98 Content Marketing Articles to Make You an Insomniac

What is content marketing? And why will this post make you an insomniac?

First off, with this much knowledge – you should be working, not sleeping – the rest is explained below…

At this time last year, Search Engine Optimization and social media were two distinct fields, and now, they’ve blended harmoniously. Once upon a time, SEO was all about gaming an algorithm. Now, the term “link-building” is close to obsolete, and a new and improved concept has taken its place — “content marketing.” All of a sudden, the Internet marketing community’s strongest buzz words like conversions, ROI, and branding have new connotations that are inseparable from terms like customer experience and user feedback. The tips, tricks and arbitrage that used to lead to increased website traffic and conversion rates are being infused with product strategy, User Experience (UX) and a heavy focus on how to create and leverage great content.

What? When did that happen?

We’ve reached a point where marketing is all about building relationships with audiences, building trust to generate leads and engaging in substantive conversations. In a nutshell, old school marketing was a push mechanism. New school marketing will hook your visitors and reel them in. Here are 98 resources to guide your business through the transition:

Content Marketing & Strategy

If you want to build quality inbound links and a reputation s a thought leader – start creating amazing content and people will naturally link to you in ways that Google likes and people pay attention to.

1. Five Experimental Platforms You Need to Be Using

Venture beyond Facebook and Twitter for a robust content marketing strategy.

2. How 3 Companies Took Content Marketing to the Next Level

Getting started as a content marketer? Here are 3 exemplary brands worth following.

3. 7 Ways to Generate High Quality Leads with Content Marketing

Use content to build high-quality relationships with your prospective customers.

4. Tablet Content Marketing Stats: Crazy Stats and Time to Move

Adapt your content marketing strategy to the growing tablet market.

5. 16 Best Content Marketing KPIs and Metrics in 2023

This post identifies 16 of Portent’s favorite content KPIs, sorts the content metrics by the goals they’re best at measuring, and tells you how to start tracking your content marketing efforts

6. 15 Copywriting and Content Marketing Blogs That Will Make You More Money

Resources with varying approaches on taking your words to the bank.

7. Content Marketing Bootcamp: Everything You Wanted to Know in One Place

Roundups will never take you to a dead-end. Here are some more resources to give you an intro to Content Marketing fundamentals.

8. 11 Steps to Smarter Mobile Content

For many publishers, smartphones are new territory. If you’re building a mobile platform, these factors are valuable to consider.

9. The Best Time of Day to Blog

Monday wins for most pageviews? No way.

10. 26 Tips for Writing Great Blog Posts

In this mix, there’s a tip for almost every type of writer.

11. How Social Media Examiner Grew

A look at one of the web’s top business blogs.

12. How to Build Better Buyer Personas to Drive Killer Content

There’s a science to understanding your audience.

13. How to Get People to Your Blog

You can’t assume that people will flock to your blog just because you provide content. You need to take an active approach to recruiting followers and keeping them continuously engaged.

14. Bring Your Community Into Content Creation

As the saying goes, the customer is always right. Keep your users involved with your product so that you can truly reach them.

15. 10 Ways Multi-Blog Authors Can Stay Creative and Generate Great Posts

How to stay organized in the process of bringing great minds together.

16. 3 Tools for Managing a Killer Multi-Author Blog

Streamline your way to great content and great ideas.

17. 2 Different Tales of Blog Growth

The Problogger that we know and love talks about the “tipping point” for two high-traffic websites.

18. 5 Ways to Write Magnificent Copy

Good writing is powerful beyond words.

19. Content Scrapers

What are practical ways to handle those people who are stealing your content?

20. New, Inspirational Ways to Develop Engaging Article Ideas

Writing is always a means to the end goal of engaging your audience. Here are some tips for maintaining a healthy flow of great ideas.

Influence Through Social Media

Content is often the most useful starting point for developing a discussion via social media – and to have something to share.

21. Facebook’s Subscribe Button Produces More Traffic than Twitter or G+

Entrepreneur Kevin Rose shares a quick glance into his relative influence on three social platforms.

22. Facebook Timeline and What Marketers Need to Know

Facebook recently launched a dramatic UI overhaul. While these changes apply to personal profiles, they also affect business marketing.

23. Has Facebook Surpassed Google Traffic for Publishers?

In August 2011, Cosmopolitan Magazine saw a higher proportion of traffic from Facebook than Google. No Way!

24. Facebook to Include Sponsored Stories in News Feeds

Potential new strategy for serving targeted ads.

25. The New Twitter Brand Pages

The top social network undergoes a major User Interface transformation with key changes for brands.

26. What Businesses Can Use Google Plug Pages for Now

If you’re wondering where to start, this resource will help you gain momentum.

27. Key Moments in Social Media Law

From 1984 to 2011.

28. Create targeted posts on your LinkedIn Page

Best practices for creating targeted posts on your LinkedIn Page.

29. How Twitter Makes You a Better Writer

True story.

30. 8 Ingredients that Make a Community Manager

A must read for companies that are hiring or expanding.

31. The 6 AI social media tools to get you started fast

All kinds of goodies in one streamlined post.

32. Make customers fall in love with you

Learn how to use keyword best-practices on your favorite social networks.

33. Audience Targeting Strategies for LinkedIn Ads

A must read for marketers in the B2B world.

34. 60 Ways to Increase Your Influence Online

Brought to you by 60 of the web’s coolest thought leaders.

35. 9 Tips for Integrating Social Media on Your Website

Build a hollistic marketing strategy.

36. Can Social Media Actually Make You Money?

One more answer to a never ending marketing question.

37. How to Use Pinterest’s Pinboard for the Web

This new website boasts a rapidly growing social network. Can you leverage it for your business?

38. What is Quora and Why Should You Care?

This question and answer website is taking the SEO world by storm, and you should care because it might be valuable for your social marketing strategy.

39. Here’s How Social Media Works in China

Take a look at the social media world beyond your western perspective. Check out China’s “vibrant” Internet culture.

SEO

As you’ll see from the articles below. Crappy content doesn’t cut it anymore. Google is getting better at recognizing the best content – so make sure you’re the one creating it.

40. How Google’s Panda Update Changed SEO Forever

Last year’s algorithm change majorly changed the SEO landscape for websites across the board. This article will help you identify and learn from those changes.

41. How Google’s “Search Plus Your World” Affects Your Business

Learn about this new social feature and how it affects Google Search.

42. How to Build Links Using Q&A Sites

Find out how users are leveraging question and answer sites to engage with brands.

43. Google Panda Update: Say Goodbye to Low Quality Link Building

For good SEO, you need to think beyond basic tips & tricks.

44. Dealing with Lost Traffic

Google’s algorithm changes have affected SEO for businesses across the board. Here is some feedback for how to deal with lost traffic.

45. How Google Search Plus Your World is Changing SEO

Another perspective on the Google Search Plus Your World feature.

46. Get More Links with this Infographic Link Building Tactic

Read this article on how to leverage infographics in pursuit of that objective.

47. Interview with a Google Search Quality Rater

Get to know the people who are evaluating your site.

48. The Periodic Table of SEO Ranking Factors

These are the building blocks to get your site ranking.

49. Google Announces Above the Fold Algorithm Change

Learn about the relationship between page layout, UX, and SEO.

50. Are You Making these 7 Panda Punishing Mistakes?

Make sure that you’re in the clear of these errors when building your website. For instance, you’ll want to avoid a high ad ratio.

51. How Social Media Affects SEO

Why you should engage in substantive conversations with your users.

52. 14 Tips to Successful SEO for Startups

Before launching a product, make sure that you’re aware of core marketing channels. This article will introduce you to those in depth.

53. SEO Audits: What You Need to Know

To fix a problem, you need to diagnose it first.

54. When to Listen to or Question Your SEO Provider

Make sure that your agency or consultant is meshing well with your business’s objectives.

55. 6 Best Practices for Modern SEO

Pay attention to local, and make sure to focus enough resources on social.

56. My Apology to the SEO Industry for Really Getting It Wrong

Sometimes, it’s important to look at your own user behavior.

57. Many Websites Look Like Zombies to Google Search

Remember to keep your content as fresh as possible.

58. SEO Monitoring Tools and Tips

A collection of resources to help you watch traffic changes, robot exclusion protocols, and uptime.

59. Answers to 43 Questions About Search, Content, Conversions, and More

Learn from others’ questions about the industry that we know and love.

UX & Product Design

Experience has always mattered when it comes to conversion – use these tips to make your blog, your site, your marketing and your products easier to interact with. Make it simple, make it obvious and you’ll come out on top.

60. 70+ Best Email Newsletter Templates and Design Tips

Learn from these design dos and dont’s.

61. How to Establish Brand Identity Through Website Design?

Learn how top brands are focusing on creating experiences beyond what meets the eye.

62. Breaking the Rules: a UX Case Study

Important UX rules and when it’s okay to break them.

63. Better User Experience with Story Telling

Humanize customer experiences for a more robust business.

64. What Successful Products Teach Us About Web Design

A look at products outside of the Internet industry and what they can teach us about web-based products.

65. The UX Research Plan that Stakeholders Love

A look at the link between UX objectives and business needs.

66. Tablet Zero

A look at the counter-intuitive benefits of Apple’s generic tablet design.

67. Jumpstart Your Initial Research with a Diary Study

Do some background research to zero-in on your target.

68. UX Myths

A roundup of short & sweet observations to help you better understand how to think like a UX pro.

69. Why Mobile UX Is More than Users on the Go

What you need to know about designing for the smartphone or tablet experience.

70. What Websites Could Learn from Mobile

Could mobile conventions & limitations help you design more robust products for the web?

71. Persuasion in Design

Leverage psychology to build a more appealing and influential business.

72. Where Do Good UX Ideas Come From?

Tips on where to find inspiration.

73. The Role of Mobile UX in Developing Nations

How did mobile phones transform society in West Africa? Interesting piece on sociological development.

74. Uncovering Context with Mobile Diary Studies

Build a better product by answering questions of “why” and “how” in addition to “what” and “what happened.”

75. Satisfy Customers First, then Delight Them

According to one product manager, good products should generate happiness in phases.

76. Traits of a Jackass Manager

This one’s self-explanatory.

77. My 10 Tips for Product Managers

Know your product well, develop meaningful relationships with your users, know your product well, and collaborate with other departments.

78. The 5 Stages of Debugging

Product development is as emotional as it is technical.

Research, data & ROI

So you’ve learned the importance of great content, how to create it and how to market it. Now what? You need to measure it!!!

79. Everything Marketers Need to Prove and Measure Content ROI

How to best communicate the bottom line.

80. Ways to Measure Your Inbound Marketing ROI

Learn to quantify otherwise ambiguous metrics.

81. How to Get Actionable Data Out of Google Analytics

Your research should guide you to take some kind of next steps. Here are some ideas to get you going.

82. Tiny User Research Tests You Should Do Now

You always have time and money to do a bit of research while keeping your products going.

83. Know Your Users: Quantitative vs. Qualitative Research

Varying angles to answer who, what, where, when, why and how.

84. Measuring Social Media ROI: 3 Things to Consider

To best frame your results, know your contexts.

85. 10 New Analytics Features You Need to Start Using

Google Analytics just introduced a number of new features. Here are several that are worth using now.

86. 5 Cool Uses for Google Real-Time Analytics

Here’s a cool feature to see what users are doing at this exact moment.

87. Facebook Pages: 5 Metrics to Quantify Engagement

How to understand the data in your Facebook Insights spreadsheet and dashboard.

88. What is ROI?

A basic definition of ROI.

89. New Targeting Options Available to AdWords Mobile Advertisers

Here’s a new way to target people.

90. Gathering Variables for A/B Split Testing

The most important part of your research is always the design. Without a good one, you won’t yield actionable results.

91. The Key Mobile App Metrics You Need to Be Tracking

To help answer the question: “Where’s the ROI in mobile?”

92. Mobile Marketing App Analytics

For marketers: here’s how you can understand the ROI of your new app.

93. Mobile Metrics

They’re like the web, but there are many more challenges.

94. Tools to Measure Twitter Engagement

Resources that you can leverage to uncover answers.

95. There Is No ROI in Social Media Marketing

An insightful conversation between a CMO and CFO.

96. The #1 Conversion Killer in Your Copy

Understand your users to get them to buy.

97. How to Measure Social Media ROI Like the Experts

Here are some concrete metrics to track for ROI-driven insight.

98. Measuring Social Media ROI & Goal Conversions with Google Analytics 5

CLASSIC: Kristi Hines breaks it all down for you in brilliant style with a step-by-step guide.

When you’re done reading each and every one of these, come back and share your key takeaways. Did anyone read ALL of them? Which were your favorite?

We want to know.

— Ritika Puri