Reading Time: 2 min Blogging daily is tough. I just passed six months and I’m going strong, but it’ll end at some point. For now, though, here is how I make it happen. Lots of ideas The biggest challenge for me is coming up with ideas. Following the idea of “long periods of thinking, short periods of writing“, actually […]
Content
Obscurity is still your biggest threat
Reading Time: 2 min There’s an old quote from Tim O’Reilly that I really love, and it seems to be getting better with age. Tim simply said: Obscurity is a far greater threat to authors and creative artists than piracy. While you can worry about people copying your content or stealing your ideas, your far bigger concern is having […]
Long periods of thinking, short periods of writing
Reading Time: < 1 min Cal Newport is one of the great thinkers of our time, and puts most of his efforts into helping us all learn to think more clearly. His books (such as Deep Work) focus on escaping distractions to really focus on what you need to get done. He recently shared a short quote from Hemingway on […]
The location changes, but the story stays the same
Reading Time: < 1 min The world of marketing is moving faster than ever. If you’re reading this near the time when I published it, you’re likely considering how Clubhouse and TikTok fit into the world of Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. If you’re reading this further in the future, those all have likely changed. This inspiration for this post actually […]
Marketing doesn’t stop
Reading Time: < 1 min If you own a small business, you’ve likely gone through at least a few “feast or famine” cycles. They’re easy to get into. Sales are solid, and you’re too busy for marketing. As a result, things slow down so then you start marketing more. Now sales are solid again, and you’re too busy for marketing. […]
Your website should bring value to your users
Reading Time: < 1 min The title seems obvious, but is often overlooked. We can get focused on other things that are indeed important, like speed, security and SEO, but at the end of the day it’s all about what kind of value your site brings to your users. Headline, headlines, text headline, headline The common issue we see is […]
I’ve been around since 1976
Reading Time: < 1 min When a visitor first arrives on your website, they want to know three basic things (sometimes known as “the grunt test“): What do you offer? How will it make my life better? What do I need to do to buy it? Something that isn’t on that initial list? The age of your company. That information […]
Writing every day vs. publishing every day
Reading Time: < 1 min I’ve been publishing a daily post on here since late October last year — I believe today is number 163 in a row. I’m happy with that. However, I was careful with how I worded that sentence: I “publish” every day, but I don’t “write” every day. There’s a big difference, and it’s something I’d […]
The news doesn’t reflect the world
Reading Time: < 1 min With this title I’m not referring to “fake news” or political leanings (though those are important topics), but more to the fact that what you see in the news is based on what draws eyeballs, not what’s really going on. As I’ve shared before from Darrell Huff’s excellent book How To Lie With Statistics: It […]
If you want to improve, keep the comments open
Reading Time: 2 min One of the big questions new bloggers face is whether or not to allow readers to leave comments. In almost every case, I think the answer is a solid yes. Here’s a bit about why: Take back your content As I shared late last year, I think more people need to be blogging in order […]