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Blogs aren’t quite dead yet.

According to long-time content strategist (and 2025’s YouTube viral breakout) Pat Flynn, SEO is dead. According to newsletter guru Matt McGarry, ad-based newsletters are dead. So, what’s alive? If you’re an AI company, it’s the lowly blog. According to NP Digital, blog posts are the #1

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Daydreaming about Publishing

Since the last post, I spent a week in Mexico (above). I learned two things: 1. All I ever need from a “break” is time away from urgency. We rarely get that, even on a vacation. 2. When I did get a real break, I thought about how I could

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Where does blogging fit in your newsletter strategy?

I got this question from a reader recently: “Have you written about how a blog and a newsletter could interact together? Two problems: 1. We’ve monetized each newsletter. Can I monetize the blog? 2. Can I train my audience to visit a ... blog (?) ... every day?” I moved my blog

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SEO elder abuse

According to research by Neil Patel, 59.2% of traffic to blogs is driven by SEO. It’s the biggest single driver of traffic by far. He also reports that your SEO decreases over time, if you’ve published a lot of posts that no longer get the traffic they

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When text wins over video

I know the future, and present, of online consumption is video. Audio falls in and out of favor. Text seems like a dinosaur. When does text still win over video? John Gruber thinks he knows and I find it encouraging – especially for email newsletter publishers. He recently released a podcast

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Revenge of the Essayists

I was wrong. In my last post, I explained where the biggest companies were going with AI, on the backs of creators. But I assumed the biggest corporations in the world had legal teams that understood the basics of creators’ rights under the law. But Microsoft proved me wrong this

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What’s with the hostility towards personal publishing?

It's about money, of course. Google may have a problem with us. A few weeks ago, Google had a big leak. While details are still lacking, it seems like there’s a bias against personal sites when it comes to search results. From Mike King: “Google may be

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Embrace the carnage.

The web is back. Or, is it on its back? Google and OpenAI have been racing to see who can replace the web for you. Google isn’t even hiding it anymore. From Platformer via Daring Fireball: “This new approach is captured elegantly in a slogan that appeared several times

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Indie Hope and Bankers Boxes

Welcome to the best season. I’m feeling a bit silly — optimistic in a very contrarian way. I see nothing but pessimism in the press right now, and nothing but opportunity for creators with an indie spirit. That’s the tone for this issue’s set of truly odd links.

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Solitude Deprivation

Since I’m doing some editing and cleaning on my site, I figured it might be fun to do another link love issue. Enjoy! — CJ 1 Author Cal Newport explains the collected research on whether smartphones are bad for kids or just another moral panic. This was more even-handed than