My Favorite Websites: SFW & Marketing-Useful

I’m drawn to stories, journalism, and content marketing. I have a slew of websites that are my go-to’s for inspiration, know-how, news, and even secret places I’m not (too) ashamed to get lost in.

Because inbound marketing says sharing is caring, I’m going to share them with you.

The Player’s Tribune

I half-hearted started this hashtag on Twitter - #BTIRAD. Best thing I read all day. Because once again, sharing is caring and I wanted to share the articles, blogs, and content I loved with others. I noticed a lot of what I consider #BTIRAD is related to sports. It’s not surprising; I’m a jock. I’ve always loved sports. But there’s more to it than being athletic and competitive. Sports journalism is my favorite genre. Because there is so much heart, and raw realism that goes into the game – any game, any sport – and when it’s translated into a piece of writing, I’m a goner.

The Player’s Tribune is an online collection of stories – the Voice of the Game. While a fan of traditional sports journalism sites and pubs, like ESPN, Sports Illustrated, and Grantland, there’s something different about the Player’s Tribune. I think the format is the difference-maker. Retired Yankees great Derek Jeter is the founding publisher, and the platform publishes first-person stories vs. second party takes. Because it’s for the people by the people-type content, I’m obsessed with every contribution.

My favorite pieces?

Dear Basketball – Kobe Bryant on his Retirement

I’ll always be that kid with the rolled up socks.

Letter to My Younger Self – Brandy Chastain

Feel your hurt. Crawl inside of it, live with it, acknowledge it.

What Baseball Taught Me – Barry Zito

I can thank this game for the life lessons it taught me about enduring pain and struggle and where to turn when I face adversity again.

Nothing I do, research, concept, outline, or write has anything to do with me. Everything is about them – the personas, the clients, the customers, and the content seekers. The Player’s Tribune is not about the teams, the sport, the coaches, the journalists, or the agents. It’s only about the players, the voice of the game. I connect easily to that outward-facing journalism and it’s strengthened my grasp on writing for inbound, and encourages me to get out of the way.

Paper.li 

Consider your morning routine. Alarm, phone, favorite apps. If you’re like many, you have anywhere between one and 4,000 different sites you peruse to get your daily fill of fill in the blank. Imagine tailoring a platform to deliver everything you specifically are interested in reading in an easy format. Welcome to Paper.li “the easiest way to collect, publish, and share content on the web.” Similar to a dashboard reminiscent of Pinterest, Paper.li offers articles, blog posts, and social media on the topics you choose. Each afternoon, you’re sent the “daily edition” of your day’s web paper.

I publish two separate papers relevant to my interests – The Creative Writing Daily, and The Content Marketing Daily. Because my research and curation time is precious, Paper.li is a format that makes great sense to me. I'm not faced with the "dark sinkhole feeling" the internet can often feel like when beginning a project, and it keeps me on track too - another aspect that I appreciate against time and focus - a content generator's two biggest nemesis! 

HubSpot

HubSpot just does so many things right. Did you know it offers your daily dose of inbound marketing via two separate blogs? I count on both the Marketing blog as well as the Sales blog for insight, connection, inspiration, and more. Above all else, my role is to curate content as part of the inbound methodology. Utilizing HubSpot – the platform in which we conduct all our efforts – is the best website for connecting all those inbound dots for me. And the best part is any one in a creative field can find plenty of inspiration and resource from HubSpot regardless of affiliation with inbound marketing. That’s just one of the many things the platform does so right. Some of the basic blog posts include:

• How to Write Better Headlines
• How to Be Creative When You’re Not Naturally Creative
• The Marketer’s Guide to Developing a Strong Corporate and Brand Identity

But other generated content HubSpot has pushed out that I love include:

• 15 Creative Examples of Branded Pop-Up Shops
• 10 Ways to Motivate Yourself to Hustle Harder
• The Morning Rituals of 10 Millionaires and Billionaires

Half the time, I follow the blog teasers out of my inbox and straight to HubSpot without even noticing it’s content from the platform. It’s that compelling and hard-hitting.

And I won’t read just anybody’s content to the full article.

Fast Company

As far as guilty pleasures go – and I don’t believe that you should be guilty of loving things – magazines are one of mine. Oh, an entire glossy magazine of editorial brilliance and creativity all for me to soak up. I love a good mail day! I subscribe to the typicals – People, InStyle, Self, Redbook, Better Homes & Gardens, Shape, Family Circle, Midwest Living … I should stop before my husband figures out just how many magazine subscriptions I have. On the list is Fast Company – a monthly publication I love but makes the list because it’s one of few online magazines I read. Don’t get me wrong – I’m old-school and prefer all my journalism, news, and creative inspiration to come in the form of tangible, physical copy – but Fast Company’s website is great and their content is easy to find shared and linked across the expanse of the internet. Plus, it's a business-related publication. Everything I touch here is about business. It's such a great resource.

Some articles that have stickiness for me are:

The Most Creative People in Business 2016

Creative people work in every single industry and hold every single position and title ever created. I'm in awe of the humans who make marketplace (and the world) a better, more useful place.

The Problem with Best Practices 

I laud publications for being brazen with titles and calling out cliches and buzzwords. Best practices is a big buzzword and guess what? Everyone has best practices. No one is special.

How Unconscious Bias is Affecting Our Ability to Listen

Not one to get too riled up about gender, inequality, or feminism in general, this piece resonated with me as a human and leader, regardless of gender. Listening to hear instead of respond makes me a better researcher, writer, and person.

Tell me your favorite SFW websites. And, if you're dying to let me in on your NSFW sites, maybe let me know over on Twitter. 

#sharingiscaring