I'm not a good marketer, so take what I say with a grain of salt, but the only thing I've found that works is replying to relevant comments in popular threads with neutral looking promotional material (e.g. github links). A well placed reply in a hot thread will easily drive 10x the value of a blog post.
I think it's possible to do it ethically, but anything that works is going to get gamed.
It's a pretty dark dystopian future where the only way for anyone to hear about anything is advertising or paid promotion by influencers because we're so aggressive about policing individuals marketing themselves.
The evolution of European history is built upon the evolution of art, specifically in architectural history, music history, and painting history. It has never been reflected in the evolution of technology; even if technology has evolved, it is built upon the evolution of art, such as steampunk, atomic punk, and cyberpunk. All European culture is characterized by its art-driven approach. However, when, as is the case now, cultural evolution is dominated by programmers, geeks, and dictators, it becomes a dystopian phenomenon.
Art-driven approaches represent the correct way of sensory perception and intellectual summarization, much like the correct methodology offered by Kant's Critique of Pure Reason. Technological dominance, on the other hand, becomes an erroneous approach of abstract mechanics and objective facts, much like mechanical materialism encountering quantum physics.
Remember my words.
