Mark Bowley
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Are you building ‘tarpit’ ideas?

Are you building ‘tarpit’ ideas?

April 17, 2024

Hello!

I’m a bit behind with these emails, having completely missed sending one in March and April so far.

This has mainly been due to some unforeseen family issues. I’m hitting a stage in life where I have grown up children + elderly parents needing extra support from time to time.

Anyway, here’s what I’ve been doing and what I’ve found interesting. I’ll be following up with another email before the end of the month.

Time to read: 3 mins

Adjusting my side projects strategy

As my free time has been limited recently, I’ve slightly adjusted my approach towards side projects. Instead of trying to build quickly and in public, I’ve moved towards a focus on long term SEO ideas which I can work on in the background. With a bit of luck these may be showing some promise when my time is less pressured in the near future.

Update on venuesoutdoors.com

Since launching this directory side project in January, I added a few blog posts and made small improvements to the SEO setup. However, I’ve paused on further work for now.

I’ve learned a huge amount about SEO in that time, which has changed my perspective on this idea. I wonder if I’m building something too broad, and I want to rethink before putting more time into it. I don’t mind the delay, as it’s a long term bet for me anyway. I’ll write more about it in the months to come.

New directories

In the spare time I have had recently, I’ve made two new directories! These are more niche, and both follow some particular trending keywords. They also use the exact same tech stack, which has made it easier to build them.

These will be my short term focus for now, as I learn more about SEO while building. One of these I’m building in public (as it’s relevant to my social audience). The other I’m not, as it’s not relevant and I’m using it more as a project to learn and experiment with ‘under the radar’.

freeappsai.com

A growing collection of apps that feature AI technology and have a free plan.

portableicebath.co.uk

A hub for portable ice bath UK information – products, accessories, reviews & guides.

Are you building ‘tarpit’ ideas?

This recent startup idea tweet by @KintuLabs got some very interesting responses, which I think are worth reading. In particular, check out @paulg’s response about tarpit Ideas – had me rethinking whether any of my ideas are guilty of this easy mistake.

How to become an expert

I saw this post get resurfaced recently, about Agatha Christie and becoming an expert.

Really it’s within our reach to do this on any given subject. No permission required.

I realise I’ve not mentioned what I’m up to with work in this email. I’ll write about that in the next issue, which I’m already writing and hope to send out before the end of the month.

I hope you enjoyed this email. Please reply, or tag me on X if you have something to say. I will reply to every mention.