<img class=”aligncenter size-large wp-image-1150” src=”
I wanted to write a quick post on the focus of the blog going forward.
Last year, I was inspired by a few of my productivity heroes to write about productivity instead of just apps. I thought it was a perfect opportunity to expand my reach and grow the blog beyond what it had become.
Putting widgets, Facebook Page Like buttons, and having email sign-ups all seemed like a good idea to me. Seeing as I was just starting out, I thought it would extend my reach and become a place where people could go to learn tips and tricks from me and a few of my friends in the productivity space.
While it has done great things for the blog 1 I have struggled to write consistently about productivity as my systems shift quite often.
I have also been watching my favorite indie Apple blogs and some of the big players and have decided that I need to get back to my roots: writing about apps and workflows using those apps.
Productivity is a Convoluted Space
There are a lot of productivity guru sites out there and I follow some of them. It is a hard place to get noticed if you aren’t selling and I am a bit uncomfortable with that aspect of the industry. Growing my audience organically and sharing my articles on Facebook and in groups will help me get the audience I desire, and thus, I can start monetizing the site some other way that doesn’t include courses.
Federico Vittici grew MacStories in a manner I admire, though I really don’t think I’d want to make a full fledged business out of writing about Apple.
But he did it when he lost his job 2 and threw his savings into it and came up with one of the go-to sites on Apple on the internet.
That’s where I started: apps, Apple news, and workflows.
I am returning to that model for the foreseeable future.
Taking Cues from My Favorite Apple Sites
As you have probably noticed, I have added Sections to the site in the main navigation area. This is taking a cue from MacStories only I don’t have a developer working with me on the site and so I have tried to work on the PHP backend a bit and added a few plugins to achieve this.
I am also working on a night mode for site.
I have stripped widgets from the footer. For archives I have a dedicated Archive page in the navigation.
For all my GTD posts and pages, I have a dedicated GTD Resources in the navigation where you can find the pages dedicated to sharing tools/apps and books I have read and used for GTD.
Sections
There are 7 sections. They are:
- App Reviews
- The Apple Experience 3
- Mac Automation
- iOS Automation
- Working on iPad
- News 4
- Pick of the Month 5
Most of these are self explanatory but those that are not there is a footnote beside them, as you have seen.
The Working on iPad section is where I try to move some of my writing, reading, and programming workflows to iPad and report back to you. I am still fleshing this out but it should be a fun exercise in pushing my iPad Pro 12.9” to its limits.
Any Productivity Posts at All?
Most likely some. But not as the main focus of the site and very few articles posted about GTD and digital decluttering, etc. I will still post them occasionally.
This is the direction for That Mac Nerd. Hope you stick around. I have more content and reviews coming up.
-
Having my setup featured on The Sweet Setup also helped. A lot. ↩
-
I am looking for employment, not actively pursuing, but will need to start looking after next semester. So I understand the need to just do something. ↩
-
Stories about my experience with Apple, its hardware and services, and apps I have used and were delightful, or not so delightful. ↩
-
News on Apple and its app ecosystem. ↩
-
Every month I will review something I have bought, an app, a piece of kit, or something else interesting that I may want to write about. Nod to Tim Nahumck for this idea. ↩
Sign up for my smart home Substack
I enjoy writing and want to do it more. Join me if you like smart home content.