Internet Marketing Strategy 2.0

While SEO experts keep saying that "search engine optimization" is not dead, it's only changing, I am quite happy to see that more and more of the SEO techniques that have been promoted as the "smart" way to make anyone web site more visible, are finally crumbling down one by one.

In this excellent article, Neil Patel, identifies five of them, that carry more big risks than benefits for anyone web publisher still adopting them. These are:

1) Guest Blogging (spammy kind)

2) Incoming Links with Optimized Anchor Text

3) Low quality inbound links

4) Using lots of relevant keywords inside your content

5) Relying more on building inbound links than on creating high-value content

Excellent recommendations for anyone publishing online. It's time for those who have quality ideas and content to regain their due value and visibility, stolen for so long by those who, without either one, invested fanatically in content marketing and search engine optimizing without ever creating real value. 

Useful. Informative. 8/10

Full article: http://www.quicksprout.com/2014/03/28/5-seo-techniques-you-should-stop-using-immediately/

Fliplingo is a new web app which allows you to translate, either automatically, or with the help of a professional human translator, your tweets into one or more languages.

You simply hook up your Twitter account(s) and then can create a "flip", or a preset that will take care of translating all of your upcoming tweets into your specified language either by manual human translation or automatically.

You can test the service and the human translation by using the free credits that are available in your account as you open it (30 human credits and 300 machine credits. This equals to about 2 tweets that can be human translated and 20 machine-translated ones).

For $29/mo you can 300 words human translated (about 30 tweets) and unlimited machine translated tweets over a max of three different Twitter accounts.

My comment: Excellent tool for content marketers needing to reach out to international audiences on Twitter. Easy, cost-effective.

Pricing info: https://www.fliplingo.com/pricing 

More info: https://www.fliplingo.com/ 

Languages supported: https://www.fliplingo.com/languages 

Invitation request: https://www.fliplingo.com/invitation 

Andrew Gouty analyzes the history of SEO, while highligthing how increasingly important it is to look less at "SEO tactics" and more at producing truly quality content.

The article cum infographic reviews the main five SEO eras, from the 1994-99 Meta era, and through the PageRank years (2000-2003), the Florida era (2004-2009), the Content Era (2010-12) and the Present Day.

A good, fact-supported overview of what really counts when it comes to content visibility on the web.

Useful. Data-rich. 8/10

Full article + infographic: http://www.raidious.com/content-marketing/the-history-of-seo-effectiveness/ 

Nick Eubanks has an excellent case study on SearchEngineWatch demonstrating how a content-based web site, built on an existing publishing platform, can reach high levels of traffic without doing any pro-active link-building activity.

Here's the gist of the story: "Useful content and a solid, well-researched roadmap is the best way to acquire organic traffic.

If your content is serving a purpose, is accessible, and is easy to consume – your readers will build all of the links you will ever need, and your online presence will flourish as a by-product.

Put in the time, do the research, build your own websites, talk to everyone you can, TEST, and you will start seeing improvements in your organic search."

Rightful. These guys got it right. 8/10

Full case study: http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2254983/From-0-to-1.4-Million-Visitors-in-6-Months-A-Lesson-in-Building-Organic-Traffic

Translate this idea to your specific reality, niche or industry and you have a great approach that integrates storytelling in its DNA and a fantastic way to always have interesting and attention-grabbing content for your readers.

The story of Dave Gorman, a British stand-up comedian, goes like this:

"...instead of trying to think of interesting things to write about for his act, he would do interesting things – and then write about those.

It turns out that people are far more interested in the weird or exciting things you’ve done that in the weird or exciting things you’ve just thought about."

A simple idea like this can truly transform the way you approach writing and the creation of content to build your own reputation and credibility online.

"In other words, doing interesting stuff makes you an interesting person to follow."

Thanks to Ian Brodie for this article of 2012, but as valuable to read now as it was then. 

Inspiring. 8/10

Full article: http://www.ianbrodie.com/marketing/interesting-content/ 

Reading time: 4':35" 

If you re looking for great articles, resources and guides about content strategy and its characteristics, you have found what you were looking for.

Jontahon Colman, has curated an excellent catalogue of the best resources on content strategy resources available online. 

From books, to magazines, journals, blogs, articles, forums and events, this annotated list has plenty of valuable resources and it is definitely a valuable reference asset to save for anyone interested in deepening his knowledge about content strategy.

Free to use.

Check it out: http://www.jonathoncolman.org/2013/02/04/content-strategy-resources/ 

My personal belief is this: in the near future, if you want to stand out in your niche, get a serious following of passionate fans and build a strong credibility for yourself, you will need to do something better than just writing blog posts (however good they may be).

"Recently Martin Laetsch, Act-On’s Director of Online Marketing, presented a webinar covering the 10 most important rules for successful search engine optimization.Not all of them are 100% new, but they’re all critical keys to success. ...You can catch up with the whole on-demand session here."

In this article the focus is specifically on rule n.1: Create content with your audience in mind.

Rekha Mohan writes: "The main point to all this is: create content people want to share. People like sharing interesting information; it builds credibility, creating the image that the sharer is in the know, and consistently sharing good information increases your audience.

Good information also helps visitors and increases your authority on a subject – use white papers, case studies, fun facts, educational material, research results, thought-provoking blog posts, how-to articles, top 10 lists, and more to share your information in innovative and easy-to-read ways."

Very good reminders for anyone having doubts about what's best to do in the near future, to gain extra visibility and reputation, on any content web site.

Rightful. 7/10

Full article: http://www.business2community.com/seo/the-10-new-rules-for-seo-0518641