Right, it seems like a ploy to expand the author's SEO footprint. I wasn't lost to the author/OP's comments being a part of the hustle. Given the content of the article, the ploy could almost be called something like "meta-hustle".
I do want to expand the SEO footprint of my Elixir tutorial site, but writing about my strategies for doing so on a separate site with negligible traffic isn't the way to do it. On the contrary, it might even help and encourage people to compete with me.
The productive thing to do for that site to write Elixir tutorials or at the very least, write about things Elixir devs are looking for—instead of content marketing strategies—and to put it on the same site! Here's an example of piece I wrote which did move the needle a bit on the business side: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20721433
So why am I writing "meta" stuff on a totally new blog and submitting it here instead of putting all my time into the business site? Here's my best understanding of my motivations:
1) Internet points are fun! Not something I feel should be a major motivator, but it is what it is.
2) Increase my luck surface area. Who knows what opportunity could emerge or who I can meet, just because I do things and write about them?
3) Provoke discussion and maybe learn more about the topics I'm writing about and thinking about from all of you! Lammy and TeMPOraL have each already given me an idea in this thread.
4) Generate some level of goodwill from people who have found my writing useful or interesting. It's difficult to quantify the effect, but I believe that it will translate into more help, retweets, etc for my projects in the long run.
