In every industry there is a list to be on. You know, an industry “A” list. TopRank Online Marketing Blog works hard to maintain such a list in the online marketing industry. It is called the BIGLIST, and it is an A-Z list of search engine marketing and search engine optimization blogs. I agree with much of the list, but I found 26 different places where it was lacking. I will share my findings, but first, I will explain some things about my industry.
Links Rule SEO
Links are something that make or break SEO efforts. Anybody with a website should know this by now. Good SEO are particularly skilled at creating incoming links to websites, and rely on compelling content that people want to link to. Most SEO fail at linkbuilding, but the good ones have something special. Great SEO are some of the best hookers, because they “hook” you into reading what they have to say, and “hook” you into linking to it because you want to share it with others.
Any SEO blogger worth their weight in Fruit Stripe gum will write some sort of “link candy” now and then. You know, that stuff that you just cannot resist linking to or sharing to others because the SEO whipped out a Jedi mind trick or because his sexy eyes just compelled you undo an extra button.
Of course, when these linktacular search engine optimizers are looking for incoming links or to rank tidily for some given search term, it is best for them to be relatively covert about it. Nobody wants to be fooled by some SEO guy’s trickery and clever tactic of doing something that will improve his own lot in life. It is why guys like Chris Brogan announce that each affiliate link is an affiliate link and that he may benefit if you go and buy something. It is perceived as if he was hurting you by making a dollar for helping you to find the offering. So in the order of transparency, I will tell you that I want you to link to my blog like a junkie wants another hit of smack. There should be no shame in respectfully asking for assistance, and a link is not a con job or a threat to global well-being.
Sure, we marketing people are always supposed to operate under the guise of being truly altruistic and never doing anything for our own gain. After all, that is what people respond to the best. If some Murnahan fella in Topeka, Kansas tries to get a leg up and hop on a list of popular search engine optimizers who are known for killing grizzly bears with a rubber band and a toothpick, he had better be kind of hush hush about it.
Oh, for crying out loud! Did you really think I would do something that resembles conformity? Heck no, I want on that damn list, and I will fart sunshine if it will convince you to share my blog with everybody you know and ever hope to know (and their unborn children, too). Sure, I want links … I want a squillion links, but I want them for the right reasons and I am not taking food off your table to get them. I am not conning anybody for a link to my work. I am sharing information and providing value to my readers. I may even cause you to chuckle now and then, and on a good day I can make you shoot a good load of steamy coffee from your nose. Other days I may piss you off, but if I don’t get a death threat now and then, I just didn’t reach enough people. I have learned that you cannot make butter if you don’t stir the milk and polarize your audience now and then.
I like earning a living, and I am not afraid to say it. I work very hard making money for my clients as a search engine optimizer and social media marketing guy, and I have three kids to feed. The killer instinct is alive and well in Mr. Mark Aaron Murnahan, and the great news is that I am one of those toothpick-wielding grizzly bear hunting SEOs who truly does care about doing things well. I have been in my industry since the mid-1990’s and I have been behind the curtain as many clients’ great Wizard (I live in Kansas, so Wizard of Oz references are dear to me).
OK, so on with my disappointment from TopRank BIGLIST of SEM and SEO Blogs. I want to share 26 things I think TopRank has missed, and ideas to make it better. Oh, and by the way, you may also get some benefit from these useful links to blogs by other search engine optimizers. You see, there I go being useful again … I cannot help it, even when I am pushing another piece of link candy and serving my own agenda.
Listings Missing from TopRank’s BIGLIST of SEM and SEO Blogs
I found a full 26 places (one for each letter of the alphabet) that TopRank missed the mark on that BIGLIST of theirs, and I am going to share them with you. Since it is an alphabetical list of top SEOs, I will go through the 26 missed opportunities to improve their list in alphabetical order. I will include the listings immediately before and after the “oversight”, so it will be easier to reference when you look at the TopRank BIGLIST on their site.
Aussie Internet Marketing Blog – Sean Rasmussen writes “down under” about practical tips on a variety of online marketing topics including SEO, blogging, social media and general web 2.0.
Insert “aWebGuy.com SEO and Social Media Marketing Blog by Murnahan” Here
B2B Online Marketing Blog – The folks at Business.com have put together a fine resource for B2B businesses and marketers with a problem/solution format that includes case studies, conference coverage and insights on search, social media and a few Business.com product posts from time to time.
Beanstalk SEO Blog – Dave Davies blogs about news in the search engine and online marketing industry.
Insert “Bear-Killing SEO Blog by Murnahan” Here
Being Peter Kim – Previously with Forrester Research, Peter Kim now works with an Austin based strategic consulting practice that is developing an enterprise class Social Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) suite. He continues to blog about social computing, social media marketing and insights of high value to internet marketers and business leaders.
Charlene Li’s Blog – Previously a Forrester Analyst, this blog that also covers social computing and digital marketing topics.
Insert “Clever Linkbaiting That Nobody Will Notice by Murnahan” Here
ClickEquations Blog – Craig Danuloff writes this insightful paid search product blog from Commerce 360 on PPC, analytics, and internet marketing in general.
Daily SEO Tip – Search Marketing blog guru Loren Baker and SEO smartie, Ann Smarty have partnered to deliver practical, usefuland often creative SEO tips that are good for new pracitioners as well as experienced online marketers.
Insert “Damn Linkable Stuff by Murnahan” Here
Dan Zarrella – Dan is a self described, “Social Media and Viral Marketing Scientst”, and a web developer who blogs about the social media, viral marketing and SEO focused research he does and tools he’s created like the Link Attraction Factors tools and the recent Tweetbacks blog plugin.
Epiphany Digital Marketing Blog – This UK agency offers a mix of internet marketing posts from agency staffers on search, social and industry topics. Many of the posts go into detail about insights, testing and general observations from solving digital marketing problems.
Insert “Eternally Grateful Linkbaiter by Murnahan” Here
Everett Sizemore – Aka @balibones is the SEO at Gaiam and recently launched this blog dedicated to SEO. Gotta love the tag line because it’s keyword rich AND creative: “SEO Consultant – Organic Farmer of Keywords and Tomatoes”.
Flyte Blog – Rich Brooks writes about web marketing for small business.
Insert “Forever Linkbaiting by Murnahan” Here
Forrester Blog for Interactive Marketing – Excellent group blog from Forrester on various aspects of interactive marketing from B2B social media to search marketing to research and industry news.
Get Elastic Ecommerce Blog – The team at Vancouver BC based Elastic Path, an ecommerce platform, blog all angles of conducting tansactional business online ranging from general marketing to usability to social media. There’s are also a series of podcasts from last summer worth checking out.
Insert “Getting a Toothache from Sweet Link Candy by Murnahan” Here
Google Blogoscoped – Phillip Lenssen’s blog about mostly Google.
Holistic Search Blog – UK based Peter Young blogs mostly about internet marketing topics with an emphasis on tips, commentary and insights related to SEO, PPC and online marketing.
Insert “Honest Marketing Ideas by Murnahan” Here
Hubspot Marketing Blog – The team at HubSpot writes about internet marketing and online lead generation for small business.
I – Com Blog – Searched, designed and developed. That about sums up this Manchester based internet marketing agency blog that covers design, development, copywriting and search marketing.
Insert “I Think This May Pass as Linkbait by Murnahan” Here
Ignite Social Media – Ignite is a social media consultancy with the company web site running as a blog. Topics logically emphasize social media with some optimization flavorings. More information on the post authors and a fix to the 404 on the job openings page would be nice.
Junta42 Blog – Joe Pulizzi takes his own advice and provides great tips and advice on marketing and retaining customers with content which is really spot on if you subscribe to the “give to get” principles of social media marketing.
Insert “Just a Bit More Link Baiting by Murnahan” Here
Justin Freid – As Traffic and Lead Delivery Optimization Manager at Petersons.com, Justin Freid posts his personal insights and tips on SEO, PPC and Social Media on this very new and very well designed blog.
Keyword Driven – This is Acronym Media’s agency blog (55th floor of the Empire State Building) which has a variety of posts on SEO topics, tools and observations from a mix of staff. Although, with just 2 posts in December and only 1 in January, blogging isn’t a high priority at the moment.
Insert “Kids … Did I Mention I Have Kids? by Murnahan” Here
KoMarketing Associates SEM Blog – A group/company blog covering SEO, PPC, events, industry news/trends, tips and a lot of personal insight. These folks are clearly involved in, and have an opinion on, what goes on in the industry.
Local SEO Guide – With Andrew Shotland it’s all about local internet marketing and he blogs it well.
Insert “Look! Another SEO Blog by Murnahan” Here
LyndiT blog gets our attention for great design and user experience in this BIGLIST update. Lyndi Thompson is a Social Media and Online Marketing Specialist and like me, is addicted to peanut M&Ms. Besides writing about a mix of social media, SEO, web design and online marketing topics, you might be interested to know Lyndi lives on a mini farm, owns several animals including a donkey and supports some great causes in the Northwest.
Mannix Marketing Blog – This agency blog focuses mostly on SEO, web design & Internet marketing as well as agency news and involvement with industry events.
Insert “Mark is Just Short for Marketing by Murnahan” Here
Marketer Insight – This is an agency blog from the team at WebSiteBiz covering “current thinking and strategies related to improving online marketing” with search, social media and analytics focused posts from Eric Dudley, Kyle Bumgardner and Tom Dressler.
NLC Internet Marketing Blog – A light posting group blog from the folks at non linear creations.
Insert “No Good Reason to Overlook aWebGuy.com by Murnahan” Here
North South Media Blog – This Scotland based agency blog offers tips, news, interviews and an interesting “Top SEO Companies” feature each month that ranks regional, national and international SEO agencies by keyword rankings.
Online Marketing Blog – Lee Odden and TopRank team members blog about search marketing, social media as well as interviews, reader polls, SEO blog reviews, marketing tips, guest posts from industry leaders and SEM conference coverage.
Insert “Only One BIGLIST Listing is OK by Murnahan” Here
Optimized! – Mary Bowling is an experienced online marketer who writes for a Local Search Marketing column for ClickZ. She’s also blogged her observations and insights about a range of SEO topics and of course, local SEM since December 2007.
Practical Blogging – Adsense, affiliate advertising & general blogging help from Robyn Tippins.
Insert “Pretty Hard to Miss This SEO by Murnahan” Here
Proactive Report – Sally Falkow blogs about online PR and social media
Insert “Quite Interesting Blog by Murnahan” Here – The only “Q” blog on BIGLIST.
Read/WriteWeb – Next generation web technology from Richard MacManus.
Insert “Really Similar to Read/WriteWeb if You Squint Hard Enough by Murnahan” Here
Receptional – Added on November 2007, we’re happy to see this UK based blog re-added to BIGLIST. Dixon Jones and the team at UK internet marketing agency Receptional blog the gamut of web marketing topics including affiliate and search marketing, usability, analytics and social media.
SEO and Tech Daily – The Daily Scoop on SEO, SEM, PPC Trends, Analytics, Web 2.0 start-ups and more!
Insert “SEO and Social Media Marketing Blog by Murnahan” Here
Seoaware Blog – Freelance writer and web designer Melissa Fach blogs about her thoughts on search marketing and points to many articles of interest.
The Leading Edge – PR and social media guru Sally Falkow has her own blog on this list already, but also shares her insights on trends in PR technology for popular PR industry publication Bulldog Reporter. Sally’s advice includes online PR, social media and search marketing.
Insert “The Least Obvious Linkbait Ever by Murnahan” Here
The Search Insider – Not to be confused with MediaPost’s “Search Insider”, this blog from Wpromote’s Mike Mothner provides insight into pay per click and the business of search marketing.
Trail of the Fire Horse – Another excellent Canada based search and social media marketing blog comes this time from the very smart/savvy Dave Harry aka “the Gypsy”.
Insert “Underestimated SEO by Murnahan” Here
Understanding Google Maps & Yahoo Local Search – The title of this blog by Mike Blumenthal says it all.
Vertical Measures Blog – This Phoenix, AZ agency blog focuses on SEO, link building, agency events and industry observations, Posts are written mostly by Social Media Architect, Kaila Strong.
Insert “Very Underestimated SEO by Murnahan” Here
VIZION Blog – Search Engine Watch columnist Mark Jackson and his team at VIZION blog about a wide range of SEO topics, worth subscribing to for sure.
WebConnoisseur – Dustin Woodard’s thoughts on search, web analytics and the web in general.
Insert “Web Guys Don’t Linkbait by Murnahan” Here
Web Ink Now – David Meerman Scott helps innovative marketers use digital information effectively.
Insert “X Should Be SEO’d Too by Murnahan” Here
Yoast Tweaking Web sites – This blog from Joost de Valk covers web design and SEO from the Netherlands.
Insert “Yoast Who? I’ll Show You Yoast by Murnahan” Here
Yodel Anecdotal – Yahoo! company blog.
Insert “Zen SEO by Murnahan” Here
This concludes my list of 26 Ways to Improve TopRank’s BIGLIST of SEO. Now, I know I am not supposed to do this, because people don’t like to see other people get ahead. However, if you want to share this with others who may find it to be interesting, I will tip my big white SEO hat to you.
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