Field notes for app builders

Small apps.
Big questions.

A strange little utility. A stubborn user problem. A business hiding in plain sight. Pull up a chair.

The reading room 10

Search & publishing01

Choose a reader decision before choosing how many times to mention the search phrase.

Search & publishing02

Separate genuinely different decisions; merge pages that only change the wording of the query.

Search & publishing03

Clear scope, nearby sources and explicit assumptions help both humans and automated readers interpret a claim.

Search & publishing04

Submitting URLs helps discovery. It does not reserve a place in search results.

Search & publishing05

Structured data should describe what the page actually contains, including who wrote it and what evidence it offers.

Search & publishing06

A useful next step often works better than surrounding the reader with unrelated signup requests.

Search & publishing07

Measure the path from a useful article to a useful product action, while keeping small samples in perspective.

Search & publishing08

Plan refresh work around claims that change, rather than repainting the publication date.

Search & publishing09

A beautiful cover can invite curiosity. It should not pretend to prove the article.

Search & publishing10

A separate review pass catches the claims that sounded better while you were writing them.