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Ask HN: Blogging is cool, but where does it lead?

6 points by vuck ↗ HN
I'm currently setting up a coding blog (I know, I'm incredibly original) and while I'd love to just spend every waking minute making and sharing code for the world, I obviously need a job to sustain myself. Right now I'm exploring my options and figuring out a long-term plan to sustain this project.

My question: Is there any way to be financially self-sustaining when the products you create (text and code) are inherently free (blog posts and open source)?

I'm a hobbyist (read: unqualified) coder with a strong desire to work for myself, so I won't accept "get attention from employers" as an answer. "Make an app" also isn't acceptable. What I'm looking for is a way to turn "code blogging" into a viable, long-term financial platform.

Thank you for any and all advice.

4 comments

[ 4.0 ms ] story [ 44.3 ms ] thread
lbearl
If you don't want to sell anything (an app), and you don't want people to pay you for your skills (a job), I see two possible routes: a) have very high quality content on your blog behind a paywall, b) have very high quality content on your blog along side some types of ads. In either of those scenarios, you are going to need a very large amount of traffic in order to sustain yourself long term.
fireworks10
Write content on your blog that shows you know what you are talking about and use that to promote yourself for freelance work.
ScottWhigham
It's all about your goals - both short term and long term. Some people find that writing helps them understand the problem(s) better - that's a short term benefit. Others want to position themselves as an expert so that they can speak at conferences - that's more of a long term benefit.

So where does it lead? That's up to you - define your goals, and figure out whether blogging matters in the end towards reaching that goal. It might, and it might not. It's quite time consuming to put out high quality blog work so the payoff needs to be real.

johnjlocke
IF you are looking to turn a coding blog into direct monetization, my suggestion is to blog every single day and publish amazing content. Even then, it is a long game.