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“Clout” book review by Newport Interactive Marketers

Turn off the computer and sit back with a great read: Clout: The Art and Science of Influential Web Content by Colleen Jones is a practical handbook for anyone that wants to learn more about creating digital content.

Watch Newport Interactive Marketers Suzanne McDonald, chief content strategist of Designated Editor, and Katherine Gagliano, e-mail and digital marketing consultant at Amplify Marketing Group, as they give their professional opinions of the book and decide if it is worth your time to check it out.

“If you’re only going to read one book, this is a good one” — Suzanne McDonald


Why read ‘Clout’ and care about ‘Influential Web Content’?

  • Content 101: A practical guide that covers basic principles of content creation for your audience
  • Great “how-to” on creating meaningful content on the web
  • Relevant in our constantly evolving technological times
  • Quick read, naturally, since it’s written by a content specialist
  • The author directs you to the topics that are relevant to you

What does the book cover?

  • Framework
  • Oratory styles
  • Crowdsourcing

Who should read this?

  • Professional content creators who have access to strong support system
  • Professionals who are looking to elevate their content game online
  • Not so great for one-person operation
  • Everybody can take some concepts from this book
  • Relevant to all skill sets

Most enlightening aspects to Suzanne and Katherine

  • Very current!
  • Does not try to cover too many topics
  • Author recommends other relevant reads such as branding

If you want a quick and practical read on the best ways to create content for your web strategy, read Clout. With it’s current relevance and practical guidelines, it is well worth your time to check out.

Join Newport Interactive Marketers at their monthly gathering for more information on online marketing strategies, great networking, and other book recommendations.

SEO: What’s working? What’s relevant? A Newport Interactive Marketers Q&A session

By Julie Woodside

At another successful Newport Interactive Marketers event, attendees got comfortable in a second floor meeting room at Christie’s as Eric Covino, of SeoBook.com and CreativeSignals.com, fielded questions from an audience of eager SEO info-seekers.

What did Newport Interactive Marketers learn about SEO?

SEO general tips

  • Titles: Be concise; don’t pack with modifiers
  • Content: Be focused, relevant, concise, engaging
  • Content booster:
    • Blog approximately 3 times per week
  • Put your links in the main body for your content, rather than in the side bar.
  • Keywords
  • Use SEO for Firefox to sort results by page rank
  • Invest in a quality design

On-Page optimization

  • Avoid salesy copy
  • Use tags to articulate what your site is about.
  • Great site for info on on-page optimization

Off-Page optimization

  • It’s what drives search, links, anchor text
  • Relevance is important- Google needs to understand relationship
    • Don’t be a link farm
    • Google’s ‘people’ know when you aren’t relevant
  • Link building is the most difficult aspect of SEO

Does video boost rankings?

SEO success recipe: Time + Money

  • Find your niche and look at similar sites
    • Are they brands?
    • What is their domain page rank strength?
  • Invest in design

Reputation management

Eric Covino stresses the importance of link building for SEO purposes: Great content is good, but without link building, you will not see the ranking results you want for your website.  Strong content, simple design, your character, and relevant link-building are the formula for successful SEO strategy.

Be sure to attend the next Newport Interactive Marketers event for great networking opportunities and valuable marketing information.