How to Optimize Content for Both Search and Social (Plus, a Headline Hack that Strikes the Balance)

By Andy Crestodina

It’s as if they live in different countries: Searchlandia and Socialstan.

Search optimizers and social media marketers don’t get together a whole lot, at least not in the same piece of content. But there’s no reason they can’t peacefully coexist in one article, in one URL.

Imagine. One topic, one message, united in quality, but with two separate and equally powerful sources of traffic: search and social.

Is it possible? Can one post be optimized for both?

Yes. And when it happens, the traffic is greater than the sum of its channels.

Um. Actually, the traffic is equal …read more      

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How Any Digital Business Can Explode Using Word of Mouth Marketing

By Neil Patel

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We live in a digital age.

Each day we’re bombarded with an endless stream of online ads via social media, websites, search engines, videos, and so on.

Marketing companies spend billions upon billions each year researching, analyzing, and pushing ads to consumers.

But you know what?

No matter how sophisticated and streamlined digital marketing becomes, it still pales in comparison with the power of good old-fashioned word of mouth marketing (WOMM).

According to in-depth studies from Nielsen, “WOMM recommendations still remain the most credible.”

Just look at this graph that ranks consumers’ trust, depending on the form of advertising and the action it produces.

Positioned …read more      

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Content Marketing Advice, with a Side of Snark

By Sonia Simone

copyblogger weekly

So today is April 1, which usually means we’ll try to feed you some stupid joke that will just make you roll your eyes when you realize the date.

Not this time, internet.

Brian kicked things off on Monday with three ways to get links that you haven’t heard 20 million times from people whose websites have no links. Plus he gets a little snarky, which you never want to miss.

On Tuesday, our friend Jon Nastor showed us how we can actually get listeners for our podcasts. It’s a useful thing to know, since the #1 question on …read more      

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28 Business-Boosting Marketing Activities You Can Do in 1 Hour or Less

By Neil Patel

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The entrepreneurial lifestyle is often a hectic one.

Some “treps” easily end up working 50, 60, or even more hours per week.

Don’t get me wrong.

I love almost everything about running my businesses and blogs, but time is definitely at a premium.

And I’m sure many of you know exactly what I’m talking about.

Sometimes there are just not enough hours in the day to spend on an extensive, exhaustive marketing campaign.

But you know what?

There are a lot of marketing activities that can get legitimate results that you can do in 1 hour or less.

I came up with 28 specific activities you can do …read more      

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6 SEO Friendly Tips to Improve Site Speed on WordPress Blogs

By Loren Baker

"If a page takes more than a couple of seconds to load, users will instantly hit the back button and move on." – Loren Baker

In the world of SEO, user experience on websites has always been a factor, as has the time it takes for a site to load.

However, with the use of mobile devices surpassing desktop use (in most consumer-facing industries) and the wide adoption of broadband, people expect sites to load instantly.

Long gone are the days of waiting 10 seconds for a site to load.

If a page takes more than a couple of seconds to load, users will instantly hit the back button and move on to the next result.

Accordingly, Google officially started paying attention to site speed …read more      

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