Norbert Hires

Growth

Thirteen Beliefs of Mine

Beliefs simplify the world and guide our actions. But they got destroyed and debunked over time. I share some of my most persistent ones in this article

Books

The Rational Optimist: Summary & Key Ideas

The Rational Optimist is a book about how humans overcame challenges, evolved beyond imagination and why these facts can give us hope when it comes to our future.

Marketing

My stupid simple Google Analytics 4 setup

Google will turn off Universal Analytics and it is nudging us to move to Google Analytics 4. I made the jump months ago. This is my review of how I use GA4 to measure the performance of a simple blog.

Growth

The Insignificance of Summaries

Don't read a book. Read its summary. Don't watch a movie. Check its review. But do these information vessels provide any value to its consumer and to its creator?

Marketing

When Comparison is the Thief of Joy

Influencers, best practices, and competitive intelligence. These trending buzzwords can lead either to inspiration or anxiety. But is it true that "comparison is the thief of joy"?

Growth

How to Take Notes from Books

It is frustrating to realize a few months after reading a book that you don't remember anything from it. I started taking notes in books to avoid this but found other nice side effects on the way.

Books

The Practise of Groundedness Summary

The Practise of Groundedness is a book about the uncompromisable values required to live a fulfilling life. It is not about peak performance or lifestyle hacks, but about the foundations that make striving for more sustainable.

Growth

Why is less more? Examples from Marketing & Life

We are addicted to growth. We have a "good economy" only when it grows. We feel productive only when we do more. We are wealthier when we have more stuff. But less is often more in life and marketing as well.

Marketing

What is good content (but really)?

With the rise of AI-generated content, with more useless SEO articles, and with Google's attempt to promote good content, the importance of quality became an important topic. But what is good content and how to create it?

Growth

How to be a Rebellious Marketeer?

When best practices are not delivering results and copying the industry leaders brings you disappointing numbers, you are right to ask: what if you try something new? What if you start to be more rebellious?

Marketing

Online Trends That Suprised Me in 2022

Looking back and confronting our old assumptions can bring some serious value to the table. I revisit my favorite trends from 2022 that surprised me.

Marketing

Write Better with the Opportunity Solution Tree

The majority of businesses and personal blogs are putting out articles that simply don't contribute to any meaningful business outcome. With the Opportunity Solution Tree, you can switch your mindset and write better about what matters.

Books

The Culture Map: Summary of Key Ideas

Cultural patterns impact what we see, who we see, and how we act based on them. The goal of The Culture Map by Erin Meyer is to help us decode signs of different cultures and help the reader thrive in a global environment.

Marketing

Ghost Blog SEO: My experiences and results

I am publishing on a Ghost blog which attracts the majority of its readers from organic search. The Ghost CMS can be a great choice if you want to publish SEO-optimised articles, but it's not just sunshine and rainbows.

Marketing

Why LinkedIn is not getting the SEO it deserves?

One of the world's most famous professional networking and career site, LinkedIn is driving 220+ million clicks a month from organic Google searches. But they leave SEO money on the table.

Growth

Things to Write in a Notebook

Whether to increase productivity, gain clarity or save ideas for later, a simple notebook has a lot to offer. I share in this article why and how I fill notebooks with words to inspire you to do the same.

Books

9 Read-Worthy Books from 2022

I brought you a topic I love: good books. They are not books from 2022, but books I read this year and found interesting.

Growth

Craft Docs Review: Should you switch from Notion?

Craft Docs is a multi-platform app for creating visually appealing documents. Craft can be used for note-taking, managing your priorities and to-dos, creating a knowledge base or company wiki, and a lot more. This is an honest review of Craft after an extensive trial period.

Marketing

Why am I writing this blog?

I started writing online 4 years ago. Since then I published more than 200 articles on different blogs, attracted at least 700.000 page views, and learned a lot about when it does and doesn't make sense to write online.

Books

What I Talk About When I Talk About Running - Summary

Haruki Murakami’s collection of memoirs about running is an inside view of the writer's everyday training and struggles through the years. It is not just about running but life (like most of the Murakami novels).

Books

Courage is Calling: Summary and Notes

Courage is Calling is the first book of Ryan Holidays' new series on virtues. The book contains stories on how to combat fear, why we should take initiative, and the cost of playing small.

Marketing

SEO Patterns for News Websites

Analyzing publishers with hundreds of millions of clicks is a great way to learn SEO. Search Engine Optimisation for News is unique. Google News & Discover are enormous traffic magnets. So let's check what the most prominent publishers are doing to leverage these opportunities!

Books

Made To Stick by Chip & Dan Heath: Summary

Made to Stick is a book about transforming ideas into simple stories that inspire people to act. The authors analyzed the most famous urban legends, the best advertisements, and a fair amount of research to come up with the SUCCES framework of good stories.

Marketing

My Review of the Ghost Blogging Platform after 1 year

I am blogging with Ghost for one year today. I published 65 articles, broke the site several times, moved from self-hosting to Ghost Pro, and got numerous updates. This is a good point to reflect on whether Ghost is worth it and give you an overview of the Ghost Blogging Platform.

Books

The Psychology of Money: Summary & Review

In The Psychology of Money author Morgen Housel uses interesting stories to illustrate our unlogical behavior with money. We are taught that money is science while it is rather stories, emotions, and soft skills.