Bloggers Best Posts From 2014
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Bloggers Best Posts From 2014

14th January 2015

To end our ‘Best of 2014’ series, we spoke to some of the State of Digital Blogging Team to get their opinion on what they thought was the best post they had written and best post they had read on State of Digital last year.

In this post you will hear from Gianluca Fiorelli, James Crawford, Matt BeswickJan-Willem Bobbink, Ned Poulter, Barry AdamsClaire Thompson, Andy MillerSarah BradleyRussell O’SullivanKrystian Szastok, Jo Turnbull and Arianne Donoghue.

Team

What was your favourite post written by a fellow blogger on State of Digital in 2014 and why?

Gianluca Fiorelli

I think it was this post about Mobile Marketing Analysis:
https://www.stateofdigital.com/easily-analyze-competitors-mobile-seo-performance/

Aleyda wrote, because of the so actionable style she has (and that I recognize I won’t even be able to have), the importance of the topic and my personal need to improve more my skills in that field.

James Crawford

It goes without saying that Jackie Hole is a complete superstar, but this post on the Right to be Forgotten was probably my favourite post of 2014

https://www.stateofdigital.com/right-to-be-forgotten/

Matt Beswick

I loved this post by Paddy Moogan – https://www.stateofdigital.com/principles-smart-business-growth/. As time goes on I’m focussing more and more on this so there’s some absolute gold in there for me.

Jan-Williem Bobbink

My favourite post of 2014 is written by Gianluca, in which he questions the way SEOs are currently thinking about their field of expertise: ” From Semantic to Semiotic. The next evolution of Search Marketing” The way search engines are developing during the past 2 years is sometimes diffiicult to understand if you haven’t studied mathematics, physics and linguistics. Within this article Gianluca explains in a easy to understand way what the latest developments within Google are and how you should think about this.

https://www.stateofdigital.com/semantic-to-semiotic-evolution-search/

Ned Poulter

Once again (I think I nominated her last year too!) I’m going to nominate Aleydaand her post Easily Analyse Competitors Mobile SEO Performance as my favourite in 2014.

The reason being that it’s not only an intelligent and applicable blog post content wise but also because it’s structured in such an easy to follow and digestible way; as much of Aleyda’s blog posts and presentations always are. It covers the use of a variety of tools to draw up an accurate picture of a given websites mobile presence however, cleverly, if tweaked it is also applicable beyond simply understanding just mobile performance. It’s everything I like a blog post to be and I continue to use her content as inspiration when creating my own. Awesome stuff Aleyda!

A notable mention would also go to Haukur’s post on AdWords Extensions. While not the most advanced blog post, I think in a similar way to my comments about Aleyda’s post above, Haukur did a great job of providing seriously useful pointers in a very well structured format.

Barry Adams

It’s very hard to pick a favourite as we’ve had so much truly awesome content written for State of Digital in 2014, but if I absolutely had to pick one it would have to be “7 Alerts to Monitor your SEO Process Opportunities & Issues” by Aleyda ( https://www.stateofdigital.com/seo-alerts-monitor/ ). It’s chock-full of great actionable tips, exactly the sort of stuff I like to read.

Claire Thompson

My favourite post is this one: https://www.stateofdigital.com/meet-new-chief-sam-noble/.

Why?  State of Digital has a strong leadership group, and in many ways little changes. However, the fact that there has been a change means that the publication is evolving. That there is a woman leader is significant for an industry which has, in the past, been noted for levels of laddism and mysogeny. Combined with the name change, and the fact that Bas is staying involved but just stepping back, giving an assurance of both continuity and staying ‘true’ to State of Digital’s roots, I think this is a really positive move.

Sam understands PRs importance in the digital mix, and for me (obviously) that’s important. Unlike many, it’s not a recently arrived at conclusion, it’s something that’s in her (and her agency’s) DNA, even if she’s never viewed it as such.

On a personal level, I have no idea how she manages so much – a key role in managing an agency, editing State of Digital, AND looking after a very young child, whilst still looking like she just walked off the pages of a magazine. She’s something of a superhero in my book, and Bas (van den Beld, founder) was both brave and clever in the way he’s making the transitions happen and being open to changes.

Sarah Bradley

Fave post from another blogger was Bas’ Keeping a Young Mind blog as it’s something I am always talking about in my training sessions and to my clients  https://www.stateofdigital.com/keeping-young-mind-fast-changing-digital-market-place/ plus it featured the muppets, so win win 🙂

Andy Miller

Really tough one! I think anything that Aleyda writes about mobile is outstanding – there was a guide a couple of months ago about analysing moblie SEO performance, which was excellent! I also really enjoyed Jon Allen’s post on what he learned about content marketing in 2014 (https://www.stateofdigital.com/learned-content-marketing-2014/), which was really interesting.

Russell O’Sullivan

I enjoyed 7 reports in Google Analytics to Help with SEO, as I am always after quick and easier ways to produce any type of reports, so always find these kind of posts useful

Krystian Szastok

I loved this one the most because it introduced something new – asked and answered a question I wasn’t even asking yet.

https://www.stateofdigital.com/easily-analyze-competitors-mobile-seo-performance/

Jo Turnbull

That is a tough one, there are so many. I really like Barry Adams post’s on prioritising SEO Tasks that he wrote earlier in the year. http://www.stateofdigital.com/prioritising-seo-tasks/  One of the main reasons i like the post is that it is so simple but many people over complicate SEO and do not take these steps that Barry recommends.

I also like:

Aleyda Solis’ post on “7 Alerts to Monitor your SEO Process Opportunities and Issues” for the same reasons.

https://www.stateofdigital.com/seo-alerts-monitor/

These are some great tips and so easy to implement but sometimes we are so busy trying to find new solutions to problems to help out clients, we don’t think about these tips Aleyda highlighted.

Arianne Donoghue

I think I’d have to say Matt’s recent post, Fighting The Fear: https://www.stateofdigital.com/fighting-fear/. It was one that really resonated with me as I think it’s something we all feel at some point – I know I certainly have! I also think it’s both very brave and important to be open and honest on topics like this.

A close second would be Claire’s post about Putting More Pink In The Aisle:  https://www.stateofdigital.com/putting-pink-aisle/ – Another subject that’s extremely close to my heart and one that makes me feel so proud to be part of our ever-changing industry.

What post have you written on State of Digital in 2014 that you are most proud of and why?

Gianluca Fiorelli

I am especially proud about two posts I wrote and both of them are not SEO related:

What a Marketer Must Understand from the Acquisition of Whatsapp, because the facts happened in the months following the publication of the post seem having confirmed my assuptions

The Complete Guide to Transmedia Storytelling, because it is a topic I really care and I am interested about, and it seems that – from the great resonance it had socially – my interest was shared by many others.

James Crawford

My favourite post has to be Time to Think Big When it Comes to Reputation Management just because I think reputation management is something that is often misconstrued by the digital community.

https://www.stateofdigital.com/think-big-reputation-management/

Matt Beswick

Probably my ‘Fighting the Fear’ post from November – https://www.stateofdigital.com/fighting-fear/. It was far more personal than a lot of stuff I’ve put out there recently but seemed to really resonate with people.

Jan-Williem Bobbink

After considering all my answers carefully, I go for my post about the development of mobile usage on the web: “More Than 36% of Traffic is From Mobile & Tablet, Find Out 5 Ways To Capture These Visits“! This one makes me proud since it is my first official blog on State of Digital, after publishing an article about rich snippets years ago.

Ned Poulter

Although I haven’t been able to contribute as much as I would have liked to in 2014, I think that 2 posts equally stand out for me:

Top 3 Mobile Payment Solutions – While mobile payment solutions have been around for a while, I like to think that this post covered some available prior to them becoming more and more mainstream (something that I think we’ll see more of in 2015 and beyond).

4 Must Read Books to Make You a Better Entrepreneur – Given my love for reading and that in 2014 I started out on my own entrepreneurial adventure, I thoroughly enjoyed writing this post because it allowed me to share some of the books that inspired me on my journey. I hope these recommendations may also have the same effect for others.

Barry Adams

There’s a few that I think I did a decent job on, especially my first Friday Commentary about the ethics of neuromarketing. But my favourite contribution to the site this year has to be my “4 Crucial Ingredients for a Successful SEO Strategy” (https://www.stateofdigital.com/successful-seo-strategy/).

Claire Thompson

The post I’m most proud of in 2014  is this one, Putting the Pink in the Aisle. (https://www.stateofdigital.com/putting-pink-aisle/)

As a PR person, I sometimes feel that the things I write about are more thought pieces or ‘how to’s than some of the more technical pieces on State of Digital, many of which I stand in awe of. So most of my posts get read but don’t have masses of engagement because I’M ALWAYS RIGHT J (I jest, of course, and have had protracted discussions with some of the senior team at State of Digital – which is, I feel, really, really healthy. If you’re not prepared to debate things, there’s no passion.)

This one, however, clearly resonated and created discussions in lots of places. There are people who find ‘feminist’ and equality discussions tiresome, but facts speak for themselves. We are a young industry, and the more people speak up, the more likely we are to get it right.  I’m seeing more and more conference organisers really take the issue seriously, and more great women writers speaking up not on the subject of equality but ‘kicking ass’ in terms of their content and presentations. I am in the fortunate position of being both old enough and ‘established’ enough to be able to speak up with few personal  repercussions, so if my small voice helps add to the background buzz, I’m happy.

Gender is just one area of equality (and has been a bit of a theme in my answers to these questions) – I’d like to think we’re getting there in digital. I don’t see nearly enough diversity in other areas either (race, disability) so watch out 2015!

Sarah Bradley

My fave post this year was my Supplement Cental case study as it showcased the success a good social media campaign brought to a local business without the budget for a website.

Andy Miller

I think I have to go with my inaugural post, I thought it was an excellent read ;-).

Russell O’Sullivan

It was on the back of my presentation at RIMC in March that I wrote Case Study: Developing Personas: B2C in a B2B World. I spent a lot of time working on that project, but it was a lot of fun and gave great insight into the customers of the brand that I worked for at the time. I also managed to sneak in some really odd pictures, which got a few people laughing during the presentation itself. I have read the article again since and it signifies the importance of understanding who you are writing, developing products for and making sure you don’t waste time in just pushing out the same comms, product pages etc – it gives you focus on categories of people and understanding their pain points.

Krystian Szastok

I’ve only published one so far – https://www.stateofdigital.com/get-job-digital-marketing/

Jo Turnbull

I am really proud of the Google Analytics post (http://www.stateofdigital.com/7-reports-google-analytics-help-seo/) I wrote. I spent a lot of time this year “deep diving” into analytics. I feel I have barely touched the surface and I could dedicate more time to analytics and write about additional features and reports in my next post.

I am really happy with the Deep Crawl post (https://www.stateofdigital.com/save-time-with-deepcrawl/) I worked on  this year. Deep Crawl is a relatively new tool and following on from sponsoring Digital Growth Day I really wanted to use their tool and explain their key highlights.

Overall 2014 has been a great year and I am looking forward to new and exciting opportunities in 2015 !

Arianne Donoghue

I think I’d have to pick my Suarez/Perception post: https://www.stateofdigital.com/suarez-problem-perception/ It was probably the most fun I’ve had putting a post together – trawling the internet for bite-related memes and digging out some of my favourite examples of brands who’ve been able to change public perception. I also good some good responses on this one – nothing like a bit of controversy to stir debate and get people’s opinions flowing!

Written By
Samantha Noble is the founder of Biddable Moments and a former editor and contributor to State of Digital.
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