Last week, I received a call from a client who mentioned that they had stumbled upon a website that they found interesting and valuable. They pointed to the website www.moz.com and asked my opinion on whether it was indeed a good resource (and marketing tool). The client hit it right home with this find – Moz (previously SEOMoz) is one of the SEO industry’s leading publications full of articles about today’s optimization strategies. This conversation lit up the light bulb inside my head – the blogs we at Spark read, the Twitter accounts we follow, and the tools we use every day may be known to us, but could be new to our clients. Here is the top 5 (really narrowed down) list of resources I would recommend if you wanted to dip your toes into learning more about your online campaigns:
Hubspot is the success story of Brian Halligan, an online maverick who wanted to change the way online advertising and lead generation worked in the early days. Instead of going with the traditional method of pushing advertising in front of users and forcing them to obey, he reversed the process and created the ultimate “inbound” marketing company, using techniques that appeal to consumers and influence them to reach out to you and buy your product or service.
Their library of e-books and whitepapers has been operating for years and is always my #1 go-to resource when I recommend materials to learn about online marketing. All material is written by Hubspot employees, and this results in to-the-point, simple explanations of complicated theories and practices. The content is well designed and structured, making it an easy read over a lunch break.
2. Moz Blog / Rand Fishkin
Possibly the most successful SEO company of all time, SEOMoz started in 2004 as a consulting firm and later on ventured into developing their own set of software. Renamed to simply “Moz” as they gained popularity and opened up their portfolio, this website boasts a great online community where you can find answers to any possible question related to online marketing in general. Co-founder Rand Fishkin is also worth a follow on Twitter, where he shares tips with a great personal flair (just check out his moustache and you will see what I mean).
Whenever we start talking campaigns, sooner or later the conversation will turn to web analytics. The core of the success of online marketing is that everything can be measured, and Avinash Kaushnik is the World’s Most Interesting Man in this world of crunching numbers. Occam’s Razor has been publishing articles about working with Google Analytics since the dawn of time, and Avinash’s inspiring personality and never-ending optimism has kept his follower base growing. Be sure to check out his blog – each post boasts an image of a flower. He also authored two books that are considered the best books ever written on web analytics.
4. Jon Loomer
Reading Jon Loomer, I always feel like I am in the Wild West, you never know when and where you will be shot by his string of knowledge-bullets, fired straight from the hip. Jon’s knowledge of anything Facebook is immense, and can easily surprise industry veterans by creatively combining features and tactics to lure in those fans. His blog provides step-by-step how-to advice, podcasts, e-books, newsletters and more.
Email marketing is just missing from our lives. Small-medium businesses build lists, but only to blast them with promotional messaging every so often. You put in the effort and resources of building a list (I certainly hope you didn’t buy it), so why not use it to its full potential? Email is still one of the leading lead generation sources, and it’s here to stay. I picked Mailchimp’s blog as we mostly use their software, but you could read any blogs out there (Vertical Response, Aweber or Marketing Sherpa) and learn how to organize your list and stay on top of generating more qualified leads.
We are in the middle of the summer. Business tends to get slower now – take time to pick one of these examples and read an e-book or ask a question and you will have learned a lot about online marketing. Don’t forget – you can always turn to Spark for more!
