Hey Everyone,
Hope you're having a great week. Here are a few things I've been reading, writing and pondering lately. Enjoy!
1. Technical SEO for Content Marketers
I chatted with Atlassian SEO lead Kevin Indig to put this article together and he offered some excellent advice. I recommend saving this one if you work in content.
Regardless of how we break down the components of technical SEO, the overarching idea is that writing great content is never enough . Kevin was kind enough to offer suggestions based on his experience at Atlassian, where he’s working on SEO for Jira, Confluence, Trello, Statuspage, and others. With tens of millions of pages to think about, Kevin has gotten really good at prioritization.
The recommendations below represent a few low-effort, high-impact projects. Let’s dive in.
2. Here’s Why Athletes Love to Suffer
Outside writer Alex Hutchinson is killing it lately. Type 2 fun FTW!
...We’re wired to minimize effort whenever possible. But sometimes, Inzlicht and his colleagues argue, we value experiences and outcomes precisely because they’re hard, not in spite of that. That difficulty can add value, a surprise they call the effort paradox.
3. I Got a Story to Tell by Steve Francis
Must, must, must read. h/t to Walter Chen for putting this on my radar.
Four years before I was on that plane with Hakeem telling me we’re going shopping for cashmere suits together — four years before I was about to go play against Gary Payton — I was on the corner of Maple Ave in Takoma Park, Maryland, selling drugs outside the Chinese joint.
My mother had passed away. My father was in a federal penitentiary. We had 18 people living in one apartment. I had dropped out of high school. No scholarships. No GED. No nothing.
4. Five Ways to Build a $100 Million Business
Here’s the list but read the article for a very interesting take on each approach.
To build a Web company with $100 million in annual revenues*, you essentially need:
- 1,000 enterprise customers paying you $100k+ per year each; or
- 10,000 medium-sized companies paying you $10k+ per year each; or
- 100,000 small businesses paying you $1k+ per year each; or
- 1 million consumers or "prosumers" paying you $100+ per year each (or, in the case of eCommerce businesses, 1M customers generating $100+ in contribution margin per year each); or
- 10 million active consumers who you monetize at $10+ per year each by selling ads
5. Random Links
- Fun fact: For every dollar Microsoft earned in 2009, its partners made $8.70.
- An excellent list: 59 Female Marketing and Growth Experts You Should be Following
- I haven’t worn a dress shirt to work in ~4 years: Is Dry Cleaning Dying?
- Probably not, tbh. Can Social Media Be Saved?
- Former Home Depot CEO Frank Blake gave a really good interview on the Tim Ferriss Show.
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.