Should I blog about my projects or write a series of tutorials to impress my potential clients?

Question

I'm am going to start Freelancing in Java. Getting the first project is really hard and low on profit margin. So I'm looking to strengthen my bid with a link to my blog about Java.

The question is should I write Java tutorials or should I blog about some complex Java projects I have done in the past? which one would be better for showing to potential clients.

Answer 1

I'd think an online portfolio of past project work showing the following things would be beneficial:

1. Short description of the problem that existed before you performed the work.
2. Special restraints or dependencies needed to solve the problem.
3. A brief overview of your contribution to the solution.
4. The end result.

You could then theoretically expound on #3 with some tutorial stuff to prove you know what you are talking about if you need to prove it. In most cases, people just want proof that you've got some experience in doing something similar to what they need done.

Answer 2

Blogging about how you understand your client's needs and how you meet them would be better than "how-to" articles, unless your potential clients are also coders.

Also you could write a case study or a white paper about a problem you solved for a client (and getting the client to write you a brief testimonial will also be a good thing to include on your website).

Answer 3

There are zillions blogs about both. If you ask me, I would cover something in Java which is either new or has little tutorials. I am sure you can always find something like that. I think that tutorials are more visited than general programming blog (at least in my case).

You can always make another page in the blog About Me where you will tell something about projects you did.