Our Favorite Internet Marketing Blog Posts of 2012
For KoMarketing Associates, 2012 was a year of growth, collaboration, successes (and challenges), and good fortune. I’m happy to say we won more than we lost and learned from the opportunities missed. We welcomed new team members, delved deeper in search engine marketing, and became more adept in broader B2B marketing concepts.
You can never stop learning and sharing. As the year draws to a close, we wanted to look back and share some of our favorite posts from 2012, organized by a handful of KoMarketing team members.
We hope you enjoy and let us know your feedback via comment, Facebook, and Google+. Looking forward to more great experiences and writing in the New Year. Wishing you and your teams the best in 2013!
Casie Gillette
- 50 Things Every Link Builder Needs to Know – Julie Joyce, Search Engine Land
http://searchengineland.com/50-things-every-link-builder-needs-to-know-129580
I love this post from Julie Joyce as it goes beyond ‘how to get links’. She mentions code, wordpress, algorithm updates, social media and more. These are all things we need to know not only as link builders but as SEOs in general. - Using FollowerWonk to Reveal Why More People Don’t See Ben Folds’ Tweets – Dan Shure, Evolving SEO
http://www.evolvingseo.com/2012/10/22/ben-folds-twitter-analytics-with-followerwonk/
This offers such a good breakdown of why follower counts don’t matter. It’s such a cool way to look at Twitter accounts and figure out how to really target the right people. - 21 Business Blogging Tips from the Pros – Cindy King, Social Media Examiner
http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/blogging-tips-from-the-pros/
21 tips from 21 different people and they are all pretty good. It’s always good to see what other people are doing and what’s working for them. - Link Building Means Earning Hard Links Not Easy Links – Danny Sullivan, Search Engine Land
http://searchengineland.com/link-building-means-earning-hard-links-not-easy-links-123767
Danny Sullivan’s rant at SMX Advanced was one of my favorite things this year as it was so spot on to what we are all feeling…the confusion that is Google. This post breaks it down and really gets into the challenge of building good links.
You can see more of the posts, articles, and information Casie likes on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+ and read her blog posts here.
Mike Pickowicz
- Make better decisions in AdWords with your Google Analytics data – Dan Friedman, The Google AdWords Blog
http://adwords.blogspot.com/2012/10/make-better-decisions-in-adwords-with.html
This was one of my favorite blog posts from Google’s own blog which introduced the ability to receive select Analytics data in the AdWords interface. This is an important AdWords feature as we roll into 2013 and a great blog post that explains how this new information can be effectively used. - Google AdWords: 5 New Features That You Need to Know About – Lisa Raehsler, ClickZ
http://www.clickz.com/clickz/column/2180032/google-adwords-features
Google Adwords went through a few changes at the first half of the year, and this blog post does a good job going over the big ones, and explaining how they can be utilized effectively.
Connect with Mike on Google+ and LinkedIn.
Stacy Thompson
- How to Infuse Your Writing with Nostalgia – Frank Angelone, Copyblogger
http://www.copyblogger.com/nostalgic- With so much emphasis on creating content that’s hot/relevant for today, it’s easy to lose sight of what kind of content can make a lasting impression on your readers. This post explains how you can do exactly that.content-marketing/ - Is Presentation More Important Than Content Itself? – Jordan Kasteler, Search Engine Land
http://searchengineland.com/is- This post goes beyond the notion of simply creating compelling content. It posits that compelling content is valuable, but if it’s not visually appealing, no one will stick around long enough to consume the content.presentation-more-important- than-content-itself-123427
- 12 Lessons Learned from 12 Years of Sharing – Demian Farnworth, Copyblogger
http://www.copyblogger.com/12-writing-lessons/
This is a must-read for anyone who wants to be a writer or is taking steps to become a writer. It was so meaningful to me I referenced it in my personal blog, but the point is it offers 12 simple steps every writer must take to become successful in the digital space or otherwise. This quote at the beginning sums up the blog nicely: “Writing is hard. Writing something worth sharing is even harder.” - Bark, Meow, Tweet: What Our Pets Can Teach Us About Digital Marketing – Stacy Thompson, KoMarketing Associates
http://www.komarketingassociates.com/ Go ahead and laugh at me for referencing one of my own blogs as my favorite. The reason I chose to highlight this blog is because of how much it taught me about thinking about marketing outside of the box. Anyone can write a post about digital marketing, but putting a creative/fun spin on the idea can make more of an impact on the reader.blog/bark-meow-tweet-what-our- pets-can-teach-us-about- digital-marketing/
- Heroes and Hashtags: How 9 Fictional Characters Would Use Twitter – Ed Hadley. Neolane, The Cross-Channel Conversation
http://blog.neolane.com/socialmedia/heroes- This post is technically from the end of 2011 [but we’ll slide it in]. What I like most about this post is the creative spin it puts on tweeting. The writer took well-known texts and created tweets that each auther would have given, had he been alive today. It’s a fun way to think about Twitter messaging.hashtags-9-fictional- characters-twitter/
You can see more of the posts, articles, and information Stacy likes on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+ and read her blog posts here.
Rachel Veznaian
- The Selfish Meme – Frank Rose, The Atlantic
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/10/the-selfish-meme/309080/
This article targets one of my favorite aspects of social media, which is the psychology. I feel like understanding the ‘why’ behind why anyone does what they do is important to understanding what platform to use, how to use it, on what level you begin interacting with someone and ultimately what level you end on interacting with them. Here’s hoping in 2013 that research will continue to delve into this topic and unearth as they say the, “the thornier question of why—why, as they wrote, our species might have ‘an intrinsic drive to disclose thoughts to others.'”
Connect with Rachel on Twitter and LinkedIn.
Derek Edmond
- It’s Not Whether Google’s Threatened. It’s Asking Ourselves: What Commons Do We Wish For? – John Battelle
http://battellemedia.com/archives/2012/02/its-not-whether-googles-threatened-its-asking-ourselves-what-commons-do-we-wish-for.php
This post points to the larger issue of what commercialization does to web and whether or not we (as marketers and consumers) should fight to do something about it. I liked it because it got me thinking differently about Google+, Facebook, mobile device usage, etc, and how these properties and platforms are impacting internet marketing (and the web overall) moving forward. - The Massive Guide to Getting Massive Traffic – Neil Patel, Quick Sprout
http://www.quicksprout.com/2012/09/04/the-massive-guide-to-getting-massive-traffic/
While I hesitate to “favorite” posts of a tactical nature, this one has two things going for it. First, the concepts are long lasting and provide great direction (even though the work which will lead to success is certainly difficult). Second, it’s written by Neil Patel and it’s reasonable to believe he’s been pretty successful doing the things mentioned. - How to Make Money Online – Seth Godin
http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2012/05/how-to-make-money-online.html
I love the fact that this post actually does rank on the first page of search engine results for “how to make money online”… - 33 Links & How To Get Them – Justin Briggs
http://justinbriggs.org/33-links-and-how-to-get-them
This is not only a great post showcasing real link building success stories but a great point about what good SEO is about. It’s not smoke and mirrors and tactics devoid of marketing strategy. - An Unexpected Ass Kicking – Joel Runyon, The Blog of Impossible Things
http://joelrunyon.com/two3/an-unexpected-ass-kicking
There is a lot in this (relatively simple) post to think about and discuss. The message that “nothing is withheld from us what we have conceived to do.” is a perfect mindset to start a new year (a new initiative a new day, etc, etc).
Finally a little bit of humor, only in search marketing 🙂 Happy New Year!