I have been an online entrepreneur since 2003 and have developed skills in SEO, social media marketing, outsourcing & management and many other things. I started this blog around 2012 to experiment with content marketing and social media tactics. I’ve written on a variety of topics, but specialize in digital marketing, business and e-commerce topics (which I have actual experience in).
Here are some of my achievements and places that I’ve been featured.
Blogging and Content Marketing achievements:
- Blogged on smallbusinessideasblog.com and increased traffic to the site by over 700% in 2013 and 1,310% in 2014. Ranked it for my main term “small business ideas blog” as well as various other keywords.
- Posts were tweeted by influential bloggers including Kristi Hines (kikolani.com), Ann Smarty (myblogguest.com) and Neil Patel (Quicksprout.com)- http://www.smallbusinessideasblog.com/tweeted
- According to Buzzsumo’s trend detection tool, got most shared post on the internet for “blog promotion” and “content promotion” for week ending 3/8/14 – http://www.smallbusinessideasblog.com/press/most-shared-post
- My article on LinkedIn Publishing got featured on LinkedIn’s blog as one of the top 10 shared LinkedIn Marketing articles of 2014 (see #5) – http://marketing.linkedin.com/blog/rock-star-linkedin-marketing-tips-top-content-of-2014
- Ranked in the top 5 in Pinterest for “baby shower” and various other related terms in 2014 and grew Pinterest account to over 11,000 – http://www.smallbusinessideasblog.com/pinterest-marketing
- Got 36 influencers to speak at my virtual summit on Oct 2017, including Viveka von Rosen, Andy Crestodina, Sujan Patel, Robbie Richards and more – https://www.trafficandinfluence.com/
Writing Samples
Below are some writing samples. Different people have different ideas on what is considered “good content”, so I’ve separated articles into different categories. Check out the ones that resonate with what you are looking for. (Writing samples from other niches available on request).
Some of my favorite digital marketing articles:
In case you don’t have time to read all the articles on this page, I’ve picked a few personal favorites.
- The Long Form Content Myth: Why Top Blogs Still Use Short Form Content – http://www.webdevelopersetc.com/long-form-content-myth
- 11 Powerful Content Amplifiers for Blogging and Content Marketing – http://www.smallbusinessideasblog.com/content-amplifiers
- Duplicate Content Is A Myth. Here Are 9 Cases That Prove It! – https://blog.ahrefs.com/duplicate-content-myth/
- Five Common SEO Mistakes That Content Marketers Make – https://www.marketingprofs.com/articles/2018/33589/five-common-seo-mistakes-that-content-marketers-make
- How To Write Better Blog Headlines (Backed by Research) – https://bloggingwizard.com/write-better-blog-headlines/
Case Studies and Original Data Driven Research Studies
- What I Learned from Analyzing the Most Shared Blog Posts from Top Content Marketers – https://unbounce.com/content-marketing/lessons-learned-from-analyzing-top-shared-marketing-blog-posts/
- LinkedIn Publishing Study: How Top Writers Get Featured on the Pulse – http://www.smallbusinessideasblog.com/linkedin-publishing
- How I Got 1.7 Million Pin Views to My E-commerce Pinterest Account in 2015 – https://neilpatel.com/blog/how-i-got-million-pinterest-views/
- The Ultimate Guide to Creating an Expert Roundup Post That Gets 1000s of Shares – https://smartblogger.com/expert-roundup/
- E-Commerce Cleanup: How I Increased Search Clicks By 380% – http://www.semrush.com/blog/publications/e-commerce-cleanup-how-i-increased-search-clicks
Stories / Psychology
- 5 Examples of How Altruism Can Catapult Business and Marketing Results – http://www.smallbusinessideasblog.com/altruism
- How You Can Become More Successful by Practicing Less – http://www.smallbusinessideasblog.com/distributed-practice
SEO Targeted Articles
Some blogs focus on creating keyword targeted articles to get SEO traffic. Not all articles I write are keyword targeted, but some are and here are a few examples:
- The Ultimate Guide to Creating an Expert Roundup Post That Gets 1000s of Shares – http://boostblogtraffic.com/expert-roundup (keyword = expert roundup)
- 101+ Sources for Blog Content Ideas – http://www.smallbusinessideasblog.com/101-blog-content-ideas (keyword = blog content ideas)
- 27+ Popular Webinar Software Platforms and Inexpensive Alternatives – http://www.smallbusinessideasblog.com/webinar-software (keyword = webinar software)
Monitor Backlink’s blog is focused on creating content around SEO keywords, so you can check out my articles there by clicking here.
Guides
- Content Marketing Guide: How 10 Startups Became Thought Leaders & Generated Massive Revenue Growth – http://www.smallbusinessideasblog.com/content-marketing
- Content Strategy Guide: A Step-by-Step Plan to Grow Your Traffic and Influence – http://www.smallbusinessideasblog.com/content-strategy
- The Ultimate Guide to Creating an Expert Roundup Post That Gets 1000s of Shares – http://boostblogtraffic.com/expert-roundup
- Guest Blogging Guidelines: How to Google-proof Your Guest Posting – http://www.smallbusinessideasblog.com/guest-blogging-guidelines
Short form content
Here are some samples of short form content in the business, self development and productivity space:
- 7 Counterintuitive Things You Need to Do to Become Productive (983 words) – http://www.smallbusinessideasblog.com/counterintuitive-productive
- Networking Events are a Waste of Time. Do This Instead (759 words) – https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20140911125144-29113533-networking-events-are-a-waste-of-time-do-this-instead
- Do People that “Just Want a Job” Make Good Hires? (716 words) – https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/do-people-just-want-job-make-good-hires-brian-lang
Most Shared Posts on My Blog:
- LinkedIn Publishing Study: How Top Writers Get Featured on the Pulse (5,900+ social likes/shares) – http://www.smallbusinessideasblog.com/linkedin-publishing
- How to Promote Your Blog Content: 40+ Experts Share Marketing Tips (7,200+ social likes/shares) – http://www.smallbusinessideasblog.com/how-to-promote-your-blog
- 70+ Keyword Research Tool Alternatives to Google Keyword Planner (1,500+ social shares) – http://www.smallbusinessideasblog.com/keyword-research-tools
- 10 Popular Pinterest Marketing Myths that You Probably Believe (1,000+ social shares) – http://www.smallbusinessideasblog.com/pinterest-myths
Some guest posts (more available on request):
- How to Generate Thousands of Visitors from This Unknown Traffic Source – http://www.matthewwoodward.co.uk/tutorials/overlooked-traffic-generation-strategy
- 5 Actionable Tips To Use LinkedIn Publishing To Get More Blog Traffic – http://www.bloggingwizard.com/linkedin-pulse
- The Ultimate Guide to Creating an Expert Roundup Post That Gets 1000s of Shares – http://boostblogtraffic.com/expert-roundup
- 7 Things that Influential Bloggers Are Doing that You’re Not – http://www.successfulblogging.com/influence/
- Duplicate Content Is A Myth. Here Are 9 Cases That Prove It! – https://blog.ahrefs.com/duplicate-content-myth/
- How I Got 1.7 Million Pin Views to My E-commerce Pinterest Account in 2015 – https://blog.kissmetrics.com/how-i-got-million-pinterest-views
- What I Learned from Analyzing the Most Shared Blog Posts from Top Content Marketers – https://unbounce.com/content-marketing/lessons-learned-from-analyzing-top-shared-marketing-blog-posts/
Other notable blogs I’ve guest posted on:
Entrepreneur.com, Wordstream, Mirasee (formerly Firepole Marketing), WP Curve, Moz, Twelve Skip, SEO Hacker, Inbound.org, Madlemmings, Unbounce, Kissmetrics, Search Engine Journal, Marketing Profs, Foundr
Notable Guest Post Achievements:
- How to Generate Thousands of Visitors from This Unknown Traffic Source – http://www.matthewwoodward.co.uk/tutorials/overlooked-traffic-generation-strategy
Matthew Woodward is a digital marketing consultant with over 40,000 subscribers. He liked this post so much, he tried it himself and got 332 subscribers from a single article. He also spent $200 promoting it on Facebook.
AHrefs and Wordstream also reached out to me to guest post on their sites after reading this post. AHrefs also spent money on Facebook ads to promote my guest post on their blog.
- The Ultimate Guide to Creating an Expert Roundup Post That Gets 1000s of Shares – https://smartblogger.com/expert-roundup/
Smart Blogger (formerly Boost Blog Traffic) is one of the top sites for bloggers looking to grow their audiences with over 50,000 subscribers. They only post once a week and usually one of the posts is written by Glen or Jon, the site editors. They liked my post so much that they decided to leave it featured for a full two weeks instead of just the usual one week.
- Stop Creating Content and Start Creating Value – http://inbound.org/post/view/stop-creating-content-start-creating-value
Inbound is a popular community for digital marketing professionals that started allowing guest contributions in 2015. My first post here was featured as an example of high quality posts that they are looking for:
http://inbound.org/post/view/pushing-the-bar-up-high-inbound-originals-are-getting-a-makeover
- Duplicate Content Is A Myth. Here Are 9 Cases That Prove It! – http://ahrefs.com/blog/duplicate-content-myth/
My first guest post on the AHrefs blog that also became popular on Inbound. Tim Soulo had recently taken over content marketing for AHrefs and reached out to me to create something awesome for their blog. The social shares were a lot more on this post, but I think they changed their URL structure. Advanced Web Ranking saw this post and reached out to me to guest post on their blog as well.
But Tim was nice enough to send me a screenshot of the traffic that the post received (around 8000 views). Not bad, considering AHrefs was an up and coming blog at the time:
Places I’ve Been Mentioned:
I’ve also been mentioned by Sujan Patel, Neil Patel, Jeff Bullas, Brian Honigman, Marketing Day, The Next Web and other well known marketers/publications.
1. Mention (by Sujan Patel) – The Best Tools & Resources For Your Content Promotion –
http://blog.mention.com/the-best-tools-resources-for-content-promotion
2. LinkedIn Blog – Top 10 LinkedIn Marketing articles of 2014 – http://marketing.linkedin.com/blog/rock-star-linkedin-marketing-tips-top-content-of-2014
3. Neil Patel’s Blog (see #7) – 11 Ways to Get Authority Links for Your New Blog – http://neilpatel.com/2015/04/28/11-ways-to-get-authority-links-for-your-new-blog
Also on Quicksprout, he mentioned my guest post about LinkedIn publishing on Matthew Woodward’s blog –
http://www.quicksprout.com/2015/07/17/4-ways-to-drive-more-linkedin-traffic-to-your-blog/
– 16 Ways to Skyrocket Your Blog Traffic Through Content Distribution (see #7) –
– Get Your MBA in Content Marketing with These 15 Guides (see #11) –
http://neilpatel.com/2016/04/11/get-your-mba-in-content-marketing-with-these-15-guides/
4. Jeff Bullas Blog – Someone mentioned my guest post on Blogging Wizard here –
http://www.jeffbullas.com/2015/04/30/linkedin-tips-5-big-mistakes-you-must-stop-doing/
5. Brian Honigman’s Blog – The Guide to Using Multiple Blogging Platforms in Your Content Strategy –