In 2019 I was determined to learn full-stack web development.
My process was simple: code for at least one hour every day, take notes along the way, and publish the notes to my blog at the end of each day.
I really sucked at GraphQL. As a designer, front-end React stuff came naturally to me. But back-end development was more challenging, so I took meticulous notes. It was my only hope at making progress.
In two weeks I published 14 blog posts about GraphQL. They were mostly code snippets with a few bullet points explaining how to do a specific thing like building a Reset Password system, setting up Stripe Subscriptions, and so on. Nothing fancy.
This turned out to be huge for my blog traffic.
It turns out that a lot of people get stuck learning GraphQL and turn to Google for answers.
Some of my blog posts ended up on the first page of Google search results for searches like “graphql date” and similar variations.
How much more traffic did I get by sucking at GraphQL?
I doubled my traffic from 7,000 visitors in 2019 to 14,000 in 2020.
The doubling continues in 2021. Any given week in 2021 produces about 150% more traffic than the same week in 2020 (which was double 2019).
The Great Double Doubling
All of this proves an important lesson: if you have a problem, other people have it too. If you solve that problem, share your solution.
You don’t need to be an expert to share your thoughts. We’re all learning, and the more we share along the way, the more we can all benefit.
So practice something you suck at, take notes, and publish them for others to see. You’d be surprised at what can happen.