The weekly newsletter for busy creators in search of the perfect no/low-code tech stack

Welcome to the second issue of App Chat, the newsletter that provides app news and knowledge for creators, makers, & wannabes.

Let's jump right in!

In This Issue

• Ghost Goodies
• New Twitter Tools
• Product Hunt Updates/Apps
• Notion-Based Website Builders

NOTE: Some links are affiliate links, which means if you make a purchase after clicking them I will earn a small commission.

The newsletter you're reading is created using Ghost. It's a great platform, and if you're looking for create a newsletter I highly recommend looking into it.

Here are some great resources:

• Hosting: I chose Gloat but there's also Ghost Pro, Midnight, and self-hosting on Digital Ocean.
• Themes: I'm using the Tuuli theme by Biron Themes. There's also SuperThemes, Ghost's official themes, and Themeforest.
• Analytics: I found Ghostboard and am trying it out. There's also Fathom, Plausible, and of course Google Analytics.
• Add-Ons: The creator of Gloat and SuperThemes also has Cove.chat (originally for comments but is expanding beyond that).
• Knowledge: Ghost's own resources, Codelet.dev, Biron Themes blog, The Stack Junction

Ghost only recently announced native comments. That's right! Around since 2013, Ghost didn't have built-in commenting until last month. Cove filled that gap quite nicely, tying directly into the Ghost membership functionality.

Given the recent changes with Ghost, the creator (Dan Rowden) will be expanding the offering. First on the list is sending welcome emails to new members (coming soon).

There are lots of other features that Ghost's commenting system doesn't include, such as like buttons, emoji reactions, live member counters, and more.

It seems that nearly every day there is a new Twitter-related app that pops up. Here are a few that are worth checking out, that I think are doing something pretty unique:

Built by @EmmeMaker and @SikiraAmer.

Why you should try it:

• Find relevant tweets in your niche
• Engage with others without distractions
• Grow your followers' list fast
• Improve and boost your business
• Make your personal brand recognizable

Built by @PereAyats.

What you'll get:

• Links that only followers can access
• Detailed analytics for your links
• Track which followers are using your content

Built by @nickverhaege.

Reasons to check it out:

• Schedule tweets and threads
• Auto-schedule, auto-retweet, auto-plug per topic, evergreen retweet
• Monitor key metrics
• Best time to tweet per topic

Built by @maximehugodupre.

Reasons to check it out:

• Get more followers
• Get more website clicks
• Remove the guesswork

Product Hunt is on a roll lately. Check out what they've been up to!

In addition to the Launch Guide I covered in Issue #1 they've also revamped their iOS and Android apps. I have an iPhone so I can only speak to that, but the iOS app is much better!
Get the iOS app here and the Android app here.

In addition to a design refresh, you now have access to:

• A new expanded bio/about me area
• Add additional links to your portfolio, social channels, github, etc.
• A timeline-based view of your products and launches

Here I was, checking Namecheap to see if hunted.top was available. The idea was to build something that showed all of the #1 Product Hunt products in one place. Someone (Grégoire Charles) had already built it, at that exact domain.

Personally, I'm not the biggest Notion fan (please don't hurt me). I've wanted to like it, but I can't get it to click. Nonetheless, it's a super popular tool so I thought I'd give a list of apps that enable you to build a website using Notion:

Potion adds the magic, generating a speedy site with custom domains, styles and great SEO.
$10/mo • $96/yr

Create a website in less than a minute that’s easy to manage and looks great, with instant page loads, SEO optimization, and no-code.
Free • $12/mo • $132/yr

Free, open source toolkit for building websites with Notion (it's what Grégoire used to build the hunted.top website).
Free (lots of page views = Cloudflare Workers starting at $5/mo)

Complete blogging platform with Notion as your CMS. Write your articles on Notion and publish them with a single click.
$15/mo • $150/yr

Build a website with Notion. Built in 10 sec. Free. Fast. No-code. Optimized for 0-headache.
Free • $12/mo • $99/yr

When Popsy was first introduced, it did something similar to the builders mentioned above. Notion was the CMS and Popsy was the builder.

They've pivoted a bit (they were #1 on Product Hunt this week) and now provide a Notion-like experience while using their website builder. You're no longer dependent on Notion for the content management.

Issue #2 of App Chat is under my belt :) So far, there has been no shortage of apps to write about.

I'll be sending these via email every Saturday (as well as publishing on https://appch.at).

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