Content Marketing Blogs: The Ultimate List

The amount of information available to marketers is vast, diverse and sometimes overwhelming. Because it can be difficult to find high quality content, I have put together a list of some of the top content marketing blogs out there. This list is intended to help content marketers find the information, education and value they’re seeking to improve their strategies and business as a whole.

Before we dive into the topics, let me first define a blog on how it’s interpreted in this post. A blog is an online publication that seeks to inform its readers with high quality, ethical and valuable insights that are published on a consistent basis by authors qualified to communicate them.

The topics covered in the list below include content marketing tactics, advice from experts, content marketing tools, content statistics and content curation – among others.

This list is by no means finished. With millions of blogs being published each day and the overwhelming amount of quality information on the Internet surrounding content marketing, I am sure to have missed more than a few first-class blogs. (If you don’t believe me, check out Worldometer’s blog counter.) If your favorite blog is not listed, or if you know of any other great source of content marketing information, leave me a comment below.

Here’s a list of content marketing blogs that I love; sorted by their focus. Thanks to Curata.com !

Social Media

Social Media Examiner – Their blog provides daily original content for readers on how to navigate the social media “jungle” through social networking, blogs and podcast best practices.

Social Media Today - This online community provides daily insight to PR, marketing and other professionals in disciplines that require information on social media.

Social Fresh – The goal of their blog is to inspire businesses to improve their marketing strategies through social media education.

Jeff Bullas’s Blog – Jeff Bullas is an author, blogger and strategist whose aim is to provide insight on aspects of social media marketing, content marketing and digital marketing.

Razor Social – This blog offers their independent advice on the latest in social media tools and social media technology.

Social Media Explorer – Their blog is a leading publisher of insights and opinions on social media marketing written internally and by a roster of marketing thought leaders.

Social Media Impact – The mission of this blog is to provide diversity of social media information to any and all who want to leverage social networking; for personal or business use.

Socialnomics – This online journal presents social media stories, trends, studies and statistics. The double interpretation of Socialnomics means that as the success of the site grows, the more social good they hope to give back.

SEO

Quick Sprout – Neil Patel, co-founder of Crazy Egg, KISSmetrics and Hello Bar writes on how businesses can improve their search engine optimization and content marketing strategy.

Search Engine Watch – This site’s content revolves around tips and information on search, analysis of the search industry and support for site owners who want to improve their SEO.

Search Engine Land – This is a news and information blog on global trends and insights into search engine marketing, and the search engine industry as a whole.

Search Engine Journal – With a unique community-based approach to search marketing content, this blog obtains virtually all its content from real experts (in-house and independent Internet marketers).

SEO Copywriting – This blog aims to educate online marketers on optimizing their content for SEO with tips, training and writing advice.

Content Marketing & Strategy

Duct Tape Marketing – This blog provides advice for small businesses on how they can improve their marketing strategy through content marketing tactics.

Marketing Pilgrim – Covering all the latest news, insights and information related to online marketing, this blog helps readers implement content marketing processes.

Copyblogger – Copyblogger’s goal is to educate readers on how to “create killer online content” by providing information on all aspects of content marketing; from copywriting to SEO to social media.

Occam’s Razor – Author and digital marketing expert Avinash Kaushik writes on an array of digital marketing topics, giving readers actionable insights for their content strategies. He also provides great insight into marketing metrics.

Problogger – Professional blogger, Darren Rowse, writes on blogging tips and advice that marketers can implement into their content strategy.

Sparksheet – Sparksheet explores how various brands are using tools and platforms to distribute relevant content to the right audience.

Boost Blog Traffic – Started by Jon Morrow, Associate Editor of Copyblogger, Boost Blog Traffic aims to teach readers how to expand their audiences, build email lists and become thought leaders through content.

ClickZ – As the largest resource of interactive marketing news & information from search to social to technology, ClickZ offers advice to help content marketers do their jobs better.

Spin Sucks – This blog supports professional development of PR and marketing professionals through their daily publishing of content advice.

Seth Godin’s Blog – Seth Godin, best-selling author and marketing expert, writes on marketing, leadership, change and spreading new ideas.

Heidi Cohen’s Actionable Marketing Guide – Marketing expert, educator and writer, Heidi Cohen, provides actionable tips and advice for digital marketers on her blog.

Enchanting Marketing – This blog teaches readers how to gain followers, utilize SEO and create engaging content for target audiences.

B2B Marketing Insider – Michael Brenner, VP of Global Marketing at SAP, writes about marketing ideas and strategies that help marketers drive leads and engagement.

CMS Wire – This online publication provides content marketers with information on digital marketing, social business and enterprise information management, daily.

CMO.com – This blog publishes information on executive level strategies and marketing information for Chief Marketing Officers.

The Content Wrangler – The Content Wrangler offers insights and advice for content marketers on strategy, content management and best practices.

Web Ink Now – This blog, managed by author David Meerman Scott, provides content marketing strategy advice, as well as general leadership insights.

eContent – eContent features articles on digital marketing, publishing and media for businesses; targeting executive-level decision makers with strategic information.

Orbit Media Studios – The Orbit Media blog provides marketers with digestible information on management, content marketing, web design and various digital marketing tips.

Velocity –  The Velocity blog focuses on B2B content marketing and is a great information resource for marketers looking for a fresh take on content.

Marketing Technology

The Marketing Technology Blog – The Marketing Technology Blog provides daily updates from marketing professionals on the latest in marketing technology.

Chief Marketing Technologist Blog – Marketing technologist Scott Brinker, co-founder and CTO at ion interactive, writes on marketing technology trends and insights.

Branding

Branding Strategy Insider – This blog’s goal is to provide insight for content marketers on how to build trust through strong branding and great content.

The Story of Telling – Author Bernadette Jiwa aims to help content marketers better sell their ideas to readers through great, engaging content.

Analysts & Research

Brian Solis’s Blog – Brian Solis, a principal analyst at Altimeter, anthropologist and futurist, writes about social business and how readers can use it to shape their organizations.

Jake Sorofman’s Blog – Jake Sorofman, Research Director at Gartner, writes about digital marketing strategy, trends and best practices for mobile, social and content marketing.

Ryan Skinner’s Blog – Ryan Skinner, Senior Analyst at Forrest, provides insight for marketing leadership professionals on content and experiences that drive customer engagement.

Rebecca Lieb’s Blog – As an analyst covering digital media and advertising at Altimeter, Rebecca Lieb offers expert insights on digital and content strategy for marketers.

Marketing Experiments Blog – This blog was the first Internet research lab to conduct and publish on experiments to optimize marketing and sales strategies.

Michael Fauscette’s Blog – Michael Fauscette, leader of IDC’s Software Business Solutions Group, offers advice and analysis on emerging software strategies for businesses.

eMarketer – This blog covers ecommerce, digital marketing and online media to offer insights and advice on the digital environment for marketers.

Econsultancy – This source of independent advice and insight offers content marketers a one-stop location to answer their digital marketing questions and improve their strategies.

Vendors/Consultants & News Sites

HubSpot – The HubSpot blog offers insights and advice for marketers on the topics of inbound marketing, sales and social media, as well as opinion articles.

Marketo – Marketo’s blog offers information in various key marketing areas including: marketing automation, social media, content marketing and email marketing.

ExactTarget – The blog at ExactTarget provides content marketers with daily insights on mobile, email, marketing automation and cross-channel strategy.

KISSmetrics – KISSmetrics offers content marketers information on SEO, online marketing and analytics to better shape their marketing processes.

Eloqua – Marketing technology, content marketing, email and social media are all touched upon in Eloqua’s blog to help educate marketers.

Buffer – Buffer’s blog focuses on UX, productivity, customer happiness, writing and life hacks to provide marketers with an all-encompassing view of business.

Curata – The Curata blog focuses on content marketing strategy insights, content curation best practices and everything marketers need to develop a successful content strategy, increase buyer engagement and improve their quality and quantity of leads.

Mashable – This news site has sections on social media, technology and business that contain insightful, fresh ideas for content marketers.

MarketingProfs – MarketingProfs provides consistent insights into the marketing world through a variety of topics: content, non-profit, customer behavior, ROI, PR, sales and more.

TopRank Online Marketing – The TopRank blog offers expert insights on new topics including content marketing, content tools, writing, SEO and social.

Inbound Marketing Agents – The expert writers at IMA focus on inbound marketing topics and provide a fresh take on these subjects for content marketers.

Content Marketing Institute – CMI writes daily engaging content for a wide audience on the topics of content, curation, ROI, social and many more topics with actionable value.

Convince and Convert - The Convince and Convert Blog aims to educate content marketers on their online strategies to improve their customer engagement and lead quality.

Moz – The Moz blog is a great asset for marketers and provides fresh ideas on content, SEO and providing value to buyers.

Unbounce – Online marketing insights, SEO, analytics and content are just some of the valuable insights the Unbounce blog covers for their audience.

Contentology – This blog focuses on everything content; from how to create a visual storytelling strategy, to social content to content marketing tools.

Bonus

Andy Crestodina's Orbit Media Blog. Andy simplifies content concepts so that they're easy to digest.

 
Moz's Blog. This site contains a wealth of search information that extends to content. Rand Fishkin has been a trailblazing SEO thought leader from the early days.

Writing Awesome Landing Page Copy

Landing pages are remarkably powerful conversion and SEO tools that turn traffic into money.

They force readers to focus on one thing — and one thing only.

To boost your email newsletter or blog subscribers …  sell more of your digital or physical product … or dominate a keyword in search rankings … you need to use landing pages.

And lots of them.

But crafting copy for a landing page is an art that goes beyond writing magnetic headlines and copy that sells.

See, you need to know what stage of sophistication (a Eugene Schwartz concept) your market is in before choosing the correct landing page template. Templates help us generate ideas. The stages of sophistication help us choose the right ideas.

Let me show you how this works.

First, there are a two concepts you need to understand.

Building landing pages 101

In the past, building landing pages meant you had to hire a designer and coder. Not anymore.

Tools like Premise make it so a writer like me can write and publish effective, professional landing pages.

Now, to help us sort through these stages of sophistication specifically, we’ll be talking about the headline and subheadline. This is how they look inside your WP admin if you are using Premise:

And when published your headline and subheadline renders like this:

Those are the two terms that are most important to us.

1. Make the promise

When your ideal customer is not aware of your product or the benefit it offers, then the first stage of sophistication demands you simply make a promise in the headline:

• Build Muscle Anywhere
• Defeat Credit Card Debt
• Read More Books

And in the subheadline you would describe the mechanism:

• This 15-Minute Routine Focuses on Every Muscle in Your Body
• With Only a Calendar and Spreadsheet
• The World’s First Speed Reading App

I purposely chose three markets that have gone through all five stages to help you see how markets progress.

2. Take your promise to the next level

As the market begins to be educated about your product, and competitors enter that market … the power of your original promise will begin to fade. Customers will seek a distinction.

At this stage you need to state your promise even more clearly …

• Build Muscle on Almost Every Inch of Your Body
• How to Eliminate $3,000 in Debt in Only 30 Days
• Read 24 Books in 24 Hours

Beef up the subheadline (mechanism), too. As you can imagine, you will be pushing the limits of credibility. But let me be very clear …

Though you’re pushing limits here, you must never lie, never misrepresent your product, and avoid hyperbole at all costs.

If you can’t back up your promise or claim with fact, don’t state it.

3. Lead with mechanism, promise second

In the third stage of sophistication, we find the consumer weary of your product and others.

They’ve been exposed to extreme promises and have learned to tune out these claims. You need a technique to reset their expectations.

At this stage the mechanism comes first, and the claim second. The mechanism becomes the point of difference.

• This 15-Minute Chair Routine Builds Muscle on Almost Every Inch of Your Body
• Hands-Down: Simplest Method to Defeating Debt
• Introducing a New App to Solve the Slow Reader’s Dilemma

And the promise is then elaborated on in the subheadline.

4. Take the mechanism to another level

When stage three copy has been replicated in the market and reached saturation, the power of this headline fades. It’s time to elaborate and enlarge on the mechanism.

Make it easier, quicker, and better. Solve more of the problem and overcome old limitations.

• Now … Build Muscle Tone in Less Than 7 Minutes a Day
• Wall Street Journal Accountants Swear This Is The Fastest and Easiest Way to Defeat Debt
• Read War and Peace This Afternoon with Our Addicting ”Angry Reader” App Game

This is a stage of embellishment not unlike stage two. Eventually you will reach a point that pushes the embellishment out of the realm of believability, and you must discover a new meaningful and believable mechanism.

5. Identify with the consumer

At this stage the market is glutted.

The field is exhausted, and it is the most difficult stage to profit in. This is where you revive a dead product by shooting directly at the consumer.

• Why Some Men Are So Skinny
• Why Some People Will Never Get Out of Debt
• Are You Embarrassed to Tell People You’ve Never Read the Classics?

And the mechanism is explained in the subheadline.

Think about this

Here’s the deal. This is the same life cycle for every market. It begins in stage one and closes in stage five. As you can see this presents some challenges for business owners, namely, they must adapt or perish.

You may enter a new market and clean house, only to fall behind when competitors enter and steal market share. The business of successful selling is about constant improvement. Constant change.

This is not to say you can’t land on a control (your best-performing headline and sales copy — for example, this is our current reigning control for StudioPress) that works for twenty-five years.

That, however, is the exception rather than the rule.

More likely a strong control will have two or three years of life before you have to move onto the next stage of sophistication.

Here’s why this is important …

Over in our Authority forum we see a lot of members sharing their landing pages for feedback … and one of the most obvious problems I see is a lack of understanding when it comes to market sophistication: almost everyone starts in stage one when the markets they are competing in are in the advanced stages … if not in the final.

That will not get the job done.

So, here’s your homework: take one of your products or services and work it through these five stages. Write headlines and subheadlines for each stage. This is not easy, but the more you practice the better you will get.

And of course, if you need an easy way to construct these landing pages, you can’t do much better than Premise.

Original article written by Demian Farnworth, Chief Copywriter for Copyblogger Media.

Top 30 Ideas for Content Publishing

Here they are.Most people get stuck when it comes to content publishing ideas. More than likely, the only content they can think of is “blog posts. But did you know there are at least 30 types of content you can publish online?

1.  Blog Posts

We had to say it.  But take note that short blog posts are going out of fashion again.  Google has let it be known it will penalize blog posts that are so short, Google feels they are nothing more than excuses for ads and affiliate links.  Their emphasis on “quality, original content” has all the top bloggers writing posts over 500 words long and very often, twice that number of words.

2.  Infographics

Still at the height of popularity, the latest trend is to impart information in visual format people can absorb with a single glance.

   

This works so well not so much because many people are visual learners, but because all of us internet-and-mobile age denizens have trained our brains to scan-and-glance digital content, to see if it’s worth spending time exploring further.

3.  Slide Presentations

Social platforms such as SlideShare make it easy for people to share slide presentations.  You can create these as stand-alone information modules… or as accessories for webinars you are holding.

Plus you can have people follow you from SlideShare – and share your work across other social networks.

4.  Media Page

Every online entrepreneur should have a Media Page (section) on his or her blog or website.  Within this tab, radio hosts, news reporters and readers should be able to find:

• Photos they can use (including your headshot)
• Archived newsletters
• Archived Press Releases
• Bio information
• The latest news about you/your business

And anything else you’d like them to share.

5.  Skype Chat Text Interviews

This is a brand new, dynamic and interactive way to present Skype interviews – a live link for people to join in and a blog transcript for those viewing the post after the call has completed.

Again, you can generate shares and follows for this type of content – as well as sharing your interviewer/interviewee’s website link, as Vera Raposo of Creative Biz has done with Kristen Eckstein’s Ultimate Book Coach site.

6.  Landing Pages

Short pages you send people to so they will sign up – either for your newsletter, a “freebie”, your website or blog – or a paid product.

7.  Sales Pages

Not-always-longer versions of Landing pages, promoting your paid offer.  Sales pages can come in many formats:

• Traditional long letter format
• Short landing page format
• Horizontal
• Vertical
• Video
• Audio

Pick the format that best suits your audience’s engagement style.

8.  Podcasts

You can make your website more interactive by providing Podcasts — .MP3 audio files your visitors can listen to (or download, if you let them).

They can listen in real-time, if you provide a teleseminar phone link – and then enjoy the recording in podcast format on your blog.

9.  Newsletter Archives

Everyone who owns a blog or website should have a newsletter – and archive old newsletter editions either on a Media page or in an Archives page.

Newsletters provide an instant history of your business.  People can go through each newsletter, from your very first one, and see where you started out – and where you are now.

If your newsletters are high enough in value you can even choose to keep them in a hidden section for paid members of your membership site.

10.  Templates

People will return again and again to your site if they know you have great resources such as templates at your site.  These can be blog post templates, review templates – even HTML templates.

11.  Tip Sheets

This is another desirable type of content to offer as a sign-up incentive on your blog or website.  The key is to make it highly specific to their most pressing interest at this time – or to new technology that is affecting their niche: (E.g.  “30 Tips For Making the Most of Facebook Changes”).

12.  Images

We don’t just mean “stick a picture in your blog post”.  Image use should be an integrated strategy you use to brand your business and tell your story.

They should consistently support your online identity and “voice”.

13.  Animated Gifs

There’s been such a prejudice against “distracting” animations; this is not a method most people think of, when it comes to content creation.  Yet under the right circumstances, they can be used effectively.

There are two keys to creating a positive rather than a negative effect:

a)    Choose a “loop” that looks natural repeating (e.g. a candle flame flickering, water gently tossing in a bay), rather than a moment in time endlessly replaying.

b)     If you just want to catch attention, simply set the animation to repeat only once, as laid out in this Yahoo answer.

There are many free sites that allow you to create animated .gifs.  Two that are easier than most areLunapic and  Makeagif, with tutorials and wizards respectively.

(Click on this link for an example of the sort of thing you can do.)

14.  Video

Every online entrepreneur should make videos and share them across platforms like YouTube, Pinterest and Vimeo.  The real issue is what type of video best supports your business?

• “How to” demonstration
• “Talking head” update from you to your followers
• Animation
• Recorded webinar with slides
• Video blog entry

15.  Downloadable .PDF files

You can offer eBooks and reports in .PDF format as sign-up incentives for subscribing to your blog or website.

16.  Checklists

Another great sign-up incentive – or bonus.  People love checklists – it helps make them feel organized in a world of chronic digital overwhelm!

17.  Google Hangouts

You can host a meeting, interview or seminar by creating a “Hangout” within your Google+ account.  Ask fellow Circle members to join you.

Better yet, choose the live streaming option to help it go viral, if it’s something you want everyone to see, and it will automatically be recorded and uploaded to your YouTube channel.

18.  Logo

A Logo that captures in a blink the essence of your business (and helps people instantly think of it) is essential, if you’re branding your business rather than you, yourself.

19.  White Papers

A “white paper” is much like a report, but is usually a formal presentation of statistics or a document analyzing something of great importance to your website visitors.

If your target market is corporate-minded, white papers are usually deemed of more value than “reports”.

20.  About Page

This is one of your best pieces of online real estate.  While you are talking about yourself, you are doing so to build identification and rapport with your ideal visitor, so even when talking about yourself, it should really be all about her.

Use your top keywords in your About page contest.  And it’s a great spot to put a headshot, if you haven’t done so anywhere else on your site.

21.  Bonuses

Bonus downloads and perks add value to your offers, blogs and websites.  These can take any format – video, .MP3, tip sheets, reports…

And they can be created by you… or by a JV partner. (Pick the format your target customer or client would love best!)

22.  Coupons

A coupon can also add value to your offer or website.  You can make them printable, if you have a local business… or give a coupon code at checkout to sweeten an offer.

Just be sure to set a start end date (and limit the number), to keep your ROI in the black!

23.  QR Codes

Are your best paying customers avid Smartphone users?  Then put QR codes on your website, blog, business cards, flyers, merchandise – and more.

You can also set this digital bar code to take people straight to:

• A telephone call (your number)
• A text message
• Your website
• A coupon or special offer

24.  Cartoons

You don’t often see cartoons  in digital marketing – but that’s all the more reason to consider using them, if your niche members are highly visual-oriented.

25.  Statistics

Sharing statistics can be a huge draw for many business niches.  You can share them in:

• Chart format
• Graph format
• Tables
• Lists

26.  FAQ Pages

Having a list of Frequently Asked Questions on your site is a great way to please visitors – and cut down on repetitive emails.

A FAQ page is also indispensable in your Affiliate section, if you have affiliates.

27.  The Legal Stuff

If you are an affiliate marketer, you’ll know you need to provide a Disclaimer or Disclaimer Page, stating that you may receive compensation for recommendations.

Other types of “necessaries”:

• Terms of Service
• Privacy Policy (this one’s a “must” too)

28.  Maps

Indispensable, if you’re a local business and want people to either visit your premises or see your range of service.

29.  Reviews

If you are recommending products, use a review template to provide consistent reviews.

Your aim should be to become a trusted resource for people in your niche, so that yours is the site they turn to first, when looking for product information.

30.  “How to” Tutorials

These can be in video, diagram, audio, graphic or written format… or a combination of any of these.  (An added bonus: “How-tos” turn your site into a resource.)

There are many more content types you can use on your website and/or social media properties – but whichever you choose, be original, unique – and tuned in to your visitors.