The Resources Mashup

Here are some of the best articles I have seen on Google+, retweeted on @kikolani, and read in RSS subscriptions this week.

Featured Post of the Week

• How to Generate More Leads With Your Blog: 5 Tips – Learn how businesses with top marketing blogs generate leads with social media and content marketing.

Blogging / Content

• The Official Self-Published Book Marketing Plan – With the (possible) exception of the last item, these are all very real reasons why you should consider an in-depth marketing plan for your upcoming book launch. Keep reading to discover how you can write, prepare, and launch your marketing plan effectively!
• 13 Reasons Why Your Content Marketing Might Fail – Effectiveness is a common concern for most content marketers, according to CMI research. Think about these 13 reasons why your content marketing might fail.
• 23 Steps to 100,000 Visitors (Step-by-Step Guide) – I’ve created this guide to show you step-by-step how to get your first 100,000 visitors. Tried. Tested. And served up on a silver platter
• How to Get Powerful Testimonials that Convince Even Skeptical Prospects – Testimonials break down your prospect’s defenses and convince them to give your business a try. Discover how to ask for and get powerful testimonials.
• 5 Ways to Bond with Your Blog’s Audience – Today I’m sharing five tips to engage with your readers, make them feel at home, and to turn your blog into a nice and warm get-togethers.

Business / Career

• How We Grew Crazy Egg to 100,000 Users With A $10,000 Marketing Budget – So how did we grow the business to over 100,000 customers? Well for starters we used to have a free plan, which helped a lot. And you probably see advertisements for Crazy Egg all over the web, but we’ve been over 100,000 customers for years. Before that point we didn’t have a big marketing budget… all we had was $10,000.
• Are You Committing These 7 Silent Career Killers at Your Job – Learn the 7 secret silent career killers that you may be committing right now. It’s not about working hard or smart. It’s about playing by the rules.
• Mobile Marketing Research Explained In Plain English – When it comes to mobile marketing, most consumers are way ahead of marketers in their use of their smartphones and tablets. They’ve developed a variety of habits to deal with the on-going avalanche of content. To get your marketing on track, here are twenty-five research charts explained in plain English.
• How to Get Powerful Testimonials that Convince Even the Most Skeptical Prospects – Testimonials break down your prospect’s defenses and convince them to give your business a try. Discover how to ask for and get powerful testimonials.
• – The more simple your approach to freelancing, the more successful you are likely to be. Find out why and how here!

Search Engines / SEO

• The Short Cutts – Ok, this one isn’t a post,but it’s a site that gives you a succinct synopsis of Matt Cutt’s webmasters videos.
• From the Pros: 7 Advanced PPC Tools – Trada worked with PPC industry pros to collect the most impactful, often underrated tools that will make your job easier by giving you a more informed, effective and profitable paid search marketing program.
• How Your Domain Name Will Impact SEO & Social Media Marketing – Let’s examine how a domain name impacts SEO and SMM and then analyze the factors that make a good domain name.
• 16 Secret Google Analytics Advanced Segments Worth Their Weight in Gold – We’ve tapped into some of the web’s finest web analytics professionals to share their tips for mining analytics gold. Here are 16 secret – until now – Google Analytics advanced segments that could make you insights rich, too.
• CEO of 180Fusion Reviews Strategies of Top 10 SEO Blogs – Are you unsure of what strategies will actually help you rank in search engines? Do you wonder if your blog is optimized for social media conversions? If so, then you might want to take notes from the experts. Here are the things that the top search engine optimization blogs are using for search, social, and conversion optimization.

Social Media / Social Networking

• The 2013 YouTube Marketing Guide – How does a company that sells blenders attract over 220 million views on YouTube? How does Zappos drive over 250,000 visits a year to its website from YouTube?
• How Your Business Can Use the New Facebook Cover Photos – New Facebook cover photos: Here are some examples of what you can do with your Facebook cover photo and how to leverage the new rules to boost your business.
• The Ultimate Guide to Twitter Ads for Small Business – Are you looking to get more followers on Twitter? Drive qualified traffic to an opt-in page? Then Twitter ads may be the perfect fit for your small biz.
• 4 Ways to Profit on Facebook Without a Facebook Page – So, you don’t have a Facebook Page? No problem. Your business can still profit from Facebook by utilizing these four powerful tools.
• How to Network Using LinkedIn Groups – LinkedIn Groups: how to find relevant groups, build credibility and make new connections that can ultimately help grow your business.

Share Your Best Blog Posts

Every week on Friday, I start a thread on the Social Media Examiner Blogging Club so members can share their favorite blog post of the week. It’s free to join, so sign up, find today’s best blog post thread, and share your proudest blogging achievement of the week!

Is Google Author Rank Coming?

Listen to the latest video from Matt Cutts to find out!

Don’t Miss Out on Fetching Fridays!

Be sure to catch the weekly roundups by subscribing to Kikolani’s full feed via RSS or email. Or subscribe directly to Fetching Friday only via RSS.

You're reading Fetching Friday – Resources Mashup & The Future of Google Author Rank, originally posted on Kikolani and copyrighted by Kristi Hines, freelance writer and professional blogger. Be sure to follow Kristi on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+. Kikolani is now using Feedblitz to deliver the latest posts to you via RSS. If you are subscribed through a RSS reader like Feedly - my Google Reader alternative of choice - please click here to subscribe to the new feed link.

The Resources Mashup

Here are some of the best articles I have seen on Google+, retweeted on @kikolani, and read in RSS subscriptions this week.

This Week on Kikolani

• Stop Wasting Money: How to Get the Most Out of Your Blogging Education – Do you buy conference passes, courses, or ebooks? If so, then follow the 12 tips in this post so you get the most out of your education budget.

Blogging / Content

• Improve Your Content’s ROI in 9 Steps – If your team is struggling to provide results for clients, it’s time to take steps to boost social traction. Here are a few simple steps to kick your ROI into overdrive.
• Repurposing Content: Top Benefits, Techniques & Tools – One of the tactics you can use is to promote the same or similar content on different media channels, popularly called “content repurposing”.
• WordPress Security: Everything You Need To Know – My site was recently hacked and I learned a great amount from the ordeal. In this article I distill my experience down into 10 key WordPress security steps.
• 24 Brilliant Bloggers Talk About Content Curation – True content curation isn’t just about bookmarking a link so you can come back to it later. It’s about organizing the content you enjoy in a meaningful way and, in many cases, being able to share the content you’ve curated.
• The Definitive Guide to Conceptualizing, Designing and Promoting Your Own Infographic – In this post, we will show how you can conceptualize, design and promote a successful infographic on your own. Read ahead to learn how to find the right concept for the infographic, how to write compelling content (and where to find legitimate data), how to create attention-grabbing designs (and what free resources you can use to do that), and how to promote your infographic (and hopefully make it go viral).

Business / Career

• 10 Best Financial Podcasts to Boost Your Momentum – Check out this array of podcasts to rev up your momentum. Are you interested into traditional money advice, inspiring bloggers, or behavior change coaches? Dig in.
• 14 Steps to Hosting a Successful Webinar – Learn how to host and promote a successful webinar with these 14 steps from Gini Dietrich, founder of Arment Dietrich and Spin Sucks.
• How To Sell Without Selling – What you really should be talking about (instead of your product and its benefits) is all the pain caused by the problem your readers want solved. This means getting inside their “world” and writing about the pain they’re experiencing (or COULD experience if something isn’t done to deal with the situation pronto).
• 6 Budget Planning Steps to Professional Project Estimates – This step-by-step guide will help you think through all the considerations involved in making a professional freelance project estimate, as well as how to set it out clearly so that potential clients can understand your breakdown.
• How to Meet New People Who Want To Help Your Business and Career – Don’t shove a business card in someone’s mouth and other networking tips.

Search Engines / SEO

• The Anatomy of a Perfect Web Page – As Web Design, User Experience, Search Engine Optimisation, Conversion Rate Optimisation and many other traditionally individual disciplines become more and more unified it’s important, regardless of your specific role, to be aware of how all the elements on a page contribute to your site’s success and their relationship with one another.Each section is short and easy to understand. We’ve linked to dozens of high quality and comprehensive resources on other sites where you can learn about each element in much more depth.
• How to Use The Keyword Planner — The New Keyword Tool From Google AdWords – This new keyword tool combines elements of two existing keyword tools, the Google Keyword Tool and the AdWords Traffic Estimator, adding a more structured and integrated workflow as well as all sorts of new bells and whistles.
• 5 Ways You May Be Stuck In the “Good Ol’ Days” of SEO – Let’s take a trip down memory lane and revisit some of those almost ancient SEO techniques, see what the current day equivalent might be, and see how Google has learned to adapt – and as we do, ask yourself the question, have we?
• 10 Mistakes Every Startup Should Avoid When Optimizing for Search Engines – SEO done poorly can end up doing more harm than good, and it’s easy to make mistakes if you don’t have the experience. Here are ten things to avoid if you want your startup to succeed in the search engines.
• How to become an Influencer through Content and Relationship Marketing – My experience as a publisher taught me a lot of things, particularly in making me understand several aspects of marketing that can really help a brand make an impact to its audience.

Social Media / Social Networking

• The 2013 LinkedIn Marketing Guide – LinkedIn is a great network for businesses looking to increase traffic and leads, as well as individuals looking to market their expertise for new career opportunities. In this post, we’re going to look at everything you need to have a successful LinkedIn experience.
• New Data Shows the 7 Most Powerful Calls-to-Action for More Retweets – I found that there are 7 words and phrases that when included in a tweet are correlated with that tweet getting more retweets than those that did not include those words. The expected CTAs are on the list: “please retweet” and “please rt” but leading up the list is the somewhat surprising “please help.”
• 22 Facebook PR Secrets Every Community Manager Should Know – How can a brand rank in authenticity and pull some publicity out of its Facebook Page? With the right mix of art and science. Check out the latest top shelf insights, data, and tips designed for fashion forward thinking Facebook community managers.
• The CEO’s Guide to Listening on Twitter – Are you a CEO trying to cut through the clutter? Here’s how to listen to what matters on Twitter.
• 26 Social Media Marketing Tips from the Pros – Social media marketing tips: Learn how calls to action, content strategy, email/social integration and goals play a part in your social media efforts.

Share Your Best Blog Posts

Every week on Friday, I start a thread on the Social Media Examiner Blogging Club so members can share their favorite blog post of the week. It’s free to join, so sign up, find today’s best blog post thread, and share your proudest blogging achievement of the week!

Tough Love

At least one of these will hit home for everyone who watches it.

Don’t Miss Out on Fetching Fridays!

Be sure to catch the weekly roundups by subscribing to Kikolani’s full feed via RSS or email. Or subscribe directly to Fetching Friday only via RSS.

You're reading Fetching Friday – Resources Mashup & Tough Love, originally posted on Kikolani and copyrighted by Kristi Hines, freelance writer and professional blogger. Be sure to follow Kristi on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+. Kikolani is now using Feedblitz to deliver the latest posts to you via RSS. If you are subscribed through a RSS reader like Feedly - my Google Reader alternative of choice - please click here to subscribe to the new feed link.

Photo Credit: Tax Credits on Flickr

Here are my top 12 tips for making sure you get the most bang for your buck when purchasing conference passes, courses, and ebooks for your blogging education.

PS. Some of the courses mentioned throughout this post will have affiliate links. They are all courses I have taken myself and have found valuable for my blog and my business. You have been warned as per FTC regulations.

1. Take actionable notes as you are reading or listening.

Notice I didn’t say take notes, but take actionable notes. Instead of just writing down a tip, write down how you will apply that tip to your blog. For example, while taking the Bestseller in a Weekend course, instead of writing a note about how to come up with great ebook titles, I wrote down several ebook titles that I would like to write. Chances are, you are going to be most inspired to take action as you are reading or listening to course material, so take advantage of that moment of inspiration.

2. Organize your emails.

When you purchase an ebook or course, you are usually invited to sign up for a mailing list. While some can be spam fests, others can be very helpful in terms of keeping you up to date about bonuses that come with your course, Q&A calls, and other relevant news. When you sign up for a course, organize all of the emails into a folder for that course so you can find your login information and other related content quickly. If you have Gmail, you can create a main folder called Courses, Paid Courses, Education, etc. and then create sublabels under it for each course.

I would also suggest creating a label / folder just for your logins. That way you don’t have to hunt through all of the update emails to find what you really need. Again, if you have Gmail, you can have multiple labels for one email so you can have your login details in multiple labels. You can even search for the following in your Gmail to find logins for courses (and products) you may have forgotten about.

• subject:(“Congrats – You are registered”)
• subject:(“welcome to”) login
• subject:(“login details”)
• subject:(“access”) password

Just select all of the results applicable and add them to your logins label to reference them down the road.

3. Bookmark membership logins.

Many courses give you access to a membership community where you can find all of your course materials. Bookmark this login page so you can quickly access it and learn. Put your courses folder on your bookmarks toolbar so you don’t forget about them!

4. Participate in private Facebook groups.

One of the trends for online marketing courses is to create a private Facebook group for students. Some courses that include this are Bestseller in a Weekend, Podcasting Pro System, Blog That Converts, and Video Traffic Academy. Be sure to participate – not only will you make new connections with similar goals, but you will also get answers to questions that may arise while you are taking the course. Make sure you get notifications for the group so you don’t miss out on announcements from the course creator.

Also add the groups to your favorites (click here to see all of your Facebook groups) so you see them in your newsfeed sidebar (until Facebook changes the newsfeed again).

By participating in private groups for the courses you invest in, you will get the added benefit of building relationships with the expert as well as the other students. Those relationships alone can be priceless!

5. Take advantage of live Q&A calls, email support, etc.

Some of the bonuses that come along with courses include live Q&A calls, email support, and other ways to interact with the expert. You paid for them, so you might as well take advantage of them. Guest Blogging by Jon Morrow, for example, has a few live calls per month.

To get the most out of these opportunities, write down questions you have while going through the course and save them up. Also, don’t be shy about giving the course creator some feedback via email. They’ll probably appreciate it and it will put you on their radar!

6. Save files to your local hard drive.

Even if a course comes with a membership site where you can enjoy the materials online, you will want to download everything you can to your local machine. Why? This will give you access to it whether or not you are on the Internet. And if the site goes down one day, you won’t lose what you paid for.

Many courses have downloadable transcripts, audio-only versions of videos, checklists, action sheets, bonus reports, and so forth. When you save the files, change the filename to something you will recognize. I like to include the title, author / speaker, and other pertinent details. Also, be sure to group them together in a folder so you can find all of the related materials when you need them.

7.Copy PDFs, videos, MP3s, etc. to other devices.

Don’t keep learning materials limited to your laptop or desktop. Copy any downloadable educational materials to your iPad so you can read or watch them away from your desk. Copy your MP3s to your iPhone or iPod so you can hear audio recordings where ever you go. The latter especially helps if you have long daily commutes or go on frequent road trips.

8. Create reminders for recurring memberships.

Some courses are not one-time only payments. If you join a membership course that has a recurring monthly membership fee, then you will want to remember them so you don’t keep paying for something that you may not be using down the road. Set up monthly alerts in your calendar, Remember the Milk, or other organizer to revisit your recurring memberships to ensure that you are, in fact, still using them. It can serve as a great way to get you back on track with your goals or a great way to free up some budget in your wallet.

If you’re having trouble remembering all of the monthly recurring memberships you have signed up for, or you’re having trouble canceling a particular one, there’s an easy way to handle it all if you payed via Paypal. Just click on My Money under the Profile menu. Then click on the update link for My Preapproved Payments. There you will see all of your subscriptions, installment payments, and automatically billed payments for courses, tools, and anything else you’ve purchased.

9. Get the virtual pass.

Virtual passes are great for a couple of reasons. For starters, if you can’t go to a conference for whatever reason, the virtual pass will give you all of the education from a conference at a discounted price.

If you are able to go, the virtual pass still comes in handy as you can use it to catch the sessions that you missed. This gives you more time to socialize while you’re attending a live event – something you can’t take advantage of later. You won’t have to be torn about not being able to attend one session over another when good ones overlap in the schedule. And you won’t have to stress about getting every interesting tidbit you hear down on paper.

Some great upcoming events that have virtual passes include Content Marketing World in September and New Media Expo (formerly BlogWorld Expo) in January 2014.

10. Apply what you learn.

There are two ways you can apply what you learn to your blog or business: immediately or over time. It’s not all lost just because you take a course on how to write a book and don’t actually write the ebook right away. While it would be great to apply what you learn from a course, conference, or ebook immediately, you shouldn’t feel like a failure if you can’t.

The best way to make sure you take full advantage of everything you’ve learned is to set a goal to apply it. You may be able to set a goal to work on things daily, weekly, or even monthly depending on the amount of effort that is needed.

11. Don’t be shy about asking for a refund.

From the perspective of a buyer, there’s nothing worse than buying something that doesn’t meet my needs. That’s why I tend to only purchase things that have a money back guarantee. I also set a calendar reminder for a few days before the specified return time (usually 25 days) so I can make sure I have reviewed the course to determine if it is valuable to me.

From the perspective of an ebook author, there’s nothing worse than knowing someone was unhappy with something I created. That’s why I offer a 90 day money back guarantee on my Blog Post Promotion Guide. I would rather someone return the ebook and have an overall positive experience than feel like they wasted their money.

So far, I’ve never had a bad experience with asking for a refund for something. Don’t be shy about it – if it doesn’t live up to your expectations, contact the seller directly (preferably by email) and ask for a refund. If the seller doesn’t get back to you in a couple of days (most do within 24 hours), then you can always use Paypal’s claims center. Only resort to this if the seller hasn’t communicated with you in a reasonable time frame and no, within one hour is not reasonable.

Let the seller know (politely) some feedback as well. This can help them with future revisions and updates of their product.

12. Recoup your expenses through affiliate programs.

Affiliate marketing is not evil when you honestly believe in the conference, course, ebook, or product you are promoting. If something has changed your blog or business, then you’ll probably want to share it with the world. So why not share it with the world and make some commissions while you’re at it? I know that when I’ve recommended courses via email sans an affiliate link, people will often ask me for it so they can register.

Many courses offer an affiliate program for students to participate in and make earnings off of. Each time you make a recommendation or mention of the course in a blog post, share your affiliate link. If you write a compelling review, your affiliate may completely cover your cost for the course and beyond.

Some ebooks I have purchased and courses I have taken that have affiliate programs (hence the affiliate links) include the following.

• Bestseller in a Weekend – Intense course that helps you create a Kindle ebook from start to finish in one weekend.
• Podcasting Pro System – Learn how to create a successful podcast from conception to promotion.
• Guest Blogging by Jon Morrow – A complete course on guest blogging to build authority (not cheap links).
• FBInfluence – Amy Porterfield, co-author of Facebook All-In-One for Dummies, teaches you how to gain traffic, leads, and profits from Facebook.
• LinkedInfluence – Lewis Howes, well-known LinkedIn expert, teaches you how to build traffic, revenue, and authority through LinkedIn.
• Video Traffic Academy – James Wedmore teaches you how to take advantage of video marketing on YouTube to grow your blog or business.
• ProBlogger Ebooks – Darren Rowse has a collection of great ebooks that can help you with all aspects of your blogging including your first week of blogging, building a better blog, business blogging, copywriting, online marketing, and even productivity.

Be sure to adhere to FTC guidelines about letting readers know that you are using an affiliate link like the ones above. I notify readers before they reach an affiliate link and in the sidebar site-wide to cover posts where I may not have annotated them clearly. Some will mark each link as an affiliate link as well – it is really your preference.

How do you get the most value out of the education you pay for? Please share in the comments!

You're reading Stop Wasting Money: How to Get the Most Out of Your Blogging Education, originally posted on Kikolani and copyrighted by Kristi Hines, freelance writer and professional blogger. Be sure to follow Kristi on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+. Kikolani is now using Feedblitz to deliver the latest posts to you via RSS. If you are subscribed through a RSS reader like Feedly - my Google Reader alternative of choice - please click here to subscribe to the new feed link.

The Resources Mashup

Here are some of the best articles I have seen on Google+, retweeted on @kikolani, and read in RSS subscriptions this week.

Featured Post

• The Top 75 Must-Read Online Marketing Blogs – Last year, I compiled 75 Marketing Blogs that covered conversion, content, email, paid search, SEO, analytics, blogging, and social media marketing. Of course, there are many more awesome blogs out there. So today, we’re going to expand that list and add 75 MORE must read blogs for you to consume that cover marketing and business inspiration!

Blogging / Content

• How to Use Ebooks Strategically and Reach Your Content Marketing Goals – Let’s briefly review the two prominent ebook styles, and how either (or both) might serve your business goals. Then, read on for inspiration and ideas directly from a few accomplished ebook authors.
• 3 Unusual Cures for Boring Headlines – Let’s have a little fun and poke the headline experts in the eye. In the process, you’ll build your audience quicker, stick readers to your blog like super glue, and position your blog to make money.
• Kindle Publishing: Your Guide to Getting Responsive Traffic with Kindle – Kindle publishing, Blogging, and Marketing: how to connect the dots to maximize traffic, exposure, and even build email list with Kindle.
• 11 Clever Ways to Nurture Leads With Your Business Blog – Learn how you can use your blog not just as a traffic and lead generator — but also as a lead nurturing tool.
• The Misfit’s Guide to Finding Interesting Images for Your Blog Post – My sources of images aren’t well-guarded secrets. Like I said above you could do this on your own. Everywhere I find images you have equal access to.

Business / Career

• 5 Ways To Flip Your Copywriting For Higher Conversion Rates – When copywriting for our search landing pages, we should consider where on the awareness scale our customers fall. Keywords are the, well, key.
• What Marketers Need to Know About the New FTC Disclosures – Recent FTC Rules and Regulations: learn more about what you need to disclose and how to make disclosures on social media that comply with U.S. consumer laws.
• A 7-Step Landing Page Template to Convert Prospects into Leads – Here’s a template for free reports that you can adapt to most markets in which your prospects are just becoming aware of the problem and potential solutions.
• Save Your Business Blog From Google’s RSS Hammer – July 1st, Google’s RSS Reader is done. Gone. Finito. Use this comprehensive strategy that will not only save, but grow your business blog subscribers.
• 25 Awesome Examples of Business Card Stickers – 25 Of The Worlds Coolest, Original & Creative Business Cards. Get Inspired! Check Out These Amazing Business Card Stickers & Print Your Own!

Search Engines / SEO

• .EDU Link School: Tips & Tactics for Snagging Authoritative Links From Higher Ed – There are a ton of ripe link opportunities at schools, if you know where to look. Here are a few actionable and high probability tips and tactics for snagging .edu links.
• 7 Takeaways From The Local Search Association Annual Conference – In this month’s column, I will highlight my key takeaways from the LSA conference, which are focused on both the strides I believe local marketers should take to better serve our clients, as well as the steps that businesses should pursue as the local advertising space continues to evolve.
• 5 Rules to Effectively Use Press Releases for Links – There may have been some misuse of press releases along the way as a “fast” way to pick up some “easy” links. But the press release can still be a valuable online marketing tool. If you use them right they can still help get links, in a real way.
• 7 A/B Testing Blunders That Even Experts Make – But before you go out there and start running A/B tests, in hopes to get the same results for your business, there are a few things you need to know.
• How To Get Links By Writing About Other People – At first, this may seem counter-intuitive to earning links for yourself — however, linking out to influential people while pumping out great content can be one of the best link building tactics out there, and here’s why.

Social Media / Social Networking

• 7 Deadly Facebook Marketing Sins According to Grandma Mary – Make sure you aren’t making these mistakes with your Facebook marketing. You probably won’t die, but your business could suffer – even worse!
• 20 Data-Backed Ways to Upgrade Your Social Media Marketing – Get tips on how to improve your social media marketing that all stem from real research and data.
• 6 Ways To Capture Leads From Facebook Pages – Do you use Facebook to capture leads for your business? Amanda Webb stops by to tell us six ways that you can do it!
• 50 Ways to Generate Leads with Social Media – Using social media monitoring, content creation, advertising, and networking, you will be a hero at your organization by bringing in leads like never before. Here are 50 ways to drive leads with social media.
• Social Media in 2013 – Demographics for Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram – How are social media demographics in 2013 distributed? Here is a breakdown of all relevant data from the latest research.

Share Your Best Blog Posts

Every week on Friday, I start a thread on the Social Media Examiner Blogging Club so members can share their favorite blog post of the week. It’s free to join, so sign up, find today’s best blog post thread, and share your proudest blogging achievement of the week!

The Science of Productivity

AsapSCIENCE is my new favorite channel on YouTube, and hopefully after you watch the following video and visit their channel for more, it will be yours too! Let me know what you think.

Don’t Miss Out on Fetching Fridays!

Be sure to catch the weekly roundups by subscribing to Kikolani’s full feed via RSS or email. Or subscribe directly to Fetching Friday only via RSS.

You're reading Fetching Friday – Resources Mashup & The Science of Productivity, originally posted on Kikolani and copyrighted by Kristi Hines, freelance writer and professional blogger. Be sure to follow Kristi on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+. Kikolani is now using Feedblitz to deliver the latest posts to you via RSS. If you are subscribed through a RSS reader like Feedly - my Google Reader alternative of choice - please click here to subscribe to the new feed link.

The Resources Mashup

Here are some of the best articles I have seen on Google+, retweeted on @kikolani, and read in RSS subscriptions this week.

Blogging / Content

• 16 Content Marketing Golden Rules For Real Results – Many business leaders under estimate the work required to develop good content marketing that drives real results. Many think it’s as easy as a simple blog post and you’re done. This couldn’t be further from the truth.
• The Essential Copywriting Formulas Every Writer Should Know (and Why) – During the interview I mentioned a popular formula I use for creating persuasive copy: the four Ps. If I had more time I would have shared even more. Well, I can do that now on my own blog.
• 14 Bloggers Share Their Daily Blogging Routine – 14 bloggers answer the question – Can you give us a quick snapshot of your blogging schedule – when do you do it? Do you have a routine or is it more spontaneous?
• 72 Places to Promote Your Kindle Book When It’s Free – If you’ve enrolled your book in Amazon’s KDP, you have up to 5 days in a 90 day period to give away your book for free. This promotion is a powerful way to kickstart the sales of your Kindle book, so to get lots of downloads you need to advertise your free days in as many places as possible.
• How to Keep Your Audience Reading – How about you and I undress one of the most powerful seducers of the written word… strip it down to essentials so you can use it to stop readers cold in their tracks.

Business / Career

• 26 Mobile Apps to Improve Your Business and Networking – Here are 26 apps to help you network, stay connected with your social communities and conduct business while on the go.
• The Definitive Guide To Avoid the Yelp Review Filter – Learn why Yelp filters out some of your reviews and some easy steps you can take to make sure your positive reviews avoid the Yelp review filter.
• 10 Ways To Create High Converting Headlines – How can you boost your conversion rate through headlines? Well, there are a few simple strategies you can test.
• 7 Landing Page Tests You Can Run Tomorrow! – For many years, I’ve been participating in sessions/panels in which I critique PPC landing pages volunteered by audience members. As crowds go wild for this type of session, I’ve decided to use this space to focus on effective landing page elements and provide several examples thereof.
• Measuring and Increasing the ROI of Your Content Resources
  – Let me cut right to the chase. Do you want to know the value of your content marketing efforts? Want this report?

Search Engines / SEO

• Infographic: The Periodic Table Of Google Analytics – Want to understand all the ways that Google Analytics can help you learn how people are interacting with your site? A new “periodic table” may prove useful
• 80/20 Link Building Tactics – Below are several link building activities that don’t necessarily need lots of efforts but can certainly help impact your business goals.
• Meet AdWords Keyword Planner – The New Google Keyword Tool and AdWords Traffic Estimator Mash-up! – A comprehensive overview to the New AdWords Keyword Planner Tool – the replacement for the Google Keyword Tool and AdWords Traffic Estimator!
• Steal Your SEO Competition’s #1 Google Rank – A Guide to Reverse Engineering – Reverse Engineering goes well beyond the concept of ‘finding good places to get backlinks from’ and takes your SEO to an entirely new level.
• SEO Copywriting – 10 Tips for Writing Content that Ranks in 2013 (Infographic) – Copy is one of the most important aspects of onsite Search Engine Optimization. But with all the algorithm updates Google has pushed in recent years, a lot of the old tricks and best practices don’t work anymore. Moreover, it’s really hard to keep track of what does work.

Social Media / Social Networking

• Facebook Marketing Tools that Lead to Results [Reference] – Ian Cleary of RazorSocial stops by to provide a great reference of the various tools that you can use to improve your productivity on Facebook.
• 10 Vital Steps to Building Social Influence – Most seek to build influence; measure influence; and yes, some will even attempt to sell influence. Yet, few will achieve action-inspiring influence without planning and effort. Here are 10 lessons in how to influence and inspire others to action.
• Stay Focused Online: Avoid the Social Media Time Trap – Helpful pointers to ensure online productivity and avoid falling into the Social Media Time Trap.
• How to Improve Your Social Media Calls to Action – Social Media Engagement: learn to craft calls to action that get your social community to do what you’d like them to and get the results you want.
• 7000 Newsletter Subscribers from 1 YouTube Video (Traffic Strategies with Incredible ROI) – In short, to maximize the ROI of your blogging efforts, spending most of your time researching how to create outstanding, unique content will give you far better results than learning that “one simple YouTube trick” that will end up doing jack squat for your bottom line.

Share Your Best Blog Posts

Every week on Friday, I start a thread on the Social Media Examiner Blogging Club so members can share their favorite blog post of the week. It’s free to join, so sign up, find today’s best blog post thread, and share your proudest blogging achievement of the week!

Photo of the Week

This week’s top photo comes from Death Valley National Park in California.

Be sure to check out Jason Hines’ photography blog and Arizona wedding photography website for more photos. Also, be sure to follow him on Twitter @jasonphines or Google+!

Exercise with Cats

If you can’t get motivated to work out, maybe this will help!

Don’t Miss Out on Fetching Fridays!

Be sure to catch the weekly roundups by subscribing to Kikolani’s full feed via RSS or email. Or subscribe directly to Fetching Friday only via RSS.

You're reading Fetching Friday – Resources Mashup & Exercising with Cats, originally posted on Kikolani and copyrighted by Kristi Hines, freelance writer and professional blogger. Be sure to follow Kristi on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+. Kikolani is now using Feedblitz to deliver the latest posts to you via RSS. If you are subscribed through a RSS reader like Feedly - my Google Reader alternative of choice - please click here to subscribe to the new feed link.

The Resources Mashup

Here are some of the best articles I have seen on Google+, retweeted on @kikolani, and read in RSS subscriptions this week.

New LinkedIn Group for Blog Marketing Strategies

Before we get started, I’d like to announce a new group on LinkedIn. Blog Marketing Strategies is for business, personal, and professional bloggers to discuss content, search, and social media marketing. Be sure to join today and start a conversation!

This Week on Kikolani

• How to Contact Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Other Social Networks – The following are links to the contact information for Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+, Instagram, Pinterest, StumbleUpon, and Reddit.
• 5 Tips for the New Facebook Timeline for Personal Profiles – Find out what the new Facebook timeline for personal profiles looks like and how you can use it to promote your Facebook page and business.

Blogging / Content

• 27 Wacky Ways to Beat Writer’s Block – Beating writer’s block isn’t about discipline – it’s about loosening up, having fun, going a bit crazy. Here are 27 wacky ways to shake up your inner muse.
• The Definitive Guide to Setting Up and Marketing a Podcast to Help Grow Your Blog – If you’re still with me at this point, I’ll assume that you’re rarin’ to start your own podcast. But, let me tell you now that, just like setting up a blog for the first time, it’s going to take some planning and preparation to get your podcast out there in the right way.
• 19 Warning Signs Your Infographic Stinks – We’ve collected the 19 most common mistakes that make infographics lackluster, neglected, and miserable. Avoid these mistakes and you have a good chance of making your infographic popular.
• 21 Powerful List Building Tips Rich Man and Poor Man Style – 20 plus killer list building tips on how to build a list rich man/poor man style – easy ways to get your list growing much faster.
• The Definitive Guide to Guest Blogging – Backlinko’s compete guide to guest blogging. You’ll learn how to find targets, warm them up and get your guest post published.

Business / Career

• Global Survey Shows Influence Marketing Seen as Lead Generation Tool, Not a Branding Exercise – A recent global survey of over 1,300 professionals shows influence marketing is less about brand awareness and more about lead generation.
• How to Get Paid What You’re Worth – The secret to earning more for your work.
• 12 Posts To Perfect Your Customer Testimonials – Customer testimonials can set you apart from competitors & reassure new buyers. Here are 12 posts to make your customer testimonials more effective.
• Five Creative Uses for Google Alerts – Google Alerts is one of Google’s hidden gems. It’s a really powerful tool to keep track of trends, interesting topics, or anything really new that appears on the web. If you’re not using it already, here are a few creative ways to get started with it.
• Blackhat CRO: The Dark Side of Conversion Rate Optimisation – To carry out blackhat CRO you need to understand the main principles and techniques of CRO, then fake them.

Search Engines / SEO

• The Second Most Creative Link Building Post Ever – I asked a group of ~50 SEOs one simple question: “What was the most creative way you, or someone you know, got a link?”
• The Difference Between Penguin and an Unnatural Links Penalty (and some info on Panda too) – Are you confused about the difference between Penguin and an Unnatural Links penalty? Not sure whether you should be disavowing your links? Wondering whether you should file for reconsideration? Well…you’re not alone!
• 80/20 Link Building Tactics – Several link building activities that don’t necessarily need lots of efforts but can certainly help impact your business goals.
• How to Create the Best Landing Pages for Your Google AdWords Account – Learn nine guidelines for creating high-quality PPC landing pages that will drive more conversions through your AdWords account.
• The 68 Most Authoritative Search Marketing Blogs In One Custom Search Engine – When I started to explore web marketing I used to track some major blogs like Search Engine Land, Search Engine Journal, Bruce Clay, and Social Media Examiner. As time went on I discovered more blogs and it became harder to track all these blogs. That’s why a custom-built search engine is more efficient.

Social Media / Social Networking

• The 2013 Twitter Marketing Guide – Are you ready to immerse yourself and your business in Twitter this year? Are you a Twitter user who hasn’t caught up with the latest updates and tools for Twitter?
• Who Is More Likely To See Your Posts On the Facebook News Feed? [Infographic] – Understanding how Facebook EdgeRank directly affects who sees your content on the News Feed based on personal interaction and network reaction.
• Everything You Need to Know to Promote Your Business with Facebook Offers – Learn how to use Facebook Offers to promote anything – discounts, coupons, sales, free reports, ebooks, webinars, and more – in-store and online.
• The 6,528 Word Guide to Choosing Your Main Social Media Battleground – In this post I’m going to talk about my own thoughts on this matter as well as sharing a few interesting facts and figures about where you might want to spend your social media time.
• 9 Ways to Become a Better Facebook Community Manager – Discover the 9 tips you need to create a thriving Facebook community and improve your Facebook marketing.

Winners of the ElegantThemes Lifetime Membership Contest

Photo Credit: Eduardo Sánchez on Flickr

First of all, thank you to Mitch of ElegantThemes for offering three lifetime memberships for this contest! And thank you to everyone who entered! The winners are John Rohozynsky, Ian Humphreys, and Sampath Sam. I will be sending you emails today about the contest.

For those of you who didn’t win but are still interested in using ElegantThemes for your own sites, be sure to check out the ElegantThemes memberships (affiliate link). You can get over 80+ themes for $39 per year which is great deal for beautiful WordPress themes!

Share Your Best Blog Posts

Every week on Friday, I start a thread on the Social Media Examiner Blogging Club so members can share their favorite blog post of the week. It’s free to join, so sign up, find today’s best blog post thread, and share your proudest blogging achievement of the week!

Don’t Miss Out on Fetching Fridays!

Be sure to catch the weekly roundups by subscribing to Kikolani’s full feed via RSS or email. Or subscribe directly to Fetching Friday only via RSS.

You're reading Fetching Friday – Resources Mashup & ElegantTheme Contest Winners, originally posted on Kikolani and copyrighted by Kristi Hines, freelance writer and professional blogger. Be sure to follow Kristi on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+. Kikolani is now using Feedblitz to deliver the latest posts to you via RSS. If you are subscribed through a RSS reader like Feedly - my Google Reader alternative of choice - please click here to subscribe to the new feed link.

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