I am really having fun doing these round-ups. For one thing, they remind me to lift my head and look around at what might be going on elsewhere.
For another, they just contribute to my education. There is always more to learn about content marketing, social media, web pages, local marketing…all of it!
This week I’ve got 7 posts to share.
The first is from James Agate on The Moz Blog: Link Building Survey 2013: The Results.
This survey covered different companies and how they are building links. It covers which tactics they think are ineffective and which they feel are effective. As I’ve mentioned here before, building links is an important part of getting found on the Internet. It’s just not the easiest exercise in all the world.
The second is “Use Twitter Cards for Branding and Local SEO” by Chris Silver Smith over on Search Engine Land.
This post taught me something new. I’d seen these little cards but had given them exactly zero thought. Chris’ post shows you exactly how to get this tool working for your local business.
Next: New Ways to Approach Contractor Marketing. Darren Slaughter reminds us that it’s not a bad idea to get off the computer every now and then.
Internet marketing is awesome, but it’s still just one of many tools in a larger toolbox.
Fourth up is a post from Bryan Eisenberg: Google’s Search Magic Revealed.
The big takeaways for this post were a) that you need to make your customer the center of your universe and b) that “satisfaction” is actually a ranking factor for Google. His argument is that a lot of the mystery of the search engine thing can be solved simply by following those tenants.
Now obviously, if you put up one great blog post and never go back you’re probably not going to rank. But if you do that, you’re not putting your customer at the center of your universe anyway. You’re depriving that customer of content he might really love because you’re frustrated that your results aren’t over the top yet.
So make your customer the center of your universe and do so consistently. A magic formula indeed.
Next there’s Heart to Heart About Link Building — Whiteboard Friday. Another Moz post from a different contributor.
There were lots of really cool ideas for link building that reached beyond guest posting,so if this is something you’ve been struggling with you should definitely check it out.
Finally, there’s Sean McVey’s “How to Create Engaging Content for Any Industry, Even the Boring Ones.”
So you think your business is still just kind of “blah,” “dull,” and boring? Then you definitely need to read this post.
It will give you insight into how to create an outstanding blog for any business or industry. Think about it: you wouldn’t have customers at all if you didn’t solve real problems. Those problems are interesting to people, right? Well, if that’s the case then you can create great content.
And that’s all! See you next week!
