Hey Everyone,
Hope you're having a great week. Here are a few things I've been reading, writing and pondering lately. Enjoy!
1. Great Writing Isn’t Enough. Here Are Two SEO Frameworks for Growing a Blog.
Here are some thoughts on writing with distribution in mind.
There are basically two approaches to growing a blog. The first is volume. Throw a lot at the wall and see what sticks. This actually can work, but you’ll burn a lot of time and money along the way. Quality content is very difficult to scale and the returns diminish over time.
The other way is a measured approach to SEO. A poorly organized site with great content just can’t compete with a site built for search. Content is a piece of this puzzle, but it functions as part of a larger framework designed to help you drive traffic.
2. Everything Easy Is Hard Again
This is a really interesting article about how much web design has changed in the last 20 years. The same can certainly be said about product and marketing as well.
My knowledge and skills develop a bit, then things change, and half of what I know becomes dead weight. This hardly happens with any of the other work I do.
I wonder if I have twenty years of experience making websites, or if it is really five years of experience, repeated four times. If you’ve been working in the technology industry a while, please tell me this sounds familiar to you.
3. The Thin Line Between Bold and Reckless
Another gem from Morgan Housel.
Case studies can be dangerous because we study extreme examples, and extreme examples are often the least applicable to other situations, given their complexity. You’ll get closer to something actionable by looking for broad patterns of things like how people respond to surprises, how fragile competitive advantages can be, how quickly people/businesses/economies evolve, and what makes people happy.
4. The 51 Best Writing Articles I’ve Ever Read
Lots of good stuff here. Thanks Kevan Lee!
5. Random Links
- Here are the worst graphs of 2017.
- What you should know about Chrome’s new ad blocking features.
- Did you know that McDonald’s is more profitable than the every airline?
- What A Badass Olympic Skier Can Teach Us About Work-Life Balance
Have a great weekend!
Jimmy
PS - I'm looking to partner with a few great businesses to sponsor this newsletter. It reaches a bunch of smart folks from places like Google, Apple, Spotify, New York Times, Marriott and Harvard. Shoot me an email if you're interested in working together.
PPS - I created an email course called 5 Days to Better Content Marketing. More than 300 people have already taken it. You should check it out too.