Timothy Carter

There are many topics in content marketing open for debate, but few have been as elusive to evidentiary proof as the length of the “perfect” blog post. To some, the longer a blog post the better, and there’s a clear argumentative case for it; more words in an article mean more “guts” for web crawlers and readers, and indicate that an article is thorough and in-depth. But, let’s look at some high-level stats related to blog post and content length that will be applicable: The average 1st result on Google has a blog length of 1,500 words. Source: Backlinko Content with >7,000 words gets more than 3x the number of shares and links. Source: MarketingCharts Blog posts are getting longer: the average blog post length is now over 1,400 words long. Source: OrbitMedia When it comes to the first five positions in Google, shorter length appears to have a higher correlation to first page rankings. Source: CognitiveSEO  Longer posts (2,000 words+) tend to rank higher and more readily appear in the top 10. Source: CapsicumMediaworks While a correlation exists between longer length, the correlation is small and gets even less important as you look at larger data set (i.e. beyond the top 10 search results), likely due to the fact that more content is getting longer overall. Source: CanIRank  There is a strong correlation between content length and the number of acquired backlinks to a particular blog post. Source: Hubspot Longer content (>10,000 words) can actually hurt your rankings, especially when content is not “on point” and fails to nail search intent for users. Source: SurferSEO 75% of content on the internet is never shared, referenced or linked to. Source: Moz On the other hand, constantly shooting for super-high word counts can leave you with fluff, or can alienate the vast portions of your audience who are interested in a quick read. So what’s the answer? The evidence suggests the reality of an “ideal” blog length is much more complicated than a simple answer of “long” or “short.” Ambiguous Results of Ideal Content Length More important than word count is this: Your article should answer the intended query of the visitor. If it does that in 100 words better than another site can do in 10,000, then you win. Unfortunately, a thorough answer is typically not 100 words long. Having a popular blog is all about keeping your content updated with fresh and informative content. Your visitors are going to like seeing that the blog is kept updated and that the articles they are reading provide them with some information that they happen to be seeking. Whether you make the decision to write your own blog entries or hire someone to do this for you, it is a good idea to carefully consider the word count so that your visitors are kept entertained when reading the content on your site each and every time they happen to visit your blog. For some examples please visit the SEO blog to learn more. Keep in mind, many of our blog articles range from 500 words to nearly 20,000. The ultimate length of a given blog post may differ depending on many factors, including: Industry niche. Some queries might require a long, detailed explanation while others could be a simple answer in 200 words or less. Search intent. The intent of the searcher has a sway on how a given piece of content might rank visa-a-vis competitors. Sometimes search intent can be answered quickly. Sometimes not. Website domain authority. You might have the most extensive post or page on a subject, but if your content remains untested and lacks the right signals (e.g. backlinks) it’s less likely to outrank competing pages. Internal signals. Shorter posts with a lot of internal links, including header/footer links, are more likely to rank than orphaned pages buried deep with no internal links. Length has less of a sway in such cases. Average Content Length of Top 10 Google Search Results There’s no simple answer for the “ideal” length of a blog post, but there are some interesting trends when it comes to post length for SEO. According to this recent analysis, about 85 percent of the articles in this golden 25 percent contained fewer than 1,000 words. About 12 percent of articles shared had between 1,000 and 2,000 words, and less than 2.7 percent contained more than 2,000 words. According to this information, the shorter your article is, the better. However, when it comes to the number of shares an article gets, the longer an article is, the better. Average Article Page Views & Shares by Length Articles of under 1,000 words tended to get an average of 3.47 shares and links, with 1,000-2,000 word articles getting an average of 6.92, and articles of 3,000 words or more getting a massive 11.07! According to this information, the longer your article is, the better. This leads to a tricky conundrum, but let me try and simplify it: shorter articles have a higher likelihood of getting shares, but they also tend to attract a fewer number of shares. Longer articles have a lower likelihood of getting shares, but when they do, they attract large numbers of shares. Average Word Count of a Post by Rank But, when it comes to the top 5 results in Google, the length tends to shorten, compared to those further down in the search rankings: Median Content Length by Rank for Top 40 Results When you expand out the view for the top 40 results, the results clearly conclude there is a small (but still evident) correlation between length and rank: Word Count vs. Average Linking Domains There is also a strong correlation between the length of your post and the number of backlinks pointing to it: Average Total Content Shares The vast majority of content online is never shared or referenced: So What is the Ideal Blog Post Length? If you have a niche that specializes in one type of content over another,

View these and many other free SEO training videos on our training page.  Video content is another medium you can use in a content campaign; like written, visual, or short-form content, it can cover any number of different topics, offers a reasonable degree of creativity, and can be published almost anywhere. But up until now, video has been one of the less popular content marketing mediums. There are several reasons for this: Search engine crawlers focus on text, making word-rich article writing the “traditional” higher value proposition for SEO. Videos are perceived to be time- and budget-intensive, making them more difficult and expensive to create than other contemporary mediums. Videos haven’t traditionally been as easy to access as written material online. The returns on written content have been sufficient to sustain most campaigns. Video SEO is rising in both popularity and importance for content marketers—but just how important is it going to be throughout this year (and beyond)? Rising User Interest in Video & Video SEO The most important factor you have to consider is user interest. After all, your content strategy is almost exclusively focused on appealing to what your users want and need. If they want and need more video SEO content, it’s in your best interest to supply it to them. There’s no question that user demand for video has grown steadily over the past several years. Some estimates are predicting that up to two-thirds of all online traffic will be intended for video as early as next year. It’s hard to measure this level of interest objectively but take a look at the growth rates of popular video platforms, and how many people you know post and share video SEO content more than any other medium. The prevalence of Wi-Fi and mobile Internet access is also making it easier for users to access videos at any time, furthering the popularity growth spurt and extending it deep into the next few years. Video SEO Benefits We know that written content is valuable for SEO because it provides lots of indexable material to Google and informs search crawlers about your area of expertise. Videos don’t function the same way, but they do provide a number of direct SEO benefits: Higher Search Engine Rankings: Search engines, like Google, often prioritize video SEO in search results. Including videos on your website can increase your chances of ranking higher on search engine results pages (SERPs). In addition, your video’s title and description add to Google’s understanding of your brand and site. Increased Click-Through Rates (CTR): By using a video thumbnail in search results, search engines tend to attract more attention and clicks compared to regular text links. This higher CTR can positively impact your overall search engine rankings. Reduced Bounce Rates: Engaging video content can keep visitors on your site for longer periods, reducing bounce rates. Search engines interpret this as a sign of valuable and relevant content, which can boost your SEO efforts. Enhanced User Engagement: Videos are more visually appealing and can convey information more effectively than text alone. High user engagement metrics like time on page and interaction can signal to search engines that your content is valuable, leading to improved rankings. Your video SEO popularity, likes, and comments, can contribute to your brand’s overall authority. Increased Backlinks: Compelling and shareable videos are more likely to attract backlinks from other websites, social media platforms, and blogs. Backlinks are a crucial SEO factor as they demonstrate the authority and relevance of your content to search engines. For instance, viral videos can earn you tons of backlinks to increase the domain authority of your site. Improved Social Signals: Social media platforms often prioritize video content, leading to higher shares, likes, and comments. These social signals can indirectly impact your SEO by increasing brand visibility and driving more traffic to your site. Rich Snippets in SERPs: Search engines may display video thumbnails or video carousels in the search results, known as “rich snippets.” This visually appealing format can entice users to click on your content, leading to more traffic. Your video can be indexed as rich content, displayable above the fold on SERPs. Diversified Content: By incorporating videos, you provide diverse backlink and content experiences for both search engines and your audience. This can attract a broader range of users and potentially expand your reach to new audiences. Mobile Optimization: Videos are highly consumable on mobile devices, where a significant portion of internet traffic comes from. Having mobile-friendly content can positively impact your SEO rankings, especially after Google’s mobile-first indexing update. Higher Time on Page: If visitors spend more time watching videos on your site, it can increase the overall time on page metric, indicating to search engines that your content is valuable and relevant. Improved Conversion Rates: Engaging videos can help in showcasing products, services, or brand stories, leading to higher conversion rates. A higher conversion rate can indirectly impact your SEO as satisfied customers may leave positive reviews or share their experiences online. YouTube SEO: If you host your videos on YouTube (the second-largest search engine), optimizing your videos for relevant keywords and linking back to your website can improve your overall online visibility. Your video can rank in platform-specific search engines, like YouTube search, giving you more web real estate. This hasn’t changed much in the past few years, but the accessibility of videos makes these benefits even more appealing. Competitive Edge of Using Video SEO Because so many business owners are worried about producing videos (whether it’s the perceived cost, the lack of familiarity, or just a general fear of change), there’s a significant gap in the content market. There’s certainly no shortage of written content, which has started to approach the brink of oversaturation, so if you want an easy way to stand out, video content gives it to you almost immediately. If you’re in an industry that seldom uses video, this benefit is even stronger—differentiate yourself from the competition by staying ahead of the

The same old digital marketing methods won’t work any longer. Drawing up a well-rounded campaign now requires digital marketers to be more agile and customer-centric when promoting their brand’s offerings online. You need to know which marketing channels work for your business. According to Forrester, customer service interactions via digital avenues are projected to increase by 40%. Forrester also anticipates that, on average, the digital brand channels numbers will surge from 8 to 11. This makes it practically indispensable for companies to incorporate digital marketing in their marketing strategy. Here are some of the must-follow digital marketing trends to look out this year and beyond. Conversational Marketing With all that hype about chatbots, modern digital marketing trends have become all about clear and engaging conversations. Customers want it, and leading brands that deliver it win. When customers have a question or concern, 82% of them expect an “instant” response. Essentially, conversational digital marketing enables real-time, one-to-one, between customers and marketers. Unlike conventional tactics, this type of marketing is now leveraged by many brands and across multiple platforms. It allows them to interact with customers conveniently: on media, devices, and time schedules preferred by the customers and are best suited to them. Today, customers expect to instantly find their preferred products and want their queries to get answered quickly. And as businesses prepare for a digitalized future, they must find ways to be available and accessible and communicate the way their audience prefers to. Ultimately, the primary purpose of conversational marketing is to improve and enhance the overall user experience with a feedback-driven approach that fosters greater loyalty and higher engagement. ChatGPT and Other AI-Powered Chatbots and Large Language Models Chatbots, a software program, interact with site visitors and customers and a naturally sounding way in real time. This strategy can help businesses save significant recruiting people from communicating and engaging with the visitors on your website on an ad hoc basis. A chatbot is personable, unbiased, and informative. This, in turn, enables buyers to make faster and more informed decisions and ensures that users feel heard and are treated as individuals. If you are not leveraging chatbot applications, it’s well-advised to get onto it as the artificial intelligence trend will likely continue to rise in the future. 67% of the companies stated that deploying AI-enabled technology helped them create a better and unique experience for their customers. While the decision is also contingent on different factors, the increasing popularity of artificial intelligence will lead more companies to incorporate this digital marketing strategy trend. AI-powered software applications practically facilitate brands with a unique voice and enhance their interaction with customers. Companies like Swiggy and Amazon have levelled up their digital marketing game and, ultimately, their customer service by leveraging customized AI-powered chatbots. In addition to responding to the FAQs, these chatbots keep track of previous conversations and naturally interact with visitors. So, upgrading to AI-enabled chatbots is a requisite to ace your overall marketing game in 2021. Tangentially, and detrimentally for many digital marketers is the fact that link building for SEO will continue to diminish as AI becomes more prominently weighted in search algorithms as well. ChatGPT’s Impact on Digital Marketing The rise of ChatGPT has been legendary and it’s impact as a digital marketing trend cannot be understated. It is the fastest digital application to reach one million users. Content Generation: Automated Content Creation: ChatGPT can be utilized to generate high-quality and engaging content for websites, blogs, social media, and other marketing channels. This helps marketers save time and resources in content creation. Product Descriptions and Reviews: E-commerce businesses can use ChatGPT to generate product descriptions, reviews, and other content to enhance their online product listings. Customer Support: Chatbots: ChatGPT can power more advanced and natural language chatbots for customer support on websites. These chatbots can handle customer queries, provide information, and assist in problem resolution, improving overall customer experience. Social Media Engagement: Automated Social Media Posts: Marketers can employ ChatGPT to create social media posts, tweets, and other updates. This can help maintain a consistent posting schedule and engage with the audience on various platforms. Email Marketing: Content Creation for Email Campaigns: ChatGPT can be used to draft email content for marketing campaigns, newsletters, and promotional messages. This can aid in personalization and crafting compelling messages. Market Research: Data Analysis and Insights: ChatGPT can assist in analyzing large sets of data to extract valuable insights. This information can be used for market research, understanding consumer behavior, and refining marketing strategies. Personalization: Personalized Recommendations: By understanding user preferences and behaviors, ChatGPT can contribute to creating personalized recommendations for products or content, leading to more targeted marketing efforts. SEO Optimization: Content Optimization: ChatGPT can help marketers optimize website content for search engines by generating relevant and keyword-rich content, improving SEO performance. Training and Onboarding: Employee Training: ChatGPT can be used in training programs for marketing professionals, helping them stay updated on industry trends, learn new strategies, and enhance their skills. To help navigate this ever-changing landscape, I thought it would prove helpful to weave in the following graphic, which helps showcase best practices for using ChatGPT to ride the wave of LLMs (large language models) in all digital marketing trends: Video Marketing Video marketings is one of the most effective ways to inform customers about your products and services. And interestingly, it is by far the most preferred way customers wish to learn about a brand’s offerings. This is not merely restricted to YouTube. You can leverage the power of video marketings in several other ways to increase a higher engagement level. For example, you can make an entire video post or conduct a live broadcast session on social media. Additionally, if your website has more video contents, it will drive higher site traffic than text. This is because the audience finds video contents more compelling and visually appealing than simple text. As a result, Google push sites that comprise videos. Videos marketing is relatively more straightforward, too, as it just

Consider this digital marketing guide an overview of marketing and how all of the dozens of little puzzle pieces fit together to create a cohesive tapestry that reaches your ideal customers and convinces them to buy from you. Take what you learn in this digital marketing guide and apply just one thing right away. Then, as you build momentum in your digital marketing execution, you can add to it. And before you know it…well, you’ll be executing (as an expert) on your own digital marketing strategy. Digital marketing is so much more than just SEO and content. That’s one of the reasons, we have expanded our service offerings through the acquisition of Marketer.co and PPC.co, where we providing leading digital marketing agency services to some of the world’s most well-recognized online brands (shameless plug). As you read this guide, consider all the ways you can improve your digital marketing strategy this year and beyond! Let’s dive in. What is Digital Marketing? Let’s start with the very first question most people think, but are afraid to ask (for fear of looking foolish): What is digital marketing? If you ask a dozen people in the industry this question, you’ll get a dozen answers. And, to be honest, most of them are a little stuffy, academic, and vague. Take HubSpot, for example. Their definition goes like this: Digital marketing encompasses all digital marketing efforts that use an electronic device or the internet. Businesses leverage digital marketing channels such as search engines, social media, email, and other websites to connect with current and prospective customers. Okay, that gives us a little information, but it still leaves you thinking, so what? In short, digital marketing campaigns are: …any form of marketing products or services that involves electronic devices. That’s catchy and easy to remember, but still sounds like it was written for a Marketing 101 class in 2007. The American Marketing Association merely regurgitates what everyone else is already saying: Digital marketing is the use of the Internet, mobile devices, social media marketing, search engines, and other digital marketing channels to reach consumers. Some online marketing experts consider digital marketing to be an entirely new endeavor that requires a new way of approaching customers and new ways of understanding how potential customers behave compared to traditional online marketing. While there’s no such thing as a perfect definition – particularly for a field that’s evolving more than traditional marketing – we don’t feel as if any of these are fully indicative of what digital marketing is and why it matters. They aren’t compelling enough to acquaint people with the reality of what we’re doing. So while there are elements of truth to each of the definitions above, here’s the definition we’re going with: Digital marketing is the process of leveraging online mediums – such as websites, email, marketing automation and social media marketing- to strategically reach the right people at the right time with the right message, all in an effort to increase brand awareness and ultimately convert these individuals into customers who go on to become loyal and raving fans. A bit wordy? Yeah, probably so. But it cuts straight to the heart of what digital marketing is and why it matters. Digital marketing isn’t about using electronic devices to reach people. It’s about utilizing the power of the internet to deliver a cohesive message that moves people through a journey over time. And if you do that with consistency, you’ll win big in the business world. Why is Digital Marketing Important? We’ve already touched on this some in our definition of digital marketing, but let’s go even deeper. Here are a few specific reasons why digital marketing is so important for brands of all sizes: Digital marketing personifies your brand The first thing that digital marketing does is clarify and personify your brand. You already know what your company is about, but the marketplace does not. By investing in digital marketing, you’re able to share your story in a way that brings your brand to life. It makes you relatable and engaging. And in this sense, it magnetizes people to your brand. In the later stages of your digital marketing strategy, a personified brand can help you in many different ways. In addition to having more loyal fans and more engaged prospects, you’ll have an improved foundation you can use for customer support, social media channels, and other interactions with your base. Digital marketing creates brand awareness Speaking of magnetizing, digital marketing is all about creating awareness and understanding. Think of it as the PR arm of your business, reaching out to the marketplace and telling them, Hey…over here! Without digital marketing, you’re totally reliant on word of mouth marketing and other elements that are outside of your control. When internet users and even potential customers are more aware of your brand, and when they have a better understanding of your brand, they’ll be much more likely to turn to you when they have a need you can solve. Admittedly, building brand awareness can be a slow process. It’s hard to build brand recognition, and even harder to build familiarity and a good reputation, but the upfront effort is worth it if it means achieving a more dominant competitive position. Somebody is going to tell your story online. A digital marketing strategy makes sure it’s you (not the competition or misinformed customers) that’s telling that story across all online channels, including websites, news outlets and social media. Digital marketing streamlines the buyer journey We often think of a buyer’s journey as happening along a simple one-way continuum. But the truth is that today’s buyer’s journey with various digital marketing channels is more like a pile of spaghetti noodles. People zig and they zag. They get distracted and lost. For example, a potential customer may learn about the problem they’re facing, but refuse to take action on it. They might sit on the problem for months before delving into research on how to solve

Google advertisements have been around on the search engine since, well, Google itself, and businesses have been taking advantage of them in every iteration they’ve seen. From the off-hand ads that nobody clicked, to the yellow-denoted paid search results at the top of your list, to the carousel-like shopping results for products related to your search, Google is always tinkering with the way it processes and displays advertisements. For many marketers, these ads are a blessing—they’re a quick, relatively cheap way to increase online visibility on the most popular search engine on the planet. But there’s also a flip side for businesses looking to generate more attention organically. Dealing with prominently displayed ads means receiving less search traffic—even if you’re ranking first, organically. This can impact your local rankings. There are only two ways around this dilemma. One is to pay for your own set of ads on the search engine, but because so many businesses are competing for that ad space, costs have dramatically risen over the course of the past few years. The other solution is to go after more targeted, niche phrases that don’t carry advertisements, but those generate far less total web traffic. Both solutions only mitigate the problems that paid search ads present for organic search marketers. Now, Google is unleashing an entirely new type of advertising, to roll out immediately, that could disrupt the local SEO world and reshape strategies for improving local SEO metrics. If you’re involved in search engine optimization — specifically local search marketing — you need to know the specifics and start preparing for the inevitable changes to come. The Extent of the New Local Ads and Local SEO Tactics The local ads produced and managed by Google are a bit different than their older counterparts. Perhaps most notably, they’re only available on mobile devices. When a mobile user searches for certain keywords or phrases or performs location-based searches, he/she may now be subjected to these new “local” advertisements. However, on a desktop or laptop, only organic search results may appear. We know that “near me” searches for physical locations have more than doubled in the past year, further emphasizing the growing importance of local SEO for mobile users. With most of those queries being performed on a mobile device, it makes sense that Google would try to appeal to that growing demographic of local searchers. Google, as a search engine, is calling these mobile-specific ads the “nearby businesses” pack, which generates local search results based in part on proximity. This shift highlights the importance of aligning your paid advertising strategy with your local SEO efforts to maximize visibility. For certain queries, up to four separate local search results may appear—sometimes less, but never more. The paid ads themselves are quite similar to organic listings, featuring the name of the business in a functionally similar layout. However, as you might expect, paid ads are listed more prominently, and they feature not only the name of the business and a link to their site, but also hot buttons that encourage customers to call the business or get directions. The advertisements function within Google AdWords like any other paid Google ad. However, they are primarily driven by the optional location extensions that businesses can enable. Because it is a new feature, not much is known about the tricks and settings you can play with for the best possible results. Google will likely experiment with the ads further before becoming satisfied with the layout. How Nearby Business Ads Will Affect Local SEO Local SEO was once a relatively safe haven for businesses intimidated or frustrated by the level of competition in a national search. Optimizing your business for a local audience was faster, easier, cheaper, and ultimately more successful, especially if you only had a limited budget to work with. It was a space where any local business could conceivably rank at the top for at least one keyword phrase. Now, paid local ads are reshaping the competitive edge traditionally held by strong local SEO strategies. To maintain that edge, businesses must continuously refine their local SEO efforts to adapt to this new advertising model. Even in local-specific queries, users will first face a list of paid advertisers , meaning a top organic rank today won’t generate as much traffic as a top organic rank did a few weeks ago. However, that doesn’t mean that a local SEO strategy will no longer be effective. There are a couple of complicating factors that make local SEO still viable within search engine optimization, even in this new context. First, consider the fact that paid ads do generate substantial local traffic, but many users still see paid ads as white noise, skipping down to the organic search results because they know the businesses listing themselves have an ulterior motive to generate revenue. This means that, while paid ads will take away some of your organic visitors, they won’t take away a majority of them. You can strengthen your local SEO presence, despite the increased competition. Second, the competitive landscape for local ads will be less severe than the one for national ads, just like local SEO is less competitive than national SEO. This means that fewer businesses will be listing ads for the majority of search queries, leaving some of your territory completely untouched and other parts of it with one or two ads, rather than four. Finally, remember that paid ads are a good option for generating more traffic—it brings to mind the expression, “if you can’t beat them, join them.” Integrating paid ads with local SEO can enhance your visibility and overall marketing strategy. Nearby business ads will cost less than their national counterparts, and will guarantee you some level of traffic for your local SEO campaign. If working in conjunction with a traditional local SEO plan, your results could easily multiply. As of now, there is no indication that these new local advertisements will kill local SEO performance. On the contrary, they may

For busy Internet marketers, blogs long ago replaced any static news or information sources such as newsletters or books. With a blog you can access the latest information quickly, compare ideas and news from different sources, and ask questions and get answers directly from the source. This list of the top 50 Internet marketing and search engine optimization (SEO) blogs, websites, and social media accounts is in no particular order. It would be impossible to make an exact ranking when each resource offers its own brand of information, interaction, and general awesomeness. Suffice it to say every resource on this list rocks. Let’s dive in: Search Engine Land Search Engine Land’s Danny Sullivan was one of the first experts in SEO and is still widely considered to be among the best. He founded the website 11 years ago and has scaled the blog into one of the more successful resources on the web today. Now published by Third Door Media, Search Engine Land features news and opinions on SEO, search engine marketing (SEM), social media, local marketing, and other pertinent industry topics. It’s a great first stop for anything related to SEO, SEM or internet marketing. Social Media Examiner Social Media Examiner is the largest online social media magazine in the world. In addition to providing the latest news, information, and ideas on social media and social marketing, Social Media Examiner hosts the Social Media Marketing podcast and a couple of different industry-leading events/conferences throughout the year. Seth’s Blog Seth Godin is not strictly an online marketer and his blog not strictly about digital marketing. However, it’s arguably one of the single greatest resources for internet marketers like yourself. Godin is an incredibly talented writer with an extraordinary grasp of the psychology of marketing. You should read his blog on a regular basis. Most posts are fairly short, but they’ll make you think. Copyblogger When Brian Clark started Copyblogger, his intent was simply to start a blog for marketers that wasn’t like every other blog on the interent. He succeeded beyond his wildest dreams. Copyblogger is not just for copywriters, nor is it exclusively for bloggers. Rather it is a blog on how to use copywriting techniques to create amazing content. Any blogger who wants to increase traffic and earnings from one or more blogs can learn a great deal from this powerful resource. Likeable Blog Likeable Media is a marketing agency dedicated to helping clients develop stories and become “likeable.” The Likeable blog is filled with useful tips and information on social media marketing, digital content, and other related topics. It’s a refreshing blog that’s less focused on technical aspects and more dedicated to the creative side of the industry. The Moz Blog Moz, once SEOMoz, began as a consulting firm in 2004 and now provides SEO tools to millions of marketers. The Moz Blog offers information, valuable tips, and cutting-edge ideas to readers on a daily basis. Like Moz the company, The Moz Blog seeks to reflect the core values of the company: Transparent and authentic, generous, fun, empathetic and exceptional. Chris Brogan Chris Brogan is one of the most highly sought after keynote speakers in the industry. He’s a New York Times bestselling author with nine books to his name. He’s consulted with companies like Disney, Google, Microsoft, Sony, GM, and Coca-Cola – to name a few. His website is a powerful resource for anyone who wants to take a deep dive into content creation, storytelling, and the future of digital marketing. HubSpot Blog In addition to offering industry-leading digital marketing software, HubSpot’s blog is known for being one of the most innovative and resourceful in the industry. They publish practical content, rich case studies, interviews with thought leaders, and timely posts about topics covering a wide-range of topics, including marketing, sales, and customer service. Social Media Today Sometimes you need more than the latest news. You need analysis of that news. Social Media Today gives you that analysis for social media and social marketing. With columns on various topics from “the world’s best thinkers on social media,” Social Media Today tells you what’s happening, what you should know, and what you can do about it. TopRank Marketing Blog TopRank is a renowned online marketing consulting firm. Their blog is a widely-respected source of information related to digital marketing strategy, online public relations, social media marketing, business blogging, content marketing, and SEO. Buffer Blog The Buffer blog provides a constant stream of ideas from industry leading marketers and social thought leaders. It’s one of the most approachable marketing blogs on the internet and is helpful for generating new ideas and implementing practical tactics. The website, as a whole, is a fantastic resource for webinars and downloads. Duct Tape Marketing Blog As the name suggests, the Duct Tape Marketing blog prides itself on being able to provide small businesses with quick marketing solutions. It’s aimed at business owners and marketers who are short on time and don’t have formal backgrounds in digital marketing, social media, or content creation. There’s also a fantastic podcast by the same name. Cassandra Daily Whereas most digital marketing blogs touch on larger trends and broad topics, Cassandra Daily zooms in and focuses on precisely what’s happening in the moment. It’s an extremely relevant and timey blog – putting an emphasis on cultural trends, viral topics, and newsworthy moments. It focuses on everything from technology and media to food and entertainment, which makes it an awesome read for anyone who wants to stay current. Hootsuite Blog Hootsuite is known for being one of the foremost leaders in social media and digital marketing tools – but it has a pretty fantastic blog, too. The bulk of the content focuses on how to properly leverage networks like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, and YouTube, but it’s also a good place to learn about productivity and big-picture digital strategy. Think With Google The Think With Google blog is one of the more unique resources on this list.