Anyone who has read my writings and ravings here since 2006 will know I feel this exact way. Buy that domain name. Carve your space out on the web. Tell your stories, build your community, and talk to your people. It doesn’t have to be big. It doesn’t have to be fancy. You don’t have to …
I stress to clients that they have to tag and categorize their posts on WordPress. It’s one of the easiest ways to increase your organic traffic and discoverability in Google, but it also helps the web find you. So tag your posts, people! Also, good checklist here for setting up a WordPress website on a …
I get the allure of Substack and applaud the move to decentralized platforms, but why not write on your own blog if your goal is independence and direct interaction with your own audience? It’s not that difficult. So many more benefits to creating in your own space, on your own domain, with your own platform… …
Why not just write on your own blog and monetize there? Read More »
Interesting… didn’t realize the bit about the WordPress 5.6 release team. That’s admirable and something that we need more of in the open-source world (and the tech world in general): One thing I’ll call out WordPress 5.6 had an all women and non-binary release squad of over 50 people, a first for WordPress and probably …
I started writing email newsletters in 2002 and blogging in 2003 for a couple of marketing outlets. I was mowing the lawn on October 13, 2006, and had the bright idea to start a marketing blog called CostPerNews. It took off rather quickly and before I knew it, I was getting citations on Techmeme and …
If you’ve met me IRL, you’ve probably noticed I have a notebook either in my shirt pocket or in my hand (or a stack of index cards tucked away somewhere). All of them make awkward appearances when I hear a good quote, someone has a question I need to look up, if I was trying …
Wholly new forms of encyclopedias will appear, ready made with a mesh of associative trails running through them, ready to be dropped into the memex and there amplified. — Read on www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2012/10/11/vannevar_bush_s_1945_essay_as_we_may_think_on_information_overload_curation.html
I’ve been using RSS as my primary way to read news, blogs, thoughts, and ideas since 2005 or so (I currently use a mix of Feedly and NewsBlur as my RSS readers, and both are excellent in their own ways). There’s a growing rumbling going on in the tech-thinkers space I follow (mostly through my …
I’m admittedly from a generation that grew up with a web that didn’t include Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or even Google. I look back fondly on the early 2000’s when we all had our own blogs and shared thoughts and pictures and quotes there. I was just reminiscing about blogrolls this week with a client as …
Wow, this is quite something and a good example of why you should always run your own blog instead of relying on a blog network. Same with podcasting. What a strange turn of events. Patheos was at the center of the Mars Hill Church and Gospel for Asia stories and now they host Mark Driscoll …
Cautionary Tale of Patheos and Having Your Own Blog Read More »
There’s some really helpful advice here for small businesses, nonprofits, and / or churches looking to get a start on SEO basics. You can take a course on Lynda.com or watch some YouTube videos to learn more about what SEO can mean for your group, but the fundamentals here are pretty spot on: SEO isn’t …
Ultimate guide to SEO for small businesses (and nonprofits) Read More »
I often get the question from clients of why I mostly recommend having your own website on WordPress or a self-hosted platform in the age of Facebook. As companies who built their businesses and traffic flow on the back of Facebook over the years have found out, that can be a very precarious decision. Audience …
Owning your own platform is important, and valuable Read More »
Fun post that highlights many of the concerns I hear from clients and friends when I encourage them to blog. Blogging and newsletters are still incredibly impactful for businesses, churches, nonprofits… or just sharing what’s on your mind. Get out there. Be yourself. It’ll be ok. You think that you are a terrible writer. No …
Be like the fox who makes more tracks than necessary, some in the wrong direction. We could say goodbye to the creepy targeted ads and the algorithms, to the Nazis and bots and propagandists, to the harassers and the people selling hate. We could stop being spied-on for profit… Or we can make the moral …
There’s so much wrong with this post, but I’ll point out my biggest gripe here… RSS (like podcasting) doesn’t need the metrics of behavior tracking for it to be a success. It’s distributed. It’s not commercialized. It’s not tracked with clicks based on eCPM’s or eCPC’s or brand quality engagement views. And that’s ok. It serves …
“I keep remembering that, between Google Reader and its limits (items must have titles), and Twitter with its limits (only 140 chars, no titles, one link, no styling), same with Facebook (no links or styling) that my online writing has diminished dramatically, conforming to the contradictory limits of each of these systems. I keep working …
Important as the web continues to develop… don’t put all of your content into a silo. If you arrived here via Facebook, you might see why. 2. You’re probably posting your short items to Twitter and Facebook. That’s wrong. Please, before you give your ideas to a silo, give them to the open web. Of course …
Good thoughts from Om here about the place of having your own website (whether it’s at WordPress.com or a self hosted WordPress installation for more flexibility) and feeding the beast: Some Thoughts on the New WordPress.com and Mac App – Om Malik: “Most of those platforms are built to be silos, Facebook and Instagram being …
It’s very easy to blog. You should do it on your own domain. You don’t need a venture capital funded company to help you. If you need help, let me know. The future is independence from these sorts of silos. Medium is introducing a host of features aimed at encouraging users to post shorter, less …