You can learn a lot about marketing your business online if you take the time to do your homework. As an online marketing professional, my homework involves keeping current with search engine trends, pay per click strategies, and social networking communities. For me, its as easy as one, two, and three:
- Read to Learn
- Implement
- Test (and keep testing)
Unfortunately (for those looking for a quick and easy solution), the process is ongoing and time-consuming. The rules are always changing and your target is always moving. The upside for those of us willing to put in the time and effort is that most people are not willing to take the steps necessary to achieve online business success.
If you’re hell-bent on making it in this business, do yourself a favor by subscribing to my feed and bookmarking (and committing to visit daily) my nine, absolutely without any hesitation, must-read, online marketing blogs right now.
Copyblogger
Content drives the Internet, and using the right words in the right way will determine not only how well your site converts visitors into sales, but also how well you rank in search engines and how many links you get. Brian Clark, the Copyblogger, shows you how to write to convert. I never miss a post, and neither should you.
Marketing Pilgrim
This blog was launched by internet marketing expert Andy Beal in September 2005. Marketing Pilgrim brings the latest news, rumors and reviews of all things related to internet marketing and online advertising.
John Battelle’s Searchblog
John is a very well established blogger with insights and breaking news into what drives the internet: search. I always learn something new when I read John’s blog, and that’s why I subscribe to his rss feed.
SEO Moz
SEO Moz has been in the game for quite a while and the quality of their content is constantly improving. If you’re new to internet marketing, this site is highly recommended. Take a day or two and just read through the archives. You’ll be glad you took the time to do so.
Chris Brogan
Social media experts are hard-to-find (if they even exist) because social media platforms and methods are constantly changing and/or evolving, but if I had to name one it would be Chris Brogan. Chris is the real deal. If you’re serious about branding your product or company through social media, hop on over to his site and start studying.
Webmaster Central & Inside AdWords
These two blogs are operated by media giant and search superstar Google. Do you know Google? :) Nuff said.
John Chow
On the Google flipside, we have John Chow. This guy is so good at internet marketing, Google attempted to ban his site from search and he still brought in a killing. There’s a lot to learn from his example, and although I wouldn’t recommend blindly following all of his advice, I do recommend staying on top of his blog because he is a true pioneer.
Graywolf
Michael Gray is one of my favorite reads because this guy gets it. To be a successful internet marketer, you have to know SEO. Its the foundation everything else (social media, blogging, pay-per-click) is built on. Start reading Graywolf and soon you will get it too.
Now that I’ve listed my nine, which web resources or blogs do you think I’m missing? Which blogs would you recommend as must-reads for the aspiring internet marketer?
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Great article! I love reading Copyblogger and I’ve added you to my Google Reader too!
Hey Tyler. First time to your blog and this is a very useful post. I have always heard good things about John Chow, just checked out his blog too. Will need to check out Chris Brogan as well.
I would also add problogger.com — that guy is a content machine!