Fetching Friday – Resources Mashup & Kitten Hugs

This post is part of a weekly series, Fetching Friday, featuring the best posts of the week in blogging, business, freelancing, SEO, and social media on kikolani.com.

Last Fetching Friday of 2012

As many of you know, I’m due to have my first baby anytime now – the official due date is tomorrow!

Photo Credits: Ivy Harding of Phoenix Family Photos & Jason Hines of Utah Family Photos

Hence I will be taking some time off for a couple of weeks and will resume Fetching Friday posts in January. Until then, I should still be active on Twitter, Facebook, etc. and maybe publishing a few things elsewhere. Plus there are still some great guest posts scheduled here at Kikolani for the upcoming weeks!

That said, I hope everyone has a great holiday season and Happy New Year!

The Resources Mashup

Here are some of the best articles I have seen on Google+, retweeted on @kikolani, and read in RSS subscriptions this week.

Blogging / Content

• 5 Things To Do Before Your Big Guest Post Gets Published – Guest blogging is a great way to drive new visits to your website. But before you get that guest post on a major blog in your industry published, you should make sure you’ve done these things.
• 8 Mistakes I Have Seen Guest Bloggers Make – I am going to break down the things that turned me off as a publisher and as a business owner in the hopes of helping the quality writers out there.
• Don’t Forget The “Marketing” in Content Marketing – So how do you promote your content if you have a boring topic like dog food? Well first off, make sure there are 5 good blog posts on your blog. Once you have that, just follow these steps.
• Blogger Outreach Software That Will Make You Do a Happy Dance – Blogger outreach software is supposed to save you time and hassle. The new software from GroupHigh does it, and is recommended for blogger outreach programs.
• 6 Simple Steps for Creating Dramatically Better Online Videos – When done right, there is something well-crafted videos can do for your business that nothing else you put online can.

Business / Career

• 3 B2B Content Lessons To Learn from Mom Marketing – It takes a content-first approach to build loyalty that mutes competitors’ messages. B2B brands can learn from and apply these mom-centric B2B content cases.
• 35 Free Pre-Designed Email Templates Just For You – A 2013 guide to email design in infographic form plus 35 free HTML email templates.
• 30 Essential Business Apps For Your Smartphone – My early Christmas/Chanukah gift to you all is a list of the thirty essential business apps for your smartphone that won’t disappoint.
• Great Marketers Know These 4 Techniques They Teach In Journalism School – Sharon Hurley Hall goes back to J-school for tips that will help marketers tell a better story.
• How Long Does It Take To Make Good Money With An Online Business – Brand new entrepreneurs are horrible at predicting how far they can get with their businesses in the short term. In fact, they often grossly overestimate how much money they can make in their first year.

Freelancing

• 10 Confidence-Building Exercises for New Freelancers – Fortunately, there are plenty of concrete things you can do that should help you leave the fear behind and move your freelance career forward. Here are my ten best confidence-building tips.
• How to Beat Writer’s Block and Procrastination – If you want to be a successful freelance writer, you must overcome writer’s block and procrastination. My free special report shows you 50 ways to do it.
• 10 Strategies to Attend Conferences for Free – It’s not always possible to attend every conference for free, but there are several options to consider if you just don’t have room in your budget.
• How to Write a Blog Business Plan – While I was working on my business plan earlier today I thought about the blog side of my business. And it occurred to me that most bloggers I know — even those trying to make money blogging — don’t have a blog business plan. So today I’d like to help you create one.
• An Inside Look at 10 Classic Headline Writing Fails — and Their Fixes – Wondering how you could advance your freelance writing career faster? Learn to write better headlines. Here’s a quick tutorial on how

Search Engines / SEO

• The Inconvenient Truth About SEO – In this article Paul Boag explains why you should not spend money on SEO if you want to be number one on Google.
• Will 2013 Bring A Paid Link Resurgence – The common theme here is that these remaining “unnatural” links aren’t paid links. They just happen to be on sites that have little to no value. Maybe they once did, but they no longer do.
• The New Face of SEO: How SEO Has Changed – The following infographic from Fuzz One details both the OLD vs NEW approaches to SEO. And while some of the tactics listed in the infographic have never been good SEO, it does clearly demonstrates how SEO is now a multi faceted discipline of digital marketing.
• The Link Builder’s Guide to Email Outreach – If you’re interested in giving it a shot, I’ve made the whole process easy for you. From finding sites that will potentially link to you, to the templates you should test out… I’ve laid it all out. So here goes.
• Are You Measuring Your Actual SEO Return on Investment – Coming from an SEO background, I have to say that SEO is a world full of myths, hijinks, frustration and occasional glory.

Social Media / Social Networking

• Pinterest Business Accounts: The Definitive Guide to Getting Started – Here’s everything you need to know for your business to successfully use Pinterest.
• 101 Social Media Marketing Resources – 2012 Edition – Here’s a monster list of 101 social media marketing resources (the 2012 edition) to help expand your knowledge of this ever-changing ecosystem. These resources are useful for newbies and social media mavens alike, looking to learn about the field as well as to hone their business skills.
• 58 Social Media Ideas to Inspire Your Content Marketing – Social media can be the most challenging strategy in the content marketing playbook. Use the social media ideas in this eBook to inspire your content marketing.
• Top 10 Facebook, Twitter, and Other Social Annoyances You Can Fix Right Now – As long as you’re wasting all your time on social sites, why not fix them up so they work like you want them to? Here are ten ways to do just that.
• 12 Tips When Using Facebook Promoted Posts – Many people are wondering where this new advertising option fits into their marketing mix or if it even fits at all. Find out what you need to know about Promoted Posts.

Share Your Best Blog Posts

Every week on Friday, I start a thread on the Social Media Examiner Blogging Club so members can share their favorite blog post of the week. It’s free to join, so sign up, find today’s best blog post thread, and share your proudest blogging achievement of the week!

Photo of the Week

This week’s top photo comes from a campsite at Yosemite National Park.

If you’re a member of 500px and think this is cute, please give this little guy or gal a vote!

Kitten Hugs

If you need more cuteness, don’t miss this video!

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