7 Resources to Learn to Grow a Business Online

SEOMoz Beginner’s Guide to SEO

Learn the basics of what search engine optimization is and how it can lead to vast amounts of targeted traffic at ridiculously low prices.  SEO is how online businesses drive organic traffic (non-paid) and will always be an important asset that a web property can build up.  SEOMoz’s guide is an excellent, and thorough, resource that is by far the best introductory piece on everything SEO related.

Google’s AdWords Beginners Guide

Google AdWords is the industry standard in pay per click advertising platforms.  What is PPC you ask?  Ever notice the ads around the results on Google when you do a search for something commercial?  Advertiser pay for visitors based on the number of clicks (creative name, eh?).  Many businesses can produce awesome marketing ROI’s with pay per click advertising.  This tutorial gives the basics of how to get rolling and how to start a campaign–straight from the horse’s mouth.

Beginner’s Guide to Social Media Marketing

This excellent blog post gives a good introduction to Social Media Marketing.  SMM is anything you do to promote your business on Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, and other social media sites.  In the past few years, social media has taken the web over by storm and participating isn’t an option–it’s mandatory!  This guide gives some good info on both how to market to social media users and where to do it.

Sphinn

Sphinn is a search marketing news aggregator–generally geared toward the slightly more advance professional.  I believe in learning by immersion so once you’ve read about the basics, I recommend heading over to Sphinn and reading solid articles (like the one I wrote on marketing for mortgage brokers) that show up near the top.

Search Engine Land

Search Engine Land is an industry leading source for news on search engine marketing.  It sometimes delves too far into the nitty gritty of search engine functions but the archives are pure gold.  Like Sphinn, this is a little more advanced and I’d recommend reading the beginning resources I listed above before delving into Search Engine Land.

SEO Book Forums

This is the first paid resource on the list.  SEOBook is probably the first or second largest authority website on SEO.  The blog, which is free, is excellent but the real meaty stuff is in the paid, members-only section.  I have a membership to the site and it’s a fairly high monthly fee but totally worth it.  The access to legit web marketing pros is unparalleled anywhere else and because of the cost, a lot of the typical fluff is weeded out.  If you’re serious about building you business online…join SEOBook!

Raven SEO Tools

The other paid tool I’d endorse is the Raven SEO Tools suite.  It’s a great CRM tool and SEO toolset that makes lots of online marketing functions MUCH easier.  It’s also a treat to use because it integrates with Google Analytics and some other marketing tools that you’d likely consider using.  Best of all, anyone can sign up for free for 30 days to see if it’s a fit!

Article by Brandon Laughridge

Brandon Laughridge is a principal at Growth Partner. Growth Partner invests in growing businesses and helps build companies through online marketing. The firm takes on the role of an outsourced "marketing department" on a strictly performance pay basis.

Brandon has contributed 1 articles.

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