Last night I was stressed and worrying about various work-related issues.
This morning I woke up to an email from a client saying their main problem at the moment was getting too many clients from organic sources to handle them all...
I agree to some extent, and there's also a big issue with agentic AI booking restaurants and holidays, or actually spending your money without any oversight...
Plus there's the general worries about any big tech company having even more access to data, money, etc.
Yeah, @edent.tel wrote a great blog post recently about opting to ignore the FOMO around AI tools at the moment...
I do use AI for various tasks, in conjunction with all the ways I did them in the past - sometimes it's helpful, sometimes it's useless.
Most people I trust have similar experiences
Going fast is sexy on a track, if NIMBYs would stop moving next to race circuits and then complaining there's too much noise.
Speeding in urban areas is idiotic.
On motorways, tailgaiting is a much bigger issue than being just over the limit.
So maybe we end up with two tiers of eCommerce sites. Utility and Fun.
Or AI just wipes out the Fun side, because browsing, serendipity etc all just disappear over time.
The whole move to agentic AI task completion sounds good in theory. Tell an AI what you want to buy and it goes off and sorts it.
Except that works for something 'dull' like restocking washing up liquid. But browsing and serendipity is part of the fun for pleasurable shopping. (1/2)
Anyone with experience of SEO on Webflow sites fancy answering a quick question about Collection pages?
It's ironic that the rise of AI makes me value the knowledge, experiences and opinions of people I know and trust even more than in the past.
Rather than the endless stream of random, mostly AI-generated takes that each algorithm wants to keep showing me...
Interesting - will definitely read through it.
I can see the benefits of AI in various use cases, and some of the obvious downsides in others. But what worries me most are the unintended impacts that we won't know until they've happened - as with the internet, TV, radio, industrialisation etc.
Blur "There's no other way" - at least, according to AI company CEOs.
Mary Timony "I fire myself" - through automation.
White Zombie "More human than human"
Limp Bizkit "Break stuff"
Charly Bliss "Hard to believe"
Chvrches "Lies"
Fleetwood Mac "Little Lies"
For most normal people, a Bank Holiday is often a time to relax.
For most self-employed people, like me, a Bank Holiday is a time to crack on with deep work and not think about meetings etc (as much as I love my clients and enjoy chatting with them)...
I just carry on as normal. Some clients do activities, and some don't - for personal writing and projects there's nothing really worth doing that's going to have much impact, especially with the rise of AI content meaning so many people are constantly at it...
Celebrating the one day of the year when most social media updates and promotional emails from companies can be ignored or deleted...
A tree looking quite ambivalent about having a photo taken
This tree was definitely unimpressed by my portrait photography...
At least I was happier, having a nice walk in the sunshine with one of my favourite people.
20+ years ago I was being taught to write news in an inverted pyramid to grab reader attention and so sub-editors could cut from the bottom when print space was short...
Now it's being taught for AI retrieval, rather than grumpy sub with a red pen.
Time trial events and practice sessions/track days definitely work for me, too (I've done track experiences, motorcycle track days etc). I've always been intrigued by autocross (I used to be a big rallycross fan), but never had the money available.
Dan in a blue and orange Renault Clio Cup car trying not to crash into anyone...
Some people relax with meditation.
I do it by racing a small French hatchback around a virtual circuit against people from around the world...
Nice post - and definitely helps ease some of the FOMO that's encouraged by people generally with a vested interest in selling tools/solutions...
I didn't agree with his political views, but his appearance in Way of the Dragon with Bruce Lee made martial arts seem a lot more accessible to a kid in a terrace house in England, which I'm grateful for...
Weird timing - watched the final episode of Cobra Kai at lunchtime. And then came back online to discover Chuck Norris has passed away...
I might not have agreed with his politics, but I'll always picture him fighting Bruce Lee in Way of the Dragon...
Made an interesting discovery about a site recently which has probably impacted SEO performance for a while.
It wasn't through an SEO tool.
It wasn't through AI.
It was something that cropped up in a conversation with someone in the business...
I do enjoy a bacon North Midlands or a buttery Becky.
Alternatively, it'll push more towards ad blockers or piracy
A promo image for the next free Optimisey SEO Event, announcing Dawn Anderson as a speaker
After accidentally announcing this a couple of days earlier than planned... suppose I'd better share this here too!
The brilliant @dawnieando.bsky.social is speaking at the 'Comeback' Optmisey #SEO event on 23rd April.
Grab a FREE ticket before they're all gone: optimisey.com/optimisey-me...
I might have come late to finally watching Cobra Kai, but I might also be slightly obsessed at the moment...
It's a great example of a series which knows what it set out to do, and does it well.
It's also brought back fond memories of kata from 40 years ago...
It's been 15+ years of sending out proposals and work, and there's still the slight apprehension for a split second after I hit send...
But at least I know what it is, and can deal with it better after all this time...
One day I might be glutens free...
But I suspect I'll still be running STEM events until the day I can't leave the house...
Done :)
Great line-up and can't wait...
Although @lizrandell.bsky.social and I may look a little exhausted as we're holding a STEM event for schools on the same day...
