Learnings from 3 months of blogging next to my full time role
Content and tools for Product-Led Growth
For years I have been playing with the idea of starting a blog. At the end in 2023, I finally decided to go for it and launch Product Pepper, my blog about Product-Led Growth. It’s been only 3 months but I’ve learned a ton since then. If you’re considering to start blogging, I hope this article will encourage you to give it a try
The first 3 months in numbers
I hadn’t been very active on Linkedin before this. My goal was to post there 3 times per week and to use that engagement to drive people to the Product Pepper blog.
I officially started on September 20th and here are some of the key metrics in 3 months of posting since then:
Linkedin output: I posted 46 times in 15 weeks → target achieved ✅
Linkedin followers: Around 500 new people decided to follow me → +11% 🙏
Blog output: I posted an article every week for 13 weeks → target achieved ✅
Blog visitors: On average my posts are read by about 100 people → this seems low compared to the impressions and engagements the same content gets on Linkedin 🫤
Blog subscribers: 1,300 total blog views converted to 40 new subscribers → while this seems low, it’s in line with conversion rates I’ve seen shared by others. Thank you if you decided to subscribe 🙏
Personal connections: I called with 17 new people due to my increased engagement, which was unexpected and definitely the highest value outcome in the short term ⭐
Considering that these were the first 3 months, there is a lot to be happy about. The personal connections have been enriching and are keeping me motivated, and the LinkedIn engagements are working well and helping me grow an audience there.
The blog posts have been getting good feedback but I need to learn how to reach more people with them. Now that I have my supporting systems in place, I should have more time for that. Below are my 3 key learnings which I’ll be applying in 2024.
1. Developing my own voice
To GPT or not to GPT, that is the question… A key principle I started the blog with is that the content of the articles I post needs to represent my unique view and style. Therefore I decided not to use ChatGPT at all and to write the articles myself.
My assumption is that because everybody has access to the same tools and data, developing a unique voice will be more important than ever. So while this is costing me more time, it is the right thing to spend time on.
By writing the articles myself, I also got to understand better how my views differ from other views in the market. This is key knowledge, because it’s the opinionated content that tends to get people’s attention.
Now that I’m starting to get more clarity around my voice, I’m considering experimenting with ChatGPT to improve the writing style of the articles, as I’ve heard good things about that. But the content will definitely remain my own work.
2. Balancing consistency and quality
My research told me that one of the main things to get right when building an online audience is consistency. So when I started, I committed to 1 blog post and 3 Linkedin posts per week. On Linkedin I would cover:
A blog post, presenting my latest PLG blog article from that week
A knowledge post only on Linkedin about other PLG concepts or principles
A funny post, typically a meme with a hint of the article that would come next week
Even though I had prepared some articles before launching, I quickly found myself under constant deadline stress to prepare the next post. After all, I do also have a full time role at Dealfront and a private life. More importantly, the quality of the posts started to suffer because I didn’t have enough time to prepare. So I realized something needed to change.
I looked at the metrics and realized that the knowledge posts were getting the lowest engagement of the 3 types, whereas they required quite some work to prepare. So I decided to cut these posts entirely and switch to 2 planned posts per week.
The time that this freed up I used to think more strategically about topics to cover and create better articles. This resulted in new types of content for Q1 2024 which I will share towards the end of this article.
Around the time that I was working through this, Matt Lerner shared this post about how 70% of his 50k new followers on Linkedin in 2024 came from just 5 posts. It further emphasizes that while consistency is important, it’s quality that drives results.
3. Creating a proper management system
Then I also reminded myself that if you want to do something well, you need to have a proper system in place for it. Initially I had my content ideas and future posts in random notes and Google Docs, so I leveled up and created a proper system and content calendar to manage this.
My tool of choice has been Airtable, because I know I can automate many of my workflows with it. This has moved my approach from being ad hoc to more planned and strategic. Below is a screenshot of the ContentCalendar I created, where I make sure I have the right mix of types of content across Linkedin and the blog.
Another system that’s important to have in place is one to track content ideas. Throughout the week I encounter situations at work, in conversations, or even while watching tv, that can be used to provide unique content. So I created another table to keep track of that.
As I was getting my systems in place and started to look at the world differently to find interesting things to write about, the preparation of content like funny posts also got much more efficient. This efficiency is important, because it allows me to use most of my time to create good articles.
Things I still need to figure out
As you can imagine, there are plenty of things that I still need to figure out. One of the bigger challenges so far has been to have good images. Especially in the beginning it was more of an afterthought, whereas actually images are important.
I have experimented a bit with Generative A.I. to create images but haven’t been satisfied with any of it. In addition, to explain frameworks or concepts Gen A.I. is not a good solution.
My plan is to define “my style” in terms of visuals and have a more unified look and feel, plus better capabilities to show visuals in the articles. But this is still a work in progress.
Also, as highlighted in the initial section, I’m not getting enough people from Linkedin to the actual blog. One of the reasons is that when I share a blog post on Linkedin, I add the key learnings there. So I get good engagement, but then many people don’t click through.
The challenge is that if I don’t put that content, then I won’t even get people’s attention in the first place. So I need to experiment more with the balance between providing value on Linkedin and getting people to my preferred platform which is the blog.
The next time I’ll reflect on my blogging efforts, I hope to have solved both these topics.
What to expect in 2024
With better systems in place and more content prepared, I will be spending more time on quality in 2024 and I intend to give the stage to other people who want to share their views and experiences.
I’ll also be trying new formats:
Podcast - I have been interviewing some amazing thought leaders and operators in the space and will be announcing the first podcast season this month. It’s a great way to share knowledge with the audience without having to come up with everything yourself. And since I don’t presume to know everything anyway, it feels healthy to have other people share their views as well.
Guest posts - I’ve been speaking with a few other people in the space who are interested in writing but don’t think they can commit to the consistency. By providing Product Pepper as a platform for them, I can bring in diversity in content and enable these people to get their voice heard. (If that’s you, please reach out to me. There’s still room for this)
Something big… - I’ve been working on something big for anybody who is thinking about combining Product-Led Growth with Sales. I will be announcing it soon, stay tuned!
I intend to share my learnings again later this year once I’ve collected more data and experiences. If there’s anything you’d like to understand better, drop it in the comments or send me a message and I’ll share what I can.
Onwards 🚀