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[PompiPompi]

I have relaunched my dev blog that was deleted a while ago with new content.
Recently I have started to work on a new project called Shoe String Shooter which is a 3D FPS game(with 3Dnessess).

Obviously a dev blog is valauble for random innternet strangers who seek knowledge. But can I make this blog valuable for me? Inn practice?
I guess the most important issue is to get my blog ranked high on search engines.
What do you suggest to make the blog more visible? Are there places I can submit it? And etc?

Apart from that, any tips and feedback on the blog is welcome(not promising I am going to implement any of your suggesstions).

My dev blog is at:
http://www.pompidev.net/

[Mamma Pixel]

Hey man, folks go where there's value. If you've got something valuable for readers and can regularly keep it updated with valuable content then you can definitely create a popular site.

Wolffire games has a popular site because they post tutorials, articles and videos on their dev process. Myself and many other devs found them because of those tutorials. http://www.wolfire.com/

Pear & Melons is creating a following online because of their youtube videos - which they spend just as much time trying to make entertaining as they do their games.
http://pearandmelons.com/

Pixel Prospector is gaining heaps of popularity because of his hugely beneficial resource compilations. I link to his Big List of Game Making Tools all the time!
http://www.pixelprospector.com/


Obviously you've got a game to make.

At the same time you know a popular blog will help your game be a success - which will help you make your future games!

So, how do you do both at the same time without one negatively impacting the other?

Anytime you figure out how to do something: write a post about it.

If you had a particularly hilarious bug: post a picture of it.

If you gave an interview to a highschool newsletter reporter: post a link to it.

At the end of every week look at what you've done so far and ask "will someone else find value in this?". If the answer is yes, post about it!

Push your posts out to Reddit, Facebook groups, Linkedin groups. Whichever group will find that particular post the most valuable.

It's important to keep in mind that folks will click on that link if it answers a question, addresses a concern or mentions something they're particularly interested in right at that moment. If it doesn't do one of these things, it will unlikely be clicked on (by anyone other than your friends and family anyway).

Hope that helps!

[bateleur]

I guess the most important issue is to get my blog ranked high on search engines.

No, definitely not that.

People read dev blogs for projects they find interesting. If I go to a blog and I care about the content I'll grab the RSS feed and follow it (or follow the writer on Twitter or G+). I get there the first time almost exclusively via word of mouth recommendation (typically links from forums, Twitter or G+). Where do such recommendations come from? Like Mama Pixel says above, it's all about the content.

[mankoon]

I usually think of those questions myself. Before I ever get to an answer I usually throw my hands up and get back to work. But damn Mamma pixel, spot on.

[brettchalupa]

There's a saying and it's pretty much "Content is King." You need to give people a reason to go to your site and to come back. Mamma Pixel nailed it. If you want people to be interested, create developer videos, post screenshots, express and explain your development process. Talk about whatever you can, really.

I'd suggest setting a specific evening on a specific day and saying, I am going to create a new post each time this week. Set a schedule and just make sure you update. Having at least new content once a week is a really big deal, in terms of people staying interested and search engines keeping your site relevant.

Once you've got that process in-line, share your links! Don't spam them or annoy people with them. Simply post them where it is relevant. Reddit (/gamedev really drives traffic) will be eager to give you feedback, TIGS will always give you some feedback, and Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr are a few social media sites that have a pretty big user base.

I'll do a quick overlook of your site and point out some of the SEO issues that most search engines do not like.

• The title of the site is an image. This is a big no-no. I'd suggest making it text, and if you really really want to have an image, you should text-indent: -9999px; with CSS to the actual text title. Then add the image as a background in CSS.
• Currently, it looks like all of your posts are filled under "Unsorted" or "Uncategorized". While it may take time to actually add Categories and keep them organized, they greatly help describe what it is the post is about. It also really helps strengthen your permalink structure. I'd suggest changing it from within Wordpress to /%category%/%title%/. Creating a strong permalink structure that is descriptive and makes sense is really important.
• You aren't using any thing for search engines to grab off the bat. You're missing meta keywords and meta description for the site. You really need to add these and make them something relevant to game development and indie games.
• No where on your site is there a general area that is consistent about what the site is about. There's no About page or snippet in the sidebar. Add more content like this to the site.
• Name your posts something that is valuable. Think about it in terms of how you actually search and Google things. Name them in that structure. It will help quite a bit.
• You have a sitemap, which is great. Wordpress automagically creates one for you. You need to be submitting this to Google via Webmaster Tools, Bing via their Webmaster Tools, and Yahoo. This will help the crawlers index your site.
• Install Google Analytics and really do your best to take action on what the numbers show.

There's a lot more you can do that are Little Things, but the Most Important thing is to just continue to create content and update the site.

[James Coote]

At the end of every week look at what you've done so far and ask "will someone else find value in this?". If the answer is yes, post about it!

This what I struggle with. Do people care about the new inventory system I just implemented? Do they care about the new animation sequence that shows the character opening the door and walking through it, rather than just walking through an open door? What if I spent the week doing code optimisation?

[TylerYork]

In addition, I'd consider a podcast. See our blog post on this

http://blog.betable.com/promoting-your-indie-game-company-with-a-podcast/

[PompiPompi]

I bought a good mic actually for vloging, but I am afraid I am not very trained at SPEAKING english.
Kind of going to be paifnul to speak.

[eyeliner]

People get around that if your message is meaningful. Besides, practice never hurt anybody.