Could one (or more) of these blogs have just the information you need?
When you’re working in digital marketing, the blogosphere can seem like a very crowded place, with loads of people giving their opinion. To make life simpler, we’ve rounded up nine top blogs (not necessarily the biggest) that have thoughtful posts packed with great advice.
Between them, these blogs cover a wide range of topics, including content marketing, SEO, social media, sales pages, and email marketing.
Just as we do with our courses, we’ve split these blogs into three categories, introductory, intermediate, and advanced, so you can easily find the ones that are right for you.
Best Introductory Blogs
While all of these blogs are very accessible for beginners, they’re also great resources for more experienced digital professionals – so don’t rule them out just because you’re not a newbie!
#1: ProBlogger (Darren Rowse)
Blog: www.problogger.net
RSS: feeds.feedburner.com/ProbloggerHelpingBloggersEarnMoney
Twitter: @problogger
One of the first “blogs on blogging” – and still the best-known – ProBlogger’s posts are mainly aimed at beginners. There’s a wealth of information in the archives, covering every conceivable aspect of blogging.
Start with:
- How to Craft a Blog Post – 10 Crucial Points to Pause
- 4 Key Areas to Focus Your Time Upon to Grow Profitable Blogs
- 11 Ways I Diversified Traffic Sources for My Blogs to Become Less Reliant Upon Google
#2: Social Media Examiner (Michael A. Stelzner)
Blog: www.socialmediaexaminer.com
RSS: www.socialmediaexaminer.com/feed
Twitter: @smexaminer
With a slick, professional look and tons of in-depth tutorials, Social Media Examiner covers everything social media (including blogging). If you want to keep up-to-date on new developments, find great examples to inspire you, or simply need a quick how-to, this is a great place to go.
Start with:
- 39 Blogging Tips From the Pros
- 6 Ways User-Generated Content Can Double Your ROI
- How Boolean Search Improves Your Social Media Monitoring
#3: Kikolani (Kristi Hines)
Blog: kikolani.com
RSS: feeds.feedblitz.com/kikolani
Twitter: twitter.com/kikolani
While Kristi Hines of Kikolani doesn’t post too often these days, everything she writes is well worth reading. Her posts tend to be detailed and comprehensive, with a focus on marketing, and you’ll often find her posting on other major blogs.
Start with:
- How to Contact Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Other Social Networks
- 10 Premium SEO Tools That You Can Try for Free (or cheap)
- How to Get Testimonials for Your Business or Blog Using Twitter for Social Proof
Best Intermediate Blogs
If you already know the basics and want to go further, these blogs tend to assume you have a bit of prior knowledge and experience.
#4: Copyblogger (Brian Clark)
Blog: www.copyblogger.com/blog
RSS: feeds.copyblogger.com/copyblogger
Twitter: twitter.com/copyblogger
Copyblogger began with a focus on the intersection between “copywriting” and “blogging”. They still publish tons of great advice on persuasive writing, but they’ve branched out into business and marketing strategy more generally.
Start with:
- 7 Things the Great Copywriters Wish You Knew
- 10 Steps a Local Business Can Take Today to Improve Search Rankings
- 30 Ways to Build the “Know, Like, and Trust” Factor that Grows an Audience
#5: Boost Blog Traffic (Jon Morrow)
Blog: boostblogtraffic.com
RSS: boostblogtraffic.com/feed
Boost Blog Traffic doesn’t publish posts especially frequently … but every single post is well worth reading (though set aside a coffee break, as their posts are usually pretty huge). Topics covered include writing style, SEO, social media tips, and more.
Start with:
- Why You Suck at Guest Blogging (and What The Pros Do Differently)
- The Ultimate Guide to Writing Irresistible Subheads
- 63 Blogging Tools That Will Make You Insanely Productive
#6: Heidi Cohen (Heidi Cohen)
Blog: heidicohen.com
RSS: feeds.feedburner.com/HeidiCohen
Twitter: @heidicohen
Heidi focuses on marketing, and has more of a corporate focus than many of the other blogs listed here, and writes well-researched posts full of statistics, facts and examples. Whether you’re a small startup or a large brand, her tips should help.
Start with:
- P2P Content: The Content Nobody Measures
- 16 Ridiculously Easy Ways to Increase Retweets
- How to Create Marketing Personas
Best Advanced Blogs
If you’ve been working in a fast-paced agency for a while now, or even if you’ve built a bunch of websites on your own while looking for your first big break, these blogs cover more advanced topics that will help you build your skills even further.
#7: Moz (Rand Fishkin)
Blog: moz.com/blog
RSS: feeds.feedburner.com/mozblog
Twitter: @moz
Formerly known as SEOMoz, this blog has a more technical focus than others, covering advanced topics like Google penalties, parallax scrolling, keyword targeting, storytelling through data, and more. They do have some beginner-friendly posts too.
Start with:
- Content Outliers: Learning from the Web’s Most Viral Content
- Getting Reviews the Right Way for Local Businesses
- The Rules of Link-Building
#8: Social Triggers (Derek Halpern)
Blog: socialtriggers.com
RSS: feeds.feedburner.com/socialtriggers
Twitter: @derekhalpern
Social Triggers has a firm psychology focus, looking at why and how marketing suceeds. Typical posts explain how to influence or persuade customers, why some people succeed when others don’t, and how to sell more. Many posts are video-based (the videos are usually around 5 minutes long).
Start with:
- The Perfect Testimonial (use this to boost your sales conversations today)
- “Should I use those annoying popups?”
- So I got a $310 haircut. I learned 3 SURPRISING things about raising your prices. You’ll love #2.
#9: Quick Sprout (Neil Patel)
Blog: www.quicksprout.com/blog
RSS: feeds.feedburner.com/Quicksprout
Twitter: @neilpatel
With seriously detailed posts, this blog covers everything from using hashtags better to ways to make sure you never get penalised by Google. Look out for “Guide to…” posts, which link to what are essentially whole books.
Start with:
- The Definitive Guide to Landing Page Optimisation
- How to Recover from Negative SEO
- The Complete Guide to Understanding Consumer Psychology
We hope one (or more) of these blogs will be just what you’re looking for. And if you’ve got a different must-read blog to recommend, let us know in the comments.
