Bluewire Top 10 – Brian Dean, Neil Patel, Robert Rose, Ramsay Taplin & More

Posted by Will Blunt

I was wrong.

Before starting the Bluewire Top 10, I thought I read a lot of content.

But as I was sitting down to construct this week’s instalment it got me thinking.

It felt like I was learning more than ever, the ‘aha’ moments were coming thick and fast as I read through the candidates for this week’s list.

Turns out I was reading lots, but I wasn’t getting as clear as I should be on what was important.

Reading, and re-reading the best web marketing content available every week has been a revelation.

Every week it challenges me to think, to test my assumptions and to find a new path.

It’s kind of awesome.

Here are my big takeaways from the top 10 this week:

• Patience, quality content and trust are core ingredients to an effective SEO strategy
• Blogging and social media doesn’t have to consume our life, there are decisions we can make to be more productive and prioritise
• Link bait headlines will get you eyeballs, but building trust requires a much deeper understanding of your customers
• Content marketing is a winning mindset, but ads are still the easiest way to track ROI
• Getting traffic isn’t about luck, it’s a scientific formula and a whole bunch of hard work

As always, check out the articles that resonate most for your current context.

When you do, connect with the authors and share their content.

But most importantly, seek to learn. I guarantee there is at least one thing you can learn from these articles.

Take this as an opportunity to discover that one thing, and apply it to your marketing efforts next week.

Here we go then, this week’s Bluewire Top 10.

10. 19 Tools Our Remote Team Uses to Stay Connected, Productive and Sane

Groove HQ Blog

Author: Alex Turnbull (Connect with Alex on Twitter @alexmturnbull)

Punchline: I’ve been following the Groove HQ blog for a little while now. It morphed from a start up blog, to a content marketing blog to something which is much more focused on customer service and productivity. One thing you can be sure of is that Alex will slam dunk whatever topic he chooses to talk about. This article is no different. If you are looking to manage remote staff or just want to discover some cool productivity and collaboration tools, this is a must read.

9. What To Do When Content Marketing Fails To Improve SEO Performance

Search Engine Land

Author: Derek Edmond (Connect with Derek on Twitter @DerekEdmond)

Punchline: Derek talks about a few specifics when it comes to content marketing and getting found in search results. He urges you to tick a few important boxes, and then play the waiting game. Genuine search traffic is a long term strategy and continually turning up with better, more trustworthy content is your only option.

8. How To Make An SEO Content Strategy That Will Improve Your #1–3 Results By 248%

CoSchedule

Author: Nathan Ellering (Connect with Nathan on Twitter @njellering)

Punchline: Nailed it. Nathan offers the key points from the top 10 search results for ‘SEO Content Strategy’. Then he goes one step further to break down everything that has worked for CoSchedule. You will take away a step-by-step plan to skyrocket your search rankings… Worth a look.

7. How to Make Time to Blog

Blog Tyrant

Author: Ramsay Taplin (Connect with Ramsay on Twitter @BlogTyrant)

Punchline: Turns out we are all facing a common problem when it comes to blogging – finding the time to do it. Ramsay shares some killer tips on how he has overcome this challenge himself; including prioritisation, setting timelines and automating schedules.

6. 5 Twitter Tools to Boost Your Productivity

Social Media Examiner

Author: Kerry Butters (Connect with Kerry on Twitter @kesbutters)

Punchline: Social media is a massive time sucker – and somewhat of an achilles heal of mine. It’s certainly captured my procrastination moments many times before, and I’m sure it will again in the future. That’s why I love finding new ways to optimise and automate to improve my social media productivity. Kerry provides a bunch of helpful tools you can use to make Twitter more effective, and less confronting.

5. Start Smart, Scale Up, and Stand Out With Video

Content Marketing Institute

Author: Robert Rose (Connect with Robert on Twitter @Robert_Rose)

Punchline: In this post, Robert dives head on into video content. Everyone wants it, but how do we adapt our organisations to enable us to create it? This is a provocative, well thought out and actionable article.

4. The Keys to High-Converting, No-Hype, No-BS Copy

The Daily Egg (Crazy Egg)

Author: Peter Boyle (Connect with Peter on Twitter @P_J_Boyle)

Punchline: This one is a gem from Peter Boyle. It helps us understand how to write compelling copy that builds trust with our customers – rather than just hype.

3. 7 Simple Google AdWords Hacks That’ll Drive More Qualified Leads

NeilPatel.com

Author: Neil Patel (Connect with Neil on Twitter @neilpatel)

Punchline: I might sound like a broken record, but Neil Patel just keeps coming up with the goods. With the world obsessed with content marketing, in this post Neil offers a fresh look at paid advertising and how it can be up to 56% more effective than social media at driving profit.

2. 21 Advanced Strategies to Drive More Free Website Traffic Today

Copytactics

Author: Michael Karp (Connect with Michael on Twitter @_MichaelKarp)

Punchline: Guilty – this post was actually published about a month ago. But seeing I only discovered it this week, I felt compelled to share. And it was well worth the wait! Michael breaks down 21 strategies you can use right now to get more free website traffic. It’s a goldmine.

1. A Data-Driven Guide to Creating Viral Blog Posts [Infographic]

Backlinko

Author: Brian Dean (Connect with Brian on Twitter @Backlinko)

Punchline: Brian has packed a ton of useful information into this guide on making your content go viral. There is an infographic, over 20 specific tips and a whole bunch of proven evidence on how you can create content that goes viral. Epic!

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