Reading Roundup: Measurement, Targeting and Finding Your Word

What a week! I started off the week in New York and am ending the week in Nashville, where hit almost 80 degrees yesterday. Is it really February?!? Whatever is going on with the weather, I’ll take it.

How was your week?

There was a lot of great stuff on the web this week. Here are five articles that caught my attention that I think you’ll want to check out:

• The Social Media Measurement Smackdown – In nearly every discussion about social media, the topic of ROI is bound to come up. And, unfortunately, many folks say that this social media stuff just can’t be measured. Mark Schaefer offers up a nice post with four reasons why it can – and should – be measured.

• How Target Figured Out a Teen Girl Was Pregnant Before Her Father Did – This article is from Forbes last week, but it’s too good to pass up. While this seems incredibly creepy, it’s pretty amazing what Target is doing to, well, target expecting mothers. It’s fascinating stuff, but do you think it goes too far?

• The Single Most Important Word in Any Business – Much to Ike Pigott’s chagrin, the word is NOT “heir”! 😉 And, without giving too much away, I’ll just say the word will be different for each business. This post from Duct Tape Marketing offers up a nice little exercise to help you discover your brand message. Definitely worth doing!

• Are You Making These 7 Mistakes With Your About Page? – Website “About” pages are often the most neglected and poorly written pages on the web. If you’ve been neglecting yours, take a look at this great post from Sonia Simone at Copyblogger about how to make your “About” page better.

• If You Want A-Lister Traffic You Need to Blog with an A-Lister Mindset – Want people to notice your blog? Then, it doesn’t hurt to pay attention to what works for other successful bloggers. Danny Brown offers up some nice tips on what it takes to help your blog rise above the rest.

What were your favorite articles from this week?

Image credit: Kristy Johnson