designish

When I look around at web designers’ sites these days, I am a bit surprised when I come across one that doesn’t have a blog. Web designers seem to understand that having a blog can be helpful in marketing themselves. Unfortunately, when I look at the content of those blogs, it often becomes apparent that they don’t know exactly why a blog is helpful.

The most common types of problem blogs I’ve run across are the “day in the life” blog and the “I haven’t written anything for three months” blog.

Why are these problematic? Because the only way that a blog can help you market yourself or your business is if it is actually providing something of value to its readers.

There’s nothing wrong with an occasional “day in the life” post, but if that’s the primary content of your blog, it probably isn’t doing you much good. Likewise, there’s nothing wrong with taking a week or two off from blogging, but if you go months without posting anything new, who will notice when you finally do post?

I think that a significant portion of both problems are caused by the fact that the authors don’t know what to write about. So here are three ways to write valuable content for your web design blog, each with its own advantages and disadvantages.

1. Write about web design for non-designers (and non-developers for that matter)

When writing for a general audience, you don’t have to go into technical details, but you may have to explain things that you think of as simple because they aren’t as familiar with the field. The biggest advantage of writing for a general audience, though, is that you have more opportunity to sell your services since they probably don’t have the knowledge to do things themselves.

2. Write for other designers and developers

Writing for others in your field means that you won’t have to explain most basics, but you usually have less opportunity to sell yourself, since your readers are likely your competitors. You do, however, have the chance to sell services which complement those of your readers (for example, back-end development to front-end designers). And when you write on technical subjects you’re more likely to learn from the feedback of others in your field.

3. Write about related subjects

Writing about related subjects is a good way to interest both a general and technical audience. Good articles can also help you to demonstrate that your knowledge extends beyond just web design and that you are a well rounded business person.

What sort of related subjects should you try? Posts about marketing, business practices, and yes, even blogging, can work quite well.

Which to try?

Personally, I think the most effective approach for most web designers is to write a mixture of these types of content. Start with the sort you feel most comfortable with, and gradually start writing the others. A good mix of valuable content is the most important step in getting a good mix of valuable readers.

Do you have any suggestions for writing in each of these areas? If so, let us know in the comments!