The checklist you need to grow API adoption
You already understand how API economy can be a key strategy to drive growth for you as a developer or as a business. But getting developers to use your APIs is a challenging task. If you can do so, you can effectively scale your organization. To achieve this, here's a list of things you can do(usually in the same order as written, specially when you're low on budget)
- Have a proper documentation and testing playground in place
- Create a proof of concept(how your APIs can be used to deliver an end product)
- Get the word out there via your existing network
- List on public API directories
- Speak at dev conferences, sponsor
- Integrate with other suitable app marketplaces e.g. HR related APIs can integrate with ATS platforms' app marketplace
- Write SDKs in all popular languages to remove friction for developers
- Sponsor open source projects and dev blogs
- Showcase success stories of your users with detailed guide on how they did it
- Create open source content/code e.g. a detailed guide on different use cases, a useful open source tool related to the problem your API solves, teach devs how to solve the problem in your focus area, etc.
- Engage with dev communities, answer questions, solve problems, inspire and support actively
- How can you make the workflow of a developer to use your APIs error free? e.g. IDE plugin to identify/fix/preview mistakes automatically, automated testing, github actions, etc.
- Minimize the steps and effort needed to achieve that first "joy of making". Stripe does it well, hit "Get started" on their documentation page
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