The Top 100 Small Business Online Marketing Blog Posts in 2014

How did I arrive at this list? There’s so much great online marketing information out there. Unfortunately, not all of it is so great for small business owners. So my goal with this list was to offer those small business owners easy to digest and understand blog posts from 2014 that would help get their gears turning for the new year ahead of us.

There was no voting or specific criteria for determining who made this list. It is truly just the posts that I thought best served small business owners looking to grow their company via the web. I did have some help compiling it, so special thanks to my coworker and mirror pic partner, Bailey Stoner.

I’ve categorized the blogs into a few different online marketing arenas to make them a little easier to navigate:

• Content marketing
• SEO
• Local SEO
• Email marketing
• Paid Search
• Conversion rate optimization
• Mobile marketing
• Tracking & analytics
• Other

And before you call me out on it, yes, I’ve included some of mine and my colleague’s blogs from 2014. We work predominately with small businesses, so it seemed appropriate, though perhaps I’m a little biased when calling them the best. Forgive me.

The web’s a big place. If you think I overlooked one of your blogs, I’d love to include it. Send me a tweet @pennylaaaane. Yes, that is pennylane with four A’s because three A’s was taken.

The Best 2014 Content Marketing Blogs

5 B2B Companies Crushing It with Content Marketing by Marcus Sheridan. It doesn’t matter if you’re B2B, B2C, or BSB—the “essence” of content marketing doesn’t change. Marcus highlights five B2B companies who’ve had massive success with content marketing in this article.

A Content Marketing Strategy Template You Can Build On by Isla McKetta. I can’t help it; I’m a sucker for a good template. In this post, Isla provides a downloadable template and walks you through the three key elements of a content strategy.

How to Write the Perfect Blog Post by Social Triggers. Okay, so this is actually an infographic, not a blog post—but I love how easy this is to digest for small business owners who are just getting started with blogging.

It’s Time to Treat Content as Part of the User Experience by Ian Lurie. Sure, content is necessary to rank. But don’t think of it as just a ranking device. I love this article because Ian encourages you to change your approach to content instead of treating it like a “nasty skin disease.” Gross, Ian.

How to Use Data to Improve Your Content Marketing Strategy by Ben Harper. Data and content marketing go together like creepy guys and Tinder. In this post, Ben gives you tips on some unique data sources you might not currently be leveraging when it comes to your content marketing strategy.

Got a Boring Company Blog? Here’s How to Fix It by Jayson DeMers. Your blog should be a way to engage your customers. In this blog, Jayson outlines a few easy steps to ensure your blogs don’t put your customers to sleep.

Content Farms: Worst. Idea. Ever. by Elizabeth Moore. You know your website needs content to rank in search engine results, but buying spun or duplicate content is never going to get you ranked. Without original content, Elizabeth says, your site has little chance of being seen as an authority.

Do You REALLY Need to Host a Webinar? by Amanda Sibley. Want to generate new leads for your business by hosting a webinar? According to Amanda, sometimes a webinar doesn’t make sense for the topic you are covering. Find out whether or not it’s a good idea in her blog!

A Scientific Approach to Hitting Your Lead Gen Goals with Content by Corey Eridon. Talk nerdy to me, Corey. In this post, she walks you through how to set a lead gen goal, perform content analysis, and monitor your content once you create it.

4 Types of Content Every Site Needs by Hannah Smith. According to Hannah, most businesses need content that 1) entertains 2) educates 3) persuades 4) converts. Do you have all four?

6 Tips for Promoting Your Great Content with Advertising by Arnie Kuenn. Sometimes when you blog (or create other great content), it’s easy to feel like you’re speaking to an empty room. In his blog post, Arnie offers great tips for content distribution.

How to Choose the Right Content Marketing Agency by Chuck Frey. In the end, you want to find someone who has your best interest at heart and backs up their words with actions. Though it might sound like this article is about picking the right boyfriend…it’s actually about picking the right content marketing agency.

How to Use Data to Write Better Content by Betsy McLeod. I wish I had coined the term “data driven copywriting.” Oh well. At least I coined the term “twerking”—which of course means tweeting while working, right?

6 Tips for Wooing Customers with an Enchanting Business Blog by Henneke Duistermaat. Blogging for your business is only beneficial if it generates leads and sales. In this article, Duistermaat provides business owners with six must-follow rules for blogging. I’ll add my own seventh rule—a Ryan Gosling photo can go a long way!

Problem-Solution Content Marketing by Brandon Doyle. As a business owner, your website’s content needs to solve a customer’s problem and naturally guide the user through a sales funnel. One way to do this is by frustrating your customers and using problem-solution content marketing. Personally, my biggest frustration is not being able to resist the buy-one-get-one-free Doritos sale at the grocery store.

The Art of Thinking Sideways: Content Marketing for “Boring” Businesses by Robin Swire. While this article is targeted towards SEO companies, I think it is important for business owners to know, too. If you have a solid understanding of your business and a little bit of creativity, you can create a successful SEO campaign.

Writing for Different Types of Search Queries by Alanna Potosky. There are three main types of search queries—navigational, informational, and transactional. In her blog post, Alanna tells you how to write for each of these search queries. The benefit? More visitors and, if you do it right, more conversions!

The Best 2014 SEO Blogs

How to Ensure Your SEO Strategy Delivers the Right Traffic by Jay Taylor. Your strategy should be simple. Know your audience and provide them with content that they actually care about. Jay walks you through the steps that will help you ensure the traffic you are getting is the traffic that you want.

The Decay and Fall of Guest Blogging for SEO by Matt Cutts. I’m not just including this because my boss has a weird man crush on Matt Cutts. Guest blogging used to be a great way for businesses to gain valuable backlinks and improve their SEO. In 2014, Cutts stuck a fork in it.

Does SEO Still Work? by Alanna Potosky. If it didn’t, I probably wouldn’t have my job. So the brief answer is “yes,” but Alanna explains it much better than I do.

Write for Customers, Not for Google by Lexie Bond. Remember that time Walmart had a shopping section on its website labeled “Fat Girl Costumes” and the Internet freaked out? There’s much for your small business to learn from this painful Walmart marketing lesson.

THE Backlinking Strategy that Works – 2014 and Beyond Edition by Pat Flynn. In this article, Flynn outlines the best backlinking strategies—including focusing on relevance and authoritative sites.

Should Your SEO Strategy Include Yahoo and Bing? by Katie Redmond. Oh the TJ Maxx and Marshalls of search engines. Believe it or not, these search engines make up 29% of the search engine market share—that’s a lot of searches!

10 Questions to Ask Your SEO Company by Elizabeth Moore. I have a love/hate relationship with the SEO industry. One of the reasons why I hate it is because there are so many companies out there looking to scam businesses out of their marketing dollars. So before you hire an SEO company, ask them these 10 critical questions.

Can I Get SEO for $50 a Month? by Lexie Bond. I warn of the dangers of cheap SEO in this blog post, with a real example of one of Blue Corona’s clients who left and chose to come back after getting burnt by a cheap SEO company.

5 Things Your SEO Strategy Needs to Focus on Entering 2015 by Jonathan Long. By now, you should have a clear plan for tackling online marketing in 2015. If you are unsure where to start, take a look at this article that highlights where SEO is headed in the coming year.

How Much Does DIY SEO Actually Cost? by Betsy McLeod. Saying that an average business owner, even a savvy one, can do what an SEO company can do is like saying that someone who owns a wrench can be a plumber. And SEO is a very complicated wrench! But if you want to try it yourself, Betsy will tell you how much it will cost you. Here’s a spoiler:

What ROI Can I Expect From SEO? by Jayson DeMers. In this article, DeMers compares SEO to the stock market—a long term investment that will sometimes see fluctuations but can show a huge ROI over time.

5 SEO Tactics to Kick Start the New Year by Casie Gillette. We all set personal New Year’s resolutions—we take some time to reevaluate and clean up before starting a new year. Why not do the same for your website?

What’s the Point of SEO When Google Keeps Changing the Rules? by Elizabeth Moore. Google updates its algorithm more often than your daughter updates her Facebook status. So is there a point to even optimizing your website if Google’s just going to go and change its algorithm the very next day?

12 Ways to Increase Traffic From Google Without Building Links by Cyrus Shepard. Yes, it’s true—link building is not the only way to increase traffic from Google. This post walks you through other strategies that can help you increase traffic to your website.

Signs You’re Working with a Shady SEO Company by Brandon Doyle. There are three key signs to look for to determine if your online marketing company is using shady SEO practices. Brandon will walk you through these signs and also give you advice for finding the right SEO company for your small business.

What’s the Average Time it Takes to See SEO Results? by Hannah Nelson. It’s hard to be patient when your business needs more leads, like, yesterday. However, there are many factors that determine how long it will take your company to see SEO results.

The Best 2014 Local SEO Blogs

How Not to Ask for Reviews: A True Story About Local SEO by Neil Patel. Good reviews help tremendously when it comes to ranking in local search results (something every local, small business owner is interested in). In this article, Neil tells the story of a hotel in upstate New York that charged a $500 fine for each bad review left on any Internet site. See how this plan backfired in Neil’s blog.

6 Local SEO Strategies for Small Businesses by Steve Olenski. In this easy-to-follow article, Steve outlines the 6 strategies you need to dominate local SEO. Steve pinpoints positive reviews and NAP citations as a couple important factors.

Local Business Should Build a Brand, Not Links by Ben Landers. In this blog post, Ben details the ONLY local SEO strategy worth pursuing. Oh, and he also gives recommendations for where to hide a dead body.

Rule the Local Results: An #Infographic by Kelsey Jones. This infographic shows the importance of having a strong local search presence. Check out the dos and don’ts of ranking in local search results.

4 Go-Tos to Make Online Reviews Work for Your Business by Chris Marentis. Reviews have becoming increasingly important in the SEO world. Chris outlines the important steps you should take to ensure your business benefits from reviews.

How Local SEO Works and Why It Matters for Small Businesses by Scott Langdon. Local SEO is becoming an increasingly important part of online marketing. In this article, Langdon outlines why it matters and how it works.

5 Things Most People Forget About Local SEO by Neil Patel. Local SEO can be daunting and, frankly, a little bit confusing. Remember these 5 important factors to successfully tackle local SEO.

Use Caution with Directories and Pay Per Lead Services by Ben Landers. Using lead generation services from local directories like HomeAdvisor, Angie’s List, Thumbtack, and more might be tempting. But read this before you give in!

The Best 2014 Email Marketing Blogs

3 Simple Ways Email Can Drive SEO Results by Daniel Faggella. Ah! Email—the fanny pack of the online marketing world. Sure it won’t actually help you rank, but it can increase engagement and help your SEO in other ways.

How to Write Better Emails by Catherine Clifford. Learn how to perfect every aspect of your email—from the subject line to the signature. Clifford covers every aspect of email in this easy to read infographic.

Email Marketing’s 10 Most Important Questions, Answered by Kevan Lee. If you are considering investing in email marketing, there is no doubt you have questions. Lee answers some of the most frequently asked questions related to email marketing here.

The Ultimate Email Marketing Strategy for a Small Business in 7 Steps by Brett Relander. Brett outlines best practices for email marketing—it includes being brief, grabbing the readers’ attention, and making your sign-up process easy.

Is Email Marketing Effective? Three Examples That Prove It Is by Dan Shewan. Email marketing has a negative reputation. Shewan challenges the negative standing with 3 examples of effective email marketing campaigns.

Everyone Hates Email—Unless You Do It Right by Elizabeth Moore. The mail icon on my iPhone 5c (which my coworker Zack describes as the iPhone for poor people) has a red 5,891 hovering on top of it. Yes, that means I have 5,891 unread emails in my Gmail inbox. Because just like Elizabeth, I love subscribing to emails but hate receiving them. Find out how to do email marketing right in her blog post.

The Best 2014 Paid Search Blogs

4 Common PPC Mistakes That Are Sending Crappy Leads to Your Landing Page by Elizabeth Marsten. If you’re a small business owner investing in PPC, you don’t want to waste your budget on crappy leads. Also, Elizabeth compares filtering your keywords to filtering your Tinder matches—so extra points for that.

The Truth About AdWords for Small Businesses by Lexie Bond. The New York Times ran a blog post on its small-business blog about how AdWords isn’t practical for small businesses. In my response, see concrete evidence that AdWords CAN be effective for small businesses.

20 Ways to Increase CRO for PPC Advertising by Justin Croxton. You should always be optimizing your ads for a better conversion rate. Focus on the following strategies to generate more leads from PPC.

Should I Pause My PPC Campaigns for the Holidays? by Hannah Johnson. Many small businesses prefer to pause their PPC campaigns over the holidays. After all, they aren’t even going to be open for business and don’t want to waste money on the clicks. Is this the right move for your business? Hannah’s got the answer.

Two of the Best Pay-Per-Click Advertising Hacks by KISSmetrics. Not sure where to start when it comes to PPC? Check out this article for an idea of where to shift your focus.

Is Advertising on YouTube Worth It? by Hannah Johnson. I hate when I want to watch a 30 second YouTube video and I’m greeted with a 45 second non-skippable ad. Hannah explains how to tell if advertising on YouTube is a good idea for your business.

5 New Year’s Resolutions for Paid Search in 2015 by Diane Pease. Your PPC campaigns should consistently evolve. Remove ads that aren’t working. Expand to more search engines and implement new ideas!

Does PPC Cannibalize SEO? by Hannah Nelson. I wish that our SEO team and PPC team got into fights over what the best search engine marketing strategy is. Eventually we’d have to rent those inflatable sumo wrestler costumes and take it to the ring. Alas, all of us understand that the best online marketing strategies include both SEO and PPC. In fact, they can even help each other. I’ll let Hannah take it from here.

Common Misconceptions About Paid Search by Hannah Johnson. If you haven’t already tested out a PPC campaign, I could probably guess the reason why. You think it’s too expensive; you think it doesn’t produce good leads; you think it’s too complicated. Well Hannah’s about to take your paid search misconceptions, roll them up like a newspaper, and hit you over the head with them—because PPC can be an excellent lead generation tool for small businesses.

Why Aren’t My Remarketing Ads Showing? by Ellie Onorato. Remarketing is one of my favorite forms of advertising because it reminds me a lot of stalking. Someone visits your website and then your ad just follows them around the Internet. There are several reasons why your remarketing ad might not be showing up. Find out why in Ellie’s blog post.

Why Aren’t PPC Clicks Considered Leads? by Hannah Johnson. My coworker Sean once optimized a PPC campaign for a plastic surgeon. The surgeon got just as many leads as he did the previous month with pay per click, but he got them for about half the price. Amazing, right? Well the plastic surgeon was not happy. Why? Because he was getting fewer clicks. Sorry, buddy, but clicks aren’t the goal when it comes to pay per click. Read more in Hannah’s blog.

The Best 2014 Social Media Blogs

What Is Google’s “My Business” Service? by Ben Landers. The goal of Google My Business is to make life easier for business owners, marketers, and agencies by creating a unified interface that integrates information from multiple Google properties—AdWords, Google+, Maps, Search—into a single location. Learn what you can do with it in this blog post by none other than my favorite boss.

The Anatomy of a 5-Star Twitter Profile by Ginny Soskey. Make sure your small business Twitter profile doesn’t look like spam with Ginny’s advice for optimizing your brand’s Twitter account.

What to Do When a Brand Drunk Tweets During the Super Bowl by Sam Mallikarjunan. Who kkmew theis was ghiong tob e a baweball ghamle. #lowsscorinh 5_0. That’s what JCPenney tweeted during the 2014 Super Bowl. Read Sam’s tips for dealing with the double-edged sword of social media agility in his blog post.

30+ Ultimate Headline Formulas for Tweets, Posts, Articles, and Emails by Kevan Lee. It takes the average 14 year old girl 3 minutes to come up with a caption for their latest Instagram post. Just kidding. But, we all know that creating a headline for a tweet, post, etc. can seem daunting. Check out this guide for tips and tricks to create a great headline.

26 Creative Ways to Publish Social Media Updates by Ali Luke. In order to benefit from social media, your posts need to be creative. Use these tips to ensure your posts will grab attention and engage your customers.

Can Pinterest Make Your Small Business Bigger? by Mike O’Brien. The head of online sales and operations for Pinterest tells us the best ways to grow your business through Pinterest.

Why Every Business Should Spend at Least $1 per Day on Facebook Ads by Brian Carter. In this blog, Carter outlines the benefits of investing in Facebook Ads. Basically, it’s inexpensive and people will be grateful to see your ad instead of their Aunt Marcia’s constant posts about her cats.

Facebook’s Organic Reach Decline: How to Respond by Pam Dyer. Facebook has its own formula for determining which posts to share with users. Use this article by Dyer as a guide for working around that formula.

How Frequently Should I Post on Social Media? by Jake Amberg. We all know that business that just doesn’t seem to “get” social media. The one that spams you 100 times in a single day and then you don’t hear from them for another two years? In this blog, Jake tells you how often you should post on each social media platform.

Are My Angie’s List Leads Qualified? by Hannah Nelson. As a small business owner, your marketing dollars are limited, so you don’t want to waste any time on marketing strategies that produce unqualified leads. In this blog post, Hannah details how to make sure your Angie’s List leads are qualified.

The 7 Top Special Media Trends That Will Impact Your Marketing in 2015 by Adele Halsall. This list is a huge guide when preparing your social media strategy for 2015. Adele encourages you to prioritize mobile users and utilize videos among other strategies.

How to Schedule Social Media Posts in Advance by Jake Amberg. As a business owner, you don’t always have time to be as active on social media as you should be. That’s why you should schedule your posts in advance to make sure they get out at the right time. Learn how to do it in Jake’s blog post.

How to Use Houzz as a Business by Alanna Potoksy. Is your business using Houzz the right way? Do you even know what Houzz is? I’m pretty sure Alanna’s written more about Houzz for businesses than Houzz themselves, so take it from her.

Houzz Best Practices by Alanna Potosky. “Houzz is the new Pinterest for remodelers,” Alanna claims in this post. Once you’re done learning how to use Houzz for your business, check out Alanna’s tips for making the most of your profile.

Should I Remove My Reviews Section on Facebook? by Hannah Nelson. Did you know that Facebook actually allows you to remove the reviews section from your business’s profile? Bye bye bad reviews! But wait! Is it a good idea to do this? Find out in Hannah’s blog.

10 Smart Tips to Leverage Google+ for Increased Web Traffic by Cyrus Shepard. When a business owner begins to use social media, the first channel they sign up for is usually Facebook or Twitter. This article outlines the benefit of engaging with your consumers through (the often over-looked) Google+.

Setting a Facebook Ad Budget that Gets Results by Jake Amberg. Small business owners have a limited marketing budget. In this blog post, Jake describes how to set a Facebook ad budget that gets results but that your small business can afford.

The Best 2014 Conversion Rate Optimization Blogs

The Most Entertaining Guide to Landing Page Optimization You’ll Ever Read by Oli Gardner. Let’s just say this article lives up to its name. You’ll absorb essential information about landing page optimization without falling asleep at your monitor.

These Landing Page Copywriting “Best Practices” Turned Out to Be Conversion Fails by Joanna Wiebe. Do you split test your landing pages? You should! In her post, Joanna flips three landing page “best practices” on their ugly faces.

How Typography Affects Conversions by Ankit Oberoi. Right now you are probably thinking, what the heck does typography have to do with online marketing? The answer is more than you think. Turns out, it has a huge part in how people retain information about your brand.

10 Things You Must Know About Conversion Rate Optimization by Jeremy Smith. Landing pages aren’t everything. CRO is about constant change. These are just a few pieces of wildly helpful information that Smith outlines in this article.

Conversion Rate Optimization Techniques: The Complete List by Brian Dean. Conversion rate optimization should be a major point of focus for anyone investing in online marketing. Website visits are irrelevant if you are not converting them into leads. Use this robust guide to get started optimizing your website.

The A-Z Guide to Conversion Rate Optimization by KISSmetrics. From A/B Testing to Zeroing In—this infographic outlines 26 steps for optimizing your conversion rate.

Avoiding SEO Pitfalls During Conversion Rate Optimization by Janet Driscoll Miller. While many of the authors on this list focus on how to successfully optimize your conversion rate, Miller warns you of common pitfalls and how to navigate around them.

Everything You Know About Conversion Rate Optimization Is Wrong by Larry Kim. In this article, Kim outlines the best strategy for optimizing your website—focusing on landing page optimizations and testing and removing the low performers.

The ABCs of Landing Pages That Work by Steven Lowe. This simple and fun infographic outlines the ABC’s of creating a landing page that actually works!

Why Your Landing Page Should Have at Least 500 Words by Neil Patel. In this blog post, Neil attacks the most common issues with landing pages—they don’t have enough content.

Why Your Traffic Is Spiking But Conversions Won’t Budge by Jacob McMillen. So you are investing in online marketing and your traffic is increasing but your leads are not. This article tackles why this may be happening.

If You Think All Bulleted Lists Are Equal, This Data Will Change Your Mind by Lance Jones. I love this post because it reminds me that something as simple as where you put your benefit statements in a bulleted list can impact conversions.

The Best 2014 Mobile Marketing Blogs

Ranking Penalties Coming Soon to Slow Mobile Sites by Monica Stern-Morales. Take a minute and visit your company’s website on your mobile device. How long does it take to load? Google likes to create the best user experience—which absolutely never includes slow mobile websites.

Google Officially Launches “Mobile-Friendly” Labels in Mobile Search Results by Barry Schwartz. In an effort to help mobile searchers know which sites they may click on are mobile-friendly versus which ones are not, Google has added a text label under the URL in the snippet that reads “Mobile-friendly” as the first part of the search result’s snippet. I can’t help but think this would help your click-through-rate if your site is mobile-friendly and your competitors’ sites are not!

How to Get Your Site Mobile-Ready for 2015 by Monica Stern-Morales. In 2014, mobile search finally overtook desktop search. So in 2015, you best make it a priority to get your website mobile-ready. In this blog post, Monica explains your mobile options.

Why You Shouldn’t Have a Mobile Marketing Strategy by Will Critchlow. Instead, EVERY marketing strategy should be mobile.

Mobile Site Audit Checklist by Kristina Kledzik. Now that it’s 2014, the question isn’t “should I build a mobile site?” It’s “how do I build a good mobile site?”, Kristina says. It’s hard to mess it up with a checklist this thorough!

The Best 2014 Tracking & Analytics Blogs

How to Market Your Business at Trade Shows and Maximize ROI by Kari Dephillips. The bottom line is that it is really hard to know if a trade show was truly worth the investment. Chances are you aren’t tracking your ROI the way that you necessarily should. Change it with these simple steps.

How Many of Your Phone Calls Are Actually Leads? by Lexie Bond. Many marketing companies will tell you they can help you get more phone calls. But how many of those phone calls are actually leads? Unless you personally take every phone call yourself, you probably don’t know.

Are Rankings the Goal in Small Business SEO? by Elizabeth Moore. You’ve hired an SEO company and your rankings have improved. However, you’re not getting any new business! Find out why rankings aren’t the goal in small business SEO in Elizabeth’s blog.

How Much Website Traffic Do You Really Have? by Ben Landers. According to Ben, an improperly set up Analytics account can lead to all sorts of problems. From what we’ve seen, most websites receive WAY fewer visits than their owners believe they do.

Blogs that Didn’t Fit Neatly Into a Category

How to Build a Local Brand through Online Marketing by Myles Anderson. People typically associate the word “brand” with huge, international businesses. In this article, Anderson challenges that idea and provides small business owners with stepping stones to create a local brand.

Fantasize Your Business by Cliff John. I didn’t think it was possible, but Cliff’s managed to relate fantasy football to your business. Who doesn’t love a good analogy?

3 Disastrous (But Avoidable) Marketing Blunders by Ben Landers. How many of these mistakes is your business currently making?

What to Look for in an Online Marketing Company by Monica Stern-Morales. Hint: it’s not their mustache discount (though I’ve pushed hard to offer one here at Blue Corona).

Let Your (Online Marketing) Garden Weed Itself by Hannah Nelson. How can thinking like a freak help you maximize your marketing investment? In this blog post, Hannah offers online marketing lessons from the book “Think Like a Freak.”

About Blue Corona

Founded in 2008, Blue Corona is a data-driven online marketing company that helps businesses accurately measure and track their advertising efforts to generate more leads and sales from the web. For each client, Blue Corona implements inbound internet marketing strategies such as pay per click (PPC) advertising, search engine optimization (SEO), online lead generation, ad tracking, conversion rate optimization, and website redesigns. Blue Corona was ranked on the Inc. 500 list in 2012 and again on the Inc. 5000 list for 2013 and 2014. The company has offices in both Gaithersburg, MD and Charlotte, N.C.