Andy Crestodina, Web Strategist and Co-Founder at Orbit Media
Droppin logs and writing blogs
In this 2013 Bytes Over Bagels conversation, Orbit Media co-founder Andy Crestodina explains the craft behind useful websites—and why clarity of purpose matters more than treating a website as a collection of pages.
He talks about the early days of building Orbit in Chicago, the limits of a narrow web-design brief, and the content discipline that connects search visibility, social reach, and email subscribers.
It is a practical conversation about making digital work compounding: choose useful topics, connect them to how people actually search, and give each page a job to do.
Explore this conversation
Go beyond the episode description with original analysis grounded in this interview and a timestamped transcript.
Insight
Begin with the end in mind for websites
A site is not a stack of pages. It is a system for helping a visitor take a meaningful next step.
Insight
Content earns its search traffic
A post can be helpful and still disappear quickly. Aligning it with how people search gives the work a chance to compound.
Insight
Guest posting creates more than backlinks
The value of a guest post is not just a link. It is the chance to earn attention, replies, follows, and a place in a community that already cares about the topic.
Transcript
Read the complete conversation
Timestamped transcript with acoustically diarized speaker turns.
Listen Now
Music: Netherfriends
Sponsored by: NYC Bagel Deli, Bow Truss Coffee Roasters, Koval Distillery