it.
On larger posts (> 5 minutes reading time) I ask a friend to proofread it.

Search Engine Optimization

For SEO I did the following:

• Create a sitemap.xml file.
• Create a robots.txt file.
• Add meta tags to the HTML (title, description, keywords).
• Add a RSS feed (no idea if this helps).
• Add a JSON-LD file for the blog posts and apps (This helps search engines to embed your contents on the search page).
• Add a favicons.
• Run a lighthouse test on the website and fix the issues.
• Signed up for Google Search Console, Bing Webmaster Tools, Yandex (Mostly Russia), Naver (South Korea), and Seznam (Czech Republic).

Baidu (China) is not supported, because I don't have a Chinese phone number and I'm not allowed with a dutch phone number to sign up for it.

Sharing your blog

I share my blog on Bluesky, Mastodon, and Threads. I also have a RSS feed that I use to share my blog posts.
I do this since a couple of weeks because one of my friends told me that I should make my blog more visible.

Building a blog is a great way to learn, share, and connect with other developers. It takes time and effort, but the benefits outweigh the cons. I hope this blog post has given you some tips and ideas on how to start your own blog about Swift. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them below.

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