December ’09: Best Search/Marketing Posts

Here’s my roundup of the best search/marketing posts I found and read during December. If you’re new to this blog, this is a monthly feature that began way back in 2007. You can find earlier “Best Of”s for each month in the archives: 2008 Best Posts and 2007 Best Posts. I never include my own posts in these end-of-month recaps.

Local Search

• Vedran Tomic/SmallBizTrends: 10 Things You Should Have Done to Make Your Google Business Listing Great
• Ash Nallawalla/NetMagellan: How to SEO for Google PlaceRank
• Tom Critchlow/Distilled: Google Local Research Data Released For Free

SEO

• Mark Thompson/Web Analytics World: 10 SEO Tools I Use That Are Free
• Rand Fishkin/SEOmoz: How Personalized Search Changes SEO (and Doesn’t)
• Michael Gray/Wolf-Howl: Shopping Cart SEO Tips

Link Building

• Wiep Knol: My Link Baiting Idea Generation Process
• Garrett French/SEL: 21 Link Builders Share Advanced Link Building Queries

Social Media

• Lisa Barone/Small Business Trends: 7 Ways to Get More From Social Media in 2010
• Jennifer Laycock/SEG: Four (ok twelve) Reasons to Build a Social Media Strategy for 2010
• Heidi Cohen/ClickZ: Social Media Checklist for Small and Medium Size Businesses
• Mack Collier: Everything you ever wanted to know about creating a social media strategy (but were afraid to ask)
• Rebecca Kelley/10e20: 6 More Social Media New Year’s Resolutions for 2010
• Greg Finn/SEL: 12 Social Media New Year’s Resolutions For 2010
• Jennifer Laycock/SEG: The Super Simple Guide to Setting Up Your First Company Facebook Page Without Blowing a Gasket – Part Three

Blogs & Blogging

• Glen Allsopp/Viperchill: Guest Blogging: The Ultimate Guide
• Michael Martine/Remarkablogger: Real Estate Blogs: Move Beyond Listings, or You’re Dead
• Rebecca Kelley/10e20: Comments or No Comments? That is the Question!

Copywriting

• Renne Leatto/I. Karumbah: Does Your Copy Need a Makeover? 7 Tests That Measure the Verbal Impact of Your Business Message
• Jason Cohen/Copyblogger: 10 Secrets to More Magnetic Copy

Web Design/Usability

• Linda Bustos/Get Elastic: 8 Tips for Account Registration
• Dr. Pete Meyers/SEOmoz: Persuasion 101: Ask Yes/Yes Questions