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My Favorite Purchases of 2017

top purchases this year header

Having trouble putting together a holiday wish list?

Last year, I compiled a list a list of my favorite books in attempt to keep you well-read and inspired throughout the year.

This time I’m switching things up a bit with a general list of my favorite purchases of 2017.

It’s been divided up into 3 sections, for your browsing pleasure.

Marketing Purchases

Serpworx

serpworx

This is by far the best, browser overlay tool on the market.

I’m borderline depressed that I didn’t find it earlier.

On the SERP result, it overlays Ahrefs, Majestic, Moz, and Semrush metrics and stats.

When you open-up a webpage, you get those same stats, plus information like word count, heading structure, domain age, whois information, and more.

And…

It’s not slow and clunky like the alternatives.

serpworx button

Buzzsumo

buzzsumo logo

One of the biggest trends I’ve noticed in 2017 with regards to ranking is the increases importance of overall site quality score.

This means that each one of the pages on your website needs to be an asset, as opposed to thin filler content.

While you could get away with cheap Iwriter content in the past, those days are coming to a close.

I use Buzzsumo for determining what are the highest shared blog topics in my niche, so I can use them for informational blog topics on my affiliate sites.

The results have been excellent.buzzsumo button

Personal

The 5-minute Journal

5 minute journal

I absolutely love this thing.  Since I bought it, I haven’t skipped a day.

It’s a well-designed gratitude journal that you write in for 5-mintues when you wake up and 5-minutes before bed.

It prompts you with questions like “what are 3 things I’m grateful for?” which helps set your day with the right outlook.

Let me back up a second…

I’m really into the concept of gratitude and gratitude journals.  I even made an iOS gratitude journal app a few years ago.

Admittedly, the format of the 5-minute journal blows my app out of the water.

This journal also asks to list “what could I have done to make today even better?”.

Whenever I fill up a journal, I’ll review this question, look for patterns and cut out any behavior that isn’t serving me.

This journal has been priceless.

5mj button

Chilipad

chilipad

In general, men are warm(er) blooded than our female counterparts.

This usually means that we sleep better when we’re colder and bundled up with blankets.

If you’ve ever gone on a ski/snowboarding trip and slept with the window open, you know what I’m talking about.

The Chilipad is a thin mattress toper that pretty much just makes your bed cold AF.

Usually, I’m a very stubborn sleeper, but this year I’ve never slept better.

chilipad button

And speaking of chili, here’s a recipe.

23 and Me

23 and me

It works like this…

They send you a plastic vial in the mail, you spit in it, send it back to them, and then a couple weeks later they map out your chromosomal DNA which you can view online.

You get to see if you have any pre-conditions for certain behavioral traits, age-induced diseases (Alzheimer’s), etc., which is obviously good to know.

They’ll tell you what kind of metabolism you have, so you can figure out what diet will work best for you.

One thing tripped me out…

They knew that I was 50% Asian, but not only that… the Asian part was completely Japanese.

I mean…

How the heck did they even know that?

Japan has invaded and bred with pretty much everyone around them.  I was impressed.

23 and me button

Sk2 Facial Treatment Essence

skII

Ok. Let me first explain myself.

My fiancé is really into skin care and other girly topics.

She got me this (what I had thought to be at the time) expensive ass water and I gave it a shot.

The result… seriously, it knocked at least a year of aging off my face.

Really made a difference.

I don’t know what they put in that stuff, but I’m pretty sure someone had to die for it.

skII button

Books

Homo Deus (A Brief History of Tomorrow) – Yuval Noah Harari

homo deus

Homo Deus is Harari’s follow up to Sapiens, a book that changed my life.

This book did the same.

Harari describes his predictions on what us humans will do in the future given our historical paths through society, culture, religion and industry.

The author truly is brilliant.

The way he presents his futurist hypotheses, seems more like fact than prediction because of his detailed analysis of how we homo sapiens truly are.

homo deus button

Life 3.0 – Max Tegmark

life 3.0

If you’re into artificial intelligence and futurism, this is a must-read.

The opening prologue to this book is a crazy rollercoaster ride, going through a possible scenario of what could happen if artificial superintelligence came online.

Life 3.0 is an exploration of human life in a world with with infinite intelligence.

Technological paradise?  Cosmic colonization? Conscious uploads into simulators?

Prepare to have your mind blown.

life 3.0 button

Surely, You’re Joking Mr. Feynman – Richard Feynman PhD

surely youre joking

I first heard about Dr. Feynman in physics class in high school.

I studied his “Feynman diagrams”, didn’t understand them, so by default, he was smart by my standards.

In this autobiography, you see what a playful character and absolute genius this guy was.

He is so extremely confident about his intellectual abilities, nothing held him back from learning anything – such as safe-cracking, playing samba, or designing the first atomic bomb.

After you read this, you should never have an excuse for hesitating on learning something new.

surely button

Ready Player One – Ernest Cline

ready player one

This fiction was written for me.

In the future, Earth has gone to shit, and everyone spends their existence in a virtual reality utopia called The Oasis.

The Oasis was designed by a hardcore 80’s fanatic and gamer, and when he died, he left his entire inheritance and control of Oasis to whatever gamer could solve a series of Easter Eggs.

Voltron, Freddy Kreger, the Millennium Falcon… everything cameos in this book.

Needless to say, I finished this book in less than a week and I can’t wait for the movie.

ready player one button

 

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Article by

Matt Diggity

Matt is the founder of Diggity Marketing, LeadSpring, The Search Initiative, The Affiliate Lab, and the Chiang Mai SEO Conference. He actually does SEO too.


32 thoughts on “My Favorite Purchases of 2017”

  1. Only one item I got in common. That’s Facial Treatment Essence 🙂 . Nice choice. My favorite one.

  2. Great list Matt

    I was given Sapiens for my birthday in the summer, but my wife pinched it and read it first. She says it’s one of the most amazing books she’s ever read (and she reads a lot) so I can’t wait to get started. I think I’ll get her the follow up in her stocking this Xmas too 🙂

    Cheers

    Loz

  3. The audiobook for Ready Player One is superb – read by Will Wheaton.

    The hot/cold Chilipad thing looks like the solution to my relationship problems!

  4. I was surprised you listed SKII treatment essence up there. I’ve been giving it a try as well; nothing magical happening yet, but I’m feeling something good is on my face after I apply it. Btw, great article!

    1. Maybe its just my girlfriend complimenting me since she bought it for me, and then Pavlovian conditioning makes me feel like its working. 🙂

  5. Love it!

    I got the 5 minute journal earlier this year and was so impressed by the easy format. I get WAY too in my head about stuff and it brings me back to simplifying my behavior, challenges, and perspective on why I get up and put in the work every day.

    I have to admit I’ve slacked off a bit lately – this post reminded me to get back into it. Thanks!

    Also been meaning to get onto BuzzSumo and have been procrastinating. Will go check it out.

  6. Matt,

    I think SerpWorx just stop showing the ahrefs data. Is it true?

    I see, they didn’t include the ahrefs metrics in their features list on their sales page.

  7. Great call on the 5-minute Journal!! We all need to train our brains to recognize what we are grateful for in our lives. Once we recognize it, our brains will begin to seek out more opportunities to be grateful. Without even knowing it, our lives begin to change. Oh, and I’m totally doing that 23andMe now!

  8. Thanks for sharing mate.

    Sapiens was a great book.

    I highly recommend The Fountainhead & Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand for you, Matt.

    Psycho Cybernetics
    Predictably Irrational
    The 10x Rule – Grant Cardone
    Outliers: The Story of Success
    Putch Anything – Oren Klaff
    Ego is the Enemy

    Are my little unique go to books I come back to over and over to understand how the mind works aside from the standard: Elon Musk mainstream stuff.

    P.S
    The Learning Lab is incredible!

  9. Hey Matt! Love the love that you share with the community!!

    Question about serpworx do you have to have a subscription to all the tools in order for serpworx to work?

    Also, completely unrelated, but I’m going to ask you anyways.
    Question about your anchor text post a while back ago…

    You don’t count how many Referring Domains in each anchor text right? You just use the Referring Domains column just so you don’t double count the same anchor text more than once.

    1. For serpworx, you need to have ahrefs to get that feature to work. Everything else is covered.

      And, yes, you’re correct about anchor text.

  10. Hi Matt,

    This is a great list and I am glad it is not all about SEO.

    Great books you recommended. I didn’t know you are into such stuff.
    I find that physics and science in general is an awesome thing to research in spare time because it really broadens the horizons.

    I would highly suggest you look into quantum physics but be careful of the existential crisis lol.

  11. Do you believe the DNA test is reliable? In my family we have had a lot of cases of cancer and I would like to know if I have the same chances to develop one.

    Thanks

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