You might know me from a few current activities:
Below is a full chronological list, but this site is organized into content types for better reading: Features, Essays, Reviews, Random Stuff
Over the past few weeks I’ve migrated every content site I have from WordPress to Hugo, a popular and easy to use static site generator. In this post, I’ll detail why I think WordPress is a bad solution for most people, and how I went about migrating my site in just a couple of hours on a weekend afternoon. Oh, and before we get started, the site I’m talking about in this post is the one you’re currently on....
Endel is a platform that leverages AI and personal data-points to generate soundscapes that impact and enhance mental states. Popular use cases include productivity and focus, meditation and relaxation, and sleep. Soundscapes are personalized based on real-time inputs such as location, weather, heart rate, and circadian rhythm. I’ve been using it while I work for a few hours a day since January 2020. This post is part review and part exploration of generative music as a technology to augment mental states....
Often, when I’m working on content sites, one of my initial product goals is to increase session depth. Broadly, this means decreasing bounce rates and have visitors read more than one article. Large publishers often call this content recirculation, but their goals are to take visits and push them into higher-value pages for revenue purposes. Since it’s a blog without any monetization, my goal on this website is to push visitors into other content and hopefully earn an email opt-in....
Things 3 is my productivity app of choice. I use it to run every aspect of my personal life and business. This post is a collection of tips and tricks that I’ve picked up over the years that aren’t immediately apparent for new users. Project Activation The sidebar lists active projects — which means that projects have an active state. Moving a project into Someday will toggle this status and remove a project from the sidebar....
I launched a paid newsletter in October 2019, quickly racked up thousands of subscribers, and then took 18 months to run it into the ground. This is my cautionary tale, told in four parts. Part 1: Conversion Gold It all started, as almost nothing good does, in a hotel room in southern Florida. It was October of 2019, and I had recently left my long-term SEO gig at CBS Interactive (now ViacomCBS)....
A few years back, at the recommendation of a friend, I bought some Captains of Crush grip trainers. I remember back in school when some kids had taken these from their dads and stored them in their lockers. In between classes, they’d pull them out and lay down the gauntlet. It was a social test of strength, not to be taken lightly. I started doing some research to figure out a methodical way to increase grip strength....
Launch products optimized for digital PR to get buzz and links to your site. Why it’s a good idea Successful digital PR campaigns can net thousands of high-quality links and social shares. Brands can gain relevance and topical authority by co-opting meme-like consumer trends or capitalizing on special edition products for holiday celebrations. Many brands work to create content that feels native to social channels — but few are creating products that feel native to social channels....
Find valuable users quickly through Facebook Ads by using interest-based audience tests. Why it’s a good idea Facebook has such a wide variety of users that it can be beneficial to point them in the right direction. The goal isn’t to laser target only a select group of people and “best” the algorithm. Instead, we work to gently nudge the algorithm in the right direction and help it find valuable audiences faster....
The following are the notes that I took (and some reflection) on a fascinating report from HYPEBEAST and Strategy& (a division of PwC). It’s an analysis of the streetwear space, which admittedly isn’t relevant to everyone. Still, I think it has profound utility for understanding how exclusivity and demand act as forces on consumer perception. The report is broken up into a few parts: 001 Defining Streetwear 002 Measuring Streetwear 003 How Streetwear Talks 004 How Streetwear Sells Interviews and summaries are interspersed between as connective tissue and to recap and underscore the primary findings....
Collect and leverage in-house data to improve your product and your marketing. Why it’s a good idea Most businesses generate some data — but not all businesses know how to use it to their advantage. By sharing your data sets, you can create highly marketable assets that earn PR, links, and attention. Companies with strong data stories tend to be perceived as more authoritative, trustworthy, and likely to be market leaders....