The worthwhile ones do more than summarise yesterday’s LinkedIn posts. They bring you an original idea, a useful framework, a well-researched example, or a tactic you can apply to real work.

This is my curated list of the best marketing newsletters to read in 2026. It covers growth, paid advertising, social media, go-to-market strategy, content, buyer psychology, AI, and newsletter growth.

There is no single “best” newsletter for every marketer. The right choice depends on what you are trying to get better at. If you only want the short version, start with the quick picks below.

How I selected these marketing newsletters

I work in growth and paid advertising and have held growth roles across 50+ technology companies in Europe, the UK, and the US. I read marketing newsletters to find ideas I can use—not to collect more unread email.

For this guide, I looked for newsletters that meet most of these criteria:

• Originality: The writer adds a point of view, research, examples, or firsthand experience rather than repackaging common advice.
• Practical value: A reader can apply the ideas to strategy, creative, campaigns, content, or team decisions.
• Subject expertise: The creator has credible experience in the topic they cover.
• Peer readership: I also checked which newsletters respected creators read themselves. This is not a formal endorsement, but it is a useful quality signal: for example, Kyle Poyar reads Maja Voje’s work, and Maja reads Karola Karlson’s.
• Consistency: The newsletter is active enough to become a reliable reading habit.
• Editorial quality: The writing is clear, specific, and worth opening.
• A defined audience: The newsletter knows who it is for and what problem it solves.

Subscriber numbers and publishing schedules change, so treat them as snapshots rather than permanent facts. The list was checked in August 2026.

Best marketing newsletters: quick picks by use case

• Newsletter and audience growth: Growth in Reverse
• Creator businesses: Creator Science
• Practical growth and paid social: Marketing Fix by Karola Karlson
• Newsletter monetisation: Newsletter Operator
• Practical AI workflows: Behind the Craft
• Go-to-market strategy: GTM Strategist
• Product-led and B2B growth: Growth Unhinged
• Product and startup operators: Lenny’s Newsletter
• Social media strategy: Link in Bio
• Buyer psychology: Why We Buy
• AI for marketing leaders: The AI Marketing Generalist

Best marketing newsletters at a glance

The order below is editorial, not an objective universal ranking. I have grouped newsletters by where they are most useful.

Swipe the table sideways to see all columns →

Best newsletters for newsletter and creator growth

1. Growth in Reverse by Chenell Basilio

Best for: Newsletter operators, creators, and marketers building an owned audience
Frequency: Weekly
Format: Free newsletter

Growth in Reverse is one of the most useful newsletters about newsletter growth because Chenell Basilio does the research most writers skip.

Each edition reverse-engineers how a creator grew an audience: where the first subscribers came from, which lead magnets worked, how referrals were designed, and what caused growth to accelerate or stall. The result feels less like generic creator advice and more like an annotated case study.

The lessons also travel well beyond newsletters. Product and growth teams can borrow the same ideas for onboarding, referrals, segmentation, and community-led acquisition.

Start here: 7 Newsletter Growth Strategies From Studying Top Creators.

Not ideal for: Readers looking for broad marketing news or quick daily updates.

2. Creator Science by Jay Clouse

Best for: Creators and solopreneurs building content-led businesses
Frequency: Weekly
Format: Free newsletter with paid products and community

Creator Science treats creator growth as a discipline rather than a collection of hacks. Jay Clouse shares experiments, observations, and business decisions with unusual transparency.

Expect thoughtful writing on content strategy, memberships, audience trust, monetisation, and the role of AI in creative work. Jay is especially good at exploring the trade-offs behind a decision: what sounds attractive, what the data showed, and what changed after the experiment.

It is a strong choice if you want to build a durable creator business without pretending that every post, product, or launch will work.

Start here: The Barbell Content Strategy.

Not ideal for: In-house marketers who only want campaign tactics.

3. Marketing Fix by Karola Karlson

Editor’s pick for: Experienced in-house marketers and startup founders who want practical growth and paid-social guidance from an active practitioner
Frequency: Bi-weekly
Format: Free newsletter on Substack

Marketing Fix by Karola Karlson focuses on the parts of startup marketing that are not working—and what to do about them.

Issues cover topics such as diagnosing a Meta ad account that has stopped scaling, improving a landing page, building a growth strategy, evaluating creative, and using AI without replacing judgement. The advice draws on Karola’s 12 years in growth roles and work across 50+ technology companies in Europe, the UK, and the US.

The tone is practitioner-to-practitioner: direct, specific, and willing to say when a popular tactic is overhyped. Each edition also includes cultural recommendations intended to help marketers develop stronger taste alongside technical skill.

Representative issues: 95 Marketing Audit Questions and Meta Ad Examples.

Honest limitation: Marketing Fix is bi-weekly and selective, so it is not the right source for daily platform news or exhaustive coverage of every marketing channel.

4. Newsletter Operator by Matt McGarry

Best for: Founders and creators treating newsletters as media businesses
Frequency: Weekly
Format: Free newsletter

Newsletter Operator goes deep on the mechanics of growing and monetising an email audience.

Matt McGarry writes about paid subscriber acquisition, list quality, deliverability, engagement, sponsorships, and newsletter economics. His perspective is grounded in hands-on work growing large newsletters rather than theory alone.

The best issues connect individual tactics to the underlying business model. You learn not only how to acquire a subscriber, but when that acquisition method makes financial sense and what has to happen after someone joins the list.

Start here: Are newsletters still worth it?

Not ideal for: Marketers who do not operate a newsletter or media product.

Best newsletters for GTM, product, and B2B growth

5. Behind the Craft by Peter Yang

Best for: Product managers, engineers, and tech professionals who want practical AI workflows
Frequency: Weekly
Format: Free and paid content

Behind the Craft has evolved from a creator-economy publication into a practical guide to working with AI.

Peter Yang publishes tutorials on prototyping, AI agents, MCP, Claude Code, prompts, and other hands-on workflows. His product experience at companies including Roblox, Reddit, Amazon, and Meta gives him a useful filter for separating tools that improve real work from tools that merely produce a good demo.

Choose it if you want to build with AI, not just read predictions about it.

Not ideal for: Readers looking for classic brand, advertising, or content-marketing advice.

6. GTM Strategist by Maja Voje

Best for: Startup founders, marketers, and operators building a go-to-market motion
Frequency: Weekly
Format: Free newsletter with paid resources

GTM Strategist makes go-to-market strategy concrete.

Maja Voje combines frameworks with examples, checklists, and company teardowns. Topics include ideal customer profiles, positioning, channels, founder-led sales, product launches, and the transition from early traction to a repeatable growth motion.

The newsletter is particularly useful for teams that know they need “GTM” but are still untangling what that means in practice. It connects strategy to the decisions a small team must make this week.

Not ideal for: Large-company marketers looking for mature-enterprise operations advice.

7. Growth Unhinged by Kyle Poyar

Best for: B2B SaaS leaders working on product-led growth, pricing, and monetisation
Frequency: Weekly
Format: Free newsletter

Growth Unhinged is one of the strongest newsletters for understanding how modern software companies grow.

Kyle Poyar writes about product-led growth, packaging, pricing, sales-assisted conversion, AI business models, and go-to-market benchmarks. Issues often combine operator interviews, original data, and a clear point of view.

It is especially valuable when your question sits between product, marketing, sales, and finance—such as how to package an AI feature or when self-serve growth needs human support.

Not ideal for: Consumer marketers or readers looking for campaign-level tactics.

8. How They Grow by Jaryd Hermann

Best for: Growth practitioners who enjoy detailed company teardowns
Frequency: Irregular
Format: Free and paid content

How They Grow publishes long, carefully structured analyses of how notable companies acquired users, built loops, and expanded.

The strongest pieces connect several growth mechanisms instead of isolating a single tactic. You see how positioning, product experience, distribution, retention, and network effects reinforce one another.

The trade-off is cadence. Publishing has been infrequent, so treat the archive as a reference library rather than a newsletter you will reliably receive every week.

Not ideal for: Readers who prefer short, frequent dispatches.

9. Demand Curve Growth Newsletter

Best for: Startup marketers who want tactical growth guidance across channels
Frequency: Weekly
Format: Free newsletter

The Demand Curve newsletter covers acquisition, landing pages, conversion, content, email, and paid growth in a direct, structured format.

Its main strength is breadth without becoming pure news aggregation. The writing usually turns a marketing problem into a framework, checklist, or set of examples that a team can test.

It works well as a general growth-marketing subscription, especially for early-stage teams that need useful ideas across several channels rather than deep expertise in only one.

Not ideal for: Specialists looking for advanced depth in one narrow discipline.

10. Lenny’s Newsletter by Lenny Rachitsky

Best for: Product managers, founders, and growth leaders
Frequency: Weekly
Format: Free and paid newsletter with community access

Lenny’s Newsletter has become a broad operating manual for product-led technology companies.

Lenny Rachitsky combines interviews, benchmarks, tactical guides, and expert contributions on product management, growth, hiring, leadership, marketplaces, and startups. The archive is large enough that it often works better as a searchable reference than a conventional newsletter.

Its scale attracts strong contributors and detailed operator stories. The paid tier is most useful for readers who will also use the archive and community, not just skim the weekly email.

Not ideal for: Marketers who only want advertising and campaign execution.

11. Elena’s Growth Scoop by Elena Verna

Best for: Growth leaders, product-led companies, and marketers developing their growth careers
Frequency: Weekly
Format: Free and paid content

Elena’s Growth Scoop is candid, opinionated, and rooted in senior growth experience.

Elena Verna writes about product-led growth, growth models, retention, experimentation, career progression, team design, and the realities of leading growth inside companies. She is particularly good at naming organisational problems that teams often misdiagnose as channel problems.

Read it when you want to understand not only what a growth team should test, but how the company must be structured for that work to succeed.

Not ideal for: Beginners who need step-by-step channel tutorials.

Best newsletters for social media marketing

12. Link in Bio by Rachel Karten

Best for: Social media managers, strategists, and brand marketers
Frequency: Twice weekly
Format: Free and paid newsletter

Link in Bio is one of the most grounded newsletters about running social media for brands.

Rachel Karten combines interviews with social managers, platform observations, campaign examples, and practical commentary on the work behind a brand account. The writing respects social media as a craft rather than reducing it to posting frequency and engagement hacks.

It is especially useful for people responsible for editorial judgement, community tone, and explaining the value of social work internally.

Not ideal for: Readers looking primarily for paid-social buying tactics.

13. Social Files by Tommy Clark

Best for: B2B founders and marketers using LinkedIn and founder-led social
Frequency: Weekly
Format: Free newsletter

Social Files focuses on the systems behind effective B2B social content.

Tommy Clark writes about LinkedIn strategy, founder-led distribution, content formats, hooks, team workflows, and the difference between posts that earn attention and posts that sound like corporate filler.

The advice is most useful for B2B teams where the founder or subject-matter expert is part of the distribution strategy.

Not ideal for: Consumer social teams working mainly on TikTok, Instagram, or community management.

14. The Social Juice by Jaskaran Singh

Best for: Marketers who want a quick mix of social-media news and practical ideas
Frequency: Weekly
Format: Free newsletter

The Social Juice curates social-platform updates, examples, tools, and tactical observations in a readable format.

It is useful when you want enough industry awareness to stay current without opening a dozen tabs or following every platform employee. The mix is broader and faster than a deep specialist publication.

Not ideal for: Readers looking for one sustained argument or a detailed research report in every issue.

15. Geekout by Matt Navarra

Best for: Social media professionals who need to track platform changes
Frequency: Weekly
Format: Free newsletter

Geekout is a reliable briefing on what social platforms are testing, launching, changing, or quietly removing.

Matt Navarra has spent years tracking product updates across Meta, TikTok, LinkedIn, X, YouTube, and emerging platforms. The newsletter is useful because many social features roll out unevenly and are poorly documented.

Subscribe if platform changes affect your day-to-day work and you need a compact weekly scan.

Not ideal for: Readers who want evergreen strategy rather than news.

Best newsletters for paid advertising

16. The Performers by Aazar Ali Shad

Best for: Performance marketers and creative strategists working on paid social
Frequency: Weekly
Format: Free newsletter

The Performers focuses on Meta ads, performance creative, testing, and campaign execution.

Aazar Ali Shad’s strongest issues break down the relationship between the offer, message, creative concept, and media-buying result. That makes the newsletter useful for both paid-social buyers and the creative teams supporting them.

Choose it if you want specialist paid-social ideas rather than a broad marketing digest.

Not ideal for: Readers focused mainly on organic growth or brand strategy.

17. Bram’s Buzz by Bram Van der Hallen

Best for: Meta advertisers who need product and policy updates
Frequency: Approximately monthly
Format: Free LinkedIn newsletter

Bram’s Buzz covers changes to Meta Ads, including campaign features, measurement, automation, and platform direction.

The value is specificity. Instead of scanning general marketing news for the few items that matter to an advertiser, you get a concentrated view of Meta’s ecosystem from someone who follows it closely.

Not ideal for: Readers who need weekly tactical tutorials or coverage beyond Meta.

Best newsletters for buyer psychology and marketing ideas

18. Why We Buy by Katelyn Bourgoin

Best for: Marketers, founders, and copywriters who want to understand buyer behaviour
Frequency: Weekly
Format: Free newsletter

Why We Buy explains behavioural science in a way marketers can use.

Katelyn Bourgoin takes concepts such as social proof, loss aversion, framing, and choice architecture and connects them to familiar buying situations. The best issues help you see why a message or offer works rather than simply telling you to copy it.

It is an accessible starting point for marketers who want stronger customer research, messaging, and conversion thinking.

Not ideal for: Readers looking for platform news or media-buying advice.

19. Marketing Ideas by Tom Orbach

Best for: Marketers who want unusual campaign ideas and creative prompts
Frequency: Twice weekly
Format: Free and paid content

Marketing Ideas is built for marketers who are tired of seeing the same playbook repeated.

Tom Orbach shares unconventional tactics, examples, and provocations designed to help readers generate ideas. Some suggestions will fit your brand and others will not; the point is to widen the option set before you default to another generic campaign.

Use it as creative stimulus, then apply your own judgement to the execution.

Not ideal for: Teams looking for a complete, evidence-heavy strategy in every issue.

Best newsletter for B2B content marketing

20. Pierre’s Content Guides by Pierre Herubel

Best for: B2B founders and marketers building a content system
Frequency: Weekly
Format: Free and paid content

Pierre’s Content Guides covers B2B content strategy, writing, distribution, repurposing, and the systems needed to publish consistently.

Pierre Herubel’s work is strongest when it turns an abstract content goal into a repeatable workflow. The newsletter is useful for small teams that cannot rely on a large editorial department but still need content to support pipeline and authority.

Not ideal for: Consumer brands or readers looking for paid-media guidance.

Best newsletter for AI in marketing

21. The AI Marketing Generalist by Kieran Flanagan

Best for: Marketing and GTM leaders building AI into their operating systems
Frequency: Weekly
Format: Free newsletter

The AI Marketing Generalist is aimed at marketers who want to move from experimenting with prompts to redesigning workflows.

Kieran Flanagan, formerly SVP of Marketing at HubSpot, writes about AI-assisted research, content systems, agentic workflows, Claude Code, and the changing structure of go-to-market teams.

The newsletter is more technical than most marketing publications. That is a strength if you are ready to build, test, and connect tools rather than only read high-level AI predictions.

Not ideal for: Marketers seeking non-technical beginner guides.

Best general marketing newsletters

22. The Marketing Millennials by Daniel Murray

Best for: Marketers who want a broad, accessible mix of tactics and trends
Frequency: Three times weekly
Format: Free newsletter

The Marketing Millennials covers a wide range of topics in a conversational style, from brand and content to social media and campaign ideas.

Daniel Murray has built a large marketing audience across the newsletter, podcast, and LinkedIn. The breadth makes this a useful orientation tool for early-career marketers and generalists.

The high publishing frequency is the trade-off: not every issue will match your role, but the variety is the reason to subscribe.

Not ideal for: Specialists who only want advanced depth in one channel.

23. Deez Links by Delia Cai

Best for: Media professionals and marketers working at the intersection of culture, content, and the internet
Frequency: Several times weekly
Format: Free and paid newsletter

Deez Links is not a conventional marketing newsletter. Delia Cai writes about media, culture, publishing, and what the internet is paying attention to.

That makes it valuable for marketers whose work depends on taste, storytelling, and cultural awareness. The links-format curation also helps readers discover writing and ideas outside the standard marketing echo chamber.

Not ideal for: Readers who want tactical campaign checklists.

More marketing newsletters worth subscribing to

The 23 newsletters above are the main recommendations. These additional publications are also worth exploring when they match your role:

• Behind the CMO: Interviews and resources for senior marketing leaders who want the CMO perspective.
• Ahrefs’ Digest: SEO and content-marketing guidance backed by strong product data and original research.
• Buffer’s Social Media Newsletter: Accessible social-media strategy for small teams and creators.
• SparkToro: Rand Fishkin on audience research, zero-click behaviour, and the changing search landscape.
• Marketing Brew: A broad industry briefing covering advertising, agencies, brands, social platforms, and media.
• Marketing Examples: Harry Dry’s visual breakdowns of copy, landing pages, campaigns, and positioning.
• Total Annarchy: Ann Handley on writing, content, voice, and the craft of communicating clearly.
• ICYMI: Lia Haberman’s detailed coverage of influencer marketing, creators, and social platforms.
• Stacked Marketer: A fast daily briefing across paid ads, SEO, social media, analytics, and conversion.
• Growth Memo: Kevin Indig on SEO, organic growth, AI search, and the strategy behind sustainable acquisition.
• Really Good Emails: A searchable collection of real email design and copy examples rather than a traditional editorial newsletter.
• Future Commerce: Thoughtful writing on brand, culture, technology, and commerce for DTC and retail leaders.
• The Daily Carnage: A daily collection of campaigns, tools, trends, and creative inspiration.
• Swipe Files: Corey Haines’ examples, teardowns, and frameworks for marketers who learn by studying real work.

How to choose the right marketing newsletters

A long list is only useful if it helps you build a better reading habit.

Start with two newsletters:

1. One specialist newsletter for the skill closest to your work—paid social, product growth, social media, content, or AI.
2. One broader newsletter that exposes you to ideas outside your immediate role.

After a month, keep the newsletters that regularly make you save, forward, test, or discuss something. Unsubscribe from the ones you admire in theory but never open.

The goal is not to build the world’s most impressive inbox. It is to find a small set of writers who improve your decisions.

Frequently asked questions about marketing newsletters

Prefer blogs or books? See my picks of the best marketing blogs and 80+ marketing books, or read how to learn marketing from scratch.

A final recommendation

Do not subscribe to all 35+ newsletters.

Choose the one that matches the problem you are solving now. Read three recent issues before subscribing. If the writing gives you a useful idea, a better question, or a decision you can make differently, it has earned a place in your inbox.

The post 37 Best Marketing Newsletters in 2026, Picked by a Growth Marketer appeared first on Marketing Fix blog.

When searching for the list of best books on marketing to read, I came across many articles, but none of them showcased the latest books combined with my favourite classics.

So I decided to create my own, the most recommended part of this article being the cult marketing books list that I honestly think every marketer should read.

This article mentions more than 80 digital marketing and branding books from the 1960s through to 2019, each having something special to teach you – from creating advertising strategies to building the products that get people hooked.

Here’s a quick list of the 10 books I highly recommend, with a link to their Amazon pages, in case you prefer to quickly browse through.

My favourite 10 marketing books of all time:

1. Thinking, Fast and Slow, by Daniel Kahneman
2. Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert Cialdini
3. Ogilvy on Advertising by David Ogilvy
4. Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World by Adam Grant
5. Start with Why by Simon Sinek
6. The New Rules of Marketing and PR by David Scott
7. Everybody Writes by Ann Handley
8. Contagious: Why Things Catch On by Jonah Berger
9. Growth Hacker Marketing by Ryan Holiday
10. The Advertising Concept Book by Pete Barry

And now, an in-depth list of all the best marketing books covering everything from digital to branding to growth hacking.

The best marketing books published in 2019/2020

1. InstaBrain: The New Rules for Marketing to Generation Z by Sarah Weise

This book is definitely going to my reading list as a promising way to learn the latest Instagram advertising hacks.

Learn what gets people hooked on Instagram, how the audiences make their purchasing decisions, and how to tailor your marketing strategy to attract young audiences.

Learn more about Instagram ads by checking out this list of the best Instagram ads from leading brands.

The key thing you will learn: How to succeed in Instagram marketing and create content that the millennial audiences want to engage with.

2. Digital Marketing Strategy: An Integrated Approach to Online Marketing by Simon Kingsnorth

This second edition of the bestselling digital marketing guide, published in 2019, provides a step-by-step framework for planning, using, and measuring of all popular digital platforms and marketing tactics.

Ranging from social media marketing, SEO, content creation and UX to customer loyalty, automation and personalized advertising, this book features cutting-edge best practices on marketing automation, messaging and email, online and offline integration, the power of technologies such as AI, and even covers the new data protection and privacy strategies.

The key thing you will learn: A quick overview of various digital marketing channels.

3. Becoming A Digital Marketer: Gaining the Hard & Soft Skills for a Tech-Driven Marketing Career by Gil Gildner

Want to get started as a digital marketer but have no idea where to start? This book is a good road guide for both fresh university graduates as well as traditional marketers.

The book touches upon topics from online advertising campaigns to building websites, understanding SEO strategy, and succeeding with email marketing.

A good overall guide that points you towards a wide range of digital marketing topics to dig deeper.

The key thing you will learn: A quick overview of various digital marketing channels.

4. Conversational Marketing: How the World’s Fastest Growing Companies Use Chatbots to Generate Leads 24/7/365 by David Cancel

Here’s the full title of this book: Conversational Marketing: How the World’s Fastest Growing Companies Use Chatbots to Generate Leads 24/7/365 (and How You Can Too). Qiute self-explanatory, right?

Modern messaging apps like Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp have transformed the way we interact with each other. Everyone is used to the instant messaging and getting an answer fast. Conversational chatbot marketing is focused on real-time, one-on-one conversations with customers.

The key thing you will learn: How the chatbot marketing works and how to use technology to automatically convert more leads to clients.

5. Email Marketing Demystified by Matthew Paulson

Full name of the book: : Email Marketing Demystified: Build a Massive Mailing List, Write Copy that Converts and Generate More Sales

Email marketing can be an amazingly effective (and free!) marketing channel. In this marketing book, the author Matthew Paulson presents an impressive list of little-known email marketing tactics – to build big mailing lists, write copy that converts, and to turn the readers into customers.

The book will teach you how to:

• Build a massive mailing list
• Write engaging email copy that drivers the readers to take action.
• Optimize every step of your email marketing funnel
• Keep your emails out of the spam folders

Released in 2019, the new second edition of Email Marketing Demystified includes new strategies, including how to comply with GDPR regulations and how to benefit from web push notifications.

The key thing you will learn: Howw to get started with email marketing and build a big email list fast.

6. This Is Marketing: You Can’t Be Seen Until You Learn to See by Seth Godin

All Seth Godin books are instant marketing bestsellers.

His latest book explains how marketing is essentially offering a solution to your customers’ problems. Instead of spammy emails and irrelevant online ads, Godin teched you how to really tap into the conversation and engage your audiences with marketing that matters to them.

Among other things, you will learn how to:

• Build trust with your target audience
• Smartly position your brand
• Build a product and brand that people deeply care about
• Use powerful storytelling as a marketing strategy

The key thing you will learn: How to build a brand nad marketing strategy that creates real value for your audience.

7. SEO 2019: Learn Search Engine Optimization With Smart Internet Marketing Strategies by Adam Clarke

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) best practices change every year, with Google’s algorithms getting more and more complex.

Based on a 2014 bestseller, here’s an up-to-date version to SEO in 2019 by Google-certified exert Adam Clarke – a must-read for anyone serious about gaining organic website traffic.

Read more: How to grow your organic blog traffic from 1.6k to 32k in six months

The key thing you will learn: The latest SEO best practices from page speed optimization to mobile-responsive landing pages.

8. 3 Months to No.1: The 2019 “No-Nonsense” SEO Playbook for Getting Your Website Found on Google9

by Will Coombe

Running a successful SEO agency in London, Will Coombe’s in a great position to teach you how to reach the top of Google search results.

You will learn how to:

• Do SEO on your own or build an in-house team
• Do keyword research to unveil the low-hanging fruits
• Boost your organic search rankings with the help of social media

The key thing you will learn: How to get started with SEO and increase the organic traffic to your website.

The best cult marketing books

9. Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman

I can’t praise this book enough and will always give it the credit for teaching me about behavioral economics and psychological triggers that get people’s attention.

Explaining the cognitive biases we all have – from playing the stock market to planning our next vacation – Kahneman opens up a completely new world of behavioral sciences that every marketer should be aware of. Knowing about the psychological system shaping our judgments and decisions will help you create a stronger marketing strategy and come up with branding campaigns that get people truly engaged.

The book is an international bestseller and was selected by The New York Times Book Review as one of the ten best books of 2011. I’d also say it’s one of the best marketing books for students.

The key thing you will learn: How irrational the human brain can be and how to use this knowledge to your advantage in business.

10. Contagious: Why Things Catch On by Jonah Berger

The New York Times bestseller that explains why some specific products and brands become popular. If you’re looking to build a product that people want to share with their family and friends, this book will give you some nice ideas.

You will learn how six basic principles can help almost anything to become contagious, from consumer products and policy initiatives to Instagram posts.

The key thing you will learn: How to build virality into your product and brand and creates messages, ads, and content that people will want to share.

11. Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products by Nir Eyal

In this marketing book, Nir Eyal combines many years of research, consulting, and practical experience to explain a four-step process to creating “sticky” products (think Facebook and Instagram for example).

The author will share:

• Practical tips and hacks to create user habits that stick

• Actionable steps for building products people can’t get enough of

• Impressive examples from the iPhone to social media platforms

The key thing you will learn: How to create and market products that keep the users hooked over a long period of time.

12. Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert Cialdini

This book is also available in Amazon Audible for listening.

Influence is one of the cult marketing books that keep getting reprinted over and over again. It never gets old as the human brain will always be working the same way. Writing this article, I realized I’d like to give it a third round of reading.

Teaching about the art of persuasion, the book explains how to get people to say “yes” to you.

The key thing you will learn: How to use the six universal principles (reciprocity, scarcity, authority, consistency, liking, consensus) to convince people about anything.

13. Ogilvy on Advertising by David Ogilvy

“When I write an advertisement, I don’t want you to find it ‘creative.’ I want you to find it so interesting that you buy the product.”

This quote from the book by advertising legend David Ogilvy, first published in 1985, is still relevant today. One of the key things I learned from the book is that your brand needs to have a strong USP (Unique Selling Proposition) that you keep communicating throughout your marketing activities and ads.

The key thing you will learn: How to find your product’s USP and gradually build a strong brand that people relate to a unique benefit.

Read my long review of the book here: 18 Golden Advertising Rules by Marketing Legends

14. The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing by Al Ries and Jack Trout

“The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing” is a classic marketing book that covers topics from leadership to product marketing. You’ll be surprised by how many marketing tactics that were working 20 years ago are still relevant today.

The key thing you will learn: The basics of how to acquire a successful marketer’s mindset.

15. Pre-suasion: A Revolutionary Way to Influence and Persuade by Robert Cialdini

This is the follow-up marketing psychology book that Cialdini wrote years after his initial bestseller Influence. I must admit that I was gravely disappointed with the book, the first one having been one of my favourite marketing books of all time.

According to the author, in order to change “minds,” a pre-suader must also change “states of mind.” Cialdini draws on a list of studies and stories to outline the specific techniques you can use in both online and offline marketing campaigns.

These insights will help you in two primary areas, making it one of the best books to learn marketing:

• Persuading your in-house team and managers to support your marketing strategy
• persuading your target audiences to take appropriate action

The key thing you will learn: How prime your target audience before delivering an important message, so that they’re more receptive to it.

16. Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World by Adam Grant

Grant’s #1 New York Times bestseller examines how people (like me and you) can champion new ideas, and how to avoid falling into groupthink.

How can we come up with new ideas, policies, and practices without risking it all? This business book uses a wide array of stories and case studies spanning business, politics, sports, and entertainment, and teaches the reader to think outside of the box and notice good ideas.

I highly recommend the book, both for its impact on your way of thinking and for interesting stories, e.g. the one about a TV executive who didn’t even work in comedy but saved Seinfeld from the cutting-room floor.

The key thing you will learn: How to originate and recognize great ideas and think outside of the box.

17. Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action by Simon Sinek

More than 28 million have watched Sinek’s TED Talk based on START WITH WHY, the third most popular TED video of all time.

Sinek starts his book with a fundamental question: Why are some people and organizations more innovative, more powerful, and more profitable than others? He goes on to explain that the great minds from politicians to billion dollar business founders all started with WHY – people won’t truly be interested in your product, service, movement, or idea until they understand the WHY behind the concept.

The key thing you will learn: That your product/brand needs a reason to exist – the WHY – and how to find it.

18. The New Rules of Marketing and PR: How to Use Social Media and Viral Marketing to Reach Buyers Directly by David Scott

This marketing book has arguably been the most influential for me, as after reading it, I made a switch from the PR industry to online marketing in less than a month.

Scott’s book is a true eye-opener to anyone still playing by the old offline marketing rules. In today’s highly digital world, the rules have changed, and you need to focus on virality, SEO, content marketing, online advertising, and other digital strategies to get your product noticed.

The key thing you will learn: You’ll get a great overview of the modern marketing and PR tactics – the perfect starting point for any marketing career.

Read more: How to Learn Marketing

19. The Icarus Deception by Seth Godin

Seth Godin could be given the title of a “cult marketer.” In this book, he challenges the reader to find the courage to treat their work as a form of art, constantly looking for ways to improve.

Being an artist isn’t a genetic disposition or a set of specific talents. It’s an attitude you too can adopt. It’s a hunger to keep learning, make connections, and think outside of the box. If you manage to do those things a little more often you’re an artist, no matter what it says on your business card.

The key thing you will learn: The best marketers are constantly learning and testing new ideas. This book will guide you to go the extra mile and do excellent, not average job.

20. Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell

In his landmark marketing bestseller, Malcolm Gladwell unveils how we see the world, how we think without thinking, and how to become a better decision-maker.

Gladwell asks some interesting questions:

• Why do some people follow their instincts and win, while others end up making bad decisions?
• How do our brains really work – in the office, in the classroom, at a party?
• Why are the best decisions often impossible to explain to others?

The key thing you will learn: How our decision-making process works and how to make better, non-biased decisions.

21. Everybody Writes: Your Go-To Guide to Creating Ridiculously Good Content by Ann Handley

This is by far the best marketing copywriting book I’ve read this far, teaching both the macro- and micro-level nuances of good writing.

Everybody Writes is a go-to guide for marketers looking to attract and retain customers via stellar wriiten communication.

The sections in the books include:

• How to write better
• Easy grammar and usage rules tailored for business
• Winning your audience’s heart with masterful storytelling
• Best practices for creating credible, trustworthy content
• Content Tools: The best tools you need to get the job done

The key thing you will learn: How to write better marketing copy.

22. Misbehaving: The Making of Behavioral Economics by Richard Thaler

Nobel laureate Richard H. Thaler spent his career studying how humans are predictable, error-prone individuals. Traditional economics assumes rational actors – yet in real life, people are far from rational when it comes to making decisions.

Coupling recent discoveries in human psychology with a practical understanding of incentives and market behavior, Thaler enlightens you about how to make smarter decisions in an increasingly mystifying world (or how to apply the knowledge about irrational decision-making into marketing).

The key thing you will learn: The irrational logic of the human brain and how to use this knowledge to your advantage.

Best growth marketing books

23. Hacking Growth: How Today’s Fastest-Growing Companies Drive Breakout Success By Sean Ellis and Morgan Brown

This growth marketing book dives into building a rapid growth strategy for your company. Exploring the fascinating case studies of the likes of Airbnb and Uber, the authors explore the growth engines behind these companies’ extraordinary rise.

You will learn about leading cross-functional teams and fast A/B testing and iteration that helps you acquire more customers: attain them, retain them, engage them, and motivate them to come back and buy more.

The key thing you will learn: The common tactics and ways of thinking of growth hacking.

24. Growth Hacker Marketing by Ryan Holiday

Ryan Holiday’s book tells a fascinating story of how combining smart public relations, marketing and advertising, you can achieve almost any marketing results. The book is guaranteed to get you excited about growth hacking, yet you’ll have to do plenty of additional research and put in a lot of work if you want to replicate Holiday’s success.

The growth hacking theory relies on testing, tracking and scaling everything you do, which is ideal for marketing in the digital world.

The key thing you will learn: How small, well-planned efforts can lead to fast business growth.

25. Play Bigger: How Pirates, Dreamers, and Innovators Create and Dominate Markets by Al Ramadan

The founders of a well-known Silicon Valley advisory firm looked into legendary category-creating companies and reveal how to notice and buiöd new product categories.

Presenting case studies around the inner workings of “category kings”— companies such as Amazon, Salesforce, Uber, and IKEA – this marketing book introduces the notion of “category design.” By applying category design, businesses can create new demand where none existed, changing customers’ minds so they change their expectations and buying habits.

The key thing you will learn: How to create and promote a completely new product category, gradually building a huge demand for it.

26. Top of Mind: Use Content to Unleash Your Influence and Engage Those Who Matter To You by John Hall

Building trust with your audience doesn’t happen overnight. It takes months (or even years) of calculated effort to reach and stay on top of mind with people. John Hall’s book will teach you how to use content marketing to build a meaningful relationship with your audience.

You will learn about the approach that was used to build Influence & Co. into one of “America’s Most Promising Companies,” according to Forbes, including:

• How to build a helpful, authentic, and consistent brand
• How to create digital content that enriches your target audience’s lives

The key thing you will learn: How to build a content-driven brand and create content that your audience sincerely wants to engage with.

Best branding books for marketers

27. The Advertising Concept Book: Think Now, Design Later by Pete Barry

I found this advertising book while visiting a bookstore in London and it took me a few months to work through it, with ups and downs. I came away with a fresh knowledgeable outlook to building marketing and branding campaigns. I highly recommend it.

From creative ideation to writing ad copy to building a consistent message, this book is a great guide for anyone looking to learn about branding campaigns, including different strategies used for all types of media.

The key thing you will learn: The framework for thinking like an advertising agency.

28. Brand Thinking and Other Noble Pursuits by Debbie Millman

What is a brand? – If you don’t know the answer, here’s a book that will help you understand the concept in a more broad and meaningful way.

By asking questions around “What is a brand?”, Millman presents eye.opening answers from twenty-two interview subjects, among them Malcolm Gladwell, Seth Godin, and godfather of modern branding Wally Olins.

You will find a fascinating road guide to modern branding and how companies and buyers can best understand the behavior behind why we build brands and why we buy them.

The key thing you will learn: How to define the word “brand” and build a strong brand of your own.

29. Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind by Al Ries and Jack Trout

Positioning describes a proven approach to creating a “position” in a prospective customer’s mind by taking into consideration your company’s own strengths and weaknesses as well as those of your competition.

The advertising gurus Ries and Trout explain how to:

• Position your brand as the industry leader
• Maintain the industry leader position as competition gets harder
• Use ad agency techniques to capture a wide market share and become a household name
• Build your branding strategy around your competition’s weaknesses
• Choose the best name for your product

The key thing you will learn: How to position your brand in a crowded market and become the leading business in your industry.

30. Designing Brand Identity: An Essential Guide for the Whole Branding Team by Alina Wheeler

This branding book will present you with a toolkit for creating, building, and maintaining a strong brand. From research and analysis through to implementing a brand strategy and design development, you will come away from this book with plenty of inspiration for building (or redefining) your own brand.

Wheeler’s book features more than 30 all-new case studies showing branding best practices and offers a proven, universal five-phase process for creating and implementing effective brand identity.

The key thing you will learn: How to design and implement a brand that will result in high business ROI.

31. How Brands Become Icons by Douglas B. Holt

In his bestseller marketing book, the former Harvard Business School professor Douglas B. Holt lays down what marketers need to know if they want to build an authentic brand that truly resonates with customers over a long period of time, not just temporarily because of a low price or hype.

Exploring the case studies from iconic brands including ESPN, Budweiser, Mountain Dew, and Volkswagen, Holt shows how to establish a meaningful brand connection with potential customers.

The key thing you will learn: How to build a strong brand that people will care about over a long period of time.

32. Hit Makers: The Science of Popularity in an Age of Digital Distraction by Derek Thomson

Nothing goes viral out of the blue. If you think that a popular movie, song, or app came out of nowhere to become a worldwide viral success in today’s crowded media environment, you’re wrong.

Each blockbuster has a secret history of power, influence, and passionate followers that turn some new products into cultural phenomena.

In his groundbreaking investigation, the Atlantic’s senior editor Derek Thompson uncovers the hidden psychology of why we like what we like and how cultural economics shape our taste. People love a familiar surprise: a product that is bold, yet conveniently recognizable.

The key thing you will learn: How to build viral products by following the simple tactics of simplicity, familiarity, frequency, influential supporters, close-knit supportive groups, memorable copy, cross-channel support, gradual innovation, and ad hoc random influences.

More marketing books to check out

If the above list of 30 bestsellers wasn’t enough for you and you’d like to explore even more marketing books, check out the titles below. 💁

33. 10x Marketing Formula: Your Blueprint for Creating ‘Competition-Free Content’ That Stands Out and Gets Results by Garrett Moon

34. Building a StoryBrand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen by Donald Miller

35. Don’t Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability by Steve Krug

36. What Customers Crave: How to Create Relevant and Memorable Experiences at Every Touchpoint by Nicholas J. Webb

37. The Undoing Project: A Friendship That Changed Our Minds by Michael Lewis

38. Content Inc.: How Entrepreneurs Use Content to Build Massive Audiences and Create Radically Successful Businesses by Joe Pulizzi

39. All Marketers Are Liars: The Underground Classic That Explains How Marketing Really Works–And Why Authenticity Is the Best Marketing of All by Seth Godin

40. Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness by Richard H. Thaler

41. The Art of the Click: How to Harness the Power of Direct-Response Copywriting and Make More Sales by Glenn Fisher

42. Epic Content Marketing: How to Tell a Different Story, Break through the Clutter, and Win More Customers by Marketing Less by Joe Pulizzi

43. Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration by Ed Catmull

44. The Adweek Copywriting Handbook: The Ultimate Guide to Writing Powerful Advertising and Marketing Copy from One of America’s Top Copywriters by Joseph Sugarman

45. The Choice Factory: 25 Behavioural Biases That Influence What We Buy by Richard Shotton

46. Copywriting: Successful Writing for Design, Advertising and Marketing by Mark Shaw

47. Creative Advertising: Ideas and Techniques from the World’s Best Campaigns by Mario Pricken

48. Book of Ideas: a Journal of Creative Direction and Graphic Design – Volume 1 by Radim Malinic

49. How to Do Better Creative Work by Steve Harrison

50. Made to Stick : Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die by Chip Heath

51. Invisible Influence: The Hidden Forces that Shape Behavior by Jonah Berger

52. Integrated Marketing Communications: Putting It Together & Making It Work by Don E. Schultz, Stanley I. Tannenbaum,‎ and Robert F. Lauterborn

53. The End of Competitive Advantage: How to Keep Your Strategy Moving as Fast as Your Business by Rita Gunther McGrath

54. AdCult USA by James Twitchell

55. Brand New Name: A Proven, Step-by-Step Process to Create an Unforgettable Brand Name by Jeremy Miller

56. Content Marketing For Traffic And Sales: How To Use Direct Response Copywriting, For More Effective Content Marketing by Daniel Daines-Hutt

57. Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make Competition Irrelevant by W. Chan Kim and‎ Renee Mauborgne

58. Tap: Unlocking the Mobile Economy by Anindya Ghose

59. The Lead Machine: The Small Business Guide to Digital Marketing by Rich Brooks

60. The Business of Social Media: Clients and Customers Not Just Likes & Followers by Angela K. Denton

61. Location is (Still) Everything: The Surprising Influence of the Real World on How We Search, Shop, and Sell in the Virtual One by David Bell

62. The Best Damn Web Marketing Checklist, Period! 2.0 by Stoney DeGeyter

63. 500 Social Media Marketing Tips: Essential Advice, Hints and Strategy for Business by Andrew Macarthy

64. Content Marketing for PR: How to Build Brand Visibility, Influence and Trust in Today’s Social Age by Trevor Young

65. Ultimate Guide to Link Building by Eric Ward & Garrett French

66. Subscribed: Why the Subscription Model Will Be Your Company’s Future – and What to Do About It by Gabe Weisert

67. Overdeliver: Build a Business for a Lifetime Playing the Long Game in Direct Response Marketing by Brian Kurtz

68. The Unexpected: Breakthrough Strategies to Supercharge Your Business and Earn Loyal Customers for Life by Howard Brodsky

69. Giftology: The Art and Science of Using Gifts to Cut Through the Noise, Increase Referrals, and Strengthen Retention by John Rulin

70. Powering Content: Building a Nonstop Content Marketing Machine by Laura Busche

71. Crisis Ready: Building an Invincible Brand in an Uncertain World by Melissa Agnes

72. Getting Everything You Can out of All You’ve Got: 21 Ways You Can Out-Think, Out-Perform and Out-Earn the Competition by Jay Abraham

73. When Coffee and Kale Compete: Become Great at Making Products People Will Buy by Alan Klement

74. Get Online: 6 Simple Steps to Launching a Digital Marketing Strategy for the Non-tech Savvy by Stacey Kehoe

75. Crossing The Chasm: Marketing and Selling Disruptive Products To Mainstream Customers by Geoffrey A. Moore

76. Points: A Blue Print for Digital Marketing Strategy by Sergio Restrepo

77. Exactly What to Say: The Magic Words for Influence and Impact by Phil M. Jones

78. Win Bigly: Persuasion in a World Where Facts Don’t Matter by Scott Adams

79. The Impact Equation: Are You Making Things Work or Just Making Noise? by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith

80. The One Sentence Persuasion Course – 27 Words to Make the World Do your Bidding by Blair Warren

81. Magnetic Marketing: How To Attract A Flood Of New Customers That Pay, Stay, and Refer by Dan S. Kennedy

82. Whatever You Think, Think The Opposite by Paul Arden

83. Selling the Invisible: A Field Guide to Modern Marketing by Harry Beckwith

84. You, Inc.: The Art Of Selling Yourself by Harry Beckwith and Christine Clifford Beckwith

The post 80+ BEST Marketing Books – 2021 [Updated] appeared first on Marketing Fix blog.

Well, how about googling it?

Search “how to learn marketing,” and you’ll find lists of online courses and a Quora thread on the topic suggesting that you “read marketing blogs.”

Um… That’s way too broad and not very helpful. 🤷

So what are the actual first steps to start learning about marketing?

Let’s turn the tables and start with a few things you should not start with:

• You should not start to read tens of marketing books without having a clear goal.
• You should not pay $2000 for an online marketing course or attend a conference.
• You should not necessarily acquire a university degree in marketing.

There is a time and place for all of the above, but none of those are essential to growing into a marketer.

There’s a bunch of other stuff you should be doing tho.

But first things first.

Like with all long-term projects in life, it’s important to have a solid high-level understanding of what you want to achieve.

So, you want to be a marketer?

But what does it even mean to be a marketer? Can you define what a marketer does?

A good place to kick off this article is by apprehending what learning marketing means in 2019.

What does it mean to be a marketer?

Well… There are many different marketing careers you can choose between (and you can’t have it all).

Arielle Jackson, a Marketing Expert in Residence in the VC firm First Round Capital broke down the four main skill sets for marketers today:

• Product Marketing
• Performance Marketing
• Communications
• Brand Marketing

Take a close look at the chart below and you will realise that there are plenty of different paths you can follow as a marketer.

It’s one of the best charts I’ve seen explaining what marketers in modern companies are working on.

Being a marketer can mean different things – Source: firstround.com

With the understanding of all the possibilities to learn marketing also comes another revelation:

There is no way you can achieve top-level expertise in each of these fields.

Which means that you’ll need to specialize.

Let’s complicate things even further. 😈

Each of the four directions listed in the chart can be broken down further. E.g. a performance marketer can learn digital marketing, and get highly specialised in various fields such as paid advertising, social media marketing, CRO (Conversion Rate Optimisation)…

This means that you’ll need to decide on the level of specialization you want to reach.

That’s also what Arielle from First Round is saying:

“Most marketers who aren’t new to the field specialize in either the so-called “soft” or “hard” sides of marketing, focusing more on brand and communications or growth, analytics, and channel optimization. “Even CMO-level candidates typically tilt more heavily in one direction… You wouldn’t expect an engineer to be amazing at front-end and back-end, but unfortunately this expectation exists for marketers.”

You just can’t have it all.

But you do have a choice.

Here are a few questions to steer you in the right direction and see whether you want to learn digital marketing, PR, or product marketing.

1. Do you want to be a specialist, a manager, or a CMO?

The intuitive answer to this question is “Of course I want to be the CMO of a well-known brand one day.”

But do you, really?

Take a look at the chart below. With fancy job positions also comes responsibility.

Understand what is the best job seniority for you

CMO (Chief Marketing Officer)

Being a CMO means taking a tremendous responsibility for other people’s work performance, and very likely sacrificing many nights and weekends of fun social activities in exchange for advancing your career. Not only will you have to work hard and be proactive in driving the entire Marketing team’s performance, you will also need to develop mid-level knowhow of every marketing skill your individual team members have. How else can you be an empowering teamlead to them?

If you still feel you want to become a CMO with a team of 10+ people one day, make a conscious decision to build up a strong skill set in as many fields of marketing as possible.

A good entry-level job for you will be in a startup where you can get your hands on many various projects. More on landing the first marketing job later.

P.S. being a CMO in a 5-people startup is rather a Manager- or Specialist-level job, don’t get confused with the terms but think about the content of the role.

Manager / team lead

Manager is a mid-level marketing team member in charge of one specific field. To bring some examples, in Bolt we have roles such as Social Media Marketing Manager, Paid Advertising Lead, Local Marketing Manager (in charge of marketing in a specific country).

Being a Manager requires a high degree of knowledge in one particular field. Also, you may have to learn to work with and lead a small team which takes a considerable amount of your time.

Consider whether you want to spend your days fully focused on hands-on work or pass 20% or more of your time at meetings, working on reports, and coming up with improvements to your team’s work.

Being a Manager can be rewarding and you can make a higher impact. However, you will need to constantly invest in improving your skills and keeping up with the latest trends.

To sum this up, being a Manager requires that you’re highly passionate about your field.

Specialist

Often, Managers grow out of Specialists.

As you start off learning about marketing, you will first have a few Specialist-level jobs before stepping up to the Manager role. As a specialist, you will have the choice whether to invest your time and effort in reaching the level of knowhow where you can manage a team. Or you can decide to keep working on the Specialist level and enjoy a lower level of responsibilities and, oftentimes, stress.

The decision whether to reach the Specialist, Manager, or CMO level is essentially a lifestyle question: how much of your time are you willing to devote on your career vs social life and other hobbies.

2. Are you more of a creative or numbers person?

Do you rather enjoy working on ideas and conceptualize things or to crunch the numbers and work on highly measurable marketing projects?

I personally enjoy both. But even while I like to zoom in on behavioral economics and branding, I am more inclined towards the numbers-based Performance Marketing.

Let’s take a look at the chart once again.

Some marketing tracks require more creativity, others more logic

The projects listed under Product Marketing and Performance Marketing are more suitable to the people comfortable with numbers and spreadsheets.

Communications and Brand Marketing require a higher level of ideation and creative skills such as writing.

❗ This is not to say that Communications and Brand Marketing should not be measured!!

Whatever kind of marketer you want to become, you can’t do it without a basic understanding of tracking and measurement.

Also, Performance Marketing requires creativity when it comes to writing the ad copy, coming up with social media post ideas, and even building tracking spreadsheets requires an open mind.

It’s all about realizing where in between creativity and math you feel the most affluent.

Summing up Part 1

To help you summarize the above and take the next step towards your marketing career, here’s a brief summary:

• Define what kind of marketer you want to be: Product Marketing vs Branding, creativity vs numbers
• Consider what level of seniority you’d enjoy working in: how much of your overall time do you want to invest specifically in your career

If you are unsure what’s the right marketing job for you, test several fields. 💁

• I started out as an assistant in a PR agency, mainly working on writing content.
• Next up, I moved to a Content Marketing role in a startup, working on writing and SEO.
• I moved up the ladder to the role of Digital Marketing Manager, working on blog, SEO, CRO, social media, paid advertising, and some product marketing.
• I took some time off from the full-time job and consulted startups, being a full-stack marketer, working on the same things as in my previous role + learned graphic design to create ad visuals.
• I joined the Bolt team full-time in the Performance Marketing Manager role, working on paid advertising, social media, graphic design, and occasional copywriting projects.
• I grew into the team lead for Bolt Marketing team, working with and consulting many specialised teams, and being in charge of hiring and the high-level marketing strategy and reporting.

For me, the growth into marketer was rather organic, with the right things happening at the right time.

It also took more than three years and several turns to realize what field of marketing I like the most.

For example, I found a book about digital marketing on the bookshelf of the PR agency I was working in. In a few weeks, all I wanted to do was to work on content marketing, SEO and paid ads. Thanks to this lucky chance, I took the jump and landed in Scoro, which opened the door to many other projects.

At some point I decided to start a marketing blog. That’s how many of my freelance customers and also Bolt found me.

This blog turned out to be a very good idea

Note that cool jobs and promotions won’t come knocking on your door. You need to work hard before an opportunity opens up, and be curious enough to notice it and follow up.

Not to get too off-track, let’s resume to the assumption that you have a vague notion of the field of marketing you want to learn about.

Say you want to become a Facebook advertising expert or a partner in a media agency.

What’s next?

Where to get started with learning marketing?

You have no idea where to get started? 😓

That’s OK.

I didn’t know that either.

Not when being 18y old. Not when being 20y old. I am still not sure where I want to be in 5 years time.

However, looking back at how I got here, there are a few patterns that emerge. I will try to break them down for you.

Start from learning the essential “marketer” skills

There are a few skills that will give your marketing career a strong foundation, whatever direction you want to move in.

And, surprise-surprise, you don’t need to get a university degree in marketing to learn them. 🤭

Every good marketer I’ve met is characterised by the following: they can take on challenges and find solutions fast, they understand how people’s brains work, and they are excellent writers.

Start by training yourself in both creative problem-solving and critical thinking as well as learn to write and get a basic foundation on how the human psychology works.

Especially in the early years after high school graduation when you’re unsure what exactly you want to do, sharpening these three skills is a good way to grow as a marketer without an immediate pressure to specialize.

The reason I placed the word “marketer” between quotation marks in the headline is that these skills are relevant to plenty more career paths.

Even better so. By honing your creativity, empathy, and problem-solving capacity, you are not limiting yourself to a marketing career only. You’ll have the opportunity to switch to many other fields if you later find that another career path interests you more.

How to learn to write?

I could write an entire article on the topic. So in the general interest of keeping this article on track, I will share a few quick suggestions.

First of all, you will not learn to write by reading a few online articles, no matter how good, on “how to write a good marketing copy.”

Writing is a skill acquired through years of reading, learning, and writing. It’s a muscle you will need to train.

Or try to place a new book under your pillow every night

OK, so you want to learn to write, but need some guidance?

Read. Read a lot.

Be generally curious and read plenty of books, magazines, blogs and newspapers. Make yourself a goal to read 1 newspaper daily and finish at least 1 book per week. To give you some suggestions, I posted a list of things I’ve been recently reading in this article.

When it comes to picking the books for mastering the art of writing, I personally prefer literature to business books, due to the rich use of language.

There are also a few great books about writing I recommend that you check out:

• • Everybody Writes by Ann Handley – link 

• • On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King – link

Write something every day.

What on earth would you write about every day? Well, it’s up to you. Either create a blog or start a personal diary. The point here is not to produce publishing-ready literature every time you set your fingers on the keyboard. The goal is to train yourself to write.

Find yourself an editor.

I give the most credit for learning to decently write to my high school teacher and the editors from various marketing blogs. Every time they jotted down an irrelevant sentence, meaningless adjective, or asked for a point of proof to back up my out-of-the-blue statements, I learned to avoid a rookie mistake the next time.

You can find an editor by offering to intern for a blog/magazine, finding a first job where your manager has strong writing skills and is willing to teach you, or by asking someone to become your mentor and edit your first writings.

How to learn about psychology?

As with writing, your empathy and knowhow on consumer behavior will develop in time.

Generally, it helps to read literature and to listen attentively what people are saying to you, trying to understand things from many different viewpoints.

There are also a few amazing books on behavioral economics that I consider a must-read for every marketer, no matter their chosen field:

• • Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman – link

• • Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert B. Cialdini – link

• • Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions by Dan Ariely – link

Learn to understand what people really want – Image source

Here are a few examples of how understanding consumer psychology will help you be a better marketer across all the possible roles.

• Product Marketing: you will understand that $59 is a better price for your product than $60 as people perceive this as a significantly lower sum.
• Performance Marketing: you will understand which message drives people to click on your online ad and write highly converting copy using the triggers like urgency or scarcity.
• Communications: you will understand why a journalist should/should not care about the news you’re trying to get covered and can package it in the most appealing way.
• Brand Marketing: you will understand what makes people choose your product over the competitors’ and can double down on that value proposition in all your marketing channels.

How to train your critical thinking skills?

Being a marketer in 1950s was very different from being a marketer in 2020s.

With everything being digitalized, we’re able to measure a significant amount of marketing activities. Basically, all the online marketing activities can be tracked, measured, and improved upon.

As a marketer, you will need to compile strategies, figure out how to track and measure campaign results and find efficient solutions to ongoing challenges.

For me, logical thinking is a derivative of math skills mostly learned in high school + everything I have learned from my incredibly smart managers and colleagues at various jobs.

Learn to measure and evaluate marketing results – Image source

So where to get started?

If you’re still in university, take a few math courses.

If you’ve already graduated, take a course in Excel spreadsheet management – it sounds old-school, but you’ll need the spreadsheet and automation skills throughout your career.

Or pass a coding course in Codeacademy – learning a coding language, e.g. Python, will give you a better grasp of how to apply a systematic framework to various projects.

Summing up Part 2

Most people unfamiliar to hands-on marketing jobs tend to think that marketing is a specific skill set that can be acquired through online courses, business books, and a university degree.

That’s not true.

The best way to start learning marketing is to acquire a few basic “life” skills: writing, listening and understanding other people, and logical thinking.

Also, learn to google stuff. If you don’t know anything, don’t shrug and leave it be. Just check out what’s written about it online. Be curious, c’mon!

After you have obtained some of the basic knowledge, it’s time to dive in to specific marketing studies.

Learning marketing skills

There are a few options to learn specific, e.g. digital marketing skills:

• By taking university courses or paid trainings on marketing
• By reading marketing books, blogs, and newsletters
• By passing some online courses or watching Youtube videos
• By researching and analysing how successful brands do marketing

Which one of those is the most efficient way to learn marketing?

It depends on your level of motivation and the current place in your career.

Should you enroll in a university degree in marketing?

I’m not saying you shouldn’t, but I’d like to emphasize that a university degree in marketing is not a must-have for becoming a successful marketer.

If you haven’t gone to university yet, it could be a good idea to enroll in a marketing track or take some courses on the subject. If you’ve already been working on another job and plan to turn a new page in your career, getting a university degree is not the most efficient way to learn about marketing.

You could use that time to acquire some specific skill set, e.g. learn to create Facebook ad designs or go through thousands of ad creatives to learn what’s working.

See the 162 best Facebook ad examples in this post.

I think I’ve browsed more than 10 000 Facebook ads in my life 🤭

When hiring people to Bolt marketing team, I never evaluate the candidates based on their educational track. I look at their previous work experience, motivation letter and later the home task. However, some companies do still require job candidates to have a relevant Bachelor’s or Master’s degree.

Do not expect the Marketing university degree to teach you everything you need to know.

University degrees that guide you towards becoming a marketer well versed in the digital world are a needle in a haystack. Generally, you will learn the theory and get very little practical know-how.

However, a huge benefit of going to university is that you will have time to learn, also outside of the curriculum.

If you’re fresh out of the high school and unsure what to do, my recommendation is to go to university rather than find a low-level job (it does not necessarily have to be a Marketing degree) and earn yourself three or five extra years to grow both personally and professionally. Also, companies prefer the interns who are attending a university vs candidates with no higher education.

What about paid marketing courses and trainings?

Next question: Should you take any paid online or offline marketing courses?

You can, but it is not a requirement for learning marketing.

If you decide to take any courses, I suggest that you only pay for world-class courses such as CXL’s Online Marketing Training. Unless you live in the UK or the US, you are likely to find high-quality stuff online rather than when attending some local offline trainings.

Should you go to marketing conferences?

The short answer is no.

Conferences are great for networking and boosting motivation, but not for learning detailed skills. If your goal is to learn marketing, conferences are not the most efficient way to go.

👉 Marketing books, blogs, and newsletters 👈

The above three resources are where I learned most of what I know about marketing.

When it comes to marketing blogs, be careful not to fall for basic advice written by freelance copywriters with no marketing background. The best stuff is put out by the agencies and a few marketing tools.

The marketing blogs I dare to suggest are:

• Holini
• CXL
• Moz
• Buffer
• Content Marketing Institute
• Copy Hackers
• Jon Loomer
• Backlinko

To keep up with your favourite marketing blogs, sign up to their email newsletters and bookmark them with the goal to check out the new articles at least once a week.

Here’s the list of the best books on marketing I’ve read:

• Ogilvy on Advertising by David Ogilvy – link + my review to the book
• Reality in Advertising by Rosser Reeves – link
• The New Rules of Marketing and PR by David Meerman Scott – link
• Growth Hacker Marketing by Ryan Holiday – link
• Contagious by Jonah Berger – link 
• The Advertising Concept Book by Pete Barry – link

• The behavioral economics books mentioned above

A page from The Advertising Concept Book by Pete Barry

P.S. The two above lists are not the holy grails of all you will need to read to become a good marketer. There is a lot more good stuff out there.

And I also suggest that you read online (and offline) magazines + newspapers, and browse around in the online design galleries such as Dribbble and Behance to increase your general know-how and writing skills.

Summing up Part 3

There are many ways to educate yourself about marketing.

If you’re fresh out of high school, enrolling in a university curriculum (not necessarily a marketing degree) may be a good idea.

Either way, complement the highly theoretical knowledge with information about the latest best practices by reading blogs and newsletters. (Even if you’re already working in marketing, you should keep up the reading to stay on top of your game).

Now, now… let’s assume you’ve acquired some basic theoretical knowledge about the field of marketing you want to proceed with.

The best thing to do next is to get some practical experience.

Which leads us to… 🥁🥁🥁

Landing your first marketing job

If you have never worked in a marketing role before, why would a company hire you?

• You have no certificate to validate your skills
• You have no tangible results, nor job experience to present
• You have no references from previous managers

Moreover, you’ll be competing with people older and more experienced than you.

Sorry, that’s harsh.

But it has not stopped many people before you from succeeding.

So how can you get your foot in the door?

Start with internships

Instead of applying to a marketing job fresh out of university or after finishing a marketing course, try to land a few internships.

In fact, you can already pass a few summer internships during the university, and maybe even have a part-time marketing job by the end of the third year.

Also, apply to volunteer in marketing-related roles, helping to organize small events or work for an NPO (Non-profit Organization).

Find yourself an internship

Internships are beneficial on many levels:

• You are not expected to know everything but learn.
• You will have an experienced mentor who will guide your learning progress.
• You will see the kitchen side of various marketing projects and get a feel of the job.
• An internship is non-binding and only lasts for a month (low-risk commitment).
• You can do several internships to check out multiple career paths.

Not all internships are equally useful, and there are companies that only hire interns for the “dirty work.”

Which leads us to the next question…

How to land a good internship?

There are a few basic rules to follow:

• Do your research: ask around to identify the agencies/companies that do very good marketing.
• Send your motivation letter and CV to 10+ places and expect only around 20%-50% of them to answer.
• Write an exceptionally strong motivational letter as this is the main thing you’ll be evaluated upon.
• If you get no answer in two weeks, don’t let the opportunity fade away. Follow up.

Pro tip: You can create a CV that looks better than 95% of other people’s by using the free Canva templates.

Use Canva templates for your CV

P.S. I am thinking to publish an article on how to land your first marketing internship. Let me know in the comments if it’s a topic you’d be interested in.

❗One more thing!

Most companies accept the interns that come to them, and won’t even look for them publicly. If you only apply to the companies that have an intern job opening on the website, you’re missing out on 90% of the opportunities.

Reach out to all info@company emails where you’d like to do the internship.

Getting your first entry-level marketing job

In my experience, the best entry-level marketing job types are in agencies and startups – they’re fast-paced, have a wide variety of projects, and keep up to date with the latest marketing trends.

I suggest that you join a marketing team with at least one more experienced team member. If you become the only marketer in a tiny company, you’ll have nobody to learn from.

How to find your first marketing job?

Most people only search for a job on job sites like Indeed.com, etc.

However, a lot of marketing roles are filled in through headhunting and referrals.

If you’re just starting out and don’t know many people in the industry, simply send your CV and motivation letter to all agencies and brands you’d like to work for. If you have a few internships under your belt and sound hyper-motivated, there’s a high chance someone will hire you, even if they’re not publicly looking to grow the team.

Use LinkedIn to research the companies you’d like to work for, google lists of marketing agencies and startups or simply ask around.

Also, it often happens that the companies you intern for will end up making you a job offer. So make sure not to slack through the internship, but do your best work, occasionally exceeding the expectations.

Summing up Part 4

The fastest way to getting your first marketing job is by completing a few internships and building up your CV.

Also, starting your own small project or helping out a non-profit or friends’ company will be a nice springboard to a “real” job.

Be prepared to work for free or a low salary at first, developing your skills, and give your best at every job, paid or not. Eventually, you’ll have amassed the critical level of experience, references, and performance record to apply for a full-time marketing role and land the job.

Remember that your first jobs and internships will not define what you’ll be doing for the rest of your career. You will have tens of years ahead of you to learn new skills and make complete U-turns, wherever life may take you

Now go and learn to be a marketer!

Helpful Resources

Here’s a list of helpful articles, online courses, and resources that help you learn digital marketing.

List of 26 Free Online Marketing courses – by WordStream

The 30 Best Websites to Learn Marketing for Free – by Sitepoint

25 Best Resources that Help You Learn Marketing for Free – by Creative Boom

21 Resources For Mastering Online Marketing – by Neil Patel

37 Free Social Media and Marketing Courses to Elevate Your Skills Today – by Buffer

The post How to Learn Marketing? With 100+ Resources appeared first on Marketing Fix blog.

What if we could improve our brand image? What if we could increase our conversion rates? The reasons for musing on this idea are plenty, and so is the potential scope of a re-design project.

Having been part of two large-scale projects focused on updating a company’s online visual identity, I’ve felt clueless and confused at least a dozen times.

• How can you tell if you really need to do a website redesign?
• Should you only change the web design or the entire company’s visual identity?
• What’s the cost and timeline of an average website redesign project?
• How to cut the costs and time consumption into half?

And then there are all the small questions around the UX, web functionality, the shareholders’ mixed design preferences… This list could go on forever.

We recently completed a website re-design project with one of my clients, MindTitan, an AI and machine learning development company. And to be honest, seeing the website finally live last week was a huge relief.

We. Made. It.

While there’s definitely a lot for me yet to learn, I feel like I’ve acquired the minimum viable knowhow to write this overview I wish someone else had written for me to read a couple of years ago.

So if you’ve ever contemplated about changing your website design or are in the process of doing so, you’re going to find in this article…

• A bunch of details about the costs and timeframes of website (re)design projects
• A set of how-to’s from setting expectations to asking for the right changes
• A list of potential mistakes to be noticed early, and to be eluded at best

Let’s kick off from the very beginning (January 2018), from the website version 1.0 and the reasons that lead us to redesign it.

Why did we decide to redesign our website?

When I first redesigned MindTitan’s website a year ago (ok, this was actually going from web to 2.0 to 3.0), it served as my thesis for my personal amateurish graphic design studies conducted for some past months. I started off with an almost-empty Squarespace page, creating everything from scratch – from website copy to illustrations and other graphics.

Basically, my friends needed a website and I was fascinated by web design, so I did the best I could.

The website served as a minimum viable product to represent the company online. However, it was far from professional, not to speak of impressing enterprise-level clients looking to buy in artificial intelligence development services.

It seemed that many of the ad campaigns we did attract people to the website, but up from there, we couldn’t often pique their interest. Most of the deals came from other channels. (Clearly a sign I should focus on Facebook advertising and copywriting, not do end-to-end web design.) 🙄

As MindTitan had grown from 3 to 6 people in the past six months and was looking to expand further, it seemed like the right time to take our website to the next level. Finally, I got all the three co-founders on board and I started thinking about the best ways to conduct the project.

I’d say that one of the foundations of a successful website redesign project is having a reasonable answer to the question “Why do we want to redesign our website?”

Setting the right goals for the redesign project

It always serves you well to have a set of clear goals, especially when working with multiple stakeholders. In the case of MindTitan’s website redesign project, our goals were to:

• Show the company from the right angle. We wanted to come across as a trustworthy and professional international partner to large clients.
• Give a better representation of the company’s services and educate the audience. We planned to improve website functionality, add quality content and revamp the existing copy.
• Strengthen the employer branding. We wished for talented people to look at the company’s website and think “Damn I wanna work here.”

Ok, so these are the kind of goals a website redesign project should derive from – you’ve got to have a specific list of items you’d like to improve.

Here’s another list of arbitrary (and regrettably, popular) goals that should not be among your reasons for redoing website design:

• We want our website to look “nicer.”
• We haven’t updated our website for two years already.
• Our investor suggested that we do a web redesign.

😫Just don’t update your website if you don’t know why you’re doing it.

But… Anyway… Enough of ranting.

With a clear plan in hand, we set out to look for a designer/agency to take on the project – the trickiest part in website development in my personal opinion.

Whom to hire on your web design project?

At first, still loving to mess around with Sketch and Illustrator, I had a plan to do design mockups for the new website on my own and then send these to an agency for development. (Probably definitely a good thing we ended up hiring an agency.)

The reasons I first planned to do the designs on my own:

• I had a pretty clear vision of which elements and pages the website should include.
• It would have been (a bit) cheaper to do the design in-house.
• I didn’t know much about Estonian web design agencies, so I didn’t know which ones had good designers.

Now, looking back, here’s a list of the reasons why I am more than glad we hired an agency:

• Agencies have real web designers that know all about UX and how to design for the responsive web.
• These designers know how to collaborate with their in-house developers who will later implement your web.
• You will get a project manager to handle your project and communicate between all parties involved.
• Our agency reminded us to think about our target audience and introduced great UX approaches – they brought additional experience to the table.
• All in all, you need a second (professional and experienced) opinion to tell you what works and what doesn’t.

And to tell the truth, while creative agencies aren’t cheap to work with, the best ones are worth every penny.

What about in-house designers?

If you have in-house designers with enough free time to take on a web re-design project as their #1 priority, let them do it. Things get sketchy if the in-house designer has other priorities and your website project extends to eight months instead of two. In this case, I would say that hiring an agency or hiring an additional in-house designer would make more sense.

How did we select the creative agency?

It’s always best to work with a local creative agency so that you can have in-person meetings.

And to be fair, we’ve got some world-class web designers here in Estonia.

I started by making a list of about 10 agencies that I reached out to via email. The outreach email included:

• A brief on our redesign plans and needs
• A request to see 3 web design projects from the past year that the agency was most proud of
• A request for an estimated quote and timeframe

Out of 10 agencies I reached out to, around 5 sent over their work examples and 3 mentioned an estimated price for the project. There was also an agency that refused to share anything before we had a meeting. (Maybe it works for some people, I personally found this attitude arrogant.)

Out of the three agencies that sent over impressive work examples and an estimated price range for the project, we decided to go with Velvet. We liked the style of the designer who’d be working on our project and the fact that they’re a well-functioning agency with a long history. Our first meeting was pleasantly constructive and we set off on the right foot.

PS if you’re interested in what’s the average price range for web design projects (with no too complex features), the price quotes we receiver went from €5k to €15k.

If you start looking for a creative agency to work on your website re-design project, here’s what I recommend:

• It’s generally best to hire a local agency whom you can meet in person.
• Do proper homework – ask your contacts for recommendations, check out all agency websites, see what they’ve done in the past, etc.
• Ask for their best work examples, preferably from the past year (so that the people who created those still work in the agency)
• Ask which projects they’re most proud of – you’ll immediately see where the agency’s focus lies.
• Check if the agency has worked with other companies in your industry. At least, you don’t want to hire an agency with only B2C design experience to work on your B2B project and vice versa.
• Ask about the timeframe – some agencies’ time is booked for months to come and you probably don’t want to wait for that long.
• Ask who’s the designer that’ll be working on your project and check out their Behance and Dribble accounts to see if you like their style.

Asking those questions before shaking hands with an agency will help you avoid a handful of potential misunderstandings.

What input to give to your creative agency?

Usually, the collaboration with a creative agency kicks off with a meeting where you get to know each other and discuss the goals for your project.

• Key lesson #1: even if you don’t agree with everything your designer and project manager tell you, keep an open mind regarding their suggestions. At least 50% of the time they’re right and you’re wrong.
• Key lesson #2: relationships between clients and agencies easily get sour. Give your best try at being empathetic and considering the agency’s point of view.

Somewhere between the first and second meeting, I find it a good practice to write a brief for the agency where you include…

An overview of the project:

• Your goals for website re-design
• Your expectations for the project
• Your worries and limitations regarding the project

An intro about your company:

• A half page about your company’s mission
• An explanation of your unique value proposition
• A description about our customers and their level of expertise about our service

Your preferences and ideas for the new website design:

• The key features and functions you want the website to have
• A list of landing pages the website should include
• The scope of rebranding the visual language that you expect
• A list of your competitors’ websites for further research
• Some examples of websites you like in terms of style

Well… At least that’s what I included in the brief of MindTitan’s web re-design.

Actually, there’s one more HIGHLY IMPORTANT thing to give to the creative agency before they begin to work on your new web design.

The revised website copy.

Your web design should be based on your brand’s key messages and UVP (Unique Value Proposition). Each element on your website should have a clear message and goal. You have to know what you want your website to say.

This is SO important, seriously.

I’ve seen a website design project end up with average outcome as the company didn’t know what they wanted the website to say to its visitors. This unawareness also made it really difficult for the creative agency to deliver any design proposals and stretched the design process across several months.

If you plan to fill in the copy after your new website is ready, you’re on a slippery road.

TL;DR: Write your website copy and hand it over to the designer before the design process begins.

Marketer’s view to the website re-design process

If you’ve never done a website design project before, you’re likely to underestimate the scope of work it requires on behalf of the client – your company.

Hate to break this to you, but you can’t just hire an agency and leave them to independently design, develop, and publish your website.

That’s not how the cookie crumbles.

In reality, the faster and comprehensive your replies to the agency, the quicker and desirable the end result.

Oh, and coming up with good website copy… It’s harder (and more time-consuming) than you’d think. Just brace yourself.

Design and feedback process

There were several milestones where we needed to give constructive feedback. I will list these within a timeframe to give you a better overview of how it all went.

1 day after the first meeting with the agency – A brief for the website re-design (the one I mentioned earlier in the article)

About 2 weeks after the first meeting – Feedback for the first web design examples

In my experience, the first design proposals by the agency serve as a great starting point for a discussion around the future design language of the website. I’ve never seen the first round of design proposals get approved. Usually, a couple of rounds of changes and tweaks are made.

There’s also a good chance that you don’t like the proposed designs at all. It’s also ok to ask for the agency to do a complete re-design.

Look at it this way: It’s best to get things right from the start, rather than to move on with a design you don’t quite like.

I think we bounced the design mockups back and forth for around 2 months.

About 8 weeks after the first meeting – Feedback for all final website page designs

As the web designer’s completed all new website views, the ball’s back in your court. You’ll have to review all the landing pages, functionalities, etc. with a super critical eye.

After my first website re-design project, I learned the importance of getting everything right before the final development part begins.

Here’s what to check before approving the final web design for development:

• Do all the websites look as you want them to? (that’s an obvious one)
• How will the web pages look on mobile? (that’s what most marketers forget about)
• Are you sure that you have all necessary landing pages and features? (what about the Careers, Media, Contact, About, Check-out, FAQ, etc. pages?) Also, think about the pages that you’ll need in the future.
• Are all website elements functioning properly? E.g. how is an outreach form working? Where will some call-to-actions take the visitor when clicked?
• How will you fill in all the copy? Make sure that the good-looking website elements and custom solutions are actually manageable afterwards.
• Did you really include all the necessary elements? E.g. a blog article – does the final design include formatting for various headers, quotes, images, image captions, bullet points, etc.?
• Do you have Facebook retargeting and Google Analytics pixels installed in the website’s code?

And most importantly… Are you happy with the end result?

After all, you’re going to live with this website for the next couple of years at least.

Once you approve the final web design, the mockups will be handed to a developer who will work his magic and turn these into an actual website.

Publishing the re-designed website

Around 12 weeks since our first meeting, we could finally see the developed website.

But…

Don’t bring out the confetti cannons just yet.

As your re-designed website is ready in the test environment, you will need to insert all the copy and images to really make it look like the mockups.

Usually, the creative agency will set up the web pages (sometimes filled with mock copy) in your web management platform, e.g. WordPress.

When entering the copy and reviewing the new website, I spotted at least 20 small mistakes and lacking elements that needed improvement. However, this additional pre-publishing web review is an inevitable part of the re-design process. To move fast at this stage and get the website published, do your best to give constructive feedback.

I simply created a ( ~ 20-page) Google doc where I listed needed improvements for each web page, sometimes illustrating these with screenshots.

It seemed like the most efficient way to give feedback and it worked out really well – our agency was able to comprehend all of the feedback and quickly made the necessary changes.

What to check before your website goes live:

• Do all the web pages look as they did in your approved design?
• Can you easily fill in the web pages – do they have all the necessary elements and features?
• Are all functionalities working properly? Make sure all outreach forms, checkouts, etc. work as they should.
• Is your new website looking good on mobile? Check all web pages, one by one.
• Are all buttons, links, and elements linking to the right places?
• Are your website’s SEO tags in place? Do you have H1 and H2 tags properly set up?
• Proofread all your website copy before it goes live.

The final question that remains is: Where will you host your website? That’s usually handled by the creative agency when moving your website from the test environment to a published version.

And now, around 16 weeks after the first outreach emails to agencies, hours of strenuous copywriting, countless discussions with your team, tens of emails exchanged… Your re-designed website finally gets published.

Was it worth the trouble? – The next few months will tell.

Right now, it just feels damn good to have the redesigned website published.

TL;DWR:

(Too long, didn’t want to read)

This article covered all aspects of a website redesign process, from start to end, with all its stages, complications, and specs – from a marketer’s point of view.

Here are 5 key takeaways – the minimum you should take away from reading this article:

• Before doing a web redesign project, ask yourself “Why?” And have a good reason for taking on the project.
• Website redesign projects take around 8-20 weeks and can cost anywhere between €3,000 – €30,000 (or even more, I wouldn’t know…)
• When selecting your creative agency, do a lot of research and check out what kind of work your designer has done before.
• Be a good customer and write a comprehensive brief. Also, prepare your web copy before the redesign process begins.
• Be prepared to put in many hours of work and feedbacking the designs, and try to reply timely so that the project moves faster.

Disclaimer: This was my personal take on web redesign projects. However, I think many aspects and insights of it are applicable to a lot of web design projects, especially the ones involving several stakeholders.

The post Website Redesign – the Hows and Whys (and Mistakes) Worth Knowing appeared first on Marketing Fix blog.

Just come up with an idea, set up a WordPress site in a couple of hours, and type away.

Well… That was the easy part.

There’s no guarantee that people will read your articles and keep coming back for more. In fact, many successful bloggers have started out with no readers and felt like giving up.

So how can you start a blog that will succeed, get thousands of people reading your articles, and turn your writing into profit?

We reached out to some of the best marketing experts and asked for their opinion.

Also, it’s almost one year since Aggregate blog went live. Looking back, there are many things I’d do differently. I also learned a lot on the journey.

In one year, Aggregate blog has grown close to 30k monthly readers, most of who come to the blog via Google or are return visitors.

As I’m not a big fan of the marketing expert roundup posts that just list everyone’s answers, I decided to test a different format that is, hopefully, more beneficial to someone looking to start a blog.

All the best practices and hacks shared by the marketing experts are edited into a logical order. I also added some of my personal key learnings based on building Aggregate blog.

Look at this article as a guide to starting a new blog or improving your existing website.

Also, big thanks to all the marketing experts who contributed to this article. (This list follows a random order)

Lukasz Zelezny, @LukaszZelezny | Ross Simmonds, @thecoolestcool |
Dubie Bacino, @opajdara | Daniel Wallock, @danielwallock | Cameron Conaway, @CameronConaway | Joanna Wiebe, @copyhackers | Jacob Varghese, @jacobvar | Chuck Bankoff, @KreativeWebwrks | Mark Traphagen , @marktraphagen| Raul Tiru, @raultiru | Sam Hurley, @Sam___Hurley | Samantha Kelly, @SJKellyWrites | Madalyn Sklar,  @MadalynSklar| Amy Purdie, @amypurdie | Peter Trapasso, @petertrapasso |  Adam Connell, @adamjayc | Dan Knowlton, @dknowlton1 | Adel de Meyer, @adeldmeyer | Keri Jaehnig, @kerijaehnig | Shelly Kramer, @shellykramer | Chelsea Krost, @ChelseaKrost | Eric Peters, @EricPeters0 | Dan Marks, @wdanmarks| Nirav Dave, @nirav_dave | Peter Banerjea, @successiswhat | Erik Emanuelli, @ErikEmanuelli | Sarah Dudley, @sarahdudley3 | Jason Acidre, @jasonacidre | Johnathan Dane, @johnathandane | Ashley Faulkes, @madlemmingz | Mike Schiemer | Phil Pallen, @philpallen

Part 1: Things to do before launching a blog

1. Define Your Blog’s Goal

According to Shelly Kramer, CEO + Founder of V3 Broadsuite, it’s important to understand that you’re competing against hundreds of thousands of other corporate blogs, all vying for attention and eyeballs.

Far too many companies launch blogs that are nothing more than thinly-disguised, or not disguised at all sales pitches that are all pieces of brand-centric content.

“If your answer [to why you’re starting a blog] isn’t that you want a way to be able to serve your customers and prospective customers and provide information, resources, solutions, ideas, report on industry trends, and overall help them by giving them information that will help them grow their businesses and solve the problems they might have, stop right there.”

– Shelly Kramer

Social media marketer Adel de Meyer also added that:

“Starting a successful blog starts with a clear goal, message and target audience in mind. You need to plan out your content path and you need to understand exactly what you want your blog to do for you. Every business including personal brands has different goals, missions and stories.”

– Adel de Meyer

When starting out this blog, I had a goal of building myself an online portfolio. As time went by, I started to grasp the importance of a long-term goal and focused more efforts on high-quality articles and SEO.

Blogging is a more strategic endeavour than you might expect.

You should ask yourself:

• What are my expectations for this blog?
• What profit/outcome do I want to get out of it?
• What are my 1-year and 5-year goals regarding this blog?

Once you know what it is you want to achieve, you can adjust the type of blog content to contribute to your objectives in the long term.

2. Position your blog on the market

According to content marketing expert Adam Connell, one of the most important things that most people forget is positioning.

Positioning is what differentiates your blog from the rest.

“Look at what your competitors are doing right now. Identify the good and the bad. And use that to position your brand in a way that allows you to cut through the noise. But what’s critical here is that you re-evaluate your positioning every so often.“

– Adam Connell

Adam noted that if you take your eye off the ball, you may find yourself surrounded by new competitors that are doing exactly what you’re doing because they see how well it’s working for you.

This is why you’ve got to be agile and be prepared to adapt – your competitors won’t stand still so you shouldn’t either.

Nirav Dave from Capsicum Mediaworks also emphasized the importance of choosing your niche market carefully: Once that’s done, you’ll be able to create relevant content that’ll resonate with your audience and drive in more traffic to your site.

3. Select your blog’s name smartly

When starting my blog, I had no idea how to name it. So I went with Aggregate to signify my plan to aggregate many marketing hacks to this one blog.

That was not the best of my decisions.

Let’s face it; the name is kind of random. 😃

UPDATE: In June 2018, I finally changed this blog’s domain to karolakarlson.com and renamed the blog to Advertise. Grow.

So now, I’ve been thinking about a slight rebranding and change of my blog’s name.

The problem with changing your blog’s name is the need for domain name change. And this can potentially mess up your organic blog traffic and backlinks.

So here’s the key takeaway: Consider your blog’s name carefully!

Dubie Bacino from FriendFiler made another great point:

“Before you launch a blog, check if your blog’s domain name is also available as a handle (username) on all the social networks you intend to use. If not, spend some time now to find a short, catchy domain name that relates to your blog’s content and is also available as the brand name across social media sites.”

“Consider that online marketing is based on growing your brand’s influence. Having a uniform name will help to consolidate your branding efforts and make it easy for your audience to find you. A good brand name can be a great asset. In the same way, a bad brand name can turn out to be a constant challenge in your promotional efforts. Setting up your brand with a good name will save you a lot of headache and money in the long run “

– Dubie Bacino

I couldn’t agree more!

4. Create a distinct brand style

Your brand’s style is another important point to consider carefully before starting your blog.

It will take a lot of time to rebrand your blog later.

Moreover, the sooner you develop a strong brand image, the more people will start recognizing your content in social media and other sharing platforms.

The first 6-7 articles in Aggregate blog followed a simple design principle: all images needed to be colourful and eye-catching.

However, after a while, the blog developed a stronger brand image. You might need a small-scale website redesign to bring more personality to your blog.

Now, whenever we share an article on social media, people immediately recognize the ponycorns (yes, they’re not unicorns 🙃).

So how should you think about your blog’s style before the initial launch?

Amy Purdie from Whiteacres Design told us that:

“It’s important to figure out your brand style. This doesn’t need to be perfect at this point, you can develop it as you go – and you probably will – but if you can create a brand style that is easy for you to put together when you’re creating graphics and that is carried through across everything that you do. Then, when you are sharing your posts and repurposing content and spreading the word about your blog everything will have a consistent look and feel, you’ll stand out, you’ll be recognised across different platforms, you’ll be remembered and people will become curious, remember your past posts and want to find out more about you.”

– Amy Purdie

Unsure where to start? Check out these 142 Facebook ad examples that all exhibit a different branded style.

5. Find your content/market fit

It’s an obvious one, but understand your niche, understand your audience. – Samantha Kelly.

When we asked her what’s the most important thing about launching a new blog, Kelly noted that the keywords for your article should match the user intent, not search popularity.

Look to providing the type of content your audience will want to read.

Cameron Conaway, Director of Content at Reflektion, explains this further:

“Find your content/market fit. As with product/market fit, there are many variables to consider and many questions to answer before launching a new blog.”

–Cameron Conaway

Here are two fundamental questions Conaway suggests that you think about:”

1. Do you understand the untapped and/or unfulfilled audience you want to engage?
2. If so, do you have a plan (of content creation, cadence, distribution, and SEO) and the resources to consistently deliver valuable content to this audience?

(We’ll get back to discussing content distribution later in the article.)

6. Define your personal niche

“Before launching a new blog, or anything in the marketing arena like that, I would always make sure you have your niche at least approximately nailed down,” Ashley Faulkes, SEO & WordPress Specialist at Mad Lemmings suggests.

That means doing some research, figuring out where you can stand out from the crowd, where there is enough traffic or a big enough audience (on social channels, for example).

“If you are just going to do what everyone else is doing, you will really struggle. It is far easier, and a faster path to success if you find a narrower niche, at least in the beginning. One that you want to spend time in, and there are people there to listen to you.”

– Ashley Faulkes

For example, Hundred5’s blog focuses on hiring and recruitment.

But not just that – they’re also qualified to talk on the topic, having previous recruiting experience of their own.

How to find your blog’s niche?

Usually, the key to creating valuable content that people want to read is your experience in the field.

(That’s why, famous blogs also prefer contributors who are practitioners, not just freelance writers.)

7. Provide something unique

One of the surefire ways of never making your blog succeed is repeating what others are saying.

If your blog is just an echo of Entrepreneur and Forbes articles, why would anyone prefer it to the original sources?

Think about it… Are you publishing original content that can’t be found anywhere else online?

Dan Marks from Hancock Whitney, suggests that you try to understand your target audiences’ interests and how you uniquely provide value.

According to the marketing legend David Ogilvy, writing a good advertisement starts by studying the product – you need to know what makes it beneficial to its users and different from the competition.

Rosser Reeves, another notorious marketer, explained that your product needs a USP – unique selling proposition.

What he said about advertisements surprisingly well applies to blog articles too:

1. Each advertisement (read: blog article) must make a proposition to the consumer.
2. Not just words, not just puffery, not just show-window advertising. Each advertisement (blog article) must say to each reader: “Read this article, and you will get this specific benefit.”
3. The proposition must be one that the competition doesn’t offer.
4. It must be unique – either a uniqueness of the brand or a claim not otherwise made in that particular field of advertising.
5. The proposition must be so strong that it can move the mass of millions.
6. Your advertisements (blog articles) should pull over a large number of new customers to your product (website).

When starting out with Aggregate blog, I had previously worked as a growth marketer for more than two years. I also had a fair share of blogging experience from working with some of the top marketing blogs.

That’s why, whenever I’m writing an article, I make a point of sharing advice that’s based on real marketing experience, not just on what other people and blogs are saying.

When starting a new blog, ask yourself:

1. Does this blog bring some unique value to readers?
2. Does this blog contain original data & insights not to be found in other articles across the web?

8. Know your reader persona

According to marketing influencer Sam Hurley, you need to know exactly who you’re targeting.

“Blanket approaches don’t work — your blog must be fit for a specific purpose, geared towards a particular audience — else it won’t be successful.”

– Sam Hurley

Mark Traphagen from Stone Temple added that you should think about the needs, wants, hopes and desires of your target audience. That information should then guide everything about your blog, from its design to the content you post there.

Stay true to the reader persona you’ve created, and solve their problem(s) in every blog post – Eric Peters from HubSpot emphasized that you should think about your target audience every time you’re writing an article.

9. Build your audience beforehand

Digital strategist and entrepreneur Ross Simmonds told that the most important thing to do before launching a blog is ensuring that you have an audience to actually launch to.

He’s onto something here.

“Abraham Lincoln once said: ‘Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.’ The same idea holds true when it comes to planning a successful launch for your blog. Spend time building a mailing list, building relationships with people who will share your first post on social media, businesses who will share with their teams and any other opportunities to give your blog launch more life.”

– Ross Simmonds

Marketing consultant Peter Trapasso also suggests that you start building up your social presence once you have secured your domain name. Build up your followers on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn first, then launch your blog and begin posting regularly.

At this point before the launch, you don’t necessarily need to have thousands of fan emails.

All you need is to find your 1,000 true fans – people who will become your loyal readers and help to spread the word.

“Making connections is, by far, the most important lesson I learned since when I started blogging in 2010. Whether you are launching a new blog or promoting an existing one, building relationships with bloggers of your niche ensures new visitors and knowledge exchange.”

– Erik Emanuelli, social media marketer

Another way to build up your blog’s audience is to become part of an online community.

This idea is the curtesy of Joanna Wiebe from Copy Hackers:

“Invest some real time in becoming part of the community you’ll want to read your blog. By “real time” I mean more than 6 months of regular engagement with that community – to the point where people in it recognize your name. And don’t rely on upvoting / liking their content alone. You need to dig into the community. Ask questions, comment in discussions, share interesting content that’s not yours, post about the community on social media — contribute as much and as well as someone who’s paid to.“

– Joanna Wiebe

There are online communities focused on all possible topics. For example, GrowthHackers brings together digital marketers all over the world.

Building up a blog audience before the big launch is not an easy task. However, you will find it a lot easier to distribute your content later.

Tip: You can also use the communities for distributing your blog content in later stages.

10. Set up branded social media pages

If you’ve ever launched a blog, you’ll know how much effort it takes to keep things running and to publish content regularly.

The new blog is going to demand a lot of your time.

That’s why, it’s a good idea to create your blog’s social media accounts before the launch.

Here’s Mike Schiemer from Bootstrap Business:

“In my opinion, the most important thing to do in the early stages of a blog launch is to grow your social media accounts. Initially, your blog will not be getting much or any organic traffic because you don’t have a subscriber list yet, SEO takes time, and PPC campaigns can be very expensive. Social media provides free or affordable platforms to share your new or upcoming content and amplify your reach.”

– Mike Schiemer

Strive to increase followers and engagement on your Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Snapchat, YouTube, Pinterest, and even Google+ pages so you’ll have a sizeable audience.

You’re going to need every platform and follower to maximize the reach of your blog posts and gain shares. The increased website traffic from social media will help your blog significantly in the short and long term, Schiemer added.

Tip: If you already have branded social media accounts, there’s no need to create new ones for your blog.

You can also use your personal brand and tie it to your blog. For example, Joanna Wiebe has tied her Twitter account to her brand Copy Hackers.

Look at your social media accounts as a platform for building new connections and creating brand awareness.

One last thing… Do your best to publish on social media accounts on a consistent basis!

Part 2: The technical aspects of your blog

The second part of this article is dedicated to probably the most overlooked aspect of starting a new blog.

If you’ve never set up a website before, you’ll be surprised by how much technical aspects matter – your choice of website hosting will have a long-lasting effect on your blog’s maintenance costs, loading speed, and SEO results.

After all, you don’t want your blog to be crashing under a heavy traffic load once an article goes viral…

So here are the most important technical details to consider.

11. Select a good hosting provider

Whenever you want to launch a new website with a unique domain name (e.g. a blog without the .wordpress ending), you’ll need to host it in servers.

Luckily, there are many hosting providers out there that also help you with buying the domain name you want.

SEO expert Lukasz Zelezny suggests the following:

“I bet You are launching Your blog on Wordpress. Use server-side version. Then consider a good hosting provider. I am always using SiteGround. WP Engine seems to be good too.”
– Lukasz Zelezny

There are 10+ good hosting providers out there, the most popular ones (and easiest) to use being Hostgator and Bluehost.

Using a hosting service with shared servers often means that when someone loads your blog article, the servers take a long time to respond, and your page loading speed will be low.

Here’s an example of an article page speed load report by Google – their website is not well-optimized for high page loading speed.

We used to have the same problem with Aggregate blog.

The articles took too much time to load, and it was damaging the SEO results.

That’s why, we decided to move the blog over to Google Cloud Platform that’s a bit more expensive, but provides high server response times.

According to Google, there are still many things that could be improved. However, we already have 90/100 points on Desktop and 68/100 points on Mobile.

12. Upgrade your blog from HTTP to HTTPS

SSL is not a choice, is a must. – Lukasz Zelezny

According to an article in the Moz blog, 50% of page 1 Google results in a 10,000-keyword tracking study set were secure (HTTPS).

If your website does not have an SSL certificate, its links will use http:// instead of https://.

Often, websites without the SSL certificate are marked unsafe by web browsers, and people will see the copy “Your connection is not private” when trying to load your website.

You can get an SSL certificate for free. Here’s a guide explaining how.

13. Work on your page loading speed

Your blog pages’ loading speed is an important factor that Google evaluates when deciding whether to show your blog in the search engine results.

No matter how much better your article is compared to your competition – if it takes 5+ seconds to load it, people will just get tired of waiting.

You can use page speed tracking tools to uncover how your new blog performs.

“This includes speed tests (you can use Pingdom and Google page speed insights), SEO friendliness (there are plenty of onsite SEO tools such as Screaming Frog SEO Spider), Schema testing (google schema tests), Tracking & Analytics (Use Ghostery browser plugin to make sure your code is setup and tracking correctly), Email opt-in functionality and most importantly Security. Only after you are satisfied with the results should you launch your blog and start receiving traffic. “

– Zaid from PPC Masterminds

Use Pingdom to see how much it takes for your blog pages to load.

Tip: Check the loading speed of specific blog pages, not the home page of your blog.

After all, it’s the specific articles you want ranking on Google.

As you enter your landing page and hit the “Start Test” button, you will get tons of recommendations for improving your blog.

What is a good page loading speed?

According to Google’s 2017 research, the average time it takes to fully load a mobile landing page is 22 seconds. Yet 53% of visits are abandoned if a mobile site takes longer than three seconds to load.

Here’s some more stellar advice from Lukasz Zelezny on how to improve your page loading speed:

1. Make sure you are using caching (especially that SiteGround provide 4 level caches).
2. Make sure you minify javascript and CSS.
3. Make sure you are not using too many external scripts.
4. And if you have a bit of money to spend, make sure you are utilizing CDN (like Cloudflare for example.

14. Place your blog on your main domain

Raul Tiru from GlobalOwls emphasized another critical factor of your new blog’s SEO success: Research has shown that placing your blog on your main domain rather than on a sub domain helps improve SEO.

Start a blog as following: yourdomain/blog instead of blog.yourdomain. Here is a video by Moz explaining this.

Do this right from the start, save yourself time later, improve your domain authority and SEO.

15. Use the optimal number of plugins

Plugins are the add-ons that you can use to improve your WordPress site.

For example, there are plugins that help improve your SEO results, collect emails, and much much more.

An article in the WPBeginner blog suggests 24 plugins that are a must-have. That’s slightly misleading. I rather agree with Lukasz Zelezny who said that:

“Make sure you will not install million plugins – if you do, you will kill website performance and you will not be able to rank as high as you would with a well-pptimized website.”

– Lukasz Zelezny

Having too many plugins (24, for example) on your blog will slow down your blog’s loading speed.

However, there are some great plugins that you should install.

16. Get some technical and SEO plugins

Nirav Dave from Capsicum Mediaworks suggests the following:

“If your website is powered by WordPress, then the next step would include installing useful plugins like Yoast SEO (the best on-page SEO plugin), Wordfence Security plugin, W3 Total Cache (to speed up your WordPress website), BackUpWordPress (to backup your entire site and database), Contact Form 7 (to create customise contact forms), Akismet ( to prevent spam), Thrive Leads (best email opt-in plugin) and WP Smushit (to optimize your site’s images).”

– Nirav Dave

Here’s the list broken down:

1. Yoast SEO
2. Wordfence Security plugin
3. W3 Total Cache
4. BackUpWordPress
5. Contact Form 7
6. Akismet
7. Thrive Leads
8. WP Smushit

Equipped with all these plugins, your blog’s both protected, optimized, and working as a lead platform.

17. Make your blog design mobile friendly

Be sure your website and blog are designed to be mobile responsive. – Keri Jaehnig, Idea Girl Media

A recent article I read in the Moz blog was discussing Google’s new feature of mobile-first indexing.

Mobile-first indexing means that the mobile version of your website becomes the starting point for what Google includes in their index, and the baseline for how they determine your website’s rankings.

You can submit your blog to Google and say you’d prefer them to apply the mobile-first indexing on your website. Here’s the main difference with desktop-first indexing:

Is your blog doomed to fail without the mobile-first indexing?

No, not really. Or rather, not yet.

According to Google’s latest article on the topic, if your website is responsive or otherwise identical in its desktop and mobile versions, you’re all good.

What you should do is ensure all your images and content is also loading on mobile, and that your blog’s theme is mobile responsive.

18. Select a good Wordpress theme

Before starting Aggregate blog, I spent more than a day looking for a good WordPress theme. It paid off big time – I’m still happy with the selection I made.

You can browse for WordPress themes on sites like Themeforest.

Here’s how it works: You buy a premium WordPress theme and can then install it to your website. Here’s an installation guide, in case you need it.

What to look for in a WordPress theme:

1. High customizability – can you easily achieve the blog look you want?
2. High page loading speed – read reviews rather than trusting the “Speed Optimized” slogan on a theme’s promotional page.
3. Good UX – is it pleasant for people to browse your blog and read the articles?

Alright… You’ve now set up your blog’s domain and WordPress page, meanwhile making sure it has a swift loading speed and will rock in SEO.

It’s time to launch your new blog.

Part 3: Launching your new blog

19. Launch with a big bang

According to Peter Banerjea, Co-Founder at SuccessIsWhat.com, the most important thing to do before a blog launch is to ensure that you get tons of traffic on the day of launch.

Here are a couple of tactics Peter suggests:

1. Build an email list before you launch a blog. One way of doing that is to do lots of guest posts and have a link to a lead magnet in your bio.
2. Build partnerships with other bloggers and podcasters. Ask them to drive traffic to a launch page or a lead magnet before you launch.
3. Write an incredibly compelling article as the first post on your blog. Then, ask influencers in your niche to contribute quotes, data or any other type of input for the post. Then, when you launch, ask them to share it. That’s sure to drive tons of traffic to your post. Make sure you reach out to several more influencers after you launch and ask them to share your article too.
4. Never try to launch a blog on your own. The only way you will have a successful launch is if you have the support of influencers.

Tip: As you’ve put tons of effort into setting up your new blog, it’s worth taking the extra step and creating a blog launch plan.

20. Get help in promoting your blog

Unless you’re already an influencer in a given field, you probably won’t have thousands of social media fans to share your blog with.

However, there are other influencers who could help you out.

Check out what three marketing experts suggest:

“Once you have the plan in place and started producing your blog content you need to spend the time to build relationships with people in your niche on Social Media. This will help you tremendously with collaboration opportunities, traffic, building credibility and getting your blog content out to a wider audience. Launch your new blog with influencer partnerships, roundup posts or a long-form piece case study on research you did that offer massive value to readers.”

– Adel de Meyer

“Create a launch event where you are collaborating with others that will be enthused about your content and mission. Do livestreams, hold a contest, collaborate with guest authors that can share your content. Launch with meaning! Also be sure your blog is listed in GOOD blog directories so you can attract a relevant readership. {There is a list of things I recommend, but the answer above answers this specific question with quick important things people can do easily}.”

– Keri Jaehnig

“One great way to increase traffic is by quoting industry experts, influencers, fellow bloggers, or thought leaders within your post. Then, when you share the blog post on social, be sure to tag the individual(s) quoted in the article in hopes that they will retweet or share the post on their channel further bringing more brand awareness & traffic to your blog! Taking this tactic one step further, ask the person you quoted if they would do a FB Live or Instagram Live with you to discuss the topic of the article. This way you are creating more content for your audience while driving more awareness to your blog post. “

– Chelsea Krost

21. Don’t launch an empty blog

Sarah Dudley from Marketing Macros pointed out another interesting idea: do not launch a blog that only includes a single article.

“When launching a new blog, have enough content available to entice people to subscribe during the launch period. If you only have one post that goes live the day of your launch, it’s harder to gauge whether that content will be of interest to me than if you have 10 blogs available. Then I get a true sense of the voice of this person or brand and whether I want to see more of what they do in the future. Similarly, have those CTA’s built into your blogs. Having great content isn’t enough if you don’t give people the next step to take, whether it is subscribing, signing up for a service, or downloading a piece of content.”

– Sarah Dudley

If your goal is to get your blog visitors to return later, it’s important they grasp what your blog’s about.

It is difficult to evaluate a blog’s quality based on a single blog post.

Moreover, your blog will look sad and empty with a single article in it.

I would suggest that you write at least three articles before focusing on the BIG LAUNCH. And although these articles may not get that much of a stage light, still make sure they’re top-notch stuff.

22. Start with cornerstone articles

Jason Acidre from Kaiserthesage suggests that you thoroughly plan and build the first set of cornerstone content assets (4-5 comprehensive guides/tutorials/lists).

According to Acidre, your cornerstone articles should:

1. Be evergreen, so that you can run promotion campaigns for the content (through outreach or paid social) in a stretch of 3-6 months. Mainly to lessen the pressure of having the need to consistently create/publish new content on the site.
2. Focus on topic areas that have substantial search volume (and be able to cover both top and middle of the funnel audience).
3. Be linkable and shareable in nature (to attract and earn the right links over time, for them to eventually rank better on search results). And to also ensure that there’s a ton of link opportunities for the topics we’ll be creating content around on.
4. Make an impact on the site/blog’s business objectives. Content assets that should help demonstrate expertise, in order to convert more visitors.

Digital Marketing Strategist (Director of Marketing @solufy) Jacob Varghese suggests that you think about three different types of content:

1. Broader Niche Topics: These are topics on the blog that would tackle the broader interests within your target niche. e.g.: Say you are a personal trainer for executive women over 40, writing about time management (for exercising) for women, benefits of meditation, could be potential broader niche topics.
2. Niche Topics: These topics would be closer to your target audience. Like ‘health and wellness for women over 40’ ‘connection between good leadership and good health’ ‘exercise tips for women’.
3. Target Niche Topics: These would one-to-one conversations with those who are your clients.e.g.: Specific exercises for women over 40.

Although the ‘Target Nice Topics’ could form the bulk of your posts, the other topic clusters will lay strong foundations for longer-term brand vitality and other benefits like more room for creative expression and well-rounded thought leadership in your niche.

“Ensure that these topics resonate with most of your reader/buyer personas. Use a spreadsheet if you want to keep track of which persona/s and topic cluster each topic is being written for.

Before/during/after your blog launch you also want to use connect (digitally and otherwise) with other influencers and audiences for those topic clusters so you can share, exchange, and amplify each other’s valuable content for mutual benefit.”

– Jacob Varghese

23. Use the skyscraper technique

Johnathan Dane, CEO at KlientBoost suggests that you use the Skyscraper Technique when writing blog articles.

According to a blog article in Backlinko’s blog, following this technique can significantly boost your organic traffic and also the number of backlinks you’ll get.

Broken down to 3 steps, here’s how thie Skyscraper Technique works:

• Step 1: Find link-worthy content
• Step 2: Make something even better
• Step 3: Reach out to the right people

24. Write “the best damn blog post”

If you truly want people to give you their time and read your blog, write what Joanna Wiebe calls “the best damn blog posts.”

“Once you’ve given to that community (and gathered a bunch of karma points along the way), publish the best damn blog post you’ve ever written. It doesn’t have to be long; it has to be incredible. And it has to be the first of several planned amazing posts that you’ll publish regularly over the next X days/weeks/months. As in, have a long-term plan – there’s no such thing as one and done.”

– Joanna Wiebe

What makes a good blog post?

1. It has to be original
2. Don’t just merely copy other blogs
3. It has to cover the subject in-depth
4. Usually, best articles are 2,000+ words long
5. You have to prove your claims with stats and studies
6. You have to have an engaging writing style
7. You need awesome images and illustrations
8. Make sure your article sparks emotions
9. Make your blog article actionable

For more writing hacks, see this article: 16 Hacks for Copywriting for Facebook and Social Media

25. Work hard on your headlines

There’s arguably no other element to your blog article as important to its success than the headline.

A good headline will make people click on your social media posts and makes them curious about your article.

However, a good headline is hard to come by.

Chuck Bankoff from Kreative Webworks explains: People don’t read on the Internet, they scan. They see images and headlines. No mater how good your blog article is, you need to get their attention first.

“Traffic breeds traffic, and nothing jumpstarts traffic to a new blog like an intriguing headline. As David Ogilvy, the father of advertising said, “You have to crap out 25 headlines for every piece of content.
Your headline should be either clever, shocking or interesting. It should be focused, relevant and address your target audiences’ pain.
Tip: Start with a working headline to name your piece, but don’t commit until after the entire blog has been written. You will be amazed at how often the headline writes itself based on the content you just wrote. Try scanning your article for a stand-out sentence, and use that for the basis of your headline.”

– Chuck Bankoff

Research by Conductor showed that people prefer headlines that contain numbers.

Read more: Backed by Data: How to Write Extraordinarily Good Headlines

26. Create a blog promotion plan

“Spend substantial time creating content for your blog — and even more promoting it. There’s absolutely no point in producing material, if nobody is ever going to see it.”

– Sam Hurley, OPTIM-EYEZ

Dan Knowlton from KPS Digital Marketing suggests that 20% of your time should be creating blogs, 80% of your time should be promoting them.

Think about it… You spend around 8-12 hours on writing a great blog article. If you put no effort in promoting it, this time if half wasted.

“Video is one of the best ways to promote your blogs as social media algorithms don’t penalise videos as much as links. Here is an example of how we’ve been creative with video to promote one of our blogs. “

– Dan Knowlton

Here’s another marketing expert weighing in:

“The most important thing you need to do for your launch is to promote it. Do this before, during and after. My secret weapon is SocialJukebox. It’s a great tool for evergreen content on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. It saves me so much time and allows me to “work smarter not harder.”

– Madalyn Sklar

And another…

“Also, think about how it is you’re going to get eyeballs to that content. Just because you hit “publish” doesn’t mean anyone is going to find or read your blog content.

Do you have a robust presence in the social media space? Do you do regular email marketing/send email newsletters? Have you factored in the value of paid social as a way of getting traction for your content? Does your sales team understand the value of sharing well-written, informative blog content? Do they know how to do that? Bottom line: For success with a corporate blog, start with a strategy. Develop the right kind of content, and figure out how you’ll get that content in front of people as part of that strategic plan.”

– Shelly Kramer

The key takeaway from what all three marketers are saying is that you need to spend a lot of time on promoting your article. Otherwise, nobody will find it.

27. Create a content promotion checklist

If you want to consistently succeed in promoting your blog, create a list of best practices that work for you.

Start a content promotion checklist and keep to it with near-religious devotion.

“The most important thing I do before I launch a blog post is creating a content promotion checklist. In a spreadsheet I list all the places I’m going to promote the blog post and the specific tactics I’m going to execute to drive traffic and shares. I also list my estimation of how much traffic each promotional activity will drive. By check-listing every single thing I’m going to do for promotion I can be ready to promote the content effectively.“

– Daniel Wallock

Johnathan Dane suggests that you promote your blog articles via upvoting communities, social channels, and other formats so you get your vanity social proof up.

Also, you can both share and promote your blog articles on Facebook.

Tip: Before you promote your blog article to a wide audience of people (based on their interests and location), promote it to your fans and customers.

28. Engage your blog readers to comment

As you’re starting a new blog, you’re likely interested in engaging with your audience.

One of the best ways to do it is in your blog’s comments section.

Tip: Get the Disqus WordPress plugin to have a good-looking commenting platform in the end of each article.

Chelsea Krost suggests that in order to engage a higher number of readers, always think about that strategic Call To Action to include and the bottom of each blog to kick start engagement in the comments section.

“Make sure to always check the comments section to gain inspiration from what people like or questions asked to determine what topics to cover next.”
– Chelsea Krost

Part 4: Growing your new blog

29. Be consistent in publishing and promotion

After a successful new blog launch, you definitely deserve some praise and a few days of rest.

However, the initial success can easily pass if you leave your blog unattended for the upcoming weeks.

Here’s some solid advice from three marketing experts:

“Once you get traction, keep your content consistent, maintain your website to be fast, modern and a delightful experience for your visitor.”

– Adel de Meyer

“Publish at least twice/week.”

– Johnathan Dane

“Focus more on maintenance than launch. People put so much energy into the launch, but forget to create a system that keeps them accountable for continuing to publish new content. It’s a marathon, not a sprint.”

– Phil Pallen

Moreover, you should give your best to keep sharing your blog articles on social media for maximized visibility.

30. Set up an editorial calendar

An easy way to keep yourself on track with consistent content creation is to set up an editorial calendar.

“Plan an editorial calendar that focuses on your best work that speaks to those three factors so you attract the right readers for your content.”

– Keri Jaehnig

Nothing fancy is needed. For example, I like to keep a Google Doc. with all my blog article ideas. Truth be told, it’s still difficult to keep writing on a consistent basis.

31. Experiment with different content formats

Nirav Dave suggests that you take use of different content formats like infographics, case studies, expert roundups, videos, etc. as this will help enhance engagement with your audience as well as help increase your site’s ranking on SERPs.

Different content formats will help your blog get visibility in a wide range of distribution channels.

For example, infographics can do really well on Pinterest.

Tip: No matter what type of content you publish, make sure it’s SEO-optimized.

If you’re publishing an infographic in your blog, write an intro, so that Google’s algorithms will get more information about the illustration’s content.

32. Build a list of your blog readers

Many people come to your blog only once. Then, they forget about you.

If you want to keep people engaged in the long term and keep notifying them of your latest blog articles, start building an email marketing list.

“Add an opt-in overlay (with an opt-in *and* opt-out button on it) to your blog. Make your opt-in magnet something you KNOW is compelling to the community you’re a part of.”

– Joanna Wiebe

Here’s a great example by Jeff Bullas:

In Aggregate blog, we created an e-book with more than 200 Facebook ad examples that we use as a lead magnet. This far, we’ve got already more than 2,500 downloads.

33. Build and engage your community

Joanna Wiebe suggests that you sometimes ask your community for help.

“Share your blog post with the community, driving them to your blog. And if it’s not stretching the rules of that community, give them a link to one of your tweets about the post so they can retweet it.”

– Joanna Wiebe

However, don’t go overboard with this tactic and only try it on people who really know you and your blog.

34. Repurpose and redistribute your blog content

After you’ve run your blog for a while, there will be a substantial amount of content that you can start to repurpose.

“Content distribution never ends. This is a mistake I frequently encounter. Repurpose and redeploy across multiple channels/platforms!”

– Sam Hurley

For example, you could create an infographic out a listicle post. Or make a 2017 guide into an updated 2018 guide.

35. Do guest blogging to get backlinks

If you want your website/blog to rank higher in Google search results, go guest post for other sites and link back to your site and articles in their posts. – Johnathan Dane

However, as I wrote in a recent article on guest blogging, it’s often not worth your time.

Tim Soulo, Head of Marketing at Ahrefs, conducted an extensive analysis of 273 guest posts and their ROI.

In terms of referral traffic, guest posting is almost as good as doing nothing.

If you’re just starting a blog, focus on creating better-than-life articles for your own blog and build up your fan base.

Then, if you truly have time aside from keeping your own blog filled with new content, think about blogging for others.

36. Don’t expect overnight success

As a final note, I would like to emphasize that your blog won’t get famous overnight.

Even if you write the best articles in the entire universe, it takes time for people to find out about your blog and learn to love it.

“First and foremost, have realistic expectations when you start or plan to start your own blog. Getting traction and building an audience takes time, so don’t beat yourself up about not achieving overnight success.”

– Adel de Meyer

Here are a few key learnings I took away from the first year of growing Aggregate blog:

1. Some of the posts you think are AWESOME won’t get much traffic.
2. It’s partly due to chance that some posts go viral.
3. Consistency really is the key when it comes to growing.
4. The quickest way to grow your blog traffic is via smart SEO.
5. It really is important to outreach and engage with other influencers.

Look at growing your blog as evolution – it’s not perfect from the beginning, but it will keep improving with time.

Alright, folks… This article’s gotten way too long already. I hope you’re at least a bit more inspired to get started with a blog.

Also, BIG KUDOS to all the marketing experts for being part of this article.

If you’ve got any additional must-know tactics for starting a blog, let us know in the comments! 

The post 36 Hacks for Starting a Blog by 30+ TOP Marketing Experts appeared first on Marketing Fix blog.

If you’re looking answers to these three questions, this article’s for you.

Because that’s exactly what this article’s about – how to get started with guest blogging and accelerate your way to contributing to the top publications.

But first, there’s one important question that needs to be answered:

Is guest blogging even worth your time?

Around 2 years ago, I wrote my first guest post for a small business blog.

Fast forward to 2017, I’ve become a contributor to some of the top-tier blogs that once seemed like a distant dream: Entrepreneur, Content Marketing Institute, Social Media Examiner, and many more.

Here’s what I’ve learned about guest posting after contributing more than 50 articles to more than 15 blogs.

Part 1: The benefits of guest blogging

Believe me, I’m highly sceptical about the ROI of guest posting.

This said, I’ve seen both value and time wasted when publishing in third-party blogs.

If you want to get the maximum value out of guest blogging, you need to know your goal.

Here are some common reasons for guest blogging:

• Getting high-quality backlinks for your website
• Establishing yourself as a thought leader
• Increasing the awareness of your brand
• Finding new clients and potential partners
• Building new connections within your industry

The reason I started guest blogging was to get quality backlinks for Scoro’s website – my employer at the time. I also loved the challenge of getting accepted to some of the top blogs I had myself learned from.

Guest blogging can be a highly efficient strategy to improve your SEO results.

Ahrefs studied the correlation between the number of backlinks and keyword rankings on Google. They found that those two metrics have a high correlation between them.

While I personally believe that guest blogging didn’t contribute much to our blog’s growth, I still believe it had some effect on the rapid growth of our organic blog traffic thanks to quality backlinks.

Key takeaway #1: You need to know why you’re guest blogging.

Alright, we can say that submitting guest posts to other websites has the potential to increase your Domain Authority in the eyes of Google and bring you more website traffic in the long term.

But there’s also a caveat: not all guest blogging is equally beneficial to your SEO results.

There’s a big difference between a backlink from a popular blog and a website with low authority.

Compare this to creating your brand’s showroom in the middle of the woods or a royal castle.

Guest blogging on a low-authority site with a few readers is likely going to have a smaller impact on your long-term website traffic than writing a high-quality blog article for your own blog.

Key takeaway #2: It’s worth guest blogging on high-authority sites.

Popular blogs also get more traffic which means higher visibility for your post, you, and your brand.

P.S. If you’re looking to increase your blog traffic, check out this article: 18 Hacks for Promoting Blog Articles on Facebook

If you’re hesitating whether to write a guest post for a particular website, use an SEO tool like Mozbar to check how high Domain Authority that website has. Mozbar will show you the Domain Authority (on the scale of 1-100) of any website you’re interested in.

Try to find guest posting opportunities on websites with the DA higher than 60 points.

But what if your goal for guest blogging isn’t to improve your website’s SEO? What if you’re interested in building your personal brand?

Guest blogging is a great way of establishing yourself as a thought leader in any particular industry.

However, it’s not always as efficient as you might think.

For example, when I published an article in Entrepreneur, only nine readers looked up my profile and website.

It looks like guest blogging isn’t going to bring you much fame after all… Even a small’scale Facebook advertising campaign would bring you significantly more results.

Tim Soulo, Head of Marketing at Ahrefs, conducted an extensive analysis of 273 guest posts and their ROI.

Here’s what he had to say about referral traffic from guest posting:

Out of 239 guest articles Tim wrote, 35% generated less than 10 visits and only 15% generated more than 100 visits.

Alright, so now we have data from two marketers saying that guest blogging is a terrible way of getting more traffic to your personal or branded website.

Key takeaway #3: Guest blogging is an awfully inefficient way to increase website traffic

Does this mean you shouldn’t be guest posting at all?

Not necessarily.

Here’s another finding from Tim’s research:

If you’re able to include a relevant link to an article or research material on your website, the guest post will bring you a lot more value.

Key takeaway #4: Increase your traffic from guest posts by linking to your other articles/research.

Another cool idea is to create a content upgrade, e.g. an eBook with additional insights, and offer it to your guest post readers in exchange for their emails. This way, you can collect the readers’ emails and reach out to them in the future.

I’ve also learned that the topic of your guest post matters a lot.

For example, if you’re a marketer looking to get hired, it makes sense to write guest posts on marketing, not productivity or management.

When I wrote an article on Facebook advertising for Content Marketing Institute, it was picked up by other marketers.

Compare to the nine website visits I got from a guest post in Entrepreneur, writing for a marketing blog had a significantly higher ROI.

The guest post brought me 30+ visitors. While it’s not much, some of those people were interested in collaboration or hiring me.

Look for blogs where your potential customers hang out and write guest posts that show your expertise on the right topics.

Here’s another question people are curious about:

Can you get hired via guest blogging?

Definitely!

More than once did I write a guest post to a marketing blog and got made an offer to keep writing to them as a paid contributor.

I’ve also had several people read my guest contributions to leading marketing blogs and reach out to hire me.

Key takeaway #5: Guest blogging can be an efficient way to attract new customers.

However, don’t get too excited about writing one or two guest posts and seeing all the business to come in…

You also need to have a strong landing page / personal blog to land a job. People who love your guest post will check out your website.

Having a website to back up your expertise will help to convince people to hire you.

Key takeaway #6: You need a personal website for people to find out more about you.

For me, guest blogging has always worked hand-in-hand with my personal website. The best job offers never even came via a guest post, but thanks to people reading my blog.

However, guest posting helps to strengthen your personal brand and establish you as an expert in your field.

Here’s an example of a Twitter profile belonging to marketing influencer Aaron Orendorff – having published in so many well-known publications helps him to increase credibility.

To sum up the first half of this article, here’s how you can benefit from guest posting:

1. It’s worth guest blogging on high-authority websites and the blogs your potential clients read.
2. Guest posts do not usually bring much traffic to your website, even not the articles published on high-authority sites.
3. Sometimes, it’s worth skipping a guest posting opportunity and write an article in your own blog instead.
4. Guest blogging works best when combined with a personal blog or a branded website.
5. Look at guest posting as a way to increase credibility and connect with other people in your field.

If you find the goals above worthy of your time (it takes around 8h to write a 2000-word article or even more) and you’re willing to put in some hard work, keep reading.

In the second part of this article, we’re going to explore how you can become a guest blogger to world-class blogs like Entrepreneur, Content Marketing Institute, and The Next Web.

Part 2: How to get started with guest blogging

I wrote my first ever blog article in 2015.

I had just joined the software startup Scoro as their Content Marketing Manager.

My first week at work, I wrote the first blog article I’d ever written in English.

Looking at it now, I feel slightly embarrassed, would like to rewrite the entire article, and prohibit my past self from publishing any more content.

However, if I hadn’t started to publish those blog articles, I never would have learned to write.

Key takeaway #7: The best way to learn to write is to write.

Your first articles are 99% sure to be poorly written and will fail to attract many readers.

But that’s just fine.

The worst thing you can do is to give up and never take on writing again. Keep blogging on a regular basis until you get better and start attracting some readers.

A good litmus test is to show your articles to your friends and ask if they’d read that.

I started to write and publish a blog article on Scoro’s blog every week. After six months, my articles started to improve and I kept learning from my colleagues that helped to edit my work.

I was super eager to start guest posting in some of my favourite marketing blogs. Yet some of my earliest outreaches got negative replies.

I still needed to grow as a writer.

Key takeaway #8: Your early pitches will be rejected. Don’t give up.

Reaching the level of expertise and writing skills demanded by top publications takes time.

If you submit the first article you’ve written in your life as a guest contribution, it probably won’t get accepted. You’ll first need to gain some credibility as a writer.

So here’s what I did next: I started by guest posting to small blogs.

Here’s how I looked at it: If I get accepted to some mid-tier blogs, I can put in hard work, publish some amazing articles, and then pitch larger blogs based on that experience.

I sent out 10+ pitches to some of the blogs I considered to be reachable, pitched them highly relevant ideas and was given a chance by a couple of editors. You must constantly improve your copywriting skills to write better pitches.

Here’s the thing: Instead of pitching your ideas to 1-2 blogs, reach out to more than 10. There’s a lot higher chance that one of your pitches will get accepted.

One of the first guest posts I wrote was for the HubSpot blog.

It even had a decent amount of social shares that made it possible to pitch myself as a guest blogger to additional blogs.

Key takeaway #9: Start guest blogging in small or mid-tier blogs and work your way up.

Don’t expect those first guest posts to bring you fame and new customers.

However, you’ve got to get your snowball-effect snowball rolling from somewhere. So look for blogs that accept articles from less-experienced writers like yourself.

Here’s one more highly important tip: Write relevant and original pitches.

Here’s how NOT to get your guest post pitch accepted:

Here’s what’s wrong with this pitch:

• The blogger did not introduce herself.
• The blogger made no pitches for articles she wanted to write.
• She didn’t refer to her previous work to prove she can write.

That’s worse than not sending any email. It’s sending an email and wasting the editor’s time.

Here’s another one: the regular guest post pitch I saw when working as the Content Marketing Manager for Scoro.

What’s wrong with that pitch?

All the three topics they pitched are generic, and there are probably 10 articles with the exact same titles already published. This pitch is a no-go.

Key takeaway #10: A bad pitch is worse than no pitch at all.

So what makes a good guest post pitch – one that gets you accepted to the leading blogs?

CopyHackers has a funny and insightful guide to writing an awesome pitch. Here’s what they suggest:

• STEP 1: Be awesome.
• STEP 2: Choose a topic you know shit-tons about.
• STEP 3: Work on that headline some more.

In fact, their guidelines make you almost too intimidated to send over a pitch.

But these guidelines also push you out of your comfort zone, nudging you to be creative and put in some hard work.

That’s exactly how writing a good pitch should feel like.

As I’d always wanted to be a guest blogger for CopyHackers, I decided to take my chance. It took me 22 minutes (instead of the 3 minutes most people put in their pitches) to write an email to the blog.

I’m still proud of myself when looking at this pitch.

A couple of hours after sending over my email, I got a reply from CopyHackers’ founder Joanna Wiebe, saying she loved the pitch and would like to see the outline or first draft. ????

In a few weeks, my article was published and got tons of positive feedback.

Which leads us to the next lesson…

Key takeaway #11: Work on your pitches like your life depends on it.

Here’s what a good guest post pitch looks like:

• It shows personality – your introduction should differentiate your from other contributors
• It’s original – the ideas you pitch have not been written about before or you’re offering a unique angle to the subject.
• It’s practical – you’ve done your research on the blog and suggest topics they haven’t published yet.
• It’s convincing – you explain to the reader why you’re the right person to write on the proposed topics and also link to some of your previous articles.
• It’s entertaining – use interesting wording and create a good flow, so that the reader will enjoy reviewing your pitch.

Yeah, that’s a lot of things you need to get right. It’s a lot harder than creating an Instagram campaign or brewing the perfect espresso.

But… The more you practice the art of writing pitches, the better you’ll get at it.

How to become a guest author in top blogs

If this question’s the reason you’re reading this article… Well… Here comes the answer!

After I had written for some notable marketing blogs, I felt ready to approach the big players – blogs I had only recently dreamed of writing for.

By this time, I had tens of articles and referrals to prove my expertise.

I had written 30+ articles for HubSpot, Kissmetrics, CopyHackers, AdEspresso, KlientBoost, InfusionSoft, Duct Tape Marketing, The Next Web, and many more blogs.

More importantly, I had set in motion the growth of my personal blog that was seeing high readership from fellow marketers.

First, you need credibility. Only then can you start pitching to the high-level blogs.

Key takeaway #12: Before pitching to top-level blogs, build up your personal brand and credibility.

Look at guest blogging like a game – you need to level up in order to get accepted to high-rank blogs. Coming up with original ideas and pitches that get accepted gets harder once you start approaching the leading business blogs.

Becoming a contributor to leading publications like Forbes, Entrepreneur and the top industry blogs is not easy, but definitely a goal that you can reach.

—

Did something remain unclear? Do you have additional questions regarding guest blogging? Leave a comment and we’ll get back to you.

The post After Guest Blogging 50+ Articles to Top Blogs, Here’s What I’ve Learned appeared first on Marketing Fix blog.

However, there’s a huge difference between good Facebook traffic and bad Facebook traffic.

Most people that click on your blog promotions or Facebook ad are just passengers-by.

So instead of simply posting a blog article on your Facebook page and setting up a $50 boosted post, you should aim to convert people seeing your promoted post into high-potential leads.

Otherwise, people will just click on your Facebook ad, visit your blog once, and then forget about it.

That’s not exactly the relationship you’re looking to have with your readers, right?

What can you do differently to get good results out of your Facebook blog promo?

In this article, you’re going to find answers to three main questions haunting content marketers and Facebook advertisers alike:

• How to advertise blog via Facebook in the most efficient way?
• How to ensure that people are going to click on your promoted post?
• How to turn cold leads into email subscribers, and eventually, customers?

All the hacks and best practices in this article are based on personal experience of promoting multiple blogs on Facebook (including the blog you’re reading). After more than 2 million ad post impressions and 100+ Facebook blog promos, here are the key takeaways.

1. The Golden Rule of Blog Promotion: Always Share Your Content on Facebook

Whenever you publish a blog article, infographic, or release a guide, take 10 minutes to post it on your Facebook Page.

This is beneficial in many ways:

• You’ll keep your fans updated about new content
• Your article will reach new people who may become fans
• Posting regularly shows you’re active and more trustworthy
• Your fresh article will get a boost it needs to be read and shared across the web
• You could be offered guest blogging opportunities from top blogs.

For 10 minutes of your time, that’s a lot of benefits and fame.

Even if you don’t have that many Facebook page fans, it makes sense to share your post.

In the beginning, your post may organically gather only 1-2 likes (one of which is coming from yourself), but that’s fine. You will grow your followership eventually. Especially with the hacks you’re going to learn in a sec.

2. Share Your Blog Article as a Facebook Post

The easiest way to share your blog articles on Facebook is to copy-paste the article’s link into your Facebook’ page’s publishing box.

As you insert the link, Facebook will add the image, headline, and link description. You can edit these or use the default copy. You will also need to write a text for your post.

Note that you need to go to the Business Manager page when publishing something on your Facebook page. Otherwise, the post won’t be published by your brand but you.

Tip: You can bookmark the Business Manager view of your Facebook page for quick access.

3. Set the Right Target Audience

As a recent change, Facebook is letting advertisers optimize who will see their Facebook posts.

You can tell Facebook who’s the ideal audience for your post’s organic reach. (And you probably had no idea the Facebook Audience Optimization feature exists!)

Here’s how it works.

When adding a new post to your Facebook page, click on the little target-shaped icon to select your preferred target audience.

Once you click on the icon, a new pop-up window will appear where you can optimize your post’s target audience based on their interests. It works just like creating a Facebook Saved Audience.

Another thing you can do is setting audience restrictions to tell Facebook who is or isn’t allowed to see your posts. For example, you can set the age, language, and location to target specific people with every Facebook post.

How to activate the Automated Audience Optimization:

Important: If your Facebook page has fewer than 5,000 likes, you may need to turn it on manually. Simply click the “Settings” tab in the top right corner of your Facebook page. From the “General” tab, you’ll see a row for “Audience Optimization for Posts.”

Click on “Edit” and check the box to activate the Audience Optimization. Then, hit the “Save Changes” button.

Every time you publish a new Facebook post, let the algorithms know who it is you’re targeting (or in other words, who will find your Facebook post relevant and interesting).

Reaching the right audience already in the posting phase does two things:

• Your post has a higher relevancy so Facebook will distribute to more people.
• As people find your Facebook post relevant, they will like/share it and it reaches more people.

4. Write a Strong Headline

While your Facebook ad design is what catches people’s attention, it’s usually the headline that people decide on whether to click or not click on your post.

So how can you write a good headline for your blog promotion when sharing articles on Facebook?

Here are a few suggestions for writing good Facebook post headlines:

• Use numbers – By starting your headline with a number, you’re 36% more likely to have people click on your ads.
• Use unordinary wording – Always try to find interesting words, e.g. “magnificent,” “major,” or “extraordinary” instead of “good” or “best.”
• Keep it short – A study by Outbrain found that headlines with 60-100 characters result in the highest click-through rates.

If you’re unsure whether you’ve come up with a strong headline, try the Headline Analyzer tool by CoSchedule.

5. Write a Compelling Introduction

A high number of people who click on your Facebook post do it based on the image and headline alone.

However, there are also those who read through the entire copy before deciding whether your shared article is worth their time.

Moreover, the device people use when seeing your Facebook post plays a role: in mobile, the text part is a lot more prevalent.

All things considered, you should always ensure that all parts of your promoted post’s copy are best in class.

On Desktop, people will judge your post based on the headline.

On Mobile devices, your above-image text grabs the most attention.

Whenever writing copy to share a blog article on Facebook, follow these rules:

• The first sentence must catch everyone’s attention – you can insert a bold statement or a question.
• Your text should show some personality – keep it conversational as you were writing to a friend.
• The layout must be easily readable – if you want to write more than 2 lines of text, use the line spacing to format your text for higher readability.

6. Use Symbols and Emojis for Extra Attention

Another easy way to spice up 🌶 your Facebook posts is to insert custom symbols and emojis.

Here’s an example by Buffer:

Take a look at these 142 Facebook ad examples to see how top brands are using emojis in their Facebook promotions.

We once ran a small Facebook ad A/B test with SaaS startup Scoro to test whether emojis have any effect on the click-through and engagement rates. They did.

The ad with emoji in the headline had a 241% higher click-through rate than the ad with no emoji.

While a 241% difference is unusual, you can still use emojis and symbols to bring more life to your posts.

See this article to learn exactly how to use emojis in Facebook ads.

7. Create the Perfect Facebook Post Design

As you publish articles in your blog, they probably have a featured image.

However, the image size of your blog post may not exactly match Facebook’s specs.

That’s why, you can create a slightly altered version of your blog image to use on Facebook.

I do not create a new Facebook sharing image for every blog post, but as this blog’s featured images are in an unusual landscape format, they sometimes don’t look that good on Facebook.

Here are all the Facebook link post guidelines you may need:

• Image size: 1200px X 628px
• Image ratio: 1.91:1
• In-image text: less than 20%

If you’re interested in more ad sizes for both Facebook and Instagram, see this guide: Instagram Ad Specs & Ad Size in 2017 – The Always Up-to-date Guide

If you’re using WordPress to manage your blog, you can use the Yoast SEO plugin to optimize your social media sharing settings and change the image.

We’re not going to stop on the Facebook post design in this article as there’s an entire guide with 25 suggestions and hacks for you to check out: 25 Facebook Ad Design Hacks for Major Success

However, there is one important suggestion you should know… ?

8. Avoid Regular Stock Photos for promoting your blog

If you’re using free stock photos as your blog images (yes, also those beautiful Unsplash photos are stock photos), you’re missing out on an opportunity.

Think about it… You spend 10+ hours crafting the perfect Facebook post and then you’ll illustrate it with the same boring stock photo that everyone else is using. Not a good idea.

Instead, try to develop a specific brand language for sharing your blog articles on Facebook.

For example, you could use a colourful image overlay like Holini and KlientBoost.

Or if you love designing your own blog images, you could take an even more original path like BuzzSumo and AdEspresso.

As you continuously use a branded style, people will get used to seeing your posts in the news feed and will better recognize your brand in the future.

9. Test Image Posts vs. Link Posts

You may have noticed that not all Facebook promoted posts have a headline and link description.

For example, compare these two Facebook posts by Buffer:

The post on the left is a link post while the image on the right is an image post.

1. Link posts

The image on the left is a link post that you can create by copy-paste-ing your blog article’s URL into Facebook’s new post box.

PROS: As people click anywhere on the post, they’ll be taken to the landing page. So your entire Facebook post will be clickable.

CONS: Link posts usually take up a lot less space in the newsfeed as the image size is always 1200px x 628px.

2. Image posts

The image on the right is an image post which consists of an image and text.

PROS: Image posts take up a huge chuck on newsfeed real estate, meaning that they can catch more attention. Some brands, like The Dots, are even using image posts as Facebook ads.

CONS: As people click on the image, the image will open up on Facebook, not take them to your website. The only way for people to reach your URL is for them to click on the link inside the text.

Which one should you use: link posts or image posts?

Usually, image posts work well if you’re sharing visuals and targeting an existing fan base. They’re also great for brand awareness campaigns.

If your goal is to drive maximum amount of traffic to your blog, share your blog articles as link posts. This format also works well for Instagram advertising.

Pro tip: Use a shortened link in your image posts, to keep your text cleaner. Here’s Google’s link shortener to help you out.

10. Test Carousel and Slideshow Posts

Want to know a secret that 95% of Facebook marketers don’t know?

(It’s going to change your Facebook page’s feed forever)

Ok, here it comes…

You can also create carousel and slideshow format Facebook posts. They look just like carousel and slideshow ads, only you can publish them to your Facebook page.

Just click on the “Share a photo or video” icon.

When creating a carousel post, you can showcase up to 10 images from your website in a single post.

Just enter your blog’s URL, and Facebook will let you choose the images that will be included.

Promoting your latest blog posts is THE best use case for this kind of post.

Tip: If you use this type of post now, you’ll be among the first brands to do this.

11. Ask for Your Team’s Support

Once you’ve published your blog article on Facebook, you can take a deep breath and relax.

But only for a few minutes, because only 20% of the work is done. Even more important than the publishing is how you’re going to distribute your Facebook post.

The first thing to do right after you’ve published a Facebook post is to ask your team members to like and share it.

Just post the link to your Facebook post into a group chat or some other group with your colleagues.

That’s how you will get the first 10-20 likes and increase the Facebook post’s organic reach.

12. Promote Your Blog Post on Facebook

The next step (after you’ve had the support of your team members) is to get the love from your existing fans and customers.

The sad thing about Facebook posts is that they never reach all your page fans organically. In fact, Facebook Engineering Director Lars Backstrom has warned that the organic reach is getting record low.

In 2014, Social@Ogilvy found that organic reach for pages with more than 500k fans had dropped to as low as 2%. For pages with less than 500k fans, organic reach dropped to 6%.

Last year, Marketing Land reported Facebook’s organic traffic was down by 52% for publishers.

All numbers and stats considered, you’ll need to promote your Facebook post if you want it to reach more than 100 or 1,000 people.

13. Set Up a Facebook Post Promotion

To promote your blog article on Facebook, you have two options: setting up a Boosted post or a Facebook ad.

Let’s find out what’s the main difference.

1. Boosted post

Using a Boosted post is the easiest and fastest way to promote your Facebook post. Simply click on the “Boost Post” button and proceed to a 1-minute setup process.

PROS: Quick and easy. Gives “ok” results. Good option for beginners and small under $50 campaigns. You’ll get all the targeting options available for Facebook ads.

CONS: You can only boost a post to one target audience at a time which might often be limiting. You won’t be able to optimize the ad placements and schedule.

2. Facebook ad

To create a Facebook ad of a Facebook post, go to the Facebook Ads Manager and set up a new campaign.

When creating the visuals, you can select the “Use Existing Post” option and select your Facebook post.

PROS: You can optimize the ad placement, advertise the same Facebook post to multiple audiences, and optimize your ad delivery on reach/clicks/conversions – whatever you prefer.

CONS: If you’re not too familiar with Facebook advertising, it might take some time to set up the new ad campaign.

However, you can re-use the same Facebook ad campaign for promoting multiple blog posts. (Just create a new Ad Set every time)

If you’d like to learn more about setting up a Facebook ad campaign, read this article: From 0 to Results – How to Set Up Low-budget < $500 Facebook Campaigns

Final verdict: If you’re planning to spend more than $50 per Facebook promoted post, use the Facebook ad format. Otherwise, boost your posts to save time.

Small business? If $50 is significant amount money for your brand, also go with the Facebook ads option.

14. First, Advertise to Your Fans

Who are the people most likely to like and share with your Facebook post promotions?

Usually, it goes like this:

1. Your team
2.  Your fans
3. Your customers
4. People interested in your article’s topic

However, brands often set their Facebook promo targeting like this:

1. People interested in your article’s topic
2.  –
3.  –
4.  –

Before you promote your blog article to a wide audience of people (based on their interests and location), promote it to your fans and customers.

This way, you will get a nice basis of likes and shares from your fans. Moreover, they are the most important people to be informed about your new posts – you do want to keep the fan engagement high, right?

How to target your fans and customers?

First, you can target your Facebook page’s fans and their friends in a single click.

To target your customers, your can create a Facebook Custom Audience based on your customers’ email addresses and names.

Read more about Facebook and Instagram audiences in this guide: 84-point Guide to Master Instagram Targeting

15. Target Multiple Audiences

If your blog promotion’s budget is limited, you may not be able to do this.

However, if you’re willing to spend $100+ per a Facebook promoted post, you can create multiple target audiences to see which one performs best.

For example, you could test these five high-ROI Facebook promotion audiences:

1. People who have visited your blog in the past 30 days (Custom Audience)
2. People similar to your blog readers (Lookalike Audience)
3. Friends of your Facebook page fans (Saved Audience)
4. Interest-based audiences that align with your blog articles’ topic (Saved Audience)
5. Your newsletter subscribers, especially all inactive subscribers (Custom Audience)

Also, keep a close eye on your Facebook Ads manager reports to know which audiences show the highest engagement, best CPC, and convert on the offers on your blog.

16. Measure the Right Metrics

How do you measure whether a Facebook boosted post was successful or not?

Do you look at the number of impressions? The number of clicks? The reach?

All of these vanity metrics give you no real insight into how well (or not well at all) your Facebook promotions perform.

Facebook’s not making it any easier, only showing two irrelevant metrics in the Boosted post reports.

OK. Let’s cure this mistake and find out which Facebook post metrics truly matter.

Do not measure:

• Impressions
• Clicks
• Reach

Do measure:

• CTR
• CPC
• Time on page
• Pages visited
• Conversions

CTR – The click-through rate of your Facebook promoted post shows how relevant it is to the audience. A good CTR is anything above 1%, a really good CTR is above 2.5%

CPC – The cost-per-click shows how much you pay per one blog visitor. If two audiences you’re targeting have highly different CPCs but the same lead quality, you could allocate all promotion budget to the best-performing Ad Set.

Time on page – If you’re tracking your Facebook ad campaigns with UTM codes, you can easily check in the Google Analytics how much time people spent with your article. Always aim to target high-quality audiences that won’t immediately bounce away from your site.

Important: The Time on page in GA is the time between 2 interactive hits.

 The Time on page metric is accurate only if the page is not the last page in the session.

Pages visited – As people in your Facebook blog traffic visit more than one page, it means they’re interested in your blog content and highly engaged. You can increase the no. of pages visited by adding suggested articles in the sidebar and at the end of your article.

Conversions – You’re probably trying to convert your blog readers into email list subscribers and customers. You should always track whether your Facebook blog post promotions help to bring you new fans, leads, and revenue.

To get started with Facebook ad tracking, install the Facebook Pixel to your website.

If you’re interested in advanced ad reporting in the Facebook Ads Manager, see this guide: Instagram Ads Reporting and Optimization – Guide to 10x Results

Bonus Tips !!!

Just to make sure you’ll get the best expert knowledge for tracking and analyzing your Facebook ads, we asked Taavi Kalvi, one of the best Google Analytics and Tag Manager experts and the partner and Analytics Lead at Holini, to contribute two extra points to this article.

This ⬇⬇⬇ will change the way your track and measure your Facebook campaigns in Google Analytics.

17. Separate Paid and Non-paid Social Traffic

Sometimes, you might want to separate the paid and organic social media traffic in your Google Analytics reports.

This would make sense if you want to see how much (and what kind of) traffic came from organically sharing vs. promoting your blog article on Facebook.

Note that in order to separate these two traffic sources, you can’t use the same Facebook post for the promoted version. You’ll have to create a new Facebook ad with another URL destination.

Here’s how you should tag non-paid social media posts:

When tagging your non-paid social media posts and the domain as a source (facebook.com, linkedin.com, twitter.com, etc.), use “social” as a medium parameter value.

Example:

• utm_medium=social
• utm_source=facebook.com
• utm_campaign=summer+sale+2017

If you decide to use anything else as a medium (not “social”), make sure you follow the Default Channel definitions or modify your Channel Grouping settings if needed.

How to tag paid social media posts:

I would recommend using “paid+social” as a medium and defining it in the Default Channel Grouping settings as well. Plus (+) character between the words generates a space in GA.

Here’s how you can do it in GA:

If you don’t define “paid+social” as a medium in the Default Channel Grouping settings, it will go under “(Other)” channel in Google Analytics, not “Social” or “Paid Social”, and that’s not the result you want.

Important! Do not use “cpc” as a medium in Google Analytics because it’s defined as a “Paid Search Channel” by default.

If you’d like to dig deeper, you can read these in-depth Q&A article about the Google Analytics UTM parameters or UTM tags.

18. Fix the Fractured Facebook Reports

You’ve probably noticed that your social media traffic (e.g. from Facebook or Instagram) is reported on different lines in Google Analytics and it makes much harder for you to analyze the data and gather insights.

Here’s how your Google Analytics reports usually look like:

If you’d like to fix the reports and only see “facebook.com / referral” in your reports, you can implement the Search & Replace filter in Google Analytics.

That’s how it looks like:

Search string: ^.*facebook\.com$

Replace string: facebook.com

P.S. Filters do not apply retroactively to your data. They are only applied from the moment you create them.

And there you go – you will now see all Facebook traffic as one neat line per each link, giving you a better overview of how much traffic each of your Facebook promotions got.

TL;DR

If this article was too much for you to take in, BUT… 

…you still want to know all the hacks of how to promote your blog, here’s a handy checklist with everything we covered:

1. It always (99.99% of times) makes sense to share your blog articles on Facebook
2. Share your blog articles as Facebook page posts
3. Use the Facebook Audience Optimization feature
4. Take your time to write a powerful headline (use numbers, keep it actionable)
5. Write a compelling introduction (start with a question, make a bold statement)
6. Use symbols and emojis for extra attention
7. Craft the perfect Facebook post image (standard size is 1200px x 628px)
8. Avoid using stock photos and develop a strong brand language
9. Test large-format images vs. the regular link posts
10. Test carousel and slideshow formats when sharing posts on your Facebook page
11. Ask for your team’s support – get them to like and share
12. Promote your blog articles on Facebook for higher reach
13. Set up a Facebook Boosted post or promote your blog article as a Facebook ad
14. First, advertise to your fans, brand ambassadors, and existing customer base
15. Test multiple target audiences (past blog readers, people interested in the topic)
16. Measure the right metrics (CTR, CPC, time on page, pages per session, conversions)
17. Track paid and non-paid social media traffic separately in Google Analytics
18. See Facebook traffic as one line, not five lines in Google Analytics by using Search & Replace filter

There you go. Now go to your Facebook page and share a blog article, then create a Facebook promoted post or an ad, and enjoy the increased blog traffic!

The post How to promote your blog in 2018 – 18 tactics for more traffic via Facebook appeared first on Marketing Fix blog.

When Edward from AdvanceB2B reached out to me with an idea to do a podcast together, that was the topic we chose: Growing blog traffic from 0 to 30k+ visitors per month.

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST HERE

Among other growth hacks and SEO best practices, we talked about:

• How to build a growth-focused content marketing strategy
• What are the key mistakes made by B2B and SaaS marketers
• The importance of 10x content and how to balance quality versus quantity in your content marketing
• A two hour hack to quickly boost your organic traffic
• Some of the key learnings from my career this far

I hope you enjoy listening to this podcast as much as I enjoyed recording it.

Do check out the other episodes as well, e.g. the one with Dave Gerhardt, Director of Marketing at Drift.

You can also read about the tactics discussed in the podcast here: From 1.6k to 31k Monthly Blog Visitors – How We Did it

The post [Podcast] Growing Your Blog Traffic to 30,000 Visitors appeared first on Marketing Fix blog.

• It’s about real growth, not “a 400% growth without any mention of the initial traffic numbers” (growing 400% from 100 website visitors to 500 visitors is no big deal. Growing from 1.6k to 30k+ is a real deal).
• All the tactics mentioned here really work. They’ve been tried and tested, not copied from other blogs.
• It’s also an honest account of what didn’t work. It’s not just shiny victories that paved our way to 30k+ monthly blog visits.

In September 2015, our startup’s blog had the total of 1,615 organic visits from Google. By March 2017, this number had grown to 31,375 visits.

A quick calculation shows that in the past 12 months, our organic blog traffic increased by 1,843%. This has also translated into a significant growth in the number of leads and sales.

However, the fastest growth has happened in the past 11 months while we grew our traffic from 6k/month to 31k/month.

To be honest, this good-looking growth curve did not always result from a solid SEO strategy. Rather, it was a series of a-ha moments and sudden revelations that guided the process.

We got an abrupt idea, applied it to our website, and kept our fingers crossed to see whether our (often crazy) ideas work. Sometimes, they did.

And that’s how we grew from 1,6k organic blog visits to 30k+ visits.

You know how some people say there are no golden nuggets and it’s only the long-term strategy that leads to goals… That’s not entirely true – the best results appear when a strong long-term plan gets mixed with bold ideas.

This article’s about the hacks and growth tactics we used to build our website traffic. The best part is that they can be easily applied to your marketing strategy as well.

IMPORTANT NOTE: I’d also like to give credit to our brilliant colleague Merily who’s been rocking our SEO, content, and CRO.

Here’s another article you might like: After Guest Blogging 50+ Articles to Top Blogs, Here’s What I’ve Learned

How we got started:

When I joined Scoro, I was eager to get started with content marketing right away.

Up to this point, the SaaS startup had been buying generic 800-word articles from an agency. Nobody wanted to read them, and it showed in the blog’s readership numbers.

Key takeaway #1: Don’t outsource your content marketing to an agency as they can’t see your SEO results nor do they plan for your long-term growth. (At least the agencies I’ve seen in action)

What you should do instead, is to establish a solid content strategy and a growth plan with two main goals:

• Building brand awareness and acquiring fans
• Publishing content that will bring you traffic in the long run

Rather than publishing three short articles per week, we aimed to publish one really good article once a week. This tactic’s also been explained by Rand Fishkin in his Whiteboard Friday episode on 10x content.

Key takeaway #2: Don’t publish for the sake of publishing – focus on quality, not quantity. (I bet you’re tired of hearing this, but it’s 100% true)

Our initial content marketing strategy was simple. It included a topic, headline, keywords, and a publishing date. We’re using a similar approach to this day.

Building a growth-focused content marketing strategy

At the beginning, our content marketing strategy was like a vacant parking lot – there were so many potential keywords and opportunities waiting to be employed.

Not to waste a single opportunity, every article we published had to show a huge organic traffic potential.

According to research by Ahrefs, the average Top10 ranking page is 2+ years old. It takes nearly three years to land the #1 spot.

The fact that it may take 2+ years to have your blog articles rank on Google means that you need to focus on the long-term strategy and build “content bundles” with articles complementing each other.

#Key takeaway 3: Plan and create content with long-term gains in mind. It may take up to two years for an article to start ranking in the TOP10 on SERPs.

Actually, I can assure you that some articles only take a month or two to start ranking high on SERPs. But it doesn’t change the fact that the focus should be placed on the long-term growth.

Instead of brainstorming fun headlines, we defined the five main topics to center our content around. I like to call those overarching topics the “content bundles”.

Creating content bundles as an SEO strategy

When analyzing our past three months’ website traffic, we noticed that 75% of the organic traffic resulted from two types of articles – software lists and KPI-related content.

I’ve never been a big believer in the 80/20 rule, but it sure seems to apply to our blog strategy. Most of our organic traffic comes from two content bundles that we’ve been expanding since 2015.

Just to be clear, here’s how I like to define content bundles:

• A series of articles around one key topic
• Each article focuses on a different (yet related) keyword

By interlinking the articles inside a content bundle, you’re able to create a keyword bubble. And for what I’ve seen, Google loves these kinds of bubbles around a specific topic. After some time, Google will begin to perceive your blog as an expert resource in the given field, assigning your articles a higher rank in SERPs.

Key takeaway #4: Create content bundles – a series of articles centered around one key topic.

For example, we’ve been working on the content bundle focusing on the keyword “KPI dashboard” for over 15 months. It’s a sweet keyword – the exact match has over 1k monthly searches in the US alone.

The other pages ranking for this keyword have a considerably higher domain authority. However, we’re now ranking as the #4 result in SERPs in the US.

Slowly but surely developing the content bundles has certainly been one of our highest-ROI tactics. The best part is that it’s easily applicable even to sites with a low domain authority – to blogs just starting out.

The secret SEO tactics that bring skyrocketing results

Alright, it’s time for the best part of the article – the no-BS tactics that helped to grow our organic blog traffic at a fast pace.

As you might have guessed, it all starts with keyword research and identifying the best opportunities.

?SEO hack 1: Learn to do SEO research the right way

Instead of simply checking the Google Keyword Tool to see the monthly search volume of specific keywords, you can take your research to a higher level. I’ve also written about this method in-depth here.

Step 1: Google your keywords

After you’ve discovered some keywords with a great monthly search volume, head to Google and, well, google. (You can use a tool like ISearchFrom to see the results in specific countries)

Let’s say you want to create a list of Top SEO Blogs.

A quick Google search will reveal a list of results:

While it’s a good general overview of your competition, there’s a simple way to learn a lot more.

Key takeaway #5: Don’t limit your SEO research to the Google Keyword Tool. Dig deeper.

My personal favourite tool for competitive SEO research in the Moz SEO Toolbar.

Step 2: Use the Moz SEO Toolbar for advanced research

Use the Moz SEO Toolbar to get more insight about the articles in search results. Most of the features are free, simply add the extension to your web browser.

The SEO Toolbar will show you the Domain Authority and Page Authority of each website on the search engine results page.

What you want to do is to look for pages with a low domain authority that have managed to get listed among the high-DA pages. This means they’ve published such good content that Google thinks it’s necessary to refer to their site.

For example, an article from a site with the DA of 29 could appear between other pages with a DA of 80+.

The guys over at the low-DA site must have done something right. Analyze what differentiates their content from all other results.

Often, you’ll find that those low-DA pages have 10x more comprehensive content or have an exact keyword match. That’s what you’ll want to copy when creating content to rank for the same keyword.

Key takeaway #6: Find content marketing and SEO opportunities by discovering low domain authority sites that rank among pages with a high domain authority.

Once you’ve discovered that another low-DA site is able to rank in the TOP10 SERP results for a particular keyword, so can you.

?SEO hack 2: Spend more time interlinking

Remember when we talked about the content bundles in the first half of this article?

Adding links in between your blog articles helps to strengthen your keyword bubbles and make them visible to Google (and get your new articles ranking more quickly).

While most websites make an effort to add links to older articles inside the newer content, we took it one step further. After we had published a new article on a given topic, we went and edited older articles around the same subject, and added links to the new article.

For example, when we published this article on KPI Reporting in February 2017…

We went ahead and linked to it in a KPI-related article published one year before.

As a result, the new article picked up more quickly and appeared in the TOP20 SERPs two weeks after publishing.

Key takeaway #7: Interlink all the articles around a related topic to create keyword bubbles and improve your search rankings.

By interlinking our blog articles, we steadily built a network of links, supporting each individual keyword and helping our articles rank higher on Google SERPs.

?SEO hack 3: A/B test new headlines and meta descriptions

The two SEO tactics mentioned previously helped us to grow our blog’s organic traffic by over 1,500%.

However, it’s this third trick that gets credit for the latest improvements in our SERP rankings. It’s about rewriting and A/B testing your article’s headlines and meta descriptions.

Hearing about this SEO hack was definitely one of the few a-ha moments on our journey to 30k+ monthly organic (blog) traffic.

Key takeaway #8: Rewrite and A/B test your article’s headlines and meta descriptions.

Here’s how it works…

Step 1

Select an article that’s ranking in the TOP20 search results and is optimized for a high search volume keyword.

I like to use Moz’s keyword ranking reports for that.

The keyword “What is a kpi” has a considerable search volume, and the current ranking #15 shows that it has a potential to move up the ranks.

Step 2

Google the keyword to see what other articles rank next to yours.

In this phase, you’re going to sherlock on your competition, looking for their article’s headlines and meta descriptions.

We like to approach this stage by asking: What would make our article differentiate from the crowd and make people click?

In this case, all the headlines seem pretty generic and boring. What if we could rewrite the headline to make it more noteworthy (and clickable)?

Key takeaway #9: Rewrite your headlines to increase the CTR on search result pages, and thereby raise your SERP rankings.

We usually rewrite both the primary and SEO headline – if we come up with a better solution, we also want to have it in our blog.

The key tactics we use to write powerful headlines:

• Create a curiosity gap so that people will click on the headline.
• Include your main keyword in the headline to be highlighted in search results.
• Create comprehensive lists with odd numbers.
• Make your headlines actionable by using action verbs such as “Learn”, “Get”, etc.

Google evaluates search results based on their click-through rates. It makes a lot of sense to put effort into increasing your top article’s CTRs.

Higher SERP click-through rates = higher rankings

Step 3

Use the Google Search Console to A/B test and measure results

A marketing tactic is useless without proper measurement.

What if you rewrite your blog headlines, but instead of increasing, your CTR actually drops?

We’ve seen both success and failure with this SEO hack. It’s a good thing we measured the results and were able to restore some changed headlines and meta descriptions to their original state.

By using the Google Search Console, you can easily track your keywords’ and article’s click-through rates on Google.

To get a report that looks like this…

Follow these steps:

1. Log in to Google Search Console
2. Select “Search Traffic”, the “Search Analytics”
3. Tick the box in front of CTR
4. Change the columns from Queries to Pages
5. Select the dates you’d like to compare

Using these reports has been of tremendous help in optimizing and A/B testing our article’s meta descriptions and headlines.

Key takeaway #10: Measure your marketing experiments’ results to see what actually works.

And now, it’s time for the sweetest part of the article – the fuckups.

You can’t always win – our biggest failures

I promised to also share our failures. While some of them being embarrassing to think of, we can at least say: We tried.

In retrospect, many of these failures make us feel like this…

But there are also the mistakes that make us feel more like…

It’s up to you to guess which failures make us feel in certain ways. (I’ve boldened my favourite ones)

• We tried Outbrain for content promotion, but it never delivered the anticipated results.
• We forgot to add UTM codes and REF codes behind our paid promotions’ links.
• We sometimes created content that stole our landing pages’ place on SERPs. We fixed this by adding CTAs inside blog articles.
• We created a Christmas infographic on productivity that we published 20 days too late.
• We tried some crazy headline and meta description changes that significantly decreased the CTRs to our articles. Luckily, the rankings recovered in a few weeks.
• Once, I mistakenly thought Outbrain’s budget signifies the total campaign budget. It was the daily budget. You might have guessed why I don’t like Outbrain…
• We waited for too long to update our blog layout and redesign the article page.
• We didn’t do enough outreach and collaborate with other industry blogs.
• For the first 8 months, we focused on vanity metrics such as social shares, instead of website traffic and lead conversions.
• We spent 30+ hours on an eBook campaign that returned only 4 leads.

For us, guest blogging didn’t work. At all.

While everyone’s praising guest blogging as a brilliant SEO tactic, I’m going to play the devil’s advocate here.

We did lots of guest posting on other sites, like here. However, considering the time and resources spent, this is not a high-ROI way to grow your blog traffic.

I would recommend that you do PR, but forget about guest posting – focus on publishing excellent content in your own blog instead.

Over to you

As you can see, nothing too serious went wrong. We were able to happily test away all our new ideas.

If you intend to grow your organic blog traffic, know that there is no instant way to win (Ahrefs’ case study perfectly illustrates it). Use what you’ve learned in this article to accelerate your journey to tens of thousands monthly blog visitors.

I hope this helps and would love to hear the hacks that have helps you to grow your website traffic. Let’s have a discussion in the comments.  ???

The post From 1.6k to 31k Monthly Blog Visitors in 20 Months – How We Did It appeared first on Marketing Fix blog.

And marketers know it.

Recently, GIFs have made a comeback in social media posts, blog articles, email newsletters, messenger conversations, and even corporate Slack channels.

Including GIFs in your articles and tweets can help to increase both the average engagement and the number of shares.

The only headache with GIFs is that when time comes, it’s difficult to find the suitable animations that alig with your message.

So, whatcha gonna do?

For one, you could go hunting for GIFs on your own, starting with these sites:

• Giphy
• Tumblr
• Imgur
• 9GAG

If you’re too lazy for that, you can simply bookmark this article for future reference and use these 35 emotional GIFs across your marketing campaigns and ad designs. Depending on your love for GIFs, this list should get you through a couple of months! ?

P.S. If you also dig into emojis, check out this list: The Very Best Emojis to Apply in Marketing Campaigns

Happy

For the times you feel like the world’s your oyster…

Surprised

For the moments you recall forgetting to instagram your amazing-looking breakfast. Too late, it’s a mess now…

Confused

Whenever you’re having trouble understanding why someone doesn’t love ping pong or caramel lattes…

Shy / Embarrassed

For the moments you’re feeling like the world’s sooo confusing…

Cool

For when you come out of those embarrassing moments by keeping your cool…

Liked the GIFs? Don’t forget to bookmark this page for the future. ?

+ Share your fave GIFs below in the comments section! ?

The post 36 Magnetic GIFs for Mesmerizing Marketing Campaigns appeared first on Marketing Fix blog.