30 March 2020
This week's additions focus on marketing, strategy, and leadership, with new digests from Founders, Masters of Scale, and Noah Kagan. Highlights include A $10,000 Ford stake returned $32 million to the Dodge brothers. COVID-19 triggered two distinct mental health waves, not one
Showing 43 digests for 30 March 2020.
Content marketing
YouTube
How to start and build a blog that stands out
Ahrefs
April 1, 2020
Content marketing
9
Email marketing
6
Business models
5
Differentiation beats consistency — why standing out is the only entry ticket
The blog is never the product; revenue comes from what it promotes
Own your platform from day one — free hosts can vanish with your audience
How to audit your blog's existing content for SEO gains
Ahrefs
April 1, 2020
SEO
9
Content marketing
6
Updating old articles beats publishing new ones for quick traffic wins.
Merge duplicate topic articles into one; use 301 redirects to consolidate backlinks.
Wrong keyword targeting kills traffic — re-optimizing existing posts can recover it fast.
How to generate keyword ideas with keyword research tools
Ahrefs
April 1, 2020
Google Keyword Planner hides exact volumes unless you run paid ads.
Clickstream data powers Ahrefs' 4.6 billion query keyword database.
A KD filter of zero surfaces rankable keywords with almost no backlinks.
Content marketing
YouTube
How to create content that people read, link to, and share
Ahrefs
April 1, 2020
Content marketing
9
Copywriting
7
Cloning existing content puts you one step behind competitors instantly.
Brainstorm at least 5 headlines — skipping this tanks any article.
Borrow authority by interviewing the experts you don't yet outrank.
Content marketing
YouTube
Six content promotion strategies that actually work
Ahrefs
April 1, 2020
Content marketing
9
Copywriting
5
No tactic rescues bad content — quality is the real prerequisite.
Repurposing one article into a YouTube video drove 10x more views.
Outreach to people you cited beats asking for links directly.
Content marketing
YouTube
How to prioritise content ideas using business value scoring
Ahrefs
April 1, 2020
Content marketing
9
SEO
6
Score every idea 0–3 based on conversion likelihood, not traffic
High traffic means nothing if readers will never buy from you
Generic queries still earn a 2 — strong copy can close the gap
How to find link-building opportunities from competitor backlinks
Ahrefs
April 1, 2020
Link Intersect cuts 11,000 competitor backlinks to 66 priority targets.
Sites linking to multiple competitors but not you are ideal cold outreach.
Set alerts on individual competitor articles, not whole domains, to stay actionable.
Practical guide to moving your team to remote work fast
Bill Gallagher
April 1, 2020
Processes & SOPs
9
Communication
8
Communication cadence — not tools — determines whether remote teams hold together
Start-of-day and end-of-day reports replace visibility lost without a shared office
Leaders who increase outreach during a crisis capture more market share in recovery
Hiring & recruitment
YouTube
When to hire a second-in-command: signals and sequencing
Cameron Herold
April 1, 2020
Hiring & recruitment
8
Outsourcing & delegation
6
Hire an EA before a COO — clear admin first
Second-in-command typically needed at 30–50 employees
Title should match role, not jump straight to COO
Founder interviews
Podcast
Hourly workers as the economic backbone during COVID-19
Masters of Scale
March 31, 2020
Founder interviews
9
Long-term planning
8
Management
6
552 employees to 7 in 12 days — and zero revenue.
Stimulus looks like relief when you can't even file for unemployment.
Long-termism means patient capital wins where microwave capitalism fails.
Cash flow management
Podcast
Sequoia's Black Swan memo: Crisis adaptation and investor leadership
Acquired
March 31, 2020
Cash flow management
9
Pivoting
7
Resilience & grit
6
Survival through crisis requires ruthless focus on cash, expense discipline, and product over sales and marketing.
Sequoia published their Black Swan warning six days before America woke up—drawn from China's full lockdowns and 50 years of recession experience.
Great companies hunker down in crisis, build differentiated products, and emerge with disproportionate advantages when competition clears.
11 Business Pivot Ideas to Survive the Coronavirus Recession
Noah Kagan
March 31, 2020
Pivoting
9
Iteration & feedback loops
6
Repackage skills for online delivery — your customers still want the experience.
DIY kits turn restaurants and venues into at-home product businesses.
Dormant email lists are assets: cross-promote if you have nothing to sell.
Henry Ford's Life, Philosophy, and Legacy in Business
Founders
March 31, 2020
Origin stories
10
Business models
6
Management
5
Single idea—cheap car for masses—combined with flexible execution became the industrial blueprint.
Determination and relentless focus built an empire; scattered attention after success couldn't recreate it.
Pioneers ask 'let's try it'; experts list impossibilities. Choose people who learn, not credentialed theorists.