6 Questions to Get Your Data Science Blogging Started
Blogging is an interesting and easy way to put out your emotions. It not only complements your current skills but also can be a great full-time career. If you are in the technology field, you have ample topics to write on and prove your skills.
When it comes to Data Science, just completing those online courses and getting skills is not enough. Building your personal brand is equally important now. That personal brand can be built in various ways one of which is blogging. Not only will it improve your writing skills but also act as a secondary dimension to your profile.
Blogging will make your profile stronger, more attractive, and even fetch job offers!
People are often unsure as to how can they start with blogging, or can they even blog? This blog is targeted to bust all your doubts so that you start writing your first blog, right now!
Let’s dive right in.
Question 1: How should I start with blogging and know if it is meant for me?
You’d never know if something is meant for you or not if you don’t actually start doing it now. You are the answer to all your doubts. So to know if it is meant for you, or will you enjoy doing it, you need to get your hands dirty.
The best and easiest way to start is to pick the topic you are most comfortable, knowledgeable, and interested in. Jot down the bullet points in rough and think about how you can expand them. Once done, convert those points into a blog by narrating a story in itself. For example, if you really like and understand PCA well, then start with that as the first blog.
Having said all that, it might be a challenging task to come up with words and the right way to write a blog. Therefore, I’d say to follow some of the best bloggers on Medium and read their blogs daily and also their past blogs. Two of which I recommend is Tim Denning and Kurtis Pykes. You’ll get the inspiration, ideas, and the best tips on making it big in writing/blogging and the language to be used. Read up on other highly followed bloggers’ articles too and also the ones which are written in your domain — be it tech or any other.
Once you’ve done the above steps, you’d be in a good place to start writing your first blog and publish it.
Question 2: What are the different domains I could write about?
The sky is the limit. Being from a Data Science & Machine Learning background, I chose to start with informative blogs describing concepts and algorithms in my way. Similarly, you should list down what all you’re good at. Then pick one and research it.
Moreover, you can write about anything and everything. Even non-technical ones like coding tips, interviews, career tips, books, experiences, etc. And if you have some expertise in any domain, be it tech or non-tech, you can write about that too. Just make sure you make it easy to understand and write in a perspective that the reader does not know about it.
Never make assumptions about the reader. And in case your blog requires the reader to have some prior knowledge, then mention it clearly in the beginning and link the resource.
The one thing that you should keep in mind is to be always active and keep reading stuff. The more you read (blogs, news, posts) or even listen to podcasts, the more ideas you’ll get. And as soon as you get one, put in your “To write” list.
Question 3: What resources should I go through before starting my first blog to understand the dynamics?
Now that you know what you want to write about, you need to make sure it’s relevant. Search about similar topics and see if there are blogs present already. If they are, check how well are they written. If you think you can write in a much better or different way and include things that that blog didn’t, go ahead. However, if you see that it already covered pretty much everything, then it makes less sense to write about it again. It will only add redundancy. For example, Towards Data Science already has many blogs on a lot of Machine Learning related topics. So try not to repeat those.
Coming to the research part, you can Google it up, read on Quora, check posts on LinkedIn. Once you do preliminary research on the topic, you’d have a list of websites/forums where you’ll always find blogs written on the topics you intend to write about in the future. Make those as benchmarks and aim to improve and add something unique to your blogs.
Note that it is not mandatory to have an absolutely unique article. You just need to have your addition and way of writing which will make your blog different than the rest. And once you discover that, you have understood the dynamics of blogging.
It is also important to keep a few points in mind when writing your blogs to make them communicate your thoughts more effectively. Read this amazing blog by multiple times bestselling author Jon Younger on How to Become a Great Writer and Communicate Effectively.
Question 4: How can I earn with Blogging?
Blogging gives a lot of opportunities for earning. You can earn far more than you would in your usual job. But that needs you to be extremely good at it.
As a starter, you can start with writing on Medium under the Medium Partner Program which pays you depending on the number of views and reads you get. Also, there are other ways to earn by using affiliated links and placing ads, but I don’t recommend doing that as it spoils the clean reading experience.
Moreover, once you have established yourself as a good blogger on Medium with enough good articles to speak about you, you will start receiving offers from other blogging sites and publishers to make paid content for them. There are firms that need great bloggers to develop content for them. These can be Digital Marketing firms, Content Marketing, EduTech, Technology Magazines, and much more.
Tim Denning, in this blog, very beautifully explains the dynamics of blogging as a primary role and why you should start with it. Opportunities are waiting to be grabbed!
Question 5: Which platform shall I begin with?
Medium is a good starting point. Setting up an account is super easy and publishing your article is even easier. Moreover, Medium gives you the option to publish it on well-established publications on Medium such as The Startup, Better Programming, Towards Data Science, Omdena, etc. Publishing your blogs on these well-followed publications gives your blogs the visibility and readers it needs. You just need to submit an initial draft to them, post which if they select you, will add you as an Official Author.
Starting your own blogging website is another way to start your blogging career. Having your own blog puts you in complete control of what you post and how you monetize it. Plus, it becomes a brand of you which is a great addition.
However, it has its own downsides as well. Setting up your own blogging website isn’t too easy and will take time to make it perfect. Also, the traction will be much less as all the promotion will be on your shoulders. That will mean a much lesser visibility and readership. On the other hand, a blog on a Medium publication will be circulated by their direct emails and social media promotions which you can benefit from.
Moreover, you can write articles on LinkedIn too. Mini blogs in the form of LinkedIn posts are also a great way to experiment with your writing skills and build your readership. The 200 word LinkedIn posts are easy to write and will fetch you much more passive viewers as well.
In a nutshell, I suggest to start with a good Medium publication and stick with it for a while till you establish yourself as a good blogger.
Question 6: Any final tips?
Experiment
Blogging is a great way to get your creative juices flowing. But it is also essential to keep changing your writing style and the topics you write on. It will not only reveal what you can write and what suits you but also will tell you what the readers like. For example, if you have written 5 blogs on Machine Learning topics, then change the topic to Coding tips and see how that performs with respect to the Machine Learning blogs.
Promote
Make sure you are circulating and promoting your article the right way. Post about it on LinkedIn, share it with the community, chat groups, etc. The more you promote, the more will be your loyal follower count and the stronger the personal brand.
Don’t stop
It’s all about consistency. You need to be regular and consistent in dishing out content. Set up a frequency like 1 blog per week and stick to it. The more regular you are, the stronger will be your presence and impact. And stopping or slowing down would be the last thing you’d need to do.
Wrapping Up
Blogging is easily the easiest way to share your experiences and knowledge. You only need to be one step ahead of your potential reader to explain stuff. Moreover, whenever you make an achievement, it is always best to write a blog on it. Because then you won’t have to repeat the same story to everyone who reaches out to you for help. You can just give them the link to your blog.
For more suggestions and tips, connect to me on LinkedIn.
