How to Help Great Productivity Blogs Get Discovered

Written by Andy Parkinson

GTD, Productivity



It is my observation that writers of niche blogs have a fairly predictable shelf life.  Most non-news-telling bloggers that see some early successes last a good 2-3 years before they stop posting. Most of the time the value posts are made within the first 12 months and it goes downhill from there. (Side tip: whenever you discover a new blog on a topic of interest that boasts a solid readership today, find the archives and start from the beginning. You’ll rarely be disappointed.)

There are only so many tips one person can have for how to make widgets, shave your body hair, make money online, collect monkeys, or whatever else may get a bloggers goat for a while. The symptoms are the same: deceleration of posting, the authors posts seem forced and/or repetitive, more guest posters, etc. My gut tells me we’re coming to an end of a cycle of higher-profile bloggers in the productivity world. I think its a shame because many were an invaluable source of inspiration and great ideas.

Here’s to New Blogs With Great Content in Need of Readers

A few weeks ago a fellow named Chuck Westbrook started a movement designed to give up-and-coming bloggers a chance to gain some exposure. Chris Brogan caught wind of the concept and tweeted about it to his ~20k followers on Twitter. Later Darren from Problogger and Guy Kawasaki tossed in some links and really gave the idea some legs.

Chuck is on to something, but my definition of an interesting blogger is slightly different that what has been selected so far. I like reading what helpful and/or inspirational productivity or personal development-oriented bloggers have to say. Since joining The Cranking Widgets Blog I’ve already been introduced to some new authors that I’ve found very valuable and are still loving their blogs. I’m confident there are plenty more out there that I’ve yet to discover.

I want to be introduced to other success-minded bloggers who are still excited about how to help others get more stuff done and reach their goals.  I want to share the ones that are particularly valuable with you by giving a more in depth review or interview… Maybe even put something about them in the sidebar for a week or two. (If I get too many submissions, I’ll share my favorites on Twitter — follow me here.)

My Criteria

This one will be a moving target, but generally I’d say:

  1. I’m not interested in GTD calendars, notebooks or other productivity pr0n. I’ve seen some newer bloggers that appear to be all about trying to make a buck instead of helping others. I can’t blame them, but it adds too much noise.
  2. Insight and passion are key. That’s the beauty of blogs. “Ordinary” people can write about their passions and it actually shows! I’d like to give exposure to people who are passionate about helping people get more done and reach their goals.
  3. 5k RSS readers or less. I’m happy to promote the Zen Habits’ and Lifehacker’s of the world since they are definitely high-value, but I’m looking for smaller-scale. I realize 5k RSS readers is pretty significant already. The main objective is finding high-value blogs that aren’t already a “household name.”

How You Can Help

I would be grateful if you could help shine some more light on the quality bloggers that are out there. A couple options:

  1. Please share your favorite productivity or personal development oriented blog with our fellow readers via comments. Give us a link and tell us why you like it.
  2. If you have a blog and you feel like it fits the bill, writing up a detailed post that summarizes what you’re all about would be helpful. How do you like to preach productivity/reaching goals? Do you post tips? General concepts? Inspiration? What is your mission (following your passion is a perfectly good mission btw)?  Highlighting your favorite articles that you’ve written so far would be value-added (I’m sure your readers wouldn’t mind either.) Include a link to your post as a comment below.

I have already selected the first blogger that I’ll be highlighting. He’s someone that Brett introduced me to a couple months ago and I’m grateful to be able to read what he has to say. I’ll be sharing his blog with you next week.

For now, please submit away! I’m really looking forward to discovering and sharing new blogs!

  • I have been enjoying Clay Collins at Finance Your Freedom for a while now. (FKA The Growing Life) http://financeyourfreedom.com/blog/

    I will chime in with more as I think of them.
  • I just found:

    http://www.keenerliving.com/

    Seems like there are some interesting posts to be had at first glance. I'll have to read more later!
  • I second Patrick's recommendation for Clay.

    And I'll throw in Andrew Mason of http://www.didigetthingsdone.com/ - while a lot of his writing is in the form of reviews, he actually uses the material he write about instead of just covering it. i.e., though there's a news component to much of it, it's the practical side of that news that I find valuable.
  • Thanks Jared for the shout out.

    As a blog writer I am always looking to mix up my posts. I think it would be unfeasible to totally write posts all the time about your own opinions and findings so I do mix in some news items and things I have found on the web.

    I am very strict about quality and relevance. I always provide posts that I believe add value.

    Thanks,
  • As a blogger I frequently cover GTD and management topices among others that are of interest to me. I get bored with the productivity p0rn so I can't just be a "smut smuggler."

    http://marc.rohde-net.us/tag/getting-things-done/
  • I started my blog Balance In All Things (http://balanceinallthings.org) to help me organize my thoughts on reducing stress in my life. I felt that when stress gets high, it is because things are falling out of balance.

    So I looked at my life and made certain things more important and other things less important. Along the way I removed my debt, reduced the clutter around my house, and cherished the time I had with my family more.

    I like to talk about a moment in my life, either success or failure, and what I learned from the experience.

    On my site I have my top five posts that really hit home what I'm trying to do.

    Thanks for the opportunity.
  • Hi,

    I started Scordo.com (http://www.scordo.com/blog/blog) about 7 months ago to share stories and tips on leading a practical life. I focus on how-to, personal finance, and general life tips. I'm a first generation Italian-American who has learned a lot from his family and especially his immigrant father.

    http://www.scordo.com/blog/blog

    Thanks,
    Vincent
  • Kris from http://freshfocus.info/blog/

    She posts pretty often.
  • I've started a new blog "Idea Pod" to discuss ideas, past and present that are useful for framing what we do day to day. I post on the value of a positive mindset to achieving the good life; on education, architecture, emotions and more. I'd love for you to take a look :) I'm an historian by training and love to consider the developments in the fields of Positive Psychology and Neuroscience, and the effect of new ideas on our perspective as humans in the twenty-first century.
    Have a great day.
  • Found this one too:

    http://timelesslessons.com/

    Looks like fairly new, but off to a really great start!
  • Khalid
    I would like to recommend Mike King's productivity blog: "Learn This."

    I know Mike personally; he's a gem of a person, which shows in his blogs. He has some great posts on productivity, career, and self-improvement. His book reviews are my favourite!

    http://learnthis.ca

    -Khalid
  • I like the concept you wrote about. I would like to introduce my blog to your and your community:

    I read the GTD etc. literature, implemented some items but could not implement the whole system because I feel it is too stressful as a whole. On the other hand I am dealing with a lot of very busy people in my work and I happened to observe certain habits. I then started interviewing them systematically to collect time saving tips.

    The result is published in the Time Management Master blog. It is a collection of more than 200 practical time saving tips on how to gain an extra hour every day. The tips can be applied at home, at work or on the road. Not all tips will work on everyone, but if you find 30 that work for you it already can help you significantly to become more efficient.

    http://memytime.wordpress.com/

    It update it almost every day and traffic has been growing steadily month by month. I might just fall into the trap you described since I am not sure for how long I will be able to create new ideas and articles. It might therefore be that the best is already in :)

    Please check it out and let me know what you think about it.

    Thanks in advance.

    Nicolas
  • I just found a newly constructed site.

    www.lovesandhugs.weebly.com

    Seems to have amazing intentions once their feet is off the ground. 50+ hits their first day on construction.
  • visitpaul
    I nominate www.visionadvancement.com.au. It's a blog on productivity and influence. It's a few months old and I post about once a week (it used to be every day, but my time-demands have changed). I'm the main author, and I get a few personal-and-productivity development freeks to write for me every now and again. I don't make any money off the blog (don't plan to either, at least in the short term) but am passionately curious about productivity and influence so I may as well blab to people who care (not my wife). We use the blog to promote some TED-style events that we run (about 4 a year), but the events are the tail, and the blog is the dog. (The tail does not wag the dog).

    I'm shamelessly self promoting here, but in actual fact I stumbled on this post whilst trying to find a subscribe-by-email box, without success. Can you help me?!
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