Jumpstart your Productivity – Best of the Web

With the end of the year slowly creeping up on us, we’re getting *very* excited about what’s coming in 2013.

We’ve been doing a lot of planning for the future, and we’ve also managed to squeeze in some great features this month, including: an amazing podcast interview featuring book launch advice from Tim Ferriss, a Project ABC Update, tons of webinars, and a handful of guest posts, too.

Now that November is nearly over, work days are becoming shorter and productivity can feel a bit stunted – so this month’s Best of the Web is meant to jump-start your productivity for the final sprint until the (brief but) calm repose of the holidays…

So dive in, enjoy, and hang in there – the holidays are coming!

Give Me a Break!

If you feel like your momentum has slowed, take a break and take in some motivation. Here is an inspirational article, a bit of humor, and two gems from YouTube that should perk you up a bit:

• Believe in Gamification! [A Futuristic Short Film HD - by Sight Systems] (YouTube)
• Best Door to Door Salesman Ever! Kenny Brooks (video) (Youtube)
• There Are No Shortcuts to Success (Steven Aitchison blog)
• Sorry, No Calls (On Startups)

Tools and Techniques

Every month, we try to keep our eyes peeled for up-and-coming marketing trends rising to the surface of the blogosphere. This month, we were especially intrigued by some pretty novel suggestions of unexpected media platforms that can be used to market your business.

• How to Milk SlideShare Homepage for All the Traffic You Can Handle (Traffic Generation Cafe)
• The Video Marketing Handbook. Why Vid.E.O is the New S.E.O. (Alex Whalley)
• The Gamified Tribe: A Case Study (Word Chef)
• 8 Indispensable Tools to Improve Your Social Media Efficiency ({grow})
• The Marketer’s Guide To SlideShare (KISSmetrics)

Veteran Advice

I can’t think of anyone more qualified to be offering words of wisdom than a seasoned veteran. If you want solid, tried-and-true advice, here is some insight from people who have experience in their field:

• How to Answer “But Have You Worked With a Company like Ours?” (The Alchemist Entrepreneur)
• Is Investing Optional? (Get Rich Slowly)
• Education vs. Software: Which Is a Better Business Model? (Think Traffic)
• The Simple Path to Becoming a Highly-Paid Expert (New Podcast with Tim Ferriss) (Social Triggers)

Content Marketing and the Art of Writing

If you’re a regular reader here, you know that an engaged audience is absolutely critical to the success of any small business. But without sharp and valuable content, your audience isn’t likely to give your website or blog a second look. Here’s some great advice about how to keep the sharp content coming, and your customers coming back for more.

• 8 Ways Blog Writing is Unique ({grow})
• 19 Bad Habits Bloggers Need to STOP (Think Traffic)
• How to Build an Agile Content Marketing Team (Copyblogger)

The Science of Marketing

Effective marketing strategy is equal parts art and science. It is important to be relatable if you want anyone to buy your products, but for things to be sustainable, you have to eventually look at the numbers and listen to what the data is telling you.

• How to Get Your Blog Converting – Put Simple (My Daily Services)
• For the Love of Science – 15 Behavioral Marketing Posts You Shouldn’t Miss (Unbounce)
• Engagement Science: Making the Most of Your Social Media Strategy (Infographic) (Business 2 Community)

Marketing in the Media

Hurricane Sandy and the U.S. presidential elections were in all of our hearts this past November, and they were also all over the news – and there have been several interesting insights about  the ways that mainstream media has been borrowing from conventional marketing wisdom…

• Why Newspapers Let Sandy Blow Paywalls Down (Mitch Joel, Huffington Post)
• How Barack Obama Marketed His Way through the 2012 Election (Content Strategy Hub)

Interviews and Kind Mentions

I want to extend an enormous “Thank you!” to all the bloggers who took the time to mention us this month on their website or blog. I hope you enjoy some of these interviews and kind mentions:

• Caveat Emptor & the “A-List” (Pajama Productivity)
• The Ultimate Guide to Building a Recurring Revenue Business From Scratch (Hack the System)
• Warning! May Be Hazardous to Your Business: Heroes, Gurus and Other A-Listers (Word Chef)
• 10 of the Smartest Things Said About Building a Thriving Audience Online (Scarlet James)
• 16 Expert Tips From 16 Successful Entrepreneurs (Turndog Millionaire)
• How Not to Get a Guest BlogPost Spot (Trusted Advisor)
• Marketing that Works for Writers – Interview with Danny Iny (Zen Copy)

Guest Posts

And, of course, a couple of guest posts from yours truly:

• Most New Authors Sell Less than 100 Books – But You Can Sell Much, Much More! (Write to Done)
• 5 Tips to Speed Up Your Writing and Skyrocket Your Quality (Write to Done)

Did you read anything this month that you’d like to share? Leave a comment and let us know…

Danny Iny (@DannyIny), a.k.a. the “Freddy Krueger of Blogging”, teaches marketing that works at Firepole Marketing. Together with Guy Kawasaki, Brian Clark and Mitch Joel, he wrote the book on building engaged audiences from scratch (available on Amazon, or as a free download).

Tagged as: Best of the Web, Danny Iny