I gave this presentation in the Sales Engineering Finland meetup that was held on 21st of April 2015. This presentation identifies four reasons why you cannot write a technical blog and helps you to crush these excuses. It also reveals what can happen to you if you start blogging on a regular basis and describes some of the lessons that I learned when I wrote my first book.

1. TECHNICAL AUTHORSHIP
IN PRACTICE
My experiences from writing a book and growing a
technology blog

2. Agenda
• Who am I?
• 4 reasons why you cannot write a blog.
• Let’s crush these excuses.
• What can happen if you write a blog?
• What I learned from writing a book?

3. Who Am I?
• I have a master’s degree from Tampere University
of Technology.
• I write code at Vincit.
• I write a (technical) blog that has 64057 unique
visitors per month.
• I have written a book titled: Spring Data.

4. WHY YOU THINK THAT
YOU CANNOT WRITE A
BLOG?

5. 4 Reasons Why You Cannot Do It
• You cannot write.
• You have no time to do it.
• You have got nothing to say.
• No one will read your blog (not even your mother).

6. YOU CAN WRITE
But you probably aren’t as good as X

7. Yes You Can
• Stop comparing yourself with famous writers.
• Don’t be afraid of making grammar mistakes.
• Choose a language that feels good to you.
• The more you write, the better you become.

8. YOU HAVE TIME TO WRITE
But only if you really want to

9. Book a Regular Writing Slot
• X minutes a day after / before work.
• Rules:
• Use this time for writing code, doing pre study, or
writing a blog post. No exceptions are allowed.
• No social media. If you a have no self-control, use
Anti-Social.

10. Create an editorial calendar that helps you to keep focused.

11. GETTING GOOD IDEAS IS
EASY
If you are ready to have a lot of bad ideas

12. Getting Ideas for Blog Posts
• “Brainstorming”
• Write down all ideas (no matter how silly it is)
• Eliminate bad ideas.
• Leverage your work, readers, and other blogs:
• Solved a problem at work? => Write a blog post.
• Your reader asks a question? => Write a blog post.
• Want to leave a comment to a blog post? => Write a blog
post.

13. Write Different Blog Posts
1. Problem & solution
2. Tutorials
3. “Opinion”
4. Weekly / monthly links

14. AT FIRST NO ONE WILL
READ YOUR BLOG
But you can grow an audience

15. Ensure That Search Engines Find
Your Content
• Submit XML sitemap to Google.
• Read Google SEO Starter Guide
• Ensure that your blog is responsive.
• Create resource pages.

16. Make People Click the “Correct”
Search Result
• Write catchy titles.
• Add descriptive meta
descriptions.

17. Make Your Content Easy to Share
• Add social sharing buttons to your blog posts and
resource pages.
• I use Easy Social Share Buttons for Wordpress.
• Test the different button positions and use the one
that works for you.

18. Floating social sharing bar is the best option for my blog

19. Market Your Posts on Social Media
• Share your posts on Twitter, LinkedIn, G+, or
Facebook.
• Find blogs that publish ‘This week in X’ posts.
• Forget Reddit and HackerNews.
• Submit your posts on DZone.

20. Should You Syndicate Your Content?
• You give one or more parties a permission to
publish a copy of your blog post on their site.
• You get access to their audience and get a link
back to your website.
• The downside is that the syndicated copy might
be higher in search results than the original.
• Some well known syndication partners: Java Code
Geeks, Web Code Geeks, and DZone.

21. WHY BOTHER?
Because surprising things can happen to you

22. Surprising (or Funny) Things That
Has Happened to Me
• One customer told us that he found a good Spring
blog. Turns out it was my blog.
• I get free books in return of book reviews.
• I have been offered more than one book deal.

23. WHAT I LEARNED FROM
WRITING A BOOK?
It’s hard work and probably overrated

24. What I Learned From Writing a
Book?
• Publishers are always looking for new authors.
• You aren’t going to make so much money than you
think.
• You are the (only) one who markets your book.

25. If You Decide to Write a Book
Anyway
• Write an outline.
• Set a realistic schedule.
• Get your own reviewers.
• Don’t be afraid to suggest changes if it makes the
book better.
• Start marketing your book before it is published.

26. How to Market Your Book
• Get a domain for the book (if this is fine to the
publisher)
• Create an email list.
• Write blog posts about it.
• Find bloggers who want to review it.

27. THANK YOU!
Any questions?

28. Links
• Anti-Social: http://anti-social.cc/
• Google SEO Starter Guide: http://static.googleusercontent.com/
media/www.google.fi/en/fi/webmasters/docs/search-engine-
optimization-starter-guide.pdf
• Easy Social Share Buttons for Wordpress: http://codecanyon.net/
item/easy-social-share-buttons-for-wordpress/6394476
• The Blog (http://www.petrikainulainen.net/blog/)
• Trello (https://trello.com/)
• Vincit (http://www.vincit.fi/en/)