During my recent 5-month hiatus (okay, 6 months), I’ve spent too much time researching “how to” posts about blogging effectively and regularly. In an effort to employ the strategies that I learned from Darren Rowse et al., I introduce you all (my less-than-1-dozen loyal readers) to the first installment of “Tuesday’s Top-5.”

You have no idea how long it took me to come up with that.

This week, I have compiled five super duper posts that take on different corners of content marketing. I ask only that you read the following promotional descriptions using your best Don LaFontaine impression.

In a world…where content is king!

• Heidi Cohen posted an article on her blog entitled 5 Ways You Are Preventing Your Audience From Growing, which recommends task-oriented strategies to free captive content and use it to effectively meet your goals. Read the article, and let me know whether or not you feel as guilty as I do about the sad-faced, caged lion.
• Copyblogger recently featured Why Your Marketing is Missing the Mark (And How You Can Fix It) by Chris Guillebeau, which–pun intended–leaves the reader hungry for more (more salmon risotto, that is). Read the article for Chris’ perspective about how to cater to the exact and exquisite needs of your audience.
• Planning Your Content Marketing: Bricks vs. Feathers, an article written by Chris Sietsema of Convince & Convert, applies the old is-five-pounds-of-bricks-or-feathers-heavier metaphor to content planning and creation. Check out the article for more information and the corresponding information graphic.
• Jeff Molander is a frequent author for Econsultancy blog and recently published How to be sure content marketing produces sales commenting on how businesses seem to not quite grasp the connection between content and sales. It’s a bit out of my league, but certainly-certainly-certainly worth a read (or two).
• And, last but not least, Shane Snow generated a massive amount of content dealing with–appropriately so, I must say–content marketing. Titled Content Marketing Boot Camp: Everything You Wanted To Know In One Post, Snow’s masterpiece of marketable content is useful for anyone trying to nail down effective strategies or learn the essentials. The guy is good:  His post is better.

Comment your favorites!