SEO Content Marketing Roundup, Week Ending October 19th, 2011

There’s always room for improvement: such is the mantra of this week’s latest and greatest web-writing news. Content marketers address ways to improve reader engagement, SEO & search pro’s discuss myriad ways to better the craft, while social media marketers talk influencers and enhancing user experience. Sharpen that proverbial pencil and hone your skills with this week’s edifying selections:

Content Marketing

Top Rank reports from the 2011 Mima Summit with a post summarizing Avinash Kaushik’s keynote address on improving engagement through innovation.

In “How Apple Changed the World,” Neil Patel discusses the four core marketing strategies of the tech icon at KISSmetrics.

An inside look at Google’s approach to marketing by “former employee #59,” Doug Edwards, is posted at iMedia Connection (excerpt from Edwards’ book).

Content Marketing Institute shares five ways to “kick the tires” when shopping for a content marketing service provider to ensure they can actually help you reach your goals.

Chris Brogan posts “The Zappos Way of Making Buying Easier” through its skilled use of product videos.

Barry Feldman asks whether “the main ingredient” is missing from your content marketing in his guest post at Vertical Measures.

Gabriella Sannino discusses blog commenting systems, asking if yours is inviting readers or pushing them away, at Level 343.

Rebecca Lieb discusses mastering the content workflow in a guest post at Top Rank.

Pam Kozelka urges content marketers to leverage their online relationships at Content Marketing Institute.

Exceptional infographics distinguish a post on “the art of color coordination” in the psychology of web design at KISSmetrics.

SEO & Search

Eric Enge advises SEO pro’s to focus on authority (including one’s own) when considering social signals from an SEO perspective, at Search Engine Watch.

Danny Sullivan posts a Google-revealing read (“The ‘Google Doesn’t Get Platforms’ Family Intervention Memo”) based on an internal memo at Search Engine Land.

Target Marketing Magazine posts eight ways in which website usability and functionality affect SEO (part 1 of 2).

Search Engine Journal’s Loren Baker posts how the Best of the Web (BOTW) is continually evolving the web directory.

How to take your keyword research “to a higher level” is posted at Search Engine Land.

For your inner geek: Vertical Measures discusses new strategies for optimizing code.

Google’s Director of Research, Peter Norvig, discusses search algorithms with Eric Enge at Stone Temple Consulting.

Three areas to explore when integrating organic SEO with PPC campaigns are shared by Adam Audette at Search Engine Watch.

HubSpot posts seven ways to integrate search engine and email marketing.

Social Media Marketing

“Improving Your Social Experience” headlines Social Media Examiner’s weekly news.

Brian Solis posts “The State of Social Media 2011: Social is the new normal.”

Pamela Parker reports that Google is “shuttering” Buzz in favor of Google+ at Search Engine Land.

Ann Smarty posts “The ‘Working’ Guide to Reaching Out to Influencers Using Social Media” at SEOSmarty.

Kristi Hines posts part 2 (of 2) of her “Ultimate Guide to Online Branding and Building Authority” at KISSmetrics.

Apples and oranges: Danny Sullivan posts why Google+ user figures cannot be compared to those of Facebook and Twitter at Search Engine Land.

Mike Stelzner interviews HubSpot’s inbound marketing evangelist, Laura Fitton, on how Twitter is “empowering businesses,” at Social Media Examiner.

Mack Collier ponders the question of whether Twitter is making us “lazy bloggers.”

Jeff Bullas posts the five top Facebook apps for marketing your business and your brand.

Mongoose Metrics posts how social and mobile technologies are encouraging one-to-one connections.

Jason Cormier posts his interview with Brian Solis on Solis’ new book, “The End of Business As Usual: Rewire The Way You Work to Succeed in the Customer Revolution,” at Search Engine Watch.

In “Attacking the Myths of Social Media,” Social Media Examiner’s Michael Stelzner interviews the founder of Social Media Explorer, Jason Falls, discussing Falls’ “edgey” new book.

photo courtesy flickr – David Goehring, CarbonNYC