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)

  1. Have a proper documentation and testing playground in place
  2. Create a proof of concept(how your APIs can be used to deliver an end product)
  3. Get the word out there via your existing network
  4. List on public API directories
  5. Speak at dev conferences, sponsor
  6. Integrate with other suitable app marketplaces e.g. HR related APIs can integrate with ATS platforms' app marketplace
  7. Write SDKs in all popular languages to remove friction for developers
  8. Sponsor open source projects and dev blogs
  9. Showcase success stories of your users with detailed guide on how they did it
  10. 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.
  11. Engage with dev communities, answer questions, solve problems, inspire and support actively
  12. 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.
  13. Minimize the steps and effort needed to achieve that first "joy of making". Stripe does it well, hit "Get started" on their documentation page

Resources

API directories

Dev conferences

Learning resources