I absolutely devour digital content. I know I get to live and breathe written media day in and day out, but when I head home, one of the first things I do is jump on my computer, pore over whatever is trending in my social media feeds or my RSS reader and catch up on archived content. Yes, the habit of staying up on the latest digital news and trends is part of my career, but having go-to news resources you raid regularly to catch up on what’s hot is part of playing the game of business in any industry.

Here are just a few of my favorite resources. Check out the list and consider adding at least one to what you read regularly. On a side note: Lorraine challenged me to bring you something outside of the technical and theoretical sites. The following list includes business resources, but I sprinkled in a few fun sites to meet her challenge.

This isn’t just another list of the five blogs everyone recommends. I do read those, but I wanted to share some of the more obscure, less traveled roads to news with you.

Ready? Let’s dive in headfirst.

What’s New?

Moz Blog

I want to get the SEO Moz Blog out of the way first and then talk about other individual experts in search. The Moz Blog is a killer resource for the most up-to-date information coming from the West coast in regards to search engine algorithm updates and industry news. I make it a point to visit once a day to make sure I don’t fall behind the curve-  the edge of SEO is constantly expanding and reading is the best way to learn what’s going on.

They update at least once a day (sometimes more if there’s big news) and the majority of content comes from outside consultants and small firms running fun search experiments. Check it out if you’re into keeping the technical parts of your content strategy on track. Owner and writer Rand Fishkin even posts a weekly visual SEO update straight from his whiteboard every Friday!

Quick Sprout Blog

I’ll be the first to tell you Neil Patel- founder of Quick Sprout– is one of my heroes. I’ve quoted Neil before on the topic of social signals in search, and I absolutely trust the guy when it comes to figuring out what’s right and wrong in developing content strategies. The Quick Sprout blog is filled to the brim with awesome ways to make your website better. Neil writes everything in clear, plain English and he makes it a point to prove  his tips work by providing data and write-ups on his experiments.

If you’re really interested in getting hands on with upgrading your website strategy, Quick Sprout has recently set up a series of free training videos to get you started, calling them the Quick Sprout University.

Aeon Digital Magazine

Let’s leave digital technology behind and check out something truly fun. Aeon magazine– a newcomer to the online world of essay publishing- is my favorite resource for fascinating and cutting edge theories on everything from natural biology to complex mathematics.

The majority of the content is written by distinguished scholars and thought leaders, contributing to categories labeled world views, nature and cosmos, being human, living together and altered states. Aeon is maintained in the UK, so its publication updates are a bit ahead of American sleeping schedules and reading habits, so it’s always up to date when I want to jump in and read a few stories.

It’s amazing how high the quality of the writing is, especially since they’ve only been publishing for 2 years. I personally love the Nature and Cosmos articles, but featured pieces by philosophers are also awesome. ‘A theory of jerks’ by Eric Schwitzgebel, a professor of philosophy at UC Riverside, is one of my favorite articles on the site. I challenge you to do some exploring through their archives- there’s truly something for everyone.

These are just a few of the resources I trust to get my daily news fix. There are plenty of others I check on from time to time, but these are the ones I find the most interesting, and hope you’ll give them a shot. While you’re here, let me know where you get your news and if you know any top-notch blogs which are must-reads.

If you enjoyed these resources and blogs, both technical and educational, maybe it’s time to start one of your own. Not sold on the idea? Check out our whitepaper on blogging to answer any questions you may have:

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