The ‘net is a cutthroat, ever-evolving landscape. Of course, if you’re an Internet marketer, then you know this fact better than anyone. You gotta change with the times or pack it up and go home. As far as resources go, you’re likely down with the drill: the big guns include forums like Webmaster World and Digital Point. Mammoth SEO sites such as SEOmoz and Search Engine Land are the industry standard.
All of these sites are great, and they’re fantastic resources, but sometimes the sound bites, products, and services they peddle leave something to be desired.
Something fresh.
That’s why we’ve compiled our personal top ten of up-and-comers to the IM scene that you should keep an eye out for in the months to come.
Dan Shure loves what he does. He’s a search marketing expert who heads up a little SEO firm in Massachusetts. His love of the SEO game has made his blog posts viral hits on Twitter, and he’ll likely make a name for himself in the industry very soon.
Follow Evolving SEO - @Dan_Shure
PortalFront Hosting is the go-to hosted SharePoint provider. The company makes your cloud presence a virtually seamless affair. If you are at the point in your marketing career where you have people working under you, then productivity in SharePoint will greatly improve when you host with PortalFront – plus, they’ll handle all the technical stuff so you can focus on running your business. Bonus!
Follow PortalFront – @HostSharePoint
At first glance, Moneytized seems to be your standard IM/SEO hybrid blog, but upon closer examination, you’ll discover some real gems about traffic generation. The blog belongs to Angelos “Angel” Papaioannidis, a 28-year-old Internet marketer from Greece.
The difference between Moneytized and the 1,345,872 other “make money online” blogs out there today is the keyword and marketing tips this guy is willing to spill. I’ve read quite a few of these blogs in my day, and this blog is one of the few that imparted tips I’ll actually use on my own blog to up my traffic factor. Thank god.
Follow Moneytized – @Moneytized
This marketing blog’s mantra is “Helping Geeks Make Money on the Internet,” but the tips and tricks for making money online aren’t even in the same ballpark as your regular old “comment on blogs” posts.
No, Geek Business takes things in a very different direction. It’s a marketing site with local flair – there are posts teaching readers how to make brochures for their online businesses and tips for marketing Internet ventures locally. And that’s just the beginning.
Follow Geek Business – @GeekBusiness
Okay, if you’re a marketer and you don’t know about Gumroad yet, fasten your seat belt. Essentially, the idea here is that you can sell anything you can share. The platform works by generating a shortlink that users can click on Facebook, Twitter, and other social sharing sites. Post your great “thing” and your friends or followers can click and buy it. Once their payment goes through, Gumroad emails a secure link to your product.
Simple but brilliant. Think about it: if you just wrote a report about SEO and a big, engaged Twitter crowd is following you, you can tweet that baby out with a Gumroad link and sell it right then and there. I’d look out for Gumroad… they’re gonna be big.
Follow Gumroad – @Gumroad
Sometimes it’s worthwhile to suck it up and hire experts. Marketing Zen is a PR/marketing firm that you can hire to drive more qualified traffic to your website. This really helps when you know you need traffic, but you’re too busy building your site or brand to take care of the marketing.
Follow Marketing Zen – @Shama
The Web is a new kind of business model, just like Quiet Light Brokerage. The online company was founded in 2007 with a mission to help entrepreneurs, online business owners, and individuals figure out what their websites are worth.
This company is the real deal. Quiet Light takes a variety of market factors into consideration when coming up with a figure for your site – for free. Then, if you need help selling, the company hooks you up with a massive network of buyers and a safe payment and site transfer arrangement. Good to know this resource is out there – the Internet can be Wild West-esque at times, so having a brokerage in your back pocket can help secure your sale.
Follow Quiet Light Brokerage – @Mark.Daoust
Marty Smith’s blog about all things Internet marketing is pure poetry. The guy is no IM newbie – he got his marketing chops back in ’99 when he ran an ecommerce store. This blog is very philosophical at times, but the information about the landscape of the Web and the nature of search marketing is definitely worth the read. In order to execute Internet marketing effectively on a day-to-day basis, it’s vital to have your head on straight – and this guy can help you with just that.
Follow ScentTrail Marketing – @ScentTrail
Ron Goldstein Marketing
Ron Goldstein is a Principal of Marketing Research and Education a local California outfit. He’s also a social media guru and a marketing book author two times over. Pretty impressive, eh?
Follow Ron – @CNAThrive
Agent SEO
Jacob Stoops runs Agent SEO and he’s kind of a, um, goofball. That said, the guy knows his stuff. He’s a self-proclaimed SEO expert and blogger in Columbus, Ohio. He also works for a marketing firm. He couples his SEO wisdom with his love of mafia movies and comics, and imparts it all upon his readers with a heaping spoonful of good humor.
Follow Agent SEO – @JacobStoops
