Competitive intelligence
Competitive intelligence essentially means understanding and learning what's happening in the world outside your business so you can be as competitive as possible. It means learning as much as possible—as soon as possible—about your industry in general, your competitors, or even your county's particular zoning rules. In short, it empowers you to anticipate and face challenges head on.[1] Key points of this definition: Competitive intelligence is an ethical and legal business practice, as opposed to industrial espionage, which is illegal.[according to whom?] A more focused definition of CI regards it as the organizational function responsible for the early identification of risks and opportunities in the market before they become obvious. Historic development[edit] Accepting the importance of competitive intelligence, major multinational corporations, such as ExxonMobil, Procter & Gamble, and Johnson and Johnson, have created formal CI units. Product – what are people selling? Ethics[edit]
10 Useful Tips for Guest Blogging as a Link Building Strategy
Sometimes guest blogging can feel like you are pushing a boulder up the steep side of a mountain. Other times, it feels like the world is finally on your side. Replies to your pitches are rolling in and you wonder if something is secretly terribly wrong because most of the time, nothing is ever easy. There has been a lot of buzz lately about the long-term effectiveness of a guest blogging strategy for links (see this post from SEOMoz). 1. Before choosing the blogs you are going to pitch to for guest blogging, it is very important to do some basic research. You can find relevant sites though a detailed Google search. First, make sure you have the SEOQuake add-on for either Firefox or Chrome. Second, I would check Compete.com and look into the site’s traffic levels. Lastly, look into their social media sites. 2. On average, I would try to read at least 3 blog posts before drafting a pitch letter. 3. I know you don’t want to hear this but every blog deserves a separate pitch letter. 4. 5.
Facebook Interest Lists
Facebook is rolling out a new feature called Interest Lists. Facebook users can create and share lists of people and fan pages centered around a topic. The lists then act as a news feed of posts from just the people and pages in the list. Also “top stories” from each list you subscribe to will appear in your main news feed. Lists can be shared with your friends, who can then subscribe to them. To see suggested lists or create one of your own, click the “Interests” link in the left sidebar. On this screen you can see a list of suggested, already-curated lists you can subscribe to. You’re taken to a popup where you can choose people and pages from your current Pages, subscriptions, or friends, or choose from people and pages in pre-selected topical lists. Select the people and pages you want to add to your list. Click “Done” and the list will now appear in the “Interests” section of your left sidebar. Interest Lists: Yet Another in a Long Line of Features Copied from Google+
Guest Posting Made MUCH Easier with PostJoint
In a new twist to how guest blogging sites usually work – instead of businesses seeking bloggers to write for them – they submit quality content they would like to have published to PostJoint and bloggers bid for the right to publish that content. NEW: Listen to this podcast where I explain how PostJoint works for Andy Nathan’s eMarketing Experience. PostJoint calls the businesses posting the content advertisers. Moderators manually review all guest posts to ensure quality and uniqueness. Guest posts must be well written, non-promotional, and can not be published anywhere else. They can be typed directly into PostJoint or copied and pasted from WordPress or other blogs or applications. All blogs are pre-screened for quality and must meet PostJoint’s Blog Acceptance Policies. If any questions come up, you can use the built-in messaging system to clarify. These specifics will answer many frequently asked questions about PostJoint:
The Ultimate Guide to Advanced Guest Blogging
With “content marketing” being the indisputable SEO buzzword of 2012, we can expect 2013 to see an onslaught of marketers trying to build links with guest posts. The growth in this market will cause some sites to lower their guest posting standards, others to raise them, and still more to stop accepting them altogether. Google will target low quality guest posts with increasing zeal, and it will get harder to see results if the effort and strategy aren't there. We're going to help you combat this by sharing how we got posts up on ProBlogger and Search Engine Journal, and by introducing you to our strategy for success with our clients. 1. Finding Guest Post Opportunities Let's kick this off by talking about where to seek out guest post opportunities. 20 Things You Should Do and Pay Attention to Look for platforms where it will make sense to readers for you to post. 20 Things You Should Avoid Where to Find Places to Guest Post We can't stress this enough. 2. Here's the most important part. 3.
41 Sites Which Openly Allow Guest Blogging
EmailEmail Guest blogging has gained in importance since Google increased the value of original content over time. Duplicate content went down in value, article directories went down, backlinks for the sake of backlinks went down. Useful, original content went up, and with it, the value of a guest blog post. It’s a win-win-win situation: The blog owner wins because it helps bring in fresh new content. Write for the blog’s audience. That’s pretty much it. Here are 41 great blogs on a number of topics that invite accept guest posts. About the list: Each of the items in the list includes the name of the blog and a link to the page detailing guest post submission guidelines. I also include Google’s PageRank and the Alexa rating for the comparative power of the blog. Blogger Forums Blog Engage PR 4, Alexa 8,675 Blog Engage is a bloggers’ showcase, where members either post to the site or link to a post on their own site for other bloggers to rank it and give feedback. Business Technology Google+
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