This was a great week for marketing! It seems like everyone got their groove back all of a sudden after a long holiday. The keyboards were cranking and the resources were pouring out at top speed. This week I focused on blogs that provide practical suggestions and actionable ideas. You may want to drag up a chair and get a mug of something hot because you’ll find plenty of tips you can start using right now.
8 Reasons Your Page Isn’t Being Liked On Facebook
Written by Mandy Edwards
You know Facebook has rules about how you can use your business page Timeline but do you really follow them? You know you have to engage your audience but do you really try? If you’re wondering why your fan count is hovering somewhere in the double digits, Mandy has some answers for you. And with Facebook cracking down on its own rules, you may want to brush up and make sure you’re “doing it right.”
How Evernote Has Made Me A More Productive Blogger
Written by Chris Dyson
You may know how I feel about Evernote (love!) so I was glad to find this really useful primer on using Evernote to help manage and organize my blogging thoughts and resources. Chris has some really practical advice on using templates, setting up IFTTT actions and using the web clipper. Add one or two of these tricks to your repertoire and you’ll wonder how you ever lived without them.
Keyword Research: How To Find Long Tail Keywords
Written by Philip A.
We talked about choosing the right keywords for your site this week, so I thought this was a great follow up. Philip hits some of the points we did, about using a research tool to find relevant keywords, but he takes it a step further with a great tip for rating competition that I wish I had written myself! I’ll let you read his post to get it all and absorb all of his very thorough tips.
The Importance Of Setting Fixed Goals To Achieve Results
Written by Jason Eng
Goals get discussed a lot but how often do they really get defined? And how well? This is a post after my own heart. Jason uses an analogy about setting goals while training for a race to show just how important they are to your success. He makes three super important points about how to set goals and it’s advice you can use right now, whether you want to make a personal change or grow your business.
20 Minutes A Day For Social Networking
Written by Andy Nathan
I bet you’ve had at least one moment when you’ve felt like there are so many social networks that you simply don’t have enough time to be there – even if you knew where to be! The biggest challenge is knowing where to start. Andy lays out a simple schedule for managing your social presence by balancing replies with creating content and networking. The point is not to follow this schedule, but to use it as a springboard to plan your own. Sometimes all you need is the blueprint to get started.
Bonus: How To Beat The Blogging Cliché Blues
Written by Carol Lynn Rivera as a guest for Adrienne Smith
Yes, I’m cheating. I wrote this one, but since you may not hang on my every move I figured I’d share it with you here. Adrienne was gracious enough to let me post on her blog and if you know anything about Adrienne she is super picky about who gets to do that! So I was honored to be featured and at last count we hit triple digits of comments from people who could relate to the frustration of getting tired advice. While you’re there, read some of what Adrienne has to say because she’s a smart, down-to-earth lady who always offers real advice and is masterful at connecting with her audience to find out what they really want to know.
Double Bonus: The Secret Way To Grow A Successful Business Really Fast With No Effort At All*
Written by Carol Lynn Rivera as a guest for Tea Silvestre
It was a busy writing week for me! I had not one, but two guest posts featured on great blogs. If you don’t know Tea, you should. She’s one of the smartest marketers I know and she not only runs a blog and a marketing business but she’s the mastermind behind the Slow Marketing movement and the host of the incredibly forward-thinking Prosperity’s Kitchen where she runs a marketing eCourse as a reality TV game show. To be featured on her blog is a real honor so I had to deliver the goods! I do a little myth busting in this post and give you some alternatives to the “get rich quick” thinking that’s so prevalent.
How are these wrapups working out for you? Do you find them useful? I’d love to get your thoughts on what you like or don’t like and how I can make this wrapup even better!
Thank you so much for mentioning my “8 Reasons” article! I appreciate it!
More than welcome! it was good stuff that everyone should know!
Great selection of articles Carol. I look forward to digging in and reading this this weekend. Thanks!
Thanks Marquita, I hope you find something that you like!
Great resources, here, Carol Lynn.
You know, there’s so many great blog posts being written all the time, that it’s difficult to know which way to turn. I really like how you give a quick synopsis of each one.
It saves me a lot of time hopscotching all over the web, and steers me directly to the topics that are of most interest to me.
Very cool!
Glad you like it! I thought the synopsis would help give people an idea of what to expect before deciding whether it was relevant to read. Glad it worked!
Hey Carol,
This is a great collection of great people! I do know quite a few on this list, but will visit others. I do see a familiar face or two I haven’t connected with in a while and want to thank you for posting this.
Donna
I hope this will be a good resource for people, Donna. I am aiming for 5 per week so it’s not too overwhelming. Would love to hear any suggestions if anything pops up!
What a great list of sites and content. I was thinking of trying to do the something of the same thing for my email list.
I thought about it for a long time and I’m glad I finally did it. It helps some other great bloggers get exposure and it’s also a nice “one stop” reading list for my readers/subscribers.
Loved this list! I’d been meaning to read the Evernote post but lost the link, thanks for the reminder.
I like Evernote but sometimes I forget what it can do! That post was a nice reminder. I do tie it into my IFTTT triggers, which has worked out well. Glad you “re found” it again 🙂
Hi Carol Lynn – Just read your “double bonus” piece…I don’t care if there is a study, not a study, writing goals down on paper works. Well it works for me at least.
The problem with studies is there always seems to be another study defunct your beliefs. Ok, I know smoking is bad for you. I get that one. 🙂
Getting back to the point of your article. Yes, this whole business (as with most businesses) is a lot of work. It takes a lot of time and patience. There is any “magic pill” although most are willing to sell that, and many are ready to buy it…
Social Media in 20 minutes. That’s not happening. Come on Andy. I’m Andy fan, but this isn’t reality. It sounds good on paper though.
I do like the mix of articles, thanks for sharing Carol Lynn…
Hi Steve, I agree! Writing goals does help and part of the point I was trying to make is that there are always studies. They prove something, they disprove something, they maybe prove something… the best advice is the advice you follow, test and make work FOR YOU. And throw it out if it doesn’t work.
I also agree that 20 minutes is not a realistic timeframe for a real social marketing plan – maybe I should have made that point, too – but a lot of people don’t know where to start and can’t wrap their heads around how to schedule or plan anything. So to see it on paper – take five minutes a day for responding, etc – can help get someone out of that rut of not knowing. Like I said, it’s not THE schedule, but a place to start. Take a few minutes a day to do specific tasks, then modify as you grow and learn.
You made a good point that I can use for better describing my thoughts on future articles. Thanks!
Hi Carol
I love these types of posts, as you know I do these myself, it is a great way to share other great blogs with our readers.
I know a couple of these blogs but I will head over and visit the rest, I too am interested in Chris’s post about Evernote, I have just signed up for this but have not done much with it so I would be interested in finding out more to help me use it to it’s full potential.
Hope you are having a great week.
pauline
Hi Pauline, glad to hear that you found something useful! Once you start using Evernote you’ll find it creeps into your life everywhere 🙂 There are so many things you can do and it’s great for keeping track of stuff.