Agile Marketing: What is it and Why is it Important?

The following is my most recent blog post for Mudbug Media entitled “What is Agile Marketing and Why is it Important?”.

Agile Marketing…Is it just a buzzword or a new way of marketing that could have a big impact on productivity and creativity?

Agile originally began as an approach to software development, but the ideas and practices have been adopted by those with a variety of skill sets, including design and marketing. By using an Agile approach, marketing becomes about being adaptive and responsive. The following are a few of the key components of the Agile approach to marketing: Continue reading

10 Ways to Increase Search Engine Rankings

This article on search engine optimization is great for both beginners and intermediate marketers looking to better understand search engines. This article includes 10 easy to understand tips for increasing your site’s ranking in organic searches. If you want to increase your site’s search engine traffic, your site will need to show up on the first page of search results. Only one site can be #1 in a Google search, so I recommend setting a goal to get your site to appear above the fold. This article not only has great tips, it also has includes excellent resources for understanding and implementing an SEO strategy for your website. Check it out!

Inbound.org – The Best Source for Inbound Marketing Content

I recently discovered what might be the best source for quality articles relevant to those in the digital community and probably my new favorite website! Inbound.org is a website designed for the passionate digital community. The purpose of the site is to provide the best and most current online content on all aspects of inbound marketing, including (but definitely not limited to):

  • Advertising
  • Blogging
  • SEO
  • Social Media
  • Analytics
  • Mobile
  • Email
  • Entrepreneurship
  • PR
  • Web Development
  • Design
  • Content

Inbound.org was launched mid February and has been quickly growing in popularity with those passionate about all things digital. The brilliance behind this site came from its founders Rand Fishkin of SEOMoz and  Dharmesh Shah of Hubspot. It is kind of like the Reddit or Digg of inbound marketing, but with a MUCH more attractive site design. The simplicity of the site design and structure is perfect for perusing articles. Similar to other social bookmarking websites, Inbound allows users to Upvote their favorite articles. The design of the site has made it very easy for new users to determine how to “Vote” for the articles that they like.

Up voting article submissions on Inbound.org

A very intriguing feature of Inbound.org is that registration requires users to have a Twitter account. I really like this feature because if you are truly passionate about social media, web development, SEO, analytics, etc., you should are already have a Twitter account and be active in the digital community.

The 3 Ways To Use Inbound

Hot Submissions Incoming Submissions and Share Articles on Inbound org

Hot Articles

The Hot Articles page lists the most popular articles on Inbound.org at that time. Below is a screen shot of what you might see while on the Hot Articles page. I understand that the articles listed are the most popular, however I don’t quite understand the ranking method. Articles are not listed by the number of Upvotes, though it appears that their may be an algorithm that determines the hottest articles based on time of article submission and number of Upvotes.

Hot Articles Listings on Inbound org

Incoming Articles

The Incoming Articles page is similar to the Hot Articles page, but it lists the newest submissions in chronological order. Think of it as a Twitter feed of newly submitted articles and you are actually interested in all of the posts!

Share Articles

Sharing Articles on Inbound org

All the articles listed on Inbound.org are submitted by users. The image to the right is the Share Article screen that users can use to submit articles to Inbound. For the Article Title option, you can either select your own title or a title will be created from the article URL. However, it is almost always best to write your own title because the number of characters displayed in the listings is limited. As a base, I recommend following the standard for SEO best practices and keep the title shorter than 70 characters (including spaces). Keep It Short And Sweet! Since the listings do not include a summary of the article submitted, it is extremely important that the title is intriguing and does not get cut off.

Good and Bad Article Title Examples Inbound Org

When submitting an interesting article, you are also required to select one of 23 categories that the article falls into. This feature is very helping when searching through the Hot Articles or Incoming Articles lists because the article category is included in the article listing. At this time you can search for a specific topic but it pulls articles from varying categories. The one feature that I hope to see as the site grows is the ability to sort submitted articles by category, and maybe even by hottest or newest articles in a single category.

Inbound.org does a great job bringing together bloggers, marketers, and those passionate about all things digital. It may even become your main news source for industry news. Why spend extra time searching for the newest blog posts and articles that interest you when you have a haven of the best and most interesting articles already available.

WARNING! You may become addicted to this site and spend all free time reading the great article submissions! (I already have!)

Have you been on Inbound.org? Do you think you would use it as a source for industry news?

Predicting Social Media Outcomes

There are a lot of unknowns in social media, because it is frequently changing and we are still in the learning phase. When you start using social media, it is important to have realistic expectations regarding how much time is necessary to manage it and what the outcome will be. Nick Martin wrote a great blog on “Predicting Social Media Outcomes”.

Here is little snippit, but check out the full posting to find out more about the what to consider before you start using social media, to ensure it is a success.

  • Understanding your audience
  • Understanding your brand
  • Content
  • Context
  • SEO
  • Influencer engagement
  • Resources