Oct. 30, 2023: Notion Vs. Airtable
This software debate feels like West Side Story sometimes
Illustration by Kevin Sterjo
Welcome to our quiet corner of the internet. This free newsletter will uplevel your online business efforts in five minutes a day.
If you were forwarded this message, you can sign up for these emails by clicking here.
October 30, 2023
Jets Vs. Sharks... er, uh... Notion Vs. Airtable
via layers feature in Canva
That subject line was a West Side Story reference... the classical music nerd in me is coming out, please someone say they they recognized that reference.
But that's how it feels sometimes when people talk about Notion and Airtable. Do we want better features, or a smoother experience? Android or Apple?
Notion and Airtable are two of the best project management tools on the market. They've started to pull away from other tools like Asana, Trello, Clickup, and Monday, in my opinion. Notion is the clean, sexy startup that will make you fall in love with taking notes again. Airtable, on the other hand, is spreadsheet city, but lets you build some pretty incredible (and incredibly time-leveraged) shit online.
I barely even touch ActiveCampaign anymore thanks to Airtable -- I'm writing this sentence in a little text box right now. Then I check a box to send it off to my VA, and poof, everything gets taken care of. Life is good.
You can also use both tools together if you want. In this new blog post, I outline the main differences you'll want to consider.
đź”— Compare Notion and Airtable
Compare Notion and Airtable
Courtesy of Better Marketing on Medium
Starting this week, I'll be publishing articles once a week for Better Marketing, one of Medium's top user-operated publications. Give me a follow on Medium here to stay in the loop.
One of the things I love most about Medium is that, well, you can take a break if you want to, and your past articles will still get occasional pickup. I haven't published on Medium in two months, and have generally been up and down throughout this year as I re-establish my publishing rhythm.
I'm not penalized for not posting all the time. I don't have to comment back on people's comments within hours to have a sliver of hope at getting my articles seen. Medium is not a hamster wheel in the way some of these other platforms are. You do get more traffic the more active you are, but you can also take a damn break if you want to.
As Substack chases the Twitter attrition this year with the release of Substack Notes and other features, Medium stands confidently in its independent-writer niche. Furthermore, its commitment to prioritizing quality content has become apparent since its Boost program rolled out earlier this year.
Are you on Medium? How's it going? Reply and let me know -- would love to hear.
And if you haven't checked it out in a while, know that I have a guide on Medium here.
October Tool Recap: Surfer SEO
Courtesy of Surfer
This month's newsletter was brought to you partially in thanks to Surfer, an SEO tool. I have a review-style blog post about the software that you can read here.
Surfer is a fairly new SEO tool that provides widgets for keyword research, current content SEO audits, and data-driven idea recommendations. My favorite Surfer resource is the Content Editor tool, which gives you AI-assisted “SEO training wheels” in Google Docs as you write to ensure you're peppering plenty of related keywords into your blog posts.
They also have an AI writing tool, but it sucks. They all suck, mama. I think using AI has a spice rather than the whole dish is the better move right now.
But I don't care. The SEO features are just that damn good. And typically in SEO, all the best tools (Ahrefs, SEMRush, and Buzzsumo) start at $100/month, which is steep for a solopreneur targeting a niche audience. Surfer costs nowhere near that.
Check out Surfer today. And keep your eyes peeled in the coming weeks -- last year, they had a great Cyber Monday special.
đź”— Learn More About Surfer SEO
Like It? Share It
As always, thanks for reading.
If you found today's newsletter helpful, consider SHARING IT. A share goes a long way in helping us grow.
Cheering you on,
—Nick