I love a good side project – I’ve always had some, although it’s always a struggle to find time for work, side projects and family stuff – let alone keeping the garden in a decent state!
I think that having a side project is no bad thing as it shows I know what’s required to run a website. Usually you end up doing everything – a bit of web design and development, graphic design, content writing, link building, site management – pretty much all you need to create and run a website.
Most of my side projects are based around personal interests of my own, and so far I haven’t yet monetised any properly. But as part of my foray into side projects I decided to setup my own Slack community for people such as myself to come and chat about them.
In 2021 I created NotAnotherSlack.com, the community for side project owners. We’ve got just under 100 members who make use of the Slack to discuss their side project, from the ideation phase to completing keyword research, writing content, publishing it, monetising it and so on! I’ve also slowly started to interview some of the members, to give them a place to shout about their side projects and to try and motivate other people to get started. You can read those side project interviews here.
Towards the end of the year I created another more fun side project for members of the SEO community, entitled “The SEO Quiz“. This was an interactive quiz format that I built using Google Web Stories (formerly known as the AMP Web Story format) whereby I featured as many members of the SEO community as I could, with a short video/quiz on the topic of SEO.
The feedback I had was great, it kind of went viral (at least in my loose definition of the term!) on the likes of Twitter, and I had lots of really nice coverage. If you want to see the quiz (or to give it a try) hit the “launch quiz” button when you’re on the SEO Quiz website.
When I’m not at work, you’ll find me enjoying the simple life in a remote part of Galicia in northwest Spain. I live with my partner and two young children. As well as caring for our orchard of over 60 trees and our tiny flock of 2 chickens, I spend my time growing our own produce and nurturing a budding bee paradise. The latest addition is a papaya tree I’m growing from seed. Along with the edible mushroom plot and wild food foraged from the surrounding area, my dream is to become self-sufficient one day.
Whilst I’m trying to be more deliberate about the types of clients I work with – trying to avoid anything that might not align with my own ethics or values, I decided to start an interview series called “The Ethical Marketer” where I speak with other marketers and consultants about some of those topics that really appeal to me.
I aim to reflect my care and respect for the environment in my work through the clients I support and the initiatives I contribute to.
This year, a percentage of your project fee will go to Ecologi’s tree planting and habitat protection initiatives.