Updated January 11, 2023
Reading Time: 3 minutes
Sources to Learn Tips & Trends
Digital marketing is ever-changing. That’s what makes it fun and a bit frustrating. Since generating content is such an integral part of SEO, I thought I’d pull together some a best-of list for content marketing resources that we use to help us keep our content fresh.
What Content Marketing Really Is
Is content marketing a little like the movie Field of Dreams… if you build it (content), they will come? Well, hopefully. The point of creating free content is to attract your best clientele… enticing them with interesting articles that answers their questions. Yet, it can feel like an expensive time-sink in the beginning.
Matching the right search phrases (keywords) to the right web page (or blog post) is one important milestone; this strategy brings qualified web traffic. Once visitors land on your content, you want to keep them engaged. Create enough content that’s worthy of sharing, you’ll get links (other sites pointing to your killer prose). It’s the combination of content and links that creates strong SEO.
Recommended Content Marketing Resources
If you’re new to digital marketing or want to keep current on trends, here are my top picks for content marketing resources:
1. Content Marketing Institute
This resource has a three-pronged approach: events, a magazine, and training. They publish daily articles, have an extensive research library, as well as templates, webinars and podcasts. CMI definitely walks their talk. My suggestion is to set a timer when going to this website, as you can quickly jump from one topic to another and burn an hour or three. They present information for several different kinds of learning styles, including videos, written articles and podcasts.
2. Marketing Profs
Similar to CMI, MarketingProfs focuses on training, events and articles. While many articles are open to the public, to get deeper content and PRO training, it requires a paid subscription. They also have on-demand classes. I find this site easier to navigate. For those looking for a content marketing job, they do offer a limited job board as well as a career management guide.
3. MarketingLand
Another favorite place to troll for ideas and trends, MarketingLand is a daily publication. Note that it’s more than a content marketing resource; they cover all sorts of digital marketing news. It’s sister publication is Search Engine Land, headed by veteran Danny Sullivan. Be forewarned, this resource has pop-up and sidebar ads. But it has a wealth of information.
4. Copyblogger
Becoming a member of Copyblogger is free. Even so, they almost didn’t make to my list. While they have ebooks, seminars, webinars, and forums as well as in-depth blog articles, the first three on this list provide content that seems more well-rounded. Perhaps it’s because I feel they push their paid products a bit hard.
5. Feedly
While Feedly isn’t really a content marketing resource, it’s a fabulous RSS aggregator. This is a must-have tool for a marketing manager, editor, writer or anyone involved with content. Keeping up to date on the latest news can be a full-time job. Feedly makes it easy to organize your feeds by category. You can also search by hashtags.
6. BuzzSumo
BuzzSumo is an interesting site that will help you gage the popularity of a topic. So if you get a brainwave and want to write something new you can see how other similar articles written in the past have fared. As with MarketingProfs, the bulk of the value is behind a paywall, but there is definitely value that can be had using their free tool.
This is an ongoing content marketing resources list. Do you have a favorite I should consider? We’d love to hear about the tools you use to make content creation painless.
photo credit: Chris Wightman
photo credit: Ritesh Nayak
