When it comes to digital marketing, there’s always more to learn. New technology and changing trends mean that if you don’t make an effort to regularly do research, you’ll be at constant risk of falling behind. Luckily, a number of great digital marketing blogs stay on top of the most important digital marketing news and trends you should be aware of. Add these to your list of subscriptions to stay in the know.
1. Moz
SEO is a big part of digital marketing and the Moz blog is one of the best sources available for learning about SEO trends, studies and best practices. Their content dives deep enough to be useful to seasoned veterans of SEO, while still often being accessible to newbies.
2. HubSpot
HubSpot is known in the industry as one of the best content creators out there. While the blog has a focus on inbound marketing (the company’s founder originally coined the term, after all), the content covers a wide range of topics relevant to marketers beyond inbound, from customer service to hiring good talent and productivity.
3. Content Marketing Institute
In the last few years, content marketing has quickly become one of the most popular topics in the digital marketing world. The Content Marketing Institute was one of the first companies to start touting the value of content in digital marketing, and their blog remains one of the best resources for following content marketing trends and best practices.
4. Copyblogger
Copyblogger’s also places a big emphasis on content marketing, as well as all other forms of copy businesses use to build relationships and sell products. For writers especially, it’s a helpful resource to follow.
5. Search Engine Journal
As the name suggests, Search Engine Journal is an online publication that goes deep into the subject of search engine marketing. They cover updates to search engine algorithms, tips for pay-per-click marketing and useful SEO information.
6. CopyHackers
Figuring out how to choose the best wording to get a sale has been a part of marketing for as long as marketing’s existed. But digital marketing has introduced a number of new channels and contexts for marketers to figure out. CopyHackers provides research-backed advice on how to write in a way that gets conversions across the wide world of the web.
7. Social Media Examiner
Social media has long been a challenge for brands to do well. Social Media Examiner provides studies on what works and detailed tutorials on using social media effectively. If you’re struggling to make social media profitable (as many are), this is a good resource to check out.
8. Convince and Convert
The Convince and Convert blog covers a broad array of digital marketing topics. Their posts provide tips for digital marketing, thought leadership posts on where the industry is going, and examples of good marketing that can help others.
9. Grow
Mark Schaeffer’s Grow blog has been providing useful information on digital marketing and technology for years, occasionally venturing into controversial territory (most notably with the widely discussed content shock post a few years back). The blog includes a mix of general marketing advice and thought leadership pieces that analyze what’s happening now in digital marketing and what’s to come.
10. Buffer
The Buffer blog primarily focuses on social media advice and research, while occasionally venturing into broader topics relevant to marketers, like design tips and useful marketing tools. They’re known for well-researched posts that tackle topics in-depth.
11. Kissmetrics
Kissmetrics is a digital marketing blog with a particular focus on making use of marketing analytics to improve results over time. Many of their posts are based on testing and research performed by brands and what readers can learn from it.
12. Hongkiat
Primarily focused on design and technology, Hongkiat points people toward helpful (often free) design resources, provides advice on doing design well, and occasionally ventures into other digital marketing topics like social media.
13. Unbounce
All the other marketing you do is designed to get people to the point where your conversion optimization efforts can do their job. The Unbounce blog covers advice and research on how to take your prospects from interest to action.
14. MarketingProfs
MarketingProfs provides articles, infographics and original research on a wide variety of digital marketing topics. While much of their content requires (free) registration to access, it doesn’t take long to do and, for your trouble, you’ll gain access to one of the most respected publications in the digital marketing industry.
15. MarketingLand
MarketingLand’s broad focus encompasses just about all things digital marketing, including social media, search engine marketing, mobile marketing and marketing analytics. Their blog posts cover marketing news, general tips and information about popular marketing products.
16. CoSchedule
So much of good marketing depends on good planning. On that topic, the CoSchedule blog has you covered. Their posts mostly cover blogging and social media advice, with a general focus on effective planning and efficiency.
17. HelpScout
While the HelpScout blog’s overall focus is on customer satisfaction, it includes a lot of posts that will be helpful to digital marketers. Posts that cover topics like how to understand your customers and communicate with them effectively are just as important to marketers as customer service reps, making this a good blog for digital marketers to watch.
18. Duct Tape Marketing
The Duct Tape Marketing blog provides advice for small businesses doing marketing on a tight budget. While that’s the blog’s target audience, many of the insights shared on the blog can be useful to bigger brands as well, so it’s worth checking out no matter the size of your business.
19. ConversionXL
The ConversionXL blog is packed with posts about tracking the success of your marketing efforts and using your analytics to improve conversions. Their posts are well researched and frequently include actionable steps for readers.
20. ViperChill
The SEO blog ViperChill dives deep into researching SEO trends and analyzing what’s working for different companies. Their posts tend to be long, unique and packed with lots of examples and specific research.
21. GroupHigh
You can’t get far in content marketing anymore without putting some of your time and effort into promoting your content. The GroupHigh blog is all about influencer marketing, covering tips on how to do it well, the main influencers to look to in different industries, and examples of brands that have pulled it off.
22. Unmarketing
Unmarketing wants marketers to stop following the obvious rules of digital marketing and start thinking of ways to connect with customers that are outside the box. Their blog posts therefore are less about general tips and best practices, and more about a different way of looking at marketing.
23. The Content Strategist
The Content Strategist is Contently’s blog about content marketing that covers content marketing trends, examples of great content marketing and general best practices.
24. Social Triggers
While Derek Halpern’s blog about growing an online business, Social Triggers, doesn’t have marketers as its primary target audience (that would be online business owners), nonetheless it’s a good blog for marketers to follow. Since a big part of running a successful online business is digital marketing, plenty of his posts tackle suggestions on how to do it well.
25. The Sales Lion
An early adopter of content marketing, Marcus Sheridan has had time to get a good picture of what works and he shares his insights on The Sales Lion blog. With written posts and podcasts intermixed on the blog, you have your choice of how to learn.
26. Digital Marketer
The Digital Marketer blog says what it does right there in the name. You can find posts about different facets of digital marketing, including copywriting, content marketing and social media.
27. Business 2 Community
Business 2 Community is a general business publication that includes a lot of valuable content about digital marketing. There’s a whole section on “Digital and Social” that delves into SEO, email marketing and other digital marketing tactics.
28. Blind Five Year Old
While the name is a little strange, the Blind Five Year Old Blog is all business. The posts go deep into SEO topics, making arguments with the use of detailed examples and plenty of helpful (and sometimes entertaining) images.
29. Social Media Today
Social Media Today shares social media news, tips and research. They cover information on all the main social media platforms and report on most of the new social media research that gets published.
30. Social Media Explorer
Social Media Explorer focuses primarily on social media, but sometimes covers additional topics related to digital marketing and technology like influencer marketing and virtual reality marketing. They’re a valuable resource for up-to-date trends in social media and marketing technology.
31. Spin Sucks
The Spin Sucks blog covers digital marketing and PR from a perspective of keeping marketing ethical—steering marketers away from the “spin doctor” label. The blog doesn’t stick exclusively to digital marketing topics, but gets into networking tips and productivity advice alongside posts on SEO and UX. Basically, if it’s valuable to marketers then it’s fair game for the Spin Sucks blog.
32. Ignite Social Media
The Ignite Social Media blog publishes posts on notable features of the different social media platforms, great examples of social media marketing, and advice on doing social media marketing well. It’s another good blog to help you stay on top of social media trends and best practices.
33. Monetate
The ultimate goal of digital marketing is to make your business more money. One of the most powerful tools marketers now use to achieve that is marketing personalization. The Monetate blog focuses on topics related to using marketing personalization to increase profits, including the technology you need to accomplish one-to-one marketing, tips for testing and general ecommerce trends.
Bonus Blog: Kuno Creative
For years, Kuno has been a top inbound marketing blog. But lately, it’s become clear that your digital marketing strategy needs to be all-inclusive. That’s why we will continue to offer inbound insights, but have expanded to cover topics including paid media and other digital marketing topics.
That should leave you plenty to read and help you stay on top of all the digital marketing knowledge you need. Staying alerted to digital marketing news will make you a better marketer over time and help you avoid falling behind on the trends.