Content Chemistry by Andy Crestodina: the science of content marketing

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Andy Crestodina

Bonus: Download the 33 free templates from Web Marketing That Works by Adam Franklin & Toby Jenkins

Andy Crestodina is a content marketer who I have followed and tried to emulate since I met him at his “wine & web” evening in Chicago last year. Andy’s name has been popping up as a guest blogger on some of the best marketing blogs, and I’ve been keen to learn his secrets. Plus we all know we need to create remarkable content, get back links from popular sites and attract quality traffic… but what does that look like and how do we do it? In his book, Content Chemistry, he reveals what you need to do.

In a similar vein to the “Hubspot’s social media scientist” Dan Zarrella, Andy takes a scientific approach to marketing, which I love. What few people know about me is that I am a content marketing person with a biochemistry degree! So this book had me at the title: “Content Chemistry“.

Whilst I suspect I am in a small boat my marketing/chemistry credentials, there is plenty for content marketers to learn from Andy’s illustrated handbook. It’s perfect for content marketers who have got their blog, social media and email marketing off the ground, but who want to raise the roof on their results.

The cliff notes version

From the moment you read the cover, Andy makes things super simple; to be successful, websites must do two things:
1. Attract visitors and:
2. Convert those visitors into leads and customers.

In order to do this, web marketers must do two things:
1. Create content and
2. Promote it.

Andy is a true practitioner and he explains the concepts with such simplicity that you are left feeling inspired not overwhelmed. It really is a nuts and bolts approach to the science of Search, Social and Email Marketing. Here are my Top 3 insights.

1. How to assess a blog to target for a guest post

From page 95: The benefits of guest blogging are enormous — new readers, back links and the chance to flex your writing muscles! However with millions of blogs out there, how do you approach the right ones? Use Moz’s free tools Open Site Explorer which tells you how many inbound links a blog has and its Domain Authority. Andy encourages us to focus on blogs with a Domain Authority of 40-70 since they will pass on a lot of “trust” and will still be attainable!

2. Get Jon Morrow’s headline cheat sheet

From page 102: Jon Morrow is a blogger and headline-writing extraordinaire that I discovered through this book. Jon’s free e-book is called 52 Headline Hacks: A “Cheat Sheet” for Writing Blog Posts That Go Viral. It’s free, so download it now!

3. Get your picture in Google Results

From page 66: You know some people’s faces show up in Google results? Did you know they can get 150% more clicks that other results, even if it’s not the No.1 spot?

Andy give the low down on how to this. Here’s a link to see Andy’s video version.

Buy Content Chemistry

You can buy Content Chemistry from Amazon or from Andy directly.

Connect with Andy

Follow @crestodina on Twitter or visit Andy’s Orbit Media website.

Content marketing e-book

If you’re into content marketing feel free to download our latest free e-book Content Marketing Magic – it’s got exclusive interviews with Joe Pulizzi, David Meerman Scott, Kevin Daum, Tim Reid, Andrew Griffiths and more!

Disclosure: I was sent a free copy of this book by the author, Andy Crestodina, and he has become a friend in the last few years. And here’s my 5 star Amazon review.

About the Author
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About Adam Franklin

Adam Franklin is the co-author of Web Marketing That Works. He also released 33 free marketing templates (free download). He is co-host of the top rating iTunes podcast, is an international social media speaker and marketing manager of Bluewire Media.