Keeping up to date with the community is an essential part of the link builders/seo role. The mercurial nature of the internet means change and innovation on a constant basis. I spend a few hours every single day keeping to date with my google reader list and via social news sites, I also have to put in extra time at weekend to keep up to date with my Instapaper reading list and any in-depth articles I want to take time thinking about.
Just like an art director a good link builder must keep a good grasp of current affairs and a diverse mix of intellectually stimulating and sometimes controversial opinions and free thinking ideas. For creative ideas and link strategies that think out of the box you have to be resourceful and knowledgeable. Basically you have to know a little about a lot.
I am sharing the top 20 sites a link builder should be reading on a regular basis to keep up with the industry news:
#1 Eric Ward
#2 SEOmoz
#3 Bruce Clay
#4 Techipedia
#5 econsultancy
#6 Digital Point [forum]
#7 Smashing Magazine
#8 Yoast
#9 Google Webmasters
#10 Marketing Land (was Sphinn)
And the top 10 sites for news:
#1 Tweetmeme
#2 digg
#3 reddit
#4 Hacker News
#5 Mashable
#6 Search Engine Watch
#7 News Whip
#8 Popurls
#9 Buzz Feeds
#10 Gawker
This is not an exhaustive list but a selection of the best. If you have anything you would like to add please comment below.
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