Those of you who have been in SEO for the past few years must have noticed that recently we see more blog posts than ever before.
The general internet growth, together with the high recent volatility in SEO, automatically brings more news, more case studies, and a lot more articles. While not all of these are important for every one of us, many are great and valuable, while some others are just crucial. In fact, many of the ideas that later turn into tasks and products at Investing.com were things we learned about first from reading different blogs, and I’m sure I’m not alone.
But in one of the busiest and most competitive periods our industry has ever seen, who has the time to read everything?
So unless you’re able to read 20,000 words per minute like Dr. Spencer Reid of Criminal Minds, you need a blog reading plan!
Step one:
Create blocks of time on your calendar for reading. Divide the reading list between team members. You don’t need 5 people to all read the same news story; What you need is one person to read a story and tell everyone else about it if it’s important.
Step two:
Use Twitter, Twitter lists: Create a list of the few people who cover all things important to you. I have one list with 10 people and every morning as I’m drinking my first cup of coffee I go through their recent tweets. This simple 5 minute routine ensures I never miss anything big.
Step three:
List all your important blogs by the types of subjects that matter to you. If, like me, you have international search engines that you care about, list the blogs that cover them separately, to make sure information about them doesn’t get buried.
Step four:
Divide article types by category. Here’s what I have:
News: Important & Good to know
Case studies and technical recommendations (you don’t list what’s not relevant)
Tips and opinion (for a great weekend read)
Step five:
Label the important posts you stumble upon and use a “Read later” technical solution. It might be a shared Google doc or an app such as Pocket. Whatever it is, share the list with your team.
Always finish reading with at least one action item. You don’t have to deal with it right away, but at the very least you should add it to your ideas list.