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. 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.