Happy New Year! As the “best of 2013†and 2014’s trends continue to swarm the internet marketing stream, some of the more recent online marketing news that caught my eye include:
- Google’s latest privacy offense, which now allows anyone with both a Gmail and G+ account to message anyone else with both accounts, even if the actual email address of the recipient is unknown.
- Google’s continued ratcheting down of Authorship results in search.
- Facebook dropping its “Sponsored Stories†problem child.
Enjoy this week’s picks! And thank you for reading…and sharing.
Killer Content
Content Marketing and Native Advertising: What’s the Difference? | Michael Gerard via Target Marketing.
Will these be the six most important marketing tactics of 2014? | via James Welborn via Indelible Branding.
6 Predictions for the Marketing World in 2014 | Rand Fishkin via Moz.
2014 State of Marketing: Email Flood Despite Rise Of Mobile And Social | Christine Crandell via Forbes.
Brand Journalism: Embrace the Trend for Your Organization | Gini Dietrich via Spin Sucks.
Take Control Of Your Visitors’ Eyes | Brian Massey via Marketing Land.
Content and SEO Tips for 2014 | Leslie Poston via SEO Copywriting.
Mobile, Content New Focus for B-to-B in 2014 | Kate Maddox via Ad Age BtoB.
Ask Doc: Control (WordPress Blog) Spam Comments | Doc Sheldon via Top Shelf Copy.
A Look Back On 2013 In Digital Marketing | Kevin Lindsay via Marketing Land.
The Best of Copyblogger: 2013 Edition | Sonia Simone via Copyblogger.
Holiday Mobile Orders Shot Up 50 Percent In 2013; Social Commerce Remains Negligible, Organic Still Dominates | Ginny Marvin via Marketing Land.
Google’s Eric Schmidt: “Mobile Has Won†| Greg Sterling via Marketing Land.
R.I.P Last Click Attribution | Michael Wiegand via Portent.
Content Creation Lessons from Growing 41,231 Newsletter Subscribers | Gregory Ciotti via The Buffer Blog.
The Golden Rule in Email is Relevance | Christian Nahas via ClickZ.
Google just made it really easy for strangers to email you | Dante D’Orazio via The Verge.
FAQ: How The New Gmail “Send To Anyone On Google+†Feature Works | Danny Sullivan via Marketing Land.
Questions I Keep Hearing About Content Marketing | Joshua Titsworth via Level 343.
Content Marketing Is A Business Strategy…How To Design A Content Strategy? | Bharati Ahuja via WebPro Technologies.
13 Content Distribution and Promotion Channels and Their Perceived Value | Chad Pollitt via Business 2 Community.
Be An Expert Or Go Home | Eric Enge via Forbes.
Events:
- Direct Marketing News’ 2014 Marketing & Tech Partnership Summit | New York City: January 28th.
- Integrated Marketing Summit | San Diego, CA: January 30th and 31st.
- MarketingSherpa Email Summit 2014 | Las Vegas: February 17th thru the 20th
- Content Marketing World 2014 | Cleveland, OH: September 8th thru the 11th. Â Early Bird Savings of $300 available thru February 28th!
- 2014 Content Strategy Conferences | Monthly schedule shared by Shelly Bowen via Pybop.
Savvy SEO & Search
Google Webmaster Tools Search Queries Adds Mobile Stats & No Longer Rounds Data | Barry Schwartz via Search Engine Land.
Google’s December Authorship Shake-up | Dr. Peter J. Meyers via Moz.
Google Updates Link Guidelines: Not All Widgets Links Are Bad | Barry Schwartz via Search Engine Roundtable.
10 Alternative Search Engines To Google | Joe Hall via Internet Marketing Ninjas.
My Must Have Tools of 2014 | Eric Covino via SEO Book.
5 Critical Web Developer SEO Mistakes | Peter Handley via The Meld.
Dispersed citation and the future of internet marketing | Ian Lurie via Portent.
Keywords to Concepts: The SEO’s system for themed keyword research | Cyrus Shepard via Moz.
Why J.D. Salinger Doesn’t Need Keyword Research, But You Do | Chelsea Adams via Bruce Clay, Inc.
The IdeaGraph – Whiteboard Friday | Ian Lurie via Moz.
The Redesign Timeline: When and How to Engage Analytics, PPC, and SEO in Redesign Plans | Rachael Gerson via SEER Interactive.
Google Has Officially Penalized Rap Genius For Link Schemes | Barry Schwartz, featuring a postscript by Danny Sullivan, via Search Engine Land.
Why the Rap Genius Story Is Really About Google | Ian Lurie via Entrepreneur.
Did Matt Cutts Endorse Rap Genius Link Spam? | Aaron Wall via SEO Book.
The New SEO – Link Schemes are Allowed (For Big Brands) | via Nenad SEO.
Best of 2013: No. 10 – Best Easy step-by-step guide to finding low quality links | Paddy Moogan via State of Digital.
Top 10 Conductor Blog Posts of 2013 | Charity Stebbins via Conductor.
Just Say No To SEO (Sometimes) | Eric Enge via Search Engine Land.
Ask The Experts: What SEO Subjects Will be Surprisingly Important in 2014? | Amanda DiSilvestro via Higher Visibility.
3 Google Analytics Quick Wins: Mobile Stats, Top Performing Content & In-Page Analytics | Video via KISSmetrics.
Things To Consider When Picking An SEO Firm | Jennifer Horowitz via Level 343.
Empowering Analysis Ninjas? 12 Signs To Identify A Data Driven Culture | Avinash Kaushik via Occam’s Razor.
Search Engine Land’s Most-Shared Stories on Google+ for 2013: What’s Right, What’s Wrong, What’s Next, & What’s Dead | Lauren Litwinka via Search Engine Land.
My Top Posts for 2013 | Eric Enge via the Stone Temple Blog.
My Top 10 Blog Posts of 2013 (Here on SBSM) | Matt McGee via Small Business Search Marketing.
Checking In: Our Top Local Search Columns of 2013 | Jessica Thompson via Search Engine Land.
5 Google AdWords Updates from 2013 to Master in the New Year | Larry Kim via Search Engine Journal.
An AdWords Wishlist for 2014 | Toni Voutilainen via Portent.
Gmail Advertising Showdown: Gmail Sponsored Promotions vs. Managed Placements | Jaclyn Jordan via WordStream.
The Bing Dilemma: What To Do With The Little Search Engine That Can’t | Nathan Safran via Search Engine Land.
Events:
- SES London 2014 | February 10th thru the 13th.
- SMX West 2014 | San Jose, CA: March 11th thru the 13th. Early Bird Rates available thru February 1st!
- ClickZ Live | New York, NY: March 31st thru April 3rd. Super Saver Rates of up to $800 expire January 24th!
- TechCrunch’s 2014 Pitch-Offs | Starting in Atlanta, GA February 18th.
Smart Social Media
Adios, Sponsored Stories: Facebook To Sunset The Problematic Ad Type In April | Ginny Marvin via Marketing Land.
Google’s Share Of Social Logins Hits Highest Level In Q4 Since 2010 | Matt McGee via Marketing Land.
2014 – The Embolden Years: Change agents lead the way for digital transformation | via Brian Solis.
2014 Social Media Predictions | Jesse Wojdylo via Wojdylo Social Media.
Social Media and Content Convergence | Danny Brown (with Steven Sefton) via Danny Brown.
Google+ Success: What Your Business Needs to Know About Google+ | Michael Stelzner with Martin Shervington (podcast) via Social Media Examiner.
The Pyschology of Trust on Google Plus | via Martin Shervington.
Is Twitter Crossing the Line Between Useful and Creepy | Jay Baer (video chat with ExactTarget’s Kyle Lacy re: Twitter’s new “Nearby†feature) via Convince & Convert.
How Empire Avenue crushed my soul | Rob Zaleski via {grow}.
How To Steal Your Competitor’s Social Media Followers | Felix Tarcomnicu via KISSmetrics.
Uh Oh! Brain Dump Time! (Collection of SEO and Social Media Tips) | Jennifer Horowitz via Level 343.
Reverse Engineer Sociology & Influencer Understanding for Outreach Success | Simon Penson via Search Engine Watch.
Events:
- Social Media Marketing World | San Diego, CA: March 27th and 28th.
Photo credit to LadyDragonflyCC via Flickr Creative Commons.