There is a fine line between being a blogger and being an internet marketer who blogs. While I totally respect blogging entirely out of passion, I think great business opportunities are lost if you don’t consider the big picture.
I’ve already mentioned five of the top make money sites that you should check out, but there are countless other sites worth checking out. This week, I’m going to share my top 4 marketing sites.
Like my previous top 5, you might have already heard of these; however, if you aren’t reading these blogs, they are going to blow your mind and change how you think about marketing.
Seth’s Blog
sethgodin.typepad.com
Site: http://sethgodin.typepad.com
Author: Seth Godin
Online since: Archives date back to Jan 2002
Page Rank: 7
Alexa Rank: 6,205
Sites Linking in: 11,052 (source: Alexa.com)
Pageviews per month: Unknown
Feedburner Subscribers: A lot
Targeted Reader: Mostly marketers and business owners looking for fresh ideas about building brands, customer service, and permission marketing.
Seth Godin is a marketing superhero in my book. For the last 7 years, once a day, Seth has reliably delivered a content packed masterpiece. His blog is extremely simple. Each post is show in full on the front page. The page design makes it one of the easiest blogs to read on your smart phone.
He doesn’t allow comments, so the only reason to leave the front page is for permalinks and trackbacks. The only ads on his site are for his own books found in the small left hand column.
Seth is entirely content driven and doesn’t seem to have an ego regarding the stats of his page. There are no feedburner counters or alexa rank stats. By keeping a typepad.com domain, it’s nearly impossible to separate his traffic stats from typepad. I’m not sure if this is intentional or not.
His posts are designed to make the reader think. Most of his posts are very short and to the point. A dry sense of humor can be detected in his posts, but I doubt you’ll ever read an obvious joke. Seth looks at the big picture when it comes to marketing and doesn’t get bogged down with just one method.
He preaches strong customer service, saying what you do, and doing what you say. If you’re ready to take different look at marketing daily, Seth’s Blog is a great place to start..
Shoemoney®
www.shoemoney.com
Site: http://www.shoemoney.com
Author: Jeremy Schoemarker
Online since: 2003
Page Rank: 6
Alexa Rank: 5,137
Sites Linking in: 3,153 (source: Alexa.com)
Pageviews per month: 3.5 million (Source: https://www.google.com/adplanner)
Feedburner Subscribers: 57,245
Targeted Reader: Online marketers, bloggers, and entrepreneurs. Tech savvy readers looking for keyword/webmaster tools.
Shoemoney is now one of the best known blogs in the online marketing/make money blogging community. I was going to put him in my original top 5 make money sites. I’ve noticed lately he’s been talking about topics other than making money online, so I decided to switch him with Copyblogger. Officially, Copyblogger should be in this list and Shoemoney should be on my other list, but this is my blog, RAWR! jk.
Back on topic. Shoemoney’s site is a simple 2 column format with a couple of ad banners up top and well spaced ads on the right navigation column. I actually really love how his ads are spaced out between content. It keeps his readers from being overwhelmed with ads, and also (presumably) achieves a higher CTR.
Jeremy’s content is all over the place with a nice variety of tips on blogging, marketing, social networking, and random personal lessons. He keeps his blog personal which is awesome. Basically, he just says whatever is on his mind. He also does a weekly “Free Shirt Friday” where he promotes a site or product by publishing a picture of him wearing a branded t-shirt.
As for writing style, Shoemoney has a clearly sarcastic tone in many of his posts. While he can get down to business, he has a great sense of humor about his writing and always leaves his readers wanting more.
Shoemoney also offers marketplace listings where you can get your ad posted for $25. Given the amount of traffic Shoemoney gets, $25 is extremely affordable for a listing on this site.
Finally, Shoemoney has written several SEO, PPC, and keyword finding tools that can help your site step it up to the next level. You can try them for only $3.95 per month! I honestly have not used them yet, so I honestly have no idea how well they work. After I’m done with my 31 days to build a better blog, I will give the Shoemoney tools a try and report my results.
Itty Biz
ittybiz.com
Site: http://ittybiz.com
Author: Naomi Dunford, Jamie Dunford
Online since: October 2007
Page Rank: 3
Alexa Rank: 56,219
Sites Linking in: 417 (source: Alexa.com)
Pageviews per month: 260,000 (Source: https://www.google.com/adplanner)
Feedburner Subscribers: Not Listed
Targeted Reader: Entrepreneurs and small business owners looking for practical tips and support given with an often vulgar and blunt sense of humor.
Upon first arrival at IttyBiz you’ll notice a very clean red banner and three part header. The left column of the three column layout has a few 125×125 ads. The center column is content, and the right column has the RSS sign-up, “Read These First” posts, and a categories list.
The content on IttyBiz is seriously inspired and top notch. Posts are challenging, insightful, and usually completely off the wall. Naomi writes a series of posts called “Moral Of The Story” which all revolve around proofreading; in one particular instance, she used the semi-colon tattooed on her back as an example. Sad, but true… and funny.
IttyBiz addresses a lot of personal demons and fears home business owners might have. Each post seems crafted to remind readers that being successful can be hard and scary, but that perseverance and drive will pay off.
Naomi’s writing style is personal, hysterical, and occasionally frantic (passionate). If you’re just looking for lessons and don’t want to connect, IttyBiz is not for you. If you’re easily offended by bad language or crude topics, IttyBiz is not for you. However, if you want a good laugh and great home business advice, take a nonstop trip to Itty Biz!
Chris Brogan
www.chrisbrogan.com
Site: http://www.chrisbrogan.com/
Author: Chris Brogan
Online since: registered June 2000
Page Rank: 6
Alexa Rank: 12,089
Sites Linking in: 3,588 (source: Alexa.com)
Pageviews per month: 1.2 million (Source: https://www.google.com/adplanner)
Feedburner Subscribers: 32,003
Targeted Reader: Busy businessmen and women looking for great advice on social networking, building a community, and earning trust.
At first arrival to Chris Brogan’s site, you’ll notice a picture of the handsome devil on the right (apparently,David Risley and he have an inside joke going… I appreciate how genuine these guys are). He uses a three column layout with content on the left (no excepts used), recent entries/topics in the middle column, and subscription sign-ups and ads on the right.
Chris is a social media and community building expert. There is a reason he’s ranked #1 on the Ad Age: Power 150. Just taking a quick look at his “best of” will give you an idea of how much social media advice he gives.
One thing Chris does very well is write lists. Long Powerful Lists. Back in August 2008, Chris wrote an amazing list about 50 ideas on using Twitter for Business. While his other articles are packed with amazing advice, it is the lists that made me bookmark this site and keep coming back for more. He also preaches brevity as if he made the word (it seems like he stresses brevity in at least 1 of 10 of his posts; compared to other blogs where I may have read it once, combined). I agree though. I just have to put it in practice.
His writing style in honest, brief, and sincere. His personal experiences are pleasant to read and never too long. In a slightly different way than John Chow, there is almost always a slight sense of humor to every post that will make you smile.
If you’ve ever wondered how blogging, twitter, or any other social media can help your business, Chris Brogan’s blog is one of the best places to start.
Summary
There are tons of amazing blogs with killer online marketing advice and class acts behind the scenes. These four blogs happen to be the most useful, inspired, and entertaining I have found. Do any of the blogs on this list inspire you? What blogs not listed inspire you?
No related posts.
You surely done a great work to list this marketing site. Honestly, I barely knew showmoney site, i will check other site after this. I may learn something from it.
.-= Dana@online Knowledge´s last blog ..Behind of My Blogwalking Nick Name =-.
You will definitely get something from the other sites. I think you’ll especially enjoy Chris Brogan. I think he writes about things you and your blog work with more than the other two.
Great list! Even though I started out blogging entirely out of hobby. It would be nice to make a living out of it. I scroll through blogger jobs lists a lot. Would love to blog for a living. Isn’t that a dream?
Thanks for this! :)
It is the dream. I actually wrote a post about pro bloggers living the life. It’s harder to do than it seems though.. There’s a lot of time and dedication that goes into making a blog successful.
Definitely a good list. I’ve read or continue to read (and comment) on all of these blogs.
.-= Dave Doolin | Website In A Weekend´s last blog ..WordPress Gotcha! Clear Cache After Using WP-Tuner =-.
Isn’t it nice to know that you’re not missing out?!
i like mr seth.The tips given by him are out of the box.You can also read about him on wiki.Nice post
Yeah, Seth is amazing. I have no idea how he is able to come up with such amazing content on a daily basis. I’m sure he probably has posts written for several days in advance.
I think you’ll like the other sites as well if you check them out
Yea i will surely check them out.
Posted your interview
I’m regular reader of shoeoney and Seth Godin blog, Last two are new to me. I will have a look and see what they are offering. Thanks for useful compilation. :)
The last two are great as well. I’m shocked you haven’t heard of Chris Brogan. He’s been getting a lot of plugs from some of the big blogs lately.
Thanks for your list, I’ve subscribed to Chris Borgan. :D
.-= gojeg://myairapplications.com´s last blog ..Google Doodles, The Google Expression! =-.
I may have been to Seth’s blog and know of ShoeMoney.
The other two are totally new to me…will check them out.
Thanks.
.-= Rod Macbeth´s last blog ..The Path to the Four Hour Workweek…Outsourcing the Correct Way =-.
It is unbelievable that ittybiz.com has so many traffics with such low ranks both in PR and Alexa.
Chris Brogan has just released a new book, which I have no money to buy yet. Shh, don’t tell him.
The site you mentioed are really legendary, I already saw Shoemoney, Seth Godin and Chris Borgan’s blog, I will check the rest one, thanks for sharing these blogs.
I’m glad to see Itty Biz has been the dark horse of this group. It is a great site!
The whole point of these posts is to bring useful blogs to everyone’s attention. Just because these are all popular doesn’t mean everyone knows all of them.
Excellent list, Blake. I haven’t been to Chris Brogan’s site in a while so I think I’ll head over there right after this comment post.
Just want to mention Seth Godin’s pet project, Squidoo, is a great way for bloggers to promote their sites.
I’ve heard great stuff about squidoo, but I haven’t had a chance to make it over there yet.
I really need to get on top of marking my site in ways other than comments and twitter/facebook.
I only know shoemoney. I will visit rest of them. Thanks for the suggestions.
I think you’ll like the others. Especially Chris Brogan. In your blog you talk about social networking a lot, and that’s one of Chris Brogan’s specialties.
IM ONLY AWARE OF SHOEMONEY AND SETH, ILL BE CHECKING THE OTHER…
thanks for this!
-Nhoel of http://keywordspeak.com
Blake,
I found your blog from reading your comments on Bryn’s blog, where I had the most recent guest post. Not only does a guest post generate new readers, backlinks, and more credibility, but it draws in a secondary effect of more commenters– like me coming to your site.
And, incidentally– great selection on top blogs. I’d put in Mark Cuban’s blog to that list, as well as Markus Frind’s.
Oh man, I totally forgot about Mark Cuban. Same on me! I even live in Dallas and love the Mavs. I’m going to check that one out today.
I like Chris Brogan a lot, more so his newsletter he occasionally sends out. Powerful stuff and feels more personal, like an email from a close buddy.
Yeah, Seth is very good, too. I will have to check out Naomi. Heard lots of good things about her blog.
Yeah, I love that Chris’s newsletter is different than what he posts online. Gives readers extra incentive to subscribe.
i wish i could be one of them, but for now my focus is to have more traffic. thanks for sharing this to us, informative tips..god bless you. href=”http://www.onlineopps.net/”>smart blogger
I don’t know about Itty Biz. Rest of them I know and I am a regular visitor of their blogs.
Hei. Why did you use numbering for the second one except for all others?
Because my proof readers me, myself and I failed at checking my headlines. I went back and forth between numbering them. I guess I didn’t end up choosing either.
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I totally need to get on this. I’ve been blogging for fun for too long now. P.S. I’m digging the redesign!
.-= Tamahome Jenkins´s last blog ..The Always Controversial Nobel Peace Prize =-.
This is great- so helpful and I am definitely going to check out these site! Thanks for your great amazing clear help!
Found this post on a twitter link, thanks for the update.
this is great. i like to check these site
Very informative, had never heard of these sites but will be checking them all out. thanks