Return On Time Invested

The only algorithm you need to optimize for is return on time invested. My presentation from February, 2025.

Transcript

2. Find all the stuff Reach out any time https://ianlurie.me/roti
3. Nothing but love.
4. Softie
5. History major. Law degree.
6. .
7. “Interesting”
8. Where it all went wrong .1
13. Shoes For Sale! Shoes are important and we carry running shoes, walking shoes, riding shoes, shoes for your hands, shoes for your cats, shoes for your fish. We don’t carry brake shoes, of course, or horse shoes, but we can help you find them. The oldest shoes ever found were 10,000 years old. Let that sink in. Someone in 8000 BCE was wearing high tops.
14. 10 Ways To Cook Better Scrambled Eggs 1 Recipe For Perfect, Fluffy Scrambled Eggs Cook The Best Scrambled Eggs With This Recipe Scrambled Eggs? Use This Secret Ingredient! Scrambled Eggs Ruined My Marriage Why Therapy Is Like Scrambled Eggs
17. Bounce rate Engagement time per user Time on page vs. read time Higher Engagement = More Traffic
25. Respect the text 1
26. Provide information gain
27. A quote from the owner “We want to create something totally unique, so we do a complete mood board with every client. ” -The Owner
28. Chance for information gain
29. Unique arrangements include: ü A spray of white flowers outside a bank vault ü An old ice cream truck loaded with bouquets
30. Show me a review
31. Or tell it better
32. Introduce structure
33. Structure
34. Structure, applied
35. Try Google’s People Also Ask
36. Get to the point
37. The recipe
38. Make it scan
40. Shorten this a bit? Or break it up.
41. Break it up.
42. Or shorten a bit
43. Subheads
44. Subheads
45. Bullets
46. Bullets
47. Clear link to vendor profile
48. Higher ROTI
50. Be picky about images 2
51. Placement & Position
54. Landscape “2X” dimensions 1500 px wide is a good place to start
55. Some shots are just too good And mobile, of course
56. Psssst… You can track scroll distance See if you need a shorter page
58. ALT text & Captions
63. Image compression i’m very small
64. PNG format 5.5 megabytes
67. Squoosh.app Squoosh.app
68. Squoosh.app
69. WebP format 75 Quality (to start) Not Lossless No resize
70. Compare side-by-side
71. Final version, same dimensions 651kb 88% smaller
72. Line art (vector) Use lossless
73. Free tip: Avoid stock photos
75. NO.
76. NO.
77. NO.
78. NO.
80. Pick your tools 3
81. Image compression i’m still small
82. Squoosh
83. Optimage or Caesium
84. Editing
85. Grammarly
87. Google Docs Extension
88. Hemingway (may drive you to madness)
89. Check My Links Chrome Plugin
90. AI do not run. i am your friend.
91. How it does what it does (From Stephen Wolfram)
92. Don’t use AI to write. It’s the average. Average content is not high Return on time invested
93. Use AI to Outline Research Format Code Handle repetitive tasks Refine/Edit*
94. 1. Give it examples Here’s a sample of writing that I like:
95. 2. Give it a role You are a journalist writing for a fashion magazine.
96. 3. Specify an audience You are writing for 50-year-olds with zero fashion sense.
97. 4. Tell it what you want (be detailed) Write me an outline of an article teaching the audience to create and buy tasteful outfits that they can mix and match. Provide examples of: Recommended types of stores. How to identify understanding salespeople. What to do if you break into a cold sweat. And include a short list of example do’s and don’ts.
98. 5. Provide guardrails Oh, also, don’t be mean.
99. Example prompt Generate an outline for a blog post about choosing a wedding photographer. Please provide four or five of the most important criteria they should use when selecting a photographer. Included among those should be whether the photographer uses film or digital, and whether they make photos available online. My readers are first time brides and grooms. They are excited but stressed, and they want the day to go perfectly. They have never chosen a photographer for any event, including weddings. They have no more than 3-5 minutes to read the article. The post will include five recommended photographers that I will add. Each photographer will include a landscape-formatted image and should include the information you've chosen as the most important selection criteria.
100. Example prompt Please generate an outline that shows me: An example intro of no more than 2 sentences plus the selection criteria An example conclusion of no more than 2 sentences. Your four or five top selection criteria Where you would put the photographer profiles How you would present the selection criteria with each profile Please provide the outline in rich text format that I can paste into a Google Doc. Please provide the outline in the same order I’ll use in the final document.
101. Use multiple prompts. Get even more specific. Please use only one short sentence per criteria. Avoid references to capybara.
102. Never settle for the first result
103. Claude.ai Nerd stuff
104. Perplexity Better search & citation
105. Gemini w/ Deep Research “Intelligent Agents” Research, compile, generate
106. Gemini w/ Deep Research “Intelligent Agents” Research, compile, generate
110. Poe Access multiple AIs
111. Bonus round: other aI 4
113. An email apology
114. Write an apology email to a cat. The cat just had $3000 in dental work. She's wearing a cone, and her teeth hurt. She's really mad. Please highlight how important this is for her health, the fact that she will get the cone off in two weeks, and that she is going to get lots of treats and her favorite food, and lots of brushing, plus the dog isn't allowed upstairs until she feels better. Please write using no higher than 6th-grade English.
115. Dear [Cat’s Name], I know you’re mad. Really, really mad. And you have every right to be. Your mouth hurts, you have to wear that awful cone, and things are just not fun right now. But I need you to know – this was all to help you. Your teeth needed fixing so you can eat all your favorite food without pain. You are going to feel so much better soon, I promise. In just two weeks, the cone comes off! No more bumping into things, no more weird noises when you walk.
116. Until then, I will do everything to make this easier. You’re getting all your favorite treats. I will brush you as much as you want (but not in the annoying way). And guess what? The dog is not allowed upstairs. It’s all yours. A peaceful, dog-free zone. Please don’t hate me forever. I love you, and I just want you to be happy and healthy. Sincerely, Your Human
117. Apology accepted
119. Moo Deng is kind of A butthead. https://ianlurie.me/roti