The Best Seo Blogs

Archive for December, 2009

There’s no doubt that the multitude of social media channels encourages us to consume information in various ways, whether it be via video, audio, images, games or, ah yes – the written word. 

But don’t undermine the value of that last one.  A new study conducted by the University of San Diego dispels recent rumor that the written word has died due to the rise of the more visually stimulating media like video and images.  In fact, the study finds that the influx of new technologies is causing us to read even more than we used to, revealing that reading has actually tripled between 1980 and 2008.

So while many Internet critics may be quick to claim that the rise of the Web means the death of the written word, the new study stresses the exact opposite.  And although the written word may be knocking at death’s door in the world of print publishing, it’s certainly alive and thriving on the World Wide Web.   

So what does this mean for you and your business?  True – it can definitely be beneficial to experiment with new media like online video and podcasting in your marketing efforts, but let’s not forget about the importance of business blogging as a way to reach your prospects. 

Blogging is one of the oldest forms of new media and inbound marketing, and it’s not going anywhere.  So if you want to take advantage of this increased reliability on the online written word by consumers, blogging is the way to do it. 

What we can speculate here is that people are reading now more than ever because technology is making it extremely easy for them to find exactly what they’re looking for; the increased ease of search is satisfying their informational needs.  In fact, a study we reported on two months ago also found that most people who use the Internet are emotionally responsive and remembered content that they found by “searching.”  Therefore, businesses who are blogging and creating content that appeals to the needs of their target audiences are getting found and taking advantage of the increase in online reading.

So, fellow bloggers, I urge you to keep blogging and fulfilling the informational needs of your prospects.  I have a feeling you’ll reap the benefits.

Image via the University of San Diego Global Information Industry Center.

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Our recent reader poll of 14 books either focused on, or with significant content dedicated to, Search Engine Optimization has concluded with 174 votes. And the winner by one vote and 27% of the total votes is….

Art of SEO (Theory in Practice) by Eric Enge, Stephan Spencer, Rand Fishkin and Jessie C. Stricchiola.

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Published by O’Reilly, this phone book sized bundle of SEO wisdom is chock-full of advice for marketers that want to leverage search engine optimization as a marketing channel. Congratulations on winning our Reader Poll!

Here are several reviews of Art of SEO to consider or you can take up O’Reilly’s offer to write one yourself.

Runners up for Best SEO book of 2009 were:

• Search Engine Optimization: Your Visual Blueprint for Effective Internet Marketing – Kristopher B. Jones (Published by Wiley)
• Search Engine Optimization: An Hour a Day – Jennifer Grappone & Gradiva Couzin (Published by Wiley)

You can see all 14 books about SEO along with the voting distribution and non-affiliate links (in case that matters) to their pages on Amazon.com on the Best SEO Books Reader Poll.

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Art of SEO: Best Search Engine Optimization Book in 2009 |
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Posted by randfish

What a year! From traveling to software development, saying goodbye to old friends and growing the team with new ones, we’ve had a tremendously exciting 12 months at SEOmoz. To celebrate, next week, on Wednesday, January 6th 2010, we’ll be hosting an informal meetup at the Elysian Brewery on Capitol Hill in Seattle, WA. Everyone from the Seattle technology, startup and SEO community is welcome to attend, and we’ll be hosting a special guest, Distilled’s Will Critchlow (who’s chosen the worst possible time, weather-wise, to visit our fair city). Please RSVP via the Google form below! 

In addition to the meetup, I thought it would be appropriate (and fun) to celebrate the year with a look back in pictures. Enjoy!

SEOmoz’s Mel Gray, Matt Heilman, Gillian Muessig, Nick Gerner, Sarah Bird & Mike Thompson at Seattle’s Big Climb Event, raising money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society

 

The SEOmoz December holiday party at Olive8 – (Left to Right) Arden, Jimmy, Christine, Sarah, Ben Huff, Timmy, Gillian, Adam, Sam, Jen, Rand, Chas, Kate, Darren, Danny & Nick. Why did we all stuff into the dual showers? Umm… I don’t know. It seemed like a good idea at the time. You can watch our holiday video greeting and more holiday party photos on Facebook.

 

SEOmoz’s Chas Williams and Sarah Bird won most festive attire at our holiday event.

 

Tony Adam (BillShrink), smiling next to his SEOmoz Werewolf/Search Spam card at Pubcon Las Vegas in November

 

Kristy Bolsinger (blog), Kate Morris (blog) & Matt Cutts (blog) at the SEOmoz Werewolf Party at Pubcon Las Vegas

 

Ben Hendrickson and Jen Lopez, attired in full moz regalia, carrying "link juice" by the SEOmoz booth at SMX Advanced in Seattle

 

Ben, Danny (with a mustache! – he’s hidden so look real close), Chas, Scott & Timmy at lunch downstairs from SEOmoz’s offices at the Elysian Brewery on Capitol Hill

 

Sarah Bird hard at work in our cramped conference room

 

Sometimes, when we have tough decisions to make and could go either way, we Roshambo. I lost this round, and we ended up spending $5K on some professional services in our search for a new VP of Engineering.

 

Aimclear‘s Marty Weintraub sent us a singing gorilla for the holidays. Tragically, I was out of town, but got to watch the video on Facebook

 

At the beginning of the year, we had some construction work done on the office to help accomodate new arrivals

 

Mozzers hard at work in the conference room (and apparently freezing cold, too).

 

Ben Hendrickson explains ranking models and how we can "prove" H1 tags don’t really matter for SEO

 

Rand, Sarah, and SEOmoz board member & investor, Michelle Goldberg at The Naked Truth (a startup event in Seattle). Leaning on my shoulder is Mystery Guest, who tragically forgot sunglasses (why didn’t I give her mine?!)

 

The Conversion Rate Experts squirrel (yes, they have a mascot) at the SEOmoz/Distilled London PR) Training Seminar in October. Must check on progress of the SEOmoz Ring-tailed Lemur mascot costume.

 

Jon Kelly (Quinstreet), Tony Adam (Billshrink), Andy Liu (BuddyTV) and Neil Patel (Quicksprout) at SEOmoz’s annual party after SMX Advanced in Seattle at the Garage (photo-bombing courtesy of Matt Cutts)

 

Rand on Hubspot TV with Mike Volpe in Hubspot’s Boston offices (Rand: "My grandparents asked what channel I was going to be on.")

 

Rand is subsumed by Kristjan Mar Hauksson’s (of Nordic eMarketing) gigantic Viking hands in an Icelandic ice bar in the capital, Reykjavik following RIMC 2009

 

Dixon Jones (Receptional), Adam Lasnik (Google) & Rand go glacier hiking in Iceland

 

Rand at Searchfest Portland with Anne Kennedy (BeyondInk) and Adam Audette (Audette Media) speaking about SEOmoz’s history & future (apparently I was a bit more animated than most other folks)

 

On a panel at SES London chaired by Mike Grehan (SES), Rand pictured with Brett Tabke (WebmasterWorld), Chris Sherman (Third Door Media), Jill Whalen (HighRankings) and Kevin Ryan (WebVisible)

 

Outside the Chicago Hilton for SES Chicago with Richard Zwicky (Enquisite), Bill Leake (Apogee), Aaron Kahlow (OMS)

 

Jane Copland (Ayima), Danny Dover, Rand & Richard Baxter (SEO Gadget) in London following the Distilled/SEOmoz PRO Training Seminar

 

Mystery Guest gives Rob Kerry (Ayima) a gift in London on our way back from lunch near the Ayima offices. ("Why is my love always a source of linkbait?" – MG)

 

Rand & Will Critchlow (Distilled), standing under their respective time zone clocks in Distilled’s London offices.

 

$5 to the first person who can name the gentleman at the far left, Rand, Sandra & Matthew Finlay (Rising Media), Marcus Tandler (Mediadonis)  at an SMX Munich party

 

Rand with Vanessa Fox (NineByBlue) & Mystery Guest in Bled, Slovenia for a day trip following SMX Munich

 

Rand & Mystery Guest join Nirav Tolia (Fanbase) for lunch in San Francisco during one of Rand’s VC fundraising expeditions to the valley

 

Bob Rains (blog), Lawrence Coburn (Rateitall), Lauren Vaccarello (Salesforce), Todd Malicoat (Stuntdubl) and Donna Rains in a limo during a (loosely SEO related) wine tasting trip in Monterey, CA

 

Laura Lippay (blog), Mystery Guest, Vanessa Fox (NinebyBlue), Lauren Vaccarello (Salesforce) & Jessica Bowman (SEM in House) in San Francisco following the Jane & Robot conference

 

Rand, Tom Critchlow (Distilled), Ken Jurina (Epiar), Dharmesh Shah (OnStartups & Hubspot), David Mihm (blog), Matt Brown (Define Search Strategy), Danny Dover & Nick Gerner at the SEOmoz PRO Training Seattle

 

Mystery Guest homemade retro Star Trek outfits for Halloween this year (and got a wig + Vulcan ears to complete her ensemble)

Rand with his grandparents, Si & Pauline Fishkin at a Broadway musical following SMX East in New York City

 

Rand & Cindy Krum (Rank Mobile) tour Soho during SMX East in New York City

 

Left to Right: Rand, Greg Boser (3Dog Media), Barry Smyth (BSocial), Stephen Pavlovich (Conversion Rate Experts), Rob Kerry (Ayima), Aidan Beanland (Yahoo!7), Michael Motherwell (MMIT Search Australia), Bruce Clay (Bruce Clay, Inc), Greg Grothaus (Google)

 

The SEOmoz whiteboards in our conference room, showing off early concepts of new software (codenamed "Turbomoz") we’re hoping to launch this coming June

 

Ciaran Norris (Mindshare) was interviewed by Channel 4 in the UK on social media, search & Rupert Murdoch’s threats to shut off Google traffic. Tragically, he appeared garbed in naught save rags, and couldn’t be bothered to properly attire with a cravatte. Credit to Jane Copland for the image capture.

 

The SEOmoz crew outside the Garage following our party at SMX Advanced

 

David Temple (SEM Scholar), Gillian Muessig and Barry Smyth (BSocial) at SMX Singapore

Jen Lopez at SMX Advanced with Michael Gray (Wolf Howl)

Oh, and just FYI, the photos above are in no particular chronological order.

 

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NOTE: If you’ve got other photos to share, please feel free to link to ‘em!

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Todays post in the Best of ProBlogger 2009 series is all about the newer blogger and is a collection of some of our more popular posts this year that were aimed at the beginner blogger.

1. Starting Your First Blog – 29 Tips, Tutorials and Resources for New Bloggers
2. 9 First Step Goals for New Bloggers
3. Warning: Do You Recognize These 21 Blogging Mistakes
4. Crawl Before You Walk – 6 Step by Step Instruction for Starting Your First Blog
5. 10 Things I Wish I Knew When I Started Blogging
6. Confessions of a Blogger
7. Starting a Successful Blog is Like Planning an Invasion
8. 7 Ways to Turn a Blog Post Upside Down and Get More Comments

What advice would you give a beginner blogger just starting out?

Post from: Blog Tips at ProBlogger.

Blogging Tips for Beginners: Best of ProBlogger

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Running a contest can be a great way to get links and traffic in the short term but in the end can it actually hurt your company?

Let’s look at the recent Invesp debacle.

Invesp decided to do a contest for Internet Marketer of 2009. They picked 100 people who have a blog. Sounds smart right? That should get them a lot of links and traffic! Well… lets see what happened.

I was talking with John Chow about how silly I thought the contest was and how we should endorse an underdog to win. He suggested we tell everyone to vote for ZK. I thought it was a great idea.

Within the next couple days ZK jumped out to a massive commanding lead.

Then the powers that be at Invesp nuked all of ZK’s votes claiming they were all from a couple IP addresses.

So here is the thing. Either way Invesp looks incompetent.

They either completely rigged their contest OR they are so incompetent that they cant do a voting script that discounts the same IP address.

Another issue I see is that If 100 people are nominated for an award then that means you have to tell 99 people that they are losers. Now I don’t know about you but I do not like to lose at anything.

To be fair to Invesp I know nothing about them or what they do. They could be the greatest PPC management & SEO company in the world.

But at viral marketing with contests they clearly cost themselves a lot of reputation… and for what?

So be careful with your contests. If you are going to do them… then do them right!

Get a sneak peak at the all new ShoeMoney System

This Post Is From ShoeMoney’s Internet Marketing Blog

Can running a Contest Hurt Your Company?

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This is a guest post by Hannah Kevin. If you want to guest post on this blog, check out the guidelines here.

Growing a blog to a successful, monetizable state is a long journey that requires a great deal of effort and dedication. Most bloggers fail to realize their initial goal of developing an income producing blog. I believe there are four stages of growth that a blog must pass through in order to achieve this goal. These stages can be described as follows:

Stage 1: Getting Established

The first stage of growing a blog is simply getting established. The focus during this stage is primarily content and blog setup. Most of your effort will go into creating a sufficient quantity of quality content for a sustainable blog launch. I believe a good way to do this is to actually write anywhere from 10 to 50 articles prior to launching the blog.

Basic blog setup tasks like SEO and plugin setup is also a part of this stage, although this takes much less time than creating the actual content. You also want to make sure that you get a handful of backlinks simply so that your blog gets indexed by the search engines. I typically like to do this the natural way of getting a backlink and letting the search engine “naturally discover” your blog versus submitting your blog to be added to the search engine. I’ve noticed a more quality indexing of your content through this more natural process.

Most people fail in this initial stage by focusing on monetization. You’re not going to make any money in the early stages, so you may as well ignore it.

Time to complete stage 1: 3 – 6 months

Stage 2: Traffic Growth

You’re ready to enter the growth stage if you have an established blog with quality content. You’re starting to get a handful of comments and maybe even some regular readers. You’re also getting some traffic from search engines based on your indexed content.

The growth stage is marked by traffic growth, subscriber growth, and the start of some income produced by the blog. Even at this point, traffic growth is still more important than income growth so it is there where we will focus. The growth of traffic is created by continuous quality content plus the addition of quality backlinks.

The best ways to get the backlinks are not the easy ways. I think it is good to assume that Google is smarter than we think they are and know how to weigh hard-to-get backlinks versus easy-to-get backlinks. As such, I don’t place much emphasis on backlinks in comments, forums and social media. The better backlinks will come from guest posts and natural backlinks (when someone decides to link to your site because they like what you have to say). Establishing relationships with other bloggers can help develop backlinks, since building a relationship with someone will make him or her aware of your existence.

The backlinks serve two purposes. First, it actually drives traffic to your blog and hopefully, some of this traffic turns into regular visitors. Second, these backlinks help your search engine status which is crucial.

Make a goal for yourself to write two guest posts per month on quality blogs with established readerships and preferably solid Page Rank numbers. Of course, part of this process of getting guest posts on blogs is convincing the blog owner to publish your stuff and a link to your blog.

Stage 2 is a long process that can go on for months, even years. The growth will be slow, but the goal is for it to be consistent. Some blogs based on some helpful circumstances and maybe even a little luck will get through this stage rapidly, but for most of us, you’re looking at a longer process.

Time to complete stage 2: 6 months – 2 years

Stage 3: Maturity & Monetization

The maturity stage in most business cycles usually refers to a leveling off of growth. In blogging, maturity doesn’t necessarily mean the slowing of growth. In my opinion, it simply means that achieving the same growth rate doesn’t require as much effort. I repeat, this stage still represents significant growth in traffic.

Because this stage does not require the same level of effort in producing quality content for your blog as well as other blogs (guest posts), you should now put effort into refining the monetization of your blog. This can include signing advertisement deal, optimizing Adsense performance and possibly trying out some affiliate programs. With that said, quality content still must be continuously produced during this stage.

In addition to continued growth in traffic during this stage, you should definitely see significant growth in income. It is during this stage, that you can begin enjoying some of the fruits of your hard work of the previous months and years.

Time to complete stage 3: 6 months – 1 year

Stage 4: Maintenance

This stage is very interesting because there are several big blogs that do very well that have let their blogs deteriorate with regards to quality and perhaps quantity of content. The reason for this is usually because they no longer have to produce the same quality of content in order to continue growing and driving significant income. Could they grow even more and make even more money if they didn’t let their quality slip? Probably, but it is probably a natural tendency of bloggers at this stage.

With that said, not everyone falls into that trap, but the point is that the level of effort required to maintain a blog that has successfully reached this stage is significantly less than the effort required during the previous stages. Once blogs reach this level, it has almost reached a self-sustaining point where the readers continue to grow and spread the word without your encouragement to do so. Content is still required but it is not nearly as important as it was in previous growth stages.

In this stage, there is significant income potential. Possibly career replacing income potential. Most blogs don’t reach this level. In fact, it’s probably a tiny percentage of the blogosphere.

Tips To Get Through The Stages

1. Blog about a topic that you are either really interested in or are already involved in professionally. This will help you continue to produce content when it becomes difficult to continue to do so.

2. Approach growing your blog like growing a business. It takes time and requires work. There are few short cuts.

3. Understand ahead of time that growth will take time, and you are likely to become discouraged at times. Be persistent.

Kevin owns and operates 20smoney.com, which is a blog focused on developing income streams and taking a business-like approach to blogging.

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Original Post: The Four Stages of Growing a Blog

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Today, I received a YellowBook on my doorstep. 

I just barely remember a time when I would have taken that YellowBook inside and given it a loving home in the closet next to my mom’s cookbooks, extra light bulbs, and flashlight. Now, it’s propping up my snow shovel so it doesn’t tip over. For me, this visual is a strong reminder of the risk traditional marketers are taking when they don’t look to the future and react to the marketplace.

It’s impossible to tell you exactly what will happen next year or even 5 years from now, but I do know this: outbound tactics that worked well-enough in 2009 for your business will not work 5 years later in 2014. Companies must continue to evolve with the marketplace or face extinction. 

As Augie Ray, Sr. Social Computing Analyst at Forrester points out, “2009 we witnessed the most profound evolution the marketing world has seen in fifty years or more.  The pace of change is not going to lessen in 2010.  Core elements that have driven marketing practices for decades–such as messaging strategy, mass media, PR, advertising, and others–will continue to change rapidly.”

Could this be the year when Inbound Marketing crosses the chasm? It very well could be. The signs are all there: Big Brands like Pepsi and Dominos have traded in million-dollar advertisements and PR campaigns for online communities and social media. Fortune 500 CEOs are warning vendors that Outbound Marketing is annoying. Small Businesses are blowing their competition out of the water by 55%, simply because they blog.

To prepare you for the rapid changes that are sure to come, I’ve asked some members of HubSpot’s marketing team and even Brian Halligan, CEO of HubSpot, to share their 2010 marketing predictions.

2010 Will Be the Year of Integrated Inbound Marketing. 

The euphoria of social media marketing will turn into a hangover, followed by the epiphany that social media is just one tool, and the path to success is paved with a comprehensive inbound marketing strategy, not using individual tools. (@MVolpe)

Press Release Services Will Experience a Decline in Business.

As more companies adopt social media marketing practices and find more (free) ways to disseminate their news via social sites/networks, fewer will turn to press releases to distribute news and press release wire services will experience a decline in business. (@Pamelump)

Business Blogging Will Continue to Rise, Encouraged By Increased Awareness About Social Media

As PPC costs continue to rise, companies will begin to hunt actively for other, organic ways to boost ROI and target attractive keywords, eventually settling on blogging as a way to generate more organic leads. Social media will also help accelerate interest in business blogging next year. A recent report on Social Media Usage by the Center for Marketing research says that 44% of the Inc’s fastest growing companies that do not currently maintain a blog, plan to start a business blog in 2010. Interestingly enough, in the same study, a whopping 91% of respondents also claimed that they use at least 1 social networking site for their business. I believe as companies begin to experience success using social networking tools, their desire to share and create their own content for these mediums will increase. (@shaxxon)

Inbound Marketing Will “Cross the Chasm”

2.  Consumers will get even better at blocking out advertisements, email blasts, and cold calls.
3.  Consumers will get even better at finding what they want in Google, blogs, and social media sites.
4.  Google’s growth will stall as Adwords becomes an “efficient” market.
5.  Traditional advertising (tv, newspaper, radio) will shrink faster than in 2009.
6.  PR & Advertising firms will either transform or start to go away.
7.  Serious journalists like the NYTimes and Wall Street Journal will shrink, but will remain as relevant as ever.
8.  Companies will start turn their marketing departments into production studios for creating content.
9.  Companies will be even more transparent and even more authentic.
10. The economy will roar (not limp) back (@BHallign)

Google Will Disrupt the Mobile Industry Providing More Opportunities for Marketers.

Rumor has it, that Google will be putting their full force behind direct sales of a handset that works on the wireless network of your choice. They’ll then take on Apple with their own Android app store by promoting it heavily. As more Android phones sell, they’ll reduce the margins of all of the other maps players by giving away GPS-like maps and directions on your handset. They’ll do all of this in order to move more local online advertising dollars to their pockets, leveraging their newly acquired mobile ad network. 

For marketers that don’t want to get left behind, you should start building mobile apps and positioning yourself on mobile networks. If you’re a local business, you should get yourself in tune with Google’s maps and local listing capabilities.(@Pc4Media)

In 2010, Content Director Is King.

The position of Content Director will be critical to any marketing department as they try to leverage existing resources (ie human, digital, content assistants) to communicate with prospects and customers (@JeanneHopkins)

Do you have a 2010 Marketing Prediction you’d like to share? Post it to Twitter with the hashtag #Marketing2010

Tweet Your Marketing Prediction for 2010!

 

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Posted by randfish

Historically, I’ve been fairly narrow in what I read in the blogosphere and tech arena (almost all SEO-centric stuff). You can see my Firefox sidebar list here, which  hasn’t changed much since 2008 with the exception of the blogs and news sections. But, over the past 6 months, I’ve been broadening out considerably and found that it adds a great deal to the conversations I’m able to participate in and contribute to, especially as SEOmoz itself has expanded from the SEO world to the larger technology and startup world. For the New Year, I thought I’d share some of the sources that have contributed most on this front and some of my favorite posts/contributions from those sources.

#1 – Hacker News

(http://news.ycombinator.com)

I find more good stuff here than anywhere else, and the diversity is impressive, too. Tragically, Hacker News is also a place for lots of misinformation, fear, and loathing around SEO, but it’s good to get a sense for how the rest of the technology world still views our niche. The signal to noise ratio is higher than on places like delicious/popular, the tech subreddit or Digg (which has become largely useless to tech professionals as its moved away from its roots).

A few items I’ve found via Hacker News include:

• Why everything you think about User Centered Design in Wrong
• On Self Promotion
• The death of the boring blog post

#2 – A VC

(http://www.avc.com)

Fred writes compelling pieces consistently, almost never gets preachy, is self-promotional in a highly credible and useful way and brings up topics I wouldn’t have thought about without him. Most of us can’t have Fred on our boards or as an investor, but we can get into his head via his blog and participating more in the comments there has been a priority of mine for a while (he’s built a remarkable community in the comments).

Some favorite posts:

• Tenacity
• The "We Need to Own" Baloney
• Ten Characteristics of Great Companies

#3 – Chris Dixon

(http://cdixon.org)

Chris, like Fred, delivers crystal clear value propostions with his posts. And IMO, he’s even higher signal to noise than Fred. I don’t always agree with him on everything, but I like the way he thinks about problems, I like the ones he brings up and I think he has his finger intensely on the pulse of what startups and technologists (and technical marketers like SEOs) are thinking about and dealing with. It’s a pleasure to see a new post from Chris – here’s to hoping he makes many more in 2010.

Some favorites include:

• Why the web will continue to grow rapidly
• Man and superman
• Software patents should be abolished

#4 – Techmeme

(http://techmeme.com)

Techmeme is an obvious choice, but it’s also critical to the list. If it weren’t for Techmeme, I’d have to wade through ReadWriteWeb, Mashable and Techcrunch post-by-post, every day. Don’t ever leave us, Gabe.

No specific posts here – there’s far too many to name, and the site updates much too quickly for me to even recall all the great stuff I’ve found here. However, I will say that I highly recommend m.techmeme.com for mobile browsing. It’s been a joy to scroll through every time my wife takes extra-long in the dressing room at Anthropologie.

#5 – Answers On Startups

(http://answers.onstartups.com)

Launched just this past October, Answers On Startups has become a haven for learning more about the challenges, issues and questions entrepreneurs face in the technology world. I’ve recommended it before, and early on participated heavily (and I’d like to do more of that in the future), but if you’re seeking answers from highly authoritative folks in a scalable fashion, this is the spot. I’m really impressed by the quality of many contributions there - the signal to noise is pretty exceptional.

Some of the best include:

• What’s more important: release fast or getting it right?
• Free Trial vs. Freemium
• Qualities/skills of a CEO

#6 – Daring Fireball

(http://daringfireball.net)

In my ideal world, 5 years from now, when I’ve been put out to pasture by someone smarter and more capable, or bought out I’d have a blog like this. Some entries are just links, some are lengthy and thoughtful and all are interesting and worth reading. Author John Gruber also brings a remarkably diverse range of topics to the site and yet somehow, signal to noise remains high.

A few recent picks:

• Google’s Meaning of Open (a short, but flawless skewering)
• The Next iPhone
• A Liberal, Accurate Regex Pattern for Matching URLs

#7 – Steve Blank

(http://steveblank.com)

A few of Steve’s posts are not only relevant, but serve to actually change direction in the executive ranks here at SEOmoz. That’s high praise, but if you read the blog, you’ll see what I mean. Steve’s been there, and his experiences run in shocking parallel to the issues we face or worry about on a regular basis. Even when I disagree with points, the logic and thought he puts into the post makes for a great read and a hard think.

Some of his best:

• The Elves Leave Middle Earth – Sodas are No Longer Free
• Lies Entrepreneurs Tell Themselves
• Good Enough Decision Making

#8 – NYTimes Most Emailed

(http://www.nytimes.com/gst/mostemailed.html)

Despite the financial and institutional problems they face, the NYTimes still puts out absolutely phenomenal content on nearly every area of life. From cooking to politics, travel to health, there is amazing material to be found in the Grey Lady, and the Most Emailed list is the place to find the best of the best.

Some favorites:

• Twitter Chatter During the Superbowl (I love their interactive graphics)
• Using Menu Psychology to Entice Diners
• Google Keeps Tweaking its Search Engine
• 100 Things Restaurant Staffers Should Never Do (Part 1)

#9 - Venture Hacks

(http://venturehacks.com)

 When I was out trying to raise a second round of VC this summer (big mistake – more on that in a future post), Venturehacks’ historic content was invaluable. However, visiting the site made me realize how much good stuff there is that doesn’t apply only to those currently raising money. They’ve got some seriously great writers/contributors, invaluable interviews and tackle tough subjects.

My personal favorites recently included:

• 10 Skills I look for before writing a check
• How to develop your customers like you develop your product
• The Arrogant VC: Why VCs are disliked by entrepreneurs

#10 – Twittersphere

(http://twittersphere.com)

Since they don’t publish archives (the most frustrating feature), I’m unable to show off just how cool this site is and has been over the last few months, but just try visiting a couple times a day for the next few weeks and you’ll see. It’s remarkable how much good stuff gets re-tweeted (and how much junk – signal to noise is about 15%, which is still decent since it’s easy to skim and consume at will). You can also get a sense for how important Twitter’s link graph is to the engines through Twittersphere – a lot of pages that have 0 links will have thousands of tweets pretty fast.

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Your turn! I’d love to see the sites outside the SEO world that give you the most professional value (and I’m certain the rest of our readers would too). Feel free to link drop even to yourself, so long as it’s relevant

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The holiday season always reminds me why making money online is the best way to make money. Before getting into Internet marketing, I ran a print and copy shop. During the holidays, we would shut down the day before Christmas and wouldn’t open again until January 2nd of next year. Many normal businesses would shut down for a few days or even a few weeks during the holiday season. While it is nice to take a little break, it’s also a bad use of resources because you have all those assets sitting there doing nothing.

The Internet is a completely different story. My sites make money no matter what time of the year it is. That was driven home to me during Christmas dinner at my parents house. I went to check some stats after the feast and found I was up by over $1,000. On a day when nearly all traditional businesses are closed, I made money. And I made it while enjoying Christmas dinner with the family. It’s pretty hard to find a deal as good as this.

Passive Income Is The Best Income

Most people make money by going after active income. Active income is money made from your time input. The best example of active income is a job – you do your work, you get paid and when you’re not working, you don’t get paid. Passive Income is money made whether you’re there or not. Best example of passive income would be income from investments. Given a choice, I’m sure most people would prefer to make passive income over active income. Why spend your time making money when you can spend it on much more important things?

While some get rich quick gurus have promoted it as such, blogging isn’t 100% passive income. From an Internet marketing stand point, it’s one the less passive income sources available because it requires a substantial and on going time commitment. Blogging isn’t like affiliate marketing where you set up the landing page, add Google AdWords or Facebook Ads and watch the money roll in (it’s really not that simple but that’s for another post).

Blogging does allows the advantage of making money 24/7 and that helps to create a passive income stream. However, most blogs require a hands on approach so you should really enjoy the topic you’re blogging about. If you don’t, then the chances of your blog making you money 24/7 is extremely small. Happy holidays!

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Beyond Blogging, new ebook on blogging, is all the rage in the “blogs about blogging” world last few days. Lots of bloggers have written posts about it, lots of people have bought it, many love it, some complain about the price tag.

All in all a lot of discussion which brings a lot of attention to the book. The authors must be very happy as attention is always good for the book sales.

“Stop dreaming and start blogging” inspiration

I’ve now had a chance to take a look at Beyond Blogging. The book features profiles of some of the biggest bloggers, where you can get to know their life stories, how they started blogging and how they blog.

Learning about successful bloggers and their stories not only motivates you to stop dreaming and start blogging, but it also gives you inspiration and ideas. I love reading case studies of successful people. I have published some myself, see my profiles of Pete Cashmore, Gary Vaynerchuk and Perez Hilton.

15 celebrity blogger profiles

15 blogger profiles are featured in Beyond Blogging. It is 203 pages long, edited by Nathan Hangen and Mike Cliffe Jones. This is the full list of bloggers profiled:

• Gary Vaynerchuk
• Chris Guillebeau
• Chris Garrett
• Chris Brogan
• Penelope Trunk
• David Risley
• John Chow
• Pete Cashmore
• Shama Kabani
• Michael Dunlop
• Jonathan Fields
• Darren Rowse
• iJustine
• Steve Pavlina
• Brian Clark

Last 30 pages of the ebook is a section called “The six figure blogging blueprint” which basically is a sum-up of important points from the blogger profiles.

HowToMakeMyBlog for practical advice

Beyond Blogging e-book doesn’t feature detailed step-by-step advice, but if you like reading good and motivating stories and biographies, this is a perfect way to spend few hours and get inspired to have a great blogging 2010.

After reading, when you are motivated, when you have some ideas, and when you are ready to actually start blogging, then you can stop by HowToMakeMyBlog for the practical blogging advice you do need to get it all done.

See more:

1. Planning to start a blog? Don’t plan it, just blog it!
2. Thinking out of the “text is king” blogging box
3. 13 blogging lessons learned from Stephen King’s On Writing
4. How blogging ideas spread – 6-step plan for creating something big
5. Need inspiration for your next blog post? Read!

Thanks for reading HowToMakeMyBlog.com

My name is Marko Saric, I am a blog consultant and I help bloggers succeed. Subscribe to HowToMakeMyBlog RSS feed for more free blogging tips.

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