Welcome to Return On News. Periodically, I like to take a moment to review the content that has inspired me enough to share on Twitter. Among that content, there are typically a handful of posts that stand out and deserve special mention.
On that premise, I created Return On News. From time-to-time, when I find that the most recent posts I tweeted are particularly interesting, I share here on the blog. Now is one of those times.
Why Most Social Strategies Fail
Found on LinkedIn, this article by thought leader Charlene Li of Altimeter Group pulls back the covers to see what many of us are missing with our approach to social media. She challenges whether the word “strategy” is truly in mind when dealing with social, and provides a good list of questions to self-diagnose whether your social efforts need a fresh breath of air.
2013 Content Strategy: Do Less
Carla Johnson, a contributor to CMSwire.com, analyzed the findings of B2B Content Marketing 2013 Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends – North America. This research study, offered jointly by the Content Marketing Institute and Marketing Profs, is a snapshot of the state of content marketing for B2B marketers heading into next year. She posits that quality is far superior to quantity when it comes to blogging, and her post is spot on with how I view the world.
The Dumbest Excuse SMBs Use to Avoid Blogging (Post removed by the website owner)
Speaking of Marketing Profs, this article by Doug Rekenthaler analyzes the excuses small and medium sized businesses are using today to explain why they can’t or won’t start practicing good content marketing via a blog. There is a heavy focus on the time it takes to blog vs. other sales and marketing tactics, and this is a good read even if just to review another interesting viewpoint on the subject.
When Link Audits Become SEO Audits: 6 Ways an Inbound Link Analysis Can Uncover Technical SEO Problems
This article, courtesy of Glenn Gabe and the fine folks at Search Engine Journal, reviews what other sorts of SEO problems you are likely to find when doing a deep dive link audit. Although we talk about the various SEO strategies and tactics as separate activities, they are all intertwined. Here you can learn more about where technical and off-page SEO overlap. And really, if your SEO provider is not looking at your performance holistically, you could be getting more value for your investment.
SEO Clients are Also Responsible for Results
So, let’s say you decided you want more from your website and sought out the help of an SEO firm with a good reputation. What happens next?
Well, if you said you hand it over and wait for the revenue to magically increase, think again. Just as with any agency, SEO firms cannot be expected to wave a magic wand and create results. It is a joint effort between your search marketing team, you, and your provider. Brick Marketing outlines your team’s role in the process, and anyone looking to hire an outside SEO agency should read this first.
Twitter users gain free tool to identify fake followers
John Mello of PC World reviews a new tool that was recently made available to analyze your social graph on Twitter, to determine what percent is dead accounts, spam accounts, and valid users. Give it a whirl for yourself. If you find an unexpectedly high ratio of dead and spam accounts, it might be time for a “spring cleaning” exercise on your list of followers.
How to write universe-conquering proposals
Ian Lurie of Portent shares his knowledge about how to build better services proposals that have a much higher likelihood of being accepted. No matter what services you offer or how long you have been in the business, this post should help stimulate some fresh ideas for how to better position yourself without overselling, or alternatively, leaving anything important unattended to. Long article, but a great read worth poring over if you are in the marketing services or agency game.
Tommy Landry
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