SEO Content Marketing Roundup, Week Ending May 11th, 2011

So are you all that? This week’s latest and greatest web writing news is about website speed and usability, new Panda insights and old Panda hangovers, smart branding, effective blogging, and ensuring your (optimized) content is both original and relevant…and all the while being an incredibly gracious and search-friendly social media host. To help you in being all that, this week’s SEO content marketing roundup is chock full of  resources, guides, and tips.

Content Marketing:

Marketer to marketer: Lee Odden posts his interview with Ann Handley on content marketing at Top Rank.

First things first: content strategy before social strategy is posted at Content Marketing Institute, as are 25 content marketing tools and making content relevant to buyers.

The big brand buzz:  Apple usurps Google as the most valuable brand, reports Mashable.  And speaking of Mashable, how it evolved into a major media company is posted (via video interview) at Social Media Examiner.

Level 343’s Gabriella Sannino posts a smart article on the four layers of online brand marketing, and SEO Book discusses brand positioning using stories.

iMedia Connection discusses the advantages of many contributors to the content challenge, as well as the secrets behind successful landing pages.

Shelly Bowen asks if your content strategy considers trust at pybop, and Heidi Cohen posts the four pillars of digital marketing (hint: 4 C’s).

Kristi Hines discusses distributing your content to increase your reach at Vertical Measures, while (yet more) content tools headlines Social Media Examiner’s weekly news.

Jay Baer (video) posts using location-based services for content marketing at Convince and Convert, and iMedia Connection posts why location-based services are just getting started.

Tom Critchlow of Distilled (NY) posts a smart guide to “innovative content types” (beyond the individual blog) at SEOmoz.

Two notable case studies posted at Marketing Sherpa: one, on turning B2C online traffic into offline action and two, on landing page testing and optimization.

Much ado about blogging:

Mack Collier posts two threads on blogging: one, why your blog should be a passion project, and two, why setting realistic goals for your blog is so important.

SEO & Search:

Heading up SEO & Search news is Google’s Webmaster post providing more guidance on building high quality sites, with analyses, takes, and insights offered by: Search Engine Land, SEOmoz, HubSpot, and SEO Book (among others).

Alan Bleiweiss (guest) posts five surprisingly often-overlooked SEO tactics at Search Engine Journal.

Kristi Hines posts SEO “street smarts” at Kiss Metrics, while SEO Book shares 12 popular organization tips and tools for keywords.

On a more advanced level, Search Engine Journal posts a tutorial how-to on using advanced segments in Google Analytics to isolate SEO problems.

Speaking of Google Analytics, SEOmoz posts that it now tracks page load speed, as well as tips for optimizing page speed.

Hate link building?  SEOmoz posts on that too, with a guide to competitor analysis for linkbuilding.

Social Media Marketing:

HubSpot posts seven reasons why replacing a website with social media is “stupid,” and Search Engine Land discusses why social profiles are a matter of quality (rather than quantity).

Heidi Cohen posts 30 definitions of social media from different sources and experts, and Lee Odden suggests five books on measuring and analyzing social media ROI at Top Rank.

Marketing Sherpa’s chart of the week features CMO confidence in social media’s ability to produce ROI.

Mashable posts how to connect your brand to the right online influencers, and eMarketer explores why affluent consumers connect with brands on social networks.

Six “surprising” new findings about social media, email, and IT use are posted at Fast Company, and Stay N’ Alive posts that Twitter and Facebook are quietly killing the RSS feed, completely.

Social Media Examiner posts five ways to use Twitter to connect with local customers, and Copyblogger posts the ultimate guide to Twitter.

HubSpot’s Inbound Now features a video interview with Jay Baer on how to get people to care about your social presence, and Brian Solis shares his interview by Web Copy Plus at his site (“engage with purpose.”)

Mashable posts social media tips for PR professionals as well as a Facebook guide for PR pros.