50+ Phenomenal Blogs That Will Make You Smarter in 2017
Lauren Holliday - Resources
- 20. Oct
“If you only read the stuff that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking.” — Haruki Murakami
What was once a manageable undertaking, reading is now a mind-numbing decision between hundreds of thousands of blog posts, ebooks and podcasts — most of which are poorly done, fake, wrong and/or just downright useless.
Because I read a lot — like a lot, a lot — as well as curate a weekly newsletter of the best things I read each week, I’m often asked what my favorite blogs are.
@LaurenHolliday_ Hi! Do you have a list of your favorite blogs? You always share such great content and I’m looking for more things to read!
— Marissa Vessels (@marissavessels) July 6, 2017
So I scrolled through my Pocket to see what blogs popped up the most and developed this comprehensive list of my “favorite” blogs.
My list covers a wide spectrum of topics (as I love to read about a lot of different things so I can connect dots faster) and all are trustworthy (according to me).
This list is in no particular order, and as I’m sure I missed some noteworthy blogs, please do leave recommendations in the comments below, along with why it’s a phenomenal blog and who would enjoy reading it.
Here are the categories I cover:
- Best Blogs for Entrepreneurs
- Best Marketing Blogs
- Best SEO Blogs
- Best Social Media Blogs
- Best Copywriting Blogs
- Best Career Blogs
- Best Personal Development (Lifestyle) Blogs
- Best Productivity Blogs
- Best Popular Online Publications
- Best Freelancing Blogs
- Best UX Blogs
Best Blogs for Entrepreneurs
Growth Lab
Growth Lab teaches SMBs how to start, build and grow their businesses through ACTIONABLE, step-by-step, meaty blog posts. And when I say meaty, some are 30-40 minute reads.
Link:
Who owns it?
Fave posts:
- How to market your company without alienating your customers*
- How I self-published my book and sold 180,000 copies
- The anatomy of a six-figure email course
Trend Watching
Trend Watching is one of my favorite hidden gems. They publish one free briefing per month, and they are ALWAYS WAY AHEAD OF THE CURVE!
Who owns it?
Link:
http://trendwatching.com/freepublications/
Fave Posts:
- Peer Armies
- Sympathetic Pricing
- The F-Factor
- The Future of Customer Experience
- 5 Trends for 2017
- The Future of Luxury
- 2016: Back from the Dead
OkDork
OkDork features in-depth guides and strategies, based on proven frameworks and past experiences. You’ll learn things like: how to start a business, marketing, and more.
Link:
Who owns it?
Noah Kagan
Fave posts:
- Peek inside Intercom’s Multi-million Dollar SaaS Growth Strategy
- Time Management Tips of Insanely Busy People
- A (Proven) Freelancer’s Guide to Growing Your Business
First Round Review
First Round Review features 4,000+ word interviews with the smartest startup founders and their employees. The interviews are told in a story-like format with actionable advice weaved in throughout each post.
Link:
Who owns it?
Fave posts:
- Here’s Why You’re Not Hiring the Best and the Brightest
- Designing Your Sales Stack so That Customers Come to You
- The [Adjective] [Number] Things You Need to Know About Clickbait
- Hire a Top Performer Every Time With These Interview Questions
- The Surprising Secret to Being a Good Boss
- Why Most Startups Don’t Get Press
- Contently’s CEO on Winning at Marketing’s Fastest Growing Trend
Product Habits
Product Habits publishes “the best content for creating better products.” Product teams, startup founders and marketers will all enjoy Hiten Shah’s content.
Link:
https://producthabits.com/blog/
Who owns it?
Fave posts:
- Why Every Business Should Start with a Spreadsheet
- Acquisition is Easy. Retention is Hard.
- Why the Next Generation of SaaS Will Look Like Facebook
- Your Startup Isn’t Solving the Right Problem
GrooveHQ Blog
GrooveHQ’s blog theme is “Journey to $10M a Year.” It features step-by-step, actionable case studies for massively scaling businesses.
Link:
Who owns it?
GrooveHQ
Fave Posts:
- How We Got Our First 100 Paying Customers in 24 Hours
- How to Handle an Angry Customer Service Complaint on Social Media
- The Power of Testimonials (And How We Get Great Ones)
- How our startup almost died
- Our Startup’s 12-Month Growth Strategy
Shopify’s Blog
Shopify’s blog is phenomenal. It teaches entrepreneurs how to build profitable businesses online. Its blog posts are actionable and meaty.
Link:
Who owns it?
Fave posts:
- How to Write a Blog Post (That Actually Gets Read)
- The Definitive Guide to Dropshipping with AliExpress
- How We Built Generated $922.16 in Revenue in 3 Days
- How I Built an Online T-Shirt Business and Made $1,248.90 in 3 Weeks
- How to Write a Marketing Plan
- Selling Your Shopify Store: How One Entrepreneur Cashed Out and Made $81K
Four Hour Work Week
Four Hour Work Week isn’t just a blog, it’s a lifestyle (and book). On it, Tim Ferriss provides readers with actionable advice that spans the spectrum of productivity, making money, personal development, health and marketing/scaling.
Link:
Who owns it?
Fave posts:
- Marc Ecko’s 10 Rules for Getting “Influencer” Attention
- Hacking Kickstarter: How to Raise $100,000 in 10 Days
- How to Gather 100,000 Emails in One Week
- How I Built a #1-Ranked Podcast With 60M+ Downloads
Nathan Barry
Nathan writes meaty posts about design and marketing. Do you want to become a better designer? Or build audiences and sell products? You’ll learn both on this blog.
Link:
Who owns it?
Nathan Barry
Fave posts:
- Knowing when to quit
- From Losing Money To A 51% Profit Margin In 5 Months
- Step-by-Step Landing Page Copywriting
Crew
Crew is a freelancer marketplace for designers and developers. Its blog centers around productivity, creativity and growing your startup.
Who owns it?
Link:
Fave Posts:
- From a Mailchimp email and Wufoo form to $25k in 3 months
- How to hack your passion
- We just killed 75% of our side projects. Here’s why.
- How to regain focus and increase your working memory in 3 steps
Profit Well
Proft Well or Price Intelligently’s blog is the best blog on pricing strategies for entrepreneurs.
Link:
Who owns it?
Fave posts:
- Why Tinder’s charging older users more, and why it makes perfect sense
- The Saddest SaaS Pricing Pages of the Year
- Had enough of Comcast’s appalling pricing strategy? So have I
- Your Complete Guide to 21 Subscription Billing Systems
Make It
A modern blog on all aspects of entrepreneurship by CNBC.
Who owns it?
CNBC
Link:
Fave Posts:
- Diversify Your Income: All my Ideas for Making Money Online (By your’s truly)
- Former Google career coach shares a trick for figuring out what to do with your life
- How to Work From Home and Get Stuff Done (By your’s truly)
Best Marketing Blogs
Sumo
Sumo publishes the same type of actionable content as Kagan’s other site: OkDork.
Link:
Who owns it?
Noah Kagan
Fave posts:
- How to Get Thousands of Leads from Quora in Five Months
- The Cold Sales Email Bible (With Templates)
- How Tony Robbins Generates 1,000,000 Website Visitors Per Month
- How Shopify Increased Revenue 90% in 365 Days
HubSpot
HubSpot’s blog is the original inbound marketing blog. While most of its content is now aimed at new marketers, sometimes you get some advanced gems!
Who owns it?
Link:
Fave Posts:
- The Blogging Tactic No One Is Talking About: Optimizing the Past
- Topic Clusters: The Next Evolution of SEO
- How to Write In-Depth Blog Posts
Conversion Rate Experts
This blog is owned by the conversion rate optimization (CRO) agency, known as Conversion Rate Experts. It features in-depth case studies, usually about real results it delivered for its clients.
Who owns it?
Link:
https://conversion-rate-experts.com/articles/
Fave Posts:
- How we made $1 million for Moz (formerly SEOmoz)
- How we increased the conversion rate of Voices.com by over 400%
- How we helped to grow a crowdsourced learning platform
- Conversion for mobile: how we helped grow a FinTech company by 470%
- Conversion Killers: The Definitive Guide
ConversionXL
ConversionXL is one of the most popular blogs on conversion optimization, featuring actionable optimization advice, the latest research and detailed process maps on conversion optimization and data-driven growth.
Link:
https://conversionxl.com/blog/
Who owns it?
Fave posts:
- How to Increase Conversions by Being Completely Unoriginal
- Google Analytics 101: How To Configure Google Analytics To Get Actionable Data
- A Step By Step Guide To Building Customer Journey Maps
- The Advanced Guide to Emotional Persuasion
Matthew Barby
Learn more about all things marketing through actionable, proven case studies and tactics by the Global Head of Growth & SEO at HubSpot.
Link:
https://www.matthewbarby.com/blog
Who owns it?
Fave posts:
- How to Write for Top Tier Publications
- Zero to One Million: an SEO Campaign Blueprint
- Hacking Competitive Pricing Analysis with Scraping
- 25 Growth Hacking Techniques for your Startup
thinkgrowth.org
This is HubSpot’s Medium publication that shares stories, insights and ideas to help readers grow their businesses.
Who owns it?
Link:
Fave Posts:
- How to be Good at Marketing
- How I Built a $100M+ Sales Channel By Challenging the Status Quo
- Building on Slack Saved Our Startup
Andrew Chen
Long-form essays on growth and cool things going on in Silicon Valley.
Who owns it?
Link:
Fave Posts:
- The Law of Shitty Clickthroughs
- Growth is Getting Hard
- Psych’d: A new user psychology framework for increasing funnel conversion
- What 671 million push notifications say about how people spend their day
- There’s only a few ways to scale user growth, and here’s the list
DigitalMarketer
DigitalMarketer is the premier online community for digital marketing professionals. It’s a place where you can learn how to market like a pro, connect with industry experts, and get the strategies and tools you need to grow and scale your business to new heights.
Link:
http://www.digitalmarketer.com/blog
Who owns it?
Fave posts:
Coelevate
Brian Balfour writes detailed essays on growth and user acquisition to help you build a growth machine.
Link:
http://www.coelevate.com/essays
Who owns it?
Fave posts:
- Inside the 6 Hypotheses that Doubled Patreon’s Activation Success
- How To Become A Customer Acquisition Expert
- Growth Is Optional: 10 Reasons Why Companies Fail At Growth
Best SEO Blogs
Gaps
Gaps is a bootstrapped, three-man operation with the sole focus of helping create more online success stories by sharing unique business opportunities based on profitable case studies.
Link:
Who owns it?
Fave posts:
- This 8-Page Website Generated Six-Figures in its First 8 Months
- This Entrepreneur Makes $3M/Year Helping People Use His Brother’s Software
- 90 of the Biggest Earners on Patreon (And What They’re Selling)
Backlinko
Backlinko teaches readers how to rank higher in Google and increase traffic. This is *the* most actionable, in-depth blog on SEO out there.
Link:
Who owns it?
Brian Dean
Fave posts:
- Video SEO: The Definitive Guide
- SEO Tools: The Complete List (2017 Update)
- 201 Powerful SEO Tips (That Actually Work)
- How a Brand New Blog Generated 17,584 Visitors In One Day
- We Analyzed 1 Million Google Search Results…
Ahrefs Blog
Ahrefs teaches readers advanced marketing and SEO tactics. You’ll find detailed tutorials, case studies and opinion pieces from marketing practitioners and industry experts alike.
Link:
Who owns it?
Fave posts:
- I Just Deleted Your Outreach Email Without Reading. And NO, I Don’t Feel Sorry
- Growth Hacking Tactics That Every Startup Needs To Know*
- How a Viral Loop on LinkedIn Got Me 76k Email Subscribers in 1 Month
- 200+ Actionable SEO Tips In One ‘Noob Friendly’ Guide
- How long does it take to rank in Google? (A study by Ahrefs)
- How To Do Keyword Research in 2017 — Ahrefs’ Guide
- How to Become a Marketing Manager*
Moz Blog
Similar to Ahrefs blog, the Moz blog will teach you everything you need to know about marketing and SEO.
Link:
Who owns it?
Fave posts:
- The Homepage is Dead: A Story of Website Personalization
- The Art of Concision: How to Effectively Make Your Point in Fewer Words
- [Case Study] How We Ranked #1 for a High-Volume Keyword in Under 3 Months
- A Content Strategy Template You Can Build On
Best Social Media Blogs
Jon Loomer
Jon Loomer’s blog is all about Facebook ads — for the *advanced* Facebook marketer.
Who owns it?
Link:
Fave Posts:
- How to Create a Basic Evergreen Facebook Ad Campaign
- Example: Facebook Ad Targeting and Results
- My 15 Facebook Ad Campaigns
AdEspresso’s Blog
Hootsuite’s AdEspresso has a badass “academy” that not only features meaty posts about Facebook ads but also insightful, in-depth guides and resources.
Who owns it?
Link:
https://adespresso.com/academy/blog/
Fave posts:
- The Definitive Guide to Content Curation
- Facebook Ads Case Study: The Million Dollar Indiegogo Campaign
- 7 Ways Psychology Can Make Your Facebook Ads Unforgettable
- We Analyzed 37,259 Facebook Ads. Here’s What We Learned.
Social Media Examiner
SME’s mission is to help readers navigate the constantly changing social media jungle. It features original, comprehensive articles, expert interviews, original research, and the news you need to improve your social media marketing.
Who owns it?
Link:
https://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/
Fave Posts:
- How to Find Social Media Micro-influencers for Your Small Business
- How to Research Your Competitors on Instagram
- How to Improve Your Facebook Ads With Customer Reviews
- How to Repurpose Videos Into Many Forms of Valuable Content
Best Copywriting Blogs
Kopywriting Kourse
One of the absolute best copywriting — excuse me, kopywriting — blogs you’ll read.
Who owns it?
Link:
https://kopywritingkourse.com/blog/
Fave Posts:
- Advertorials: How To Write Them & Why They’re Awesome
- Copywriting Headlines That Sell (with Templates & Swipe File)
- Elevator Pitch Generator w/ Examples & Templates
- Copywriter Salary Range: Entry Level to Successful Freelancer
Copyhackers
Copyhackers teaches its readers how to boost conversions with words that drive people to take action. It will teach you to write copy that you’re proud to show off on your portfolio.
Who owns it?
Link:
Fave Posts:
- The Ultimate Guide to No-Pain Copywriting
- I used cold emails to 14x my freelance copywriting business.
Copyblogger
Copyblogger teaches readers how to create killer online content. Not bland, corporate crap created to fill up space. Valuable information that attracts attention, drives traffic and grows your business.
Who owns it?
Link:
Fave Posts:
- 21 Juicy Prompts that Inspire Fascinating Content
- Copywriting 101
- How to Nail the Opening of Your Blog Post
- How to Think About Google
- How to Decide Which Content to Sell and What to Give Away for Free
Best Career Blogs
Quartz at Work
Quartz at Work is a guide to being a better manager, building a career, and navigating the modern workplace.
Who owns it?
Link:
99u
99U is an online publication for smart creatives — designers, writers, entrepreneurs, marketers, etc. It kind-of reminds of Paul Jarvis.
Who owns it?
Adobe
Link:
Fave Posts:
- Nobody Cares How Hard You Work
- You Don’t Need to Learn to Code and Other Truths About the Future of Careers
- The 4 Types of Productivity Styles
- The Careers Crossroads Checklist
- How to Fight Through Intellectual Discomfort
- The Danger of Making a Backup Plan
Harvard Business Review (HBR)
HBR helps you navigate all your workplace conundrums. From abusive bosses to staying focused in the office and the future of work, HBR covers it all.
Who owns it?
Harvard Business Publishing
Link:
Fave Posts:
- Why do so many incompetent men become leaders?
- Why your late twenties is the worst time of your life
- Why you should have at least two careers
- The H-1B Visa Debate, Explained
- How to improve your business writing
- Your digital year in review
TED
TED has even more phenomenal content hidden on its ideas’ blog. The posts are classic TED — just like the videos but written — for us people who prefer to read instead.
Who owns it?
TED
Link:
Fave Posts:
- What 2,000 deaths can teach us about living a good life
- 7 lessons about finding the work you were meant to do
freeCodeCamp
freeCodeCamp writes the meatiest blog posts about development, design and data science. Not interested in those topics? Me neither, but I still LOVE reading this blog.
Link:
https://medium.freecodecamp.org/
Who owns it?
Fave posts:
- I spent 3 months applying to jobs after a coding bootcamp. Here’s what I learned.
- What I learned from reviewing 50 portfolios on Reddit in 3 crazy days.
- I wanted to see how far I could push myself creatively. So I redesigned Instagram.
- How to interview a company
- How to talk about your side-projects
- How I convinced an employer to take a chance on me and pay me to learn to code.
- You in 6 seconds: how to write a résumé that employers will actually read
- How to not set a bunch of money on fire
- Resumes Suck: Here’s the data
I Will Teach You to be Rich
Ramit Sethi turned his bestselling book into a hugely popular blog. On it, he shares proven tactics for salary negotiation, interviewing and getting rich.
Link:
https://www.iwillteachyoutoberich.com/blog/
Who owns it?
Fave posts:
- Salary negotiation: How to negotiate better than 99% of people
- Secret scents of success
- How to find your Dream Job
- How to be popular
- Ultimate Guide to Getting a Raise & Boosting Your Salary
- How to write an introduction email that works (with scripts)
The Firehose Project
Firehose’s blog teaches developers how to land a job and learn how to code… the right way. I also find some of its posts totally relatable as a non-developer.
Who owns it?
Link:
http://blog.thefirehoseproject.com/
Fave Posts:
- Here’s What You Can Learn in 10 Minutes
- 29 behaviors that will make you an unstoppable programmer
- The Wrong Way to Learn to Code
- The Only Thing Between You and a New Job as a Junior Web Developer
Best Personal Development Blogs (Lifestyle Blogs)
Marc and Angel Hack Life
The goal of this blog is to give readers the tools to identify and transform the limiting beliefs that keep you stuck. The blog offers more than 800 articles on happiness, productivity, emotional intelligence, relationships and self-improvement.
Who owns it?
Marc and Angel Chernoff
Link:
Fave Posts:
- 7 Things You Have to Stop Believing to Live a Successful Life On Your Own Terms
- 20 Ways to Accidentally Ruin the Next 20 Years of Your Life
- An Open Letter to Those Who Are Overwhelmed (and Not Sure What to Do Next)
Mark Manson
There’s no sugarcoating with Mark Manson. That’s why I love his blog. He covers everything from happiness to dating to habits and self-knowledge.
Who owns it?
Link:
Fave Posts:
- 1,500 People Give All The Relationship Advice You’ll Ever Need
- Find What You Love And Let It Kill You
- How to be More Productive by Working Less
- What’s the Problem With Men?
Brain Pickings
Brain Pickings is a one-woman labor of love — a subjective lens on what matters in the world and why. Mostly, it’s a record of Maria Popova’s own becoming as a person — intellectually, creatively, spiritually — and an inquiry into how to live and what it means to lead a good life.
Who owns it?
Link:
Fave Posts:
- How to avoid work
- Givers, Takers, and Matchers: The Surprising Psychology of Success
- A Technique for Producing Ideas
- Fixed vs. Growth: The Two Basic Mindsets That Shape Our Lives
Science of Us
Science of Us is a smart but playful window into the latest science on human behavior, with the goal of enlightening, entertaining and providing useful information that can be applied to everyday life.
Who owns it?
New York Magazine
Link:
Fave Posts:
- Do you have any idea what other people think of you?
- A psychologist explains how to revive a dead friendship
- How to be better in bed: 5 science-backed tips
- Why everything always takes longer than you think
- The best way to follow your dreams is by keeping your day job
- How to make yourself work when you really don’t feel like it
Seth Godin
Seth Godin is probably the only person — besides Jason Fried — who can get away with writing such ridiculously popular short posts. The man really makes you think and question the norm.
Link:
http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/
Fave Posts:
- Let’s stop calling them soft skills
- Falling down the quality abyss
- The interim strategy
- Make three lists
The Players’ Tribune
The Players’ Tribune is written by professional athletes. Don’t write them off if you’re not into sports. I’m totally not into sports, but I find the content just completely motivating.
Who owns it?
Link:
https://www.theplayerstribune.com
Fave Posts:
Signal v. Noise
“Strong opinions and shared thoughts on design, business, and tech. By the makers (and friends) of Basecamp. Since 1999.”
Who owns it?
Link:
Fave Posts:
- Exponential growth devours and corrupts
- Does that matter?
- BASECAMP VALUATION TOPS $100 BILLION AFTER BOLD VC INVESTMENT
- Reconsider
Wait but Why
Wait but Why is hilarious and, most of the time, pretty damn insightful. It’s also eerily on-point. Tim says what we’re all thinking. The blog isn’t about one specific topic, and it’s known for its signature stick figure comics.
Who owns it?
Link:
Fave Posts:
- Doing a TED Talk: The Full Story
- How I Handle Long Email Delays
- How to Pick Your Life Partner – Part 1
- How to Pick Your Life Partner – Part 2
Thrive Global
Thrive Global’s mission is to end the stress and burnout epidemic by offering companies and individuals sustainable, science-based solutions to enhance well-being, performance, and purpose, and create a healthier relationship with technology.
Who owns it?
Link:
Fave Posts:
- 10 Uncomfortable Things That Will Make You Happy and Successful
- You Need a Solid Daily Routine. Your Long-Term Success Depends on it
- Anything Is Possible If You Pay The Price
- Why Popularity Matters So Much—Even After High School
Barking up the Wrong Tree
Barking up the Wrong Tree is written by Eric Barker. He answers all of your life questions and backs it up with science-based facts and expert insights.
Who owns it?
Link:
Fave Posts:
- This Is How To Make Friends As An Adult: 5 Secrets Backed By Research
- The Science Of “Happily Ever After”: 3 Things That Keep Love Alive
- Impostor Syndrome: Why You Feel Like A Fraud And How To Overcome It
- NYPD Hostage Negotiators On How To Persuade People: 4 New Secrets
- Computer Science Reveals 4 Secrets That Will Make You Happy
- How To Increase Motivation: 4 Secrets From Research
James Clear
James studies successful people across a wide range of disciplines — entrepreneurs, artists, athletes, and more — to uncover the habits and routines that make these people the best at what they do. Then, he shares what he learns via his blog and newsletter.
Who owns it?
Link:
Fave Posts:
- Constraints Make You Better: Why the Right Limitations Boost Performance
- Entropy: Why Life Always Seems to Get More Complicated
- How to Spot a Common Mental Error That Leads to Misguided Thinking
- The Downside of Work-Life Balance
- How to Stick With Good Habits Every Day by Using the “Paper Clip Strategy”
Art of Manliness
Ladies, don’t let its name fool you. This blog offers lots of hidden gems for us as well — from practical career advice and productivity tips to basic social etiquette.
Who owns it?
Link:
Fave Posts:
- Why Negativity Is a Social Killer
- Don’t Take Your Marching Orders From Your Belly
- How and Why to Hold a Weekly Marriage Meeting
- How to Manage Inbox Overload and Actually Get Stuff Done
The Book of Life
It’s called The Book of Life because it’s about the most substantial things in your life: your relationships, your income, your career, your anxieties.
Who owns it?
Link:
Fave Posts:
The Oatmeal
Similar to Wait but Why, The Oatmeal features funny[-looking] comics that are so funny because they’re true.
Who owns it?
Link:
Fave Posts:
- You aren’t going to believe what I’m about to tell you
- How to get more likes on Facebook
- Why working from home is both awesome and horrible
- How a web design goes straight to hell
- Literally
Scott Young
Scott Young answers the question: “What’s the best to way learn?” on his blog. He teaches you everything he’s learned about learning and thinking. Super interesting stuff!
Who owns it?
Link:
https://www.scotthyoung.com/blog/
Fave Posts:
- How to Start Your Own Ultralearning Project (Part One)
- If You Had Ten Years to Learn Anything, What Would You Do?
- The most common misconception about learning
- The Irony of Focus: Why Doing Only One Thing Actually Lets You Do More
For The Interested
Josh Spector features a collection of curated and original things worth knowing, worth doing, and worth recommending on For The Interested.
Who owns it?
Link:
Best Productivity Blogs
Todoist Blog
The Todoist blog is obviously about all things productivity. Its in-depth guides offer great insights to how to be more efficient — with or without Todoist.
Who owns it?
Link:
Fave Posts:
- An In-Depth Guide To Choosing The Best Online Learning Sites
- The Ultimate Guide to Personal Productivity Methods
- Systemist: A modern productivity workflow
- Want to be more productive? Don’t go paperless.
Farnam Street
Farnam Street is helps readers develop an understanding of how the world really works, make better decisions and live a better life. Shane Parrish address topics like: mental models, decision making, learning, reading and the art of living.
Who owns it?
Link:
Fave Posts:
- Becoming an Expert: The Elements of Success
- Hunter S. Thompson’s Letter on Finding Your Purpose
- People Don’t Follow Titles: Necessity and Sufficiency in Leadership
Zapier
Zapier, the wildly popular workflow automation tool, has a phenomenal blog. Its in-depth, tactical posts will teach you how to be more productive in no time.
Who owns it?
Danny Schreiber is the marketing director at Zapier.
Link:
Fave Posts:
- The Art of Delegating: What and How to Delegate to Your Directs
- The Beginner’s Guide to Dictation Software
- 10 Shortcuts for Composing Outlines, Research, HTML Tables and More
The Effective Engineer
Time is your most valuable resource. Learn how to use it efficiently. And don’t let this name fool you either. I’m far from an engineer, but I do extract little gems of productivity inspiration here.
Who owns it?
Link:
http://www.effectiveengineer.com/blog
Fave Posts:
- The Highest-Leverage Activities Aren’t Always Deep Work
- How to Measure Engineering Productivity
- Taking Ownership Is The Most Effective Way to Get What You Want
- The 3 Keys to a Remarkable Career
Asian Efficiency
“Don’t let the name fool you – this website is for anyone who is interested in time management and productivity, not just Asians.”
Who owns it?
Link:
http://www.asianefficiency.com/blog/
Fave Posts:
- Simple Ways to Collect Your Personal Data and Use it for Self-Improvement
- The Definitive Guide to “Batching” Your Work
Best Online Publications
New York Magazine
NY Mag has a few different publications I just love, such as SelectAll, The Cut and The Science of Us. The content is forward-thinking and usually provacative.
Who owns it?
Pamela Wasserstein
Link:
Fave Posts:
- Why Do We Humanize White Guys Who Kill People?
- Tumblr’s Unclear Future Shows That There’s No Money in Internet Culture
- 25 Famous Women on Being Alone
- What Mass Killers Really Have in Common
- Career Advice From a High-Powered Businesslady
Quartz
While I tend to steer clear of Quartz’s hard news posts, I tend LOVE its more feature-esque posts — a lot of which are syndicated from other popular blogs.
Who owns it?
Link:
Fave Posts:
- We analyzed every “Modern Love” column from the past 10 years.
- How a spreadsheet helped me tackle my depression
Bloomberg
While I don’t love Bloomberg’s political stories, I do love its meaty feature stories.
Who owns it?
Link:
Fave Posts:
- Confessions of an Instagram Influencer
- Americans Are Paying $38 to Collect $1 of Student Debt
- The Wrong Kind of Entrepreneurs Flourish in America
- This Is How Uber Takes Over a City
Aeon
Aeon is a digital magazine of ideas, philosophy and culture. Publishing new articles every weekday, Aeon describes itself as a publication which asks the biggest questions and finds the freshest, most original answers, provided by world-leading authorities on science, philosophy and society.
Who owns it?
Paul and Brigid Hains
Link:
Fave Posts:
Columbia Journalism Review (CJR)
CJR’s mission is to be the intellectual leader in the rapidly changing world of journalism. Through its fast-turn analysis and deep reporting, CJR is an essential venue not just for journalists, but also for the thousands of professionals in communications, technology, academia, and other fields reliant on solid media industry knowledge.
Who owns it?
Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism
Link:
Fave Posts:
- The Platform Press: How Silicon Valley reengineered journalism
- Sprawling freelancer network pays dividends for The Washington Post
- Stop killing your social stories with bad headlines and images
- Stylebooks finally embrace the single ‘they’
- Investigating the algorithms that govern our lives
- Vice shows how not to treat freelancers
Nautil.us
Each month Nautilus chooses a single topic, and each Thursday it publishes a new chapter on that month’s topic. Each issue combines the sciences, culture and philosophy into a single story told by the world’s leading thinkers and writers.
Link:
Fave Posts:
- The anatomy of charisma
- Why your brain hates other people
- This is your brain on silence
- How designers engineer luck into video games
Best Freelancing Blogs
Paul Jarvis
Paul is the creator of the Creative Class. He writes articles about creating a better (not necessarily bigger) business for smart creatives.
Who owns it?
Link:
Fave Posts:
- Do what you say you’re going to do
- The three most powerful newsletter automations
- How’d you get a book deal?
Double Your Freelancing
This blog is great for new and old freelancers who want to earn more money and work with better clients.
Who owns it?
Link:
http://doubleyourfreelancing.com
Fave Posts:
- The Definitive Guide To Getting Paid As A Freelancer
- The Freelancer’s Guide To Client Retainer Agreements
- Why You Should Learn Marketing Automation
Best UX Blogs
The Logbook
This blog is created by a remote design and development agency, called Hanno. It takes about its processes a lot, which I enjoy, and definitely can teach freelancers a thing or two about running a business/firm.
Who owns it?
Link:
Fave Posts:
- The 6 ages of an agency
- Investing in tools is a no-brainer. Here’s how much we’re spending.
- Stop reinventing the wheel
- Playbooks
Nir & Far
Nir & Far is about the intersection of psychology, technology and business. Also known as “behavioral design,” topics include: UX, behavioral economics and a dash of neuroscience.
Who owns it?
Link:
https://www.nirandfar.com/blog
Fave Posts:
- Hooks: An Intro on How to Manufacture Desire
- How to Achieve Your Goals By Creating an Enemy
- How to Clear Your Computer of Focus-Draining Distraction
Dtelepathy
Digital Telepathy is a top UX design agency, and it’s blog is great! It’s about all things design-related.
Who owns it?
Link:
https://www.dtelepathy.com/blog/
Fave Posts:
- 50 Beautiful Color Palettes for Your Next Web Project
- Google Spreadsheets: More Useful Than You Thought
- 8 Reasons Why Pageless Design is the Future of the Web
- Improve Your Customer’s Experience With Experience Mapping
Orbit Media’s Blog
Orbit Media builds websites. Its blog features posts about all things web design and marketing.
Who owns it?
Link:
https://www.orbitmedia.com/blog/
Fave Posts:
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This is The New and The Next, along with: Lauren Holliday and Full-Stack Marketer
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