Coming up with a good title is always tricky (in general, naming things is complicated) and it depends considerably on the content and the audience. I would avoid click-bait titles but, from experience, they seem to be pretty effective (although annoying). The line between attractive and click-baity is sometimes too thin. If your article is a list of things, the format "X [ways|steps|things] to [achieve Y]" works well in general (especially in DEV).
About the cover image, if you are skilled at drawing, I'd say go for it and create something for your post. Even if it's simple, it will be unique and personal. If not, there are many websites with free stock photos where you could potentially find something that matches your content that you can edit and use. Some examples of those sites: Unsplash, Pexels, Burst, or PixaBay.
Finally, tweeting about your post: remember that it's not about you, it's about the people that will want to read it. You know/learned something and want to share it with the world, so you wrote a post. Now make your tweet short and to the point while highlighting why your post will be helpful to others. For me, the posts that get more reactions are the ones that focus on the story and on how the article helped me or can help other people grow... And don't forget the #DEVcommunity hashtag!
If you are tweeting, add hashtags related to the content: there are accounts and bots that will like/retweet your content based on them. Many won't be that great, but some could actually be helpful.
And consider sharing on more platforms: LinkedIn allows more characters and could broaden your professional network, Reddit has a huge number of users and could highly impact the visibility of your post, and like that many more depending on the post content: Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, Youtube...
One of the most salient features of our Tech Hiring culture is that there is so much bullshit. Everyone knows this. Each of us contributes his share. But we tend to take the situation for granted.
Although I don't know if I'm the best to give advice on this. In general: my titles are bland, many of them don't have a cover image (or share the same one), and I make the mistake of often sharing my posts focusing on myself ("I wrote this" or "I built that") 🤷♂️
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Coming up with a good title is always tricky (in general, naming things is complicated) and it depends considerably on the content and the audience. I would avoid click-bait titles but, from experience, they seem to be pretty effective (although annoying). The line between attractive and click-baity is sometimes too thin. If your article is a list of things, the format "X [ways|steps|things] to [achieve Y]" works well in general (especially in DEV).
About the cover image, if you are skilled at drawing, I'd say go for it and create something for your post. Even if it's simple, it will be unique and personal. If not, there are many websites with free stock photos where you could potentially find something that matches your content that you can edit and use. Some examples of those sites: Unsplash, Pexels, Burst, or PixaBay.
Finally, tweeting about your post: remember that it's not about you, it's about the people that will want to read it. You know/learned something and want to share it with the world, so you wrote a post. Now make your tweet short and to the point while highlighting why your post will be helpful to others. For me, the posts that get more reactions are the ones that focus on the story and on how the article helped me or can help other people grow... And don't forget the #DEVcommunity hashtag!
If you are tweeting, add hashtags related to the content: there are accounts and bots that will like/retweet your content based on them. Many won't be that great, but some could actually be helpful.
And consider sharing on more platforms: LinkedIn allows more characters and could broaden your professional network, Reddit has a huge number of users and could highly impact the visibility of your post, and like that many more depending on the post content: Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, Youtube...
Thank you Alvar, that's super helpful!
Although I don't know if I'm the best to give advice on this. In general: my titles are bland, many of them don't have a cover image (or share the same one), and I make the mistake of often sharing my posts focusing on myself ("I wrote this" or "I built that") 🤷♂️