Although success is a very qualitative concept, we all have an idea about those people who have been successful in their lives and especially those who have done well in business.
Many successful people write blogs, a blog is a way to orientate a persons thoughts, a way to get over a point of view, help other people whilst at the same time positioning yourself as an expert in whatever field a persons chosen to present themselves in.
Many successful people will have business blogs, marketing blogs etc and although it’s important to remember there is always an agenda when you read a blog and that the ego of the writer has to be discounted, there are often real gems and insights.
These are some of the blogs I read, or information from individuals I look out for and reasons why.
A good example in the SEO sector is seobook.com – SEO Book was originally an e-book about SEO written by Aaron Wall, SEO Book is now one of the main SEO Blogs backed up by a fairly comprehensive set of paid for training schemes and SEO forums. The value of this is that it positions Aaron as one of the foremost SEO experts.
Probably the best SEO blog on the net – although again it’s worth considering what they want to get out of it and sometimes I think they write articles as link bait and then back track on them later on.
Interestingly they are becoming more focused on providing services for SEO organizations rather conducting SEO, we’ll see how this changes their perception of SEO, especially as they are bringing more content in from Distilled rather than concentrating on the insights of Rand.
Another blog that I enjoy reading is Brad Gosse. Brad gives some great insight into the thought processes in SEO, including keyword research and link building.
Moreover, Brad also looks into the thought processes and mental training necessary to be successful – countless times I’ve read the blog of watched his videos and been challenged, not by his SEO methodologies (incidentally I don’t always agree with what he says in terms of SEO) but by his insights into how to measure yourself as an individual.
This is an interesting one for me personally. I worked with Lawrence at UKFast and I still regularly check in and read his thoughts. Lawrence is very, very marketing focused businessman who often has moments of incredible insights, whilst being very clear about strategies for personal development and implementation of positive thought processes.
It’s also worth looking on YouTube – I don’t go anywhere near SEO videos on YouTube unless it’s a name I recognize such as Matt Cutts etc, one person I do look out for on YouTube is Chet Holmes.
Who’s Chet Holmes?
I wish Chet Homes wrote a blog for everyone to read – but he doesn’t. I was introduced to Chet Holmes about a year ago and I’ve listened to his thoughts on the sales and marketing process and picked up loads of insights, he’s really changed the way I view things. If you’re ever on YouTube – make sure you check out what Chet Holmes has to say.
The final blog I read that I’d like to mention here is the Anita Roddick blog. Anita set up the Body Shop and is one of the best known entrepreneurs in industry, she stepped down in 2002 and a lot of her blog is about activism, she’s a challenge to me because I don’t identify easily with her female centric point of view, it’s also interesting because her approach to business and life is slightly unconventional – therefore this blog site is perhaps the most useful insight as it regularly makes me sit up and say – I wouldn’t have thought about things like that.