Backlinks are vital to the success of your site, and if you’re unfamiliar with the word, you’ve at least heard it tossed around a couple of times. But despite their importance, there are distractions and misconceptions at every turn.

Today we hope to explain the importance of backlinks and how you can harness their power to take your SEO efforts to the next level.

Ever wondered what time people are posting the most comments? What about how many people read blogs or how many blogs are published every second? We do! ✋ With nearly half of the online population reading blogs, we can only expect that percentage to hold steady, if not increase in 2020!

2019 saw a lot of changes in the SEO world. Search engine marketing is growing at such a rapid pace that it can be incredibly difficult for small brands to stand out. In an effort to dominate the search engine space, Google has created a platform that is great for consumers but terrible for publishers.

But there’s still hope for aspiring brands!

2020 has arrived, and yet we still catch ourselves thinking twenty years ago was 1980! Not only has so much changed in the last 20 years, especially with all of the exciting new tech that has emerged, but a lot has changed in the last year alone too. From the rise of new social platforms to the widespread growth of podcasts, to better optimizing voice assistants for search, digital publishers everywhere have been busy in 2019. And while the digital landscape we live in is ever-changing, it’s also important to appreciate these advances as they create new opportunities to evolve and grow. 

Many of us remember the dreaded Snapchat update back in 2018 when they announced the redesign to the layout of the app, immensely confusing the majority of their users. The change was so disruptive that even Kylie Jenner took to Twitter to admit she no longer was using Snapchat, resulting in a loss of $1.3 billion from the company’s market value (6% decrease to their stock price). However, in the last year and a half since the drastic interface changes, Snapchat’s global user growth has actually exceeded expectations! Don’t believe me? TechCrunch reported that Snapchat has apparently added 7 million new daily active users in just the third quarter alone, bringing their daily active user base to 210 million (compared to the 166 million they IPO’d in 2014). It’s also estimated that Snapchat would reach 297.7 million monthly active users by the end of this year. On top of that, their share prices have actually tripled since the beginning of the year, according to TechCrunch. 📈

Guest post by Stefan Debois, the founder and CEO of Survey Anyplace, an online software tool to create engaging surveys, quizzes and assessments. Besides kitesurfing, Stefan is passionate about the use of technology to build professional relationships with people, at scale. Connect with him on Twitter and LinkedIn 📩

As the year is drawing to a close, it’s time to rethink your content marketing strategy for next year. 

What worked? What didn’t? What can we do better in 2020? 

We get it, you want to get your family, friends, and maybe even coworkers the best (and most affordable) gifts for the holidays, but you don’t have the time to spend hours combing through the best deals! Between Black Friday and Cyber Monday, let’s just say the internet can get a bit overwhelming. You want those savings served to you on a silver platter, and I am here to tell you that this year, we’re doing exactly that. Whether you’re into the latest tech gadgets, the trendiest new clothing, or just more of a gift card person - we got you. Check out these shopping sites running Disqus that definitely deserve their own folder on your bookmarks bar! 

Guest post by Jon Hawkins, the Chief Marketing Officer at Customer.io. Before joining Customer.io, Jon was at Time Inc. as the VP of Growth working on brands such as People, Time, Fortune, and Entertainment Weekly. Jon’s more than 15 years of experience in the digital media industry have given him unique insights into how speed and the ability to pivot are critical to remain relevant and successful.

Welcome back to Volume 5 of our What We’re Reading blog post series! This series aims to share our favorite articles, posts, and reports, relevant to the growing world of digital publishing, with our publishers, readers, and commenters. If you haven’t done so already, you can check out our last post in the series here. As always, we love to hear your opinions about these articles and others that you are reading. So, be sure to share your thoughts with us below in the comments! 

We’ve all experienced it at one point or another-- whether that was finishing your Creative Writing midterm paper back in college, or writing your next article for your blog or company’s website…writer’s block finds us all at some point. It’s just part of the job! 

Before we jump into some of the common reasons for writer’s block and how to overcome them, I want to quickly share a few ways to not overcome writer’s block, commonly mistaken for solutions. You do not overcome writer’s block by avoiding writing until you feel “inspired” or by watching TV (or really any form of procrastination). You won’t beat the block by wallowing in self-pity, either. At the end of the day, there is always one fail-proof way to overcome writer’s block, and it is one that you already know. It’s just the answer that you’ve been avoiding, the one you don’t want to hear: The key to beating writer’s block is by writing.