Heavy Networking 497: Good Reasons To Start Your Tech Blog

If one of your New Year’s resolutions is to blog more, or start a blog, this episode is for you.
Technical blogging comes with benefits. For one, writing about a subject helps you understand it better (and also helps you realize the limits of your knowledge).
Blogging can raise your profile. When you share information or experiences with a larger audience, you can develop a reputation for expertise. This higher profile may create  opportunities to speak at events, get access to conferences or early product releases, and maybe even get a better job.
A technical blog can serve as a kind of living resume that potential employers and recruiters can see to get a sense of your capabilities.
When you share technical information, troubleshooting tips, study hacks, analysis, and other content, you help other IT pros who may be looking for information. It’s also not uncommon that you’ll help yourself–more than one blogger has run into a problem, hit up Google, and found an old post with a solution.
Our guests for today’s show are John Mark Troyer, founder of the Influencer Marketing Council and TechReckoning; and Stephen Foskett, founder of Tech Field Day and GestaltIT.
We discuss:

* The motivations and purposes for blogging
* How to get started
* Favorite blogging tools and writing tips
* The “small b” approach to blogging (don’t chase metrics, not every post has to be epic, etc.)
* Whether to mix personal and professional writing
* More

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Sponsor: ThousandEyes
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Show Links:
Tech Field Day
GestaltIT.com
Influencer Marketing Council
Techreckoning.com
Stephen Foskett on Twitter
Jon Mark Troyer on Twitter
Arse First Method of Technical Blogging [PDF/iPad/Kindle] – Greg Ferro