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Wow, a lot of good articles this week in my Google Reader feed! It’s been very tough reducing the list to a reasonable length, but I managed it in the end – happy reading!

Is it Time to be Ditching Traditional Marketing? by Karen Skidmore
Karen argues something dear to my heart – that traditional marketing is still a very important part of the mix.

Leverage What You Have and Take Your Blog to the Next Level by Darren Rowse
Mr R. looks at what makes blogs grow.

Building a successful business blog by Jim Connolly
Discusses the often forgotten point that if you try and do everything yourself, the success of your blog will be limited to your expertise in a wide range of specialist areas.

No More Websites. Only Publishers by Mitch Joel
Mitch Joel looks at the need for businesses to rethink the role of their website

Social Media Misconceptions 2 : “I have profiles on all the main sites/networks, so I’m using social media” by Nick Tadd
Does exactly what it says on the tin in the title.

Should a Blog be Your Social Media Hub? by Jay Baer
Jay Baer looks at possible alternatives and ends up answering his question with a “yes”.

What Every Blogger Should Know About Design When Buying a Theme by Seth Godin
Getting a new design for your blog is both time consuming and expensive. Seth Godin looks at the key issues involved.

How to Be a More Relational Blogger [Tips for New and Established Bloggers] by Darren Rowse
More from ProBlogger, this time discussing the idea that a relational approach and community feel are still one central aspect of many successful blogs.

Wake Up! You’re a Blogger Not a Crackhead by Seth Godin
If the article was poor, I’d still have included it for the title. But it’s not. It exposes the danger of being adicted to blogging, and explores 3 areas of potential addiction.

Points of Contact by Chris Brogan
Make a very important point – we can have so many points of contact that we end up neglecting people.

Massive Traffic 101 by Court
There’s so much sense in what Court writes here and it is in the same spirit as Seth Godin’s post on “Crackheads”.

Other posts you might like:
Social Media Superstars’ Greatest Hits – Week 3
Social Media Superstars’ Greatest Hits – Week 2
That was the week in Social Media Blogging

Week 3 in the series – I had decided to try this for a month and see whether people found it useful. Next week is the last in the month – let me know if you enjoy the reviews and find them useful!

Social Media misconceptions: 1. I don’t have time. by Nick Tadd
English blogger Nick Tadd examines one of the main ‘excuses’ people raise for not getting involved in Social Media

Social Media Gurus – That Old Chestnut by Mitch Joel
Mitch Joel looks at the old cliche “who should own Social Media”; does it fall under the heading of digital marketing, does it ….? I’m not going to steal his thunder

How to tap into your blog visitors need for new information by Marko Saric
Marko’s premise is that you  should always be reminding people that you and your products exist, and you should allow them to spend time with the content and the value that you create.

4 Ways Bloggers Differ From Reporters by Jay Baer
His key premise is that bloggers’ influence is derived from their own ability and moxie, whereas journalists’ influence is in large measure derived via the outlet they represent.

Your Farmer List by Chris Brogan
No, Chris Brogan hasn’t gone agricultural! This post is about what he calls a “farmer list,” meaning the chores you’ve gotta do every day

How does the style of your writing need to differ between your blog, your brochure and your website? by Karen Skidmore
This article is all about considering the different platforms for your writing.  Knowing when to sell and when to give value.  And a blog is place where you will sell more by selling less!

Please stop saying social media marketing is free by Jason Cohen
A plea for a return to sanity and to not be seduced by the free nature of the tools; there is always an opportunity cost for the time involved, if nothing else!

The Key Factors to any Successful Product Launch by Alex of Blogussion
Blogussion e launched their first product recently and this article discusses some of the things they learned a lot from doing it. Some good tips for all of us who sell, or intend to sell, products online.

The Power of Uniqueness [19 Starting Points for Being a Unique Blogger] by Darren Rowse
The title of the article describes its theme – uniqueness, written in Sarren Rowse’s usual flowing style.

How to lose friends and tick off people on FaceBook by Scott Stratten
If I had an ‘Article of the Week’ award, this would be it. It will no doubt ruffle a few feathers and some may find its style edgy but it really does say what many people are thinking. And whilst the article is aimed at Facebook, the points made apply to all networking sites. Great article

Wow, I’ve read over a hundred really cool articles this week (thank goodness for Google Reader)!

Again, in no particular order, here’s my pick of the week.

Will The Business People Please Stand Up? by Amber Naslund
I have to confess up front, I like Amber’s blog and could easilyhalf  fill this post with her articles. But this post struck me as being important as it makes a point that is often neglected: The most successful people in business are People who can admit what they don’t know, and seek knowledge or help.  The article is full of wisdom and if you have the time, treat yourself to the follow up article, Tough Love.

How I Leaped from Pagerank 0 to 4 in 21 Days Without any Connections by Henri Junttila
This article is included as it offers a golden tip. It’s so easy to focus on our blog and on filling it with great content, but commenting on other people’s blogs is what drives visitors to our sites. It’s something I have been very lax at and is one of my goals for 2010.

Branding Battle: Favicon to the Rescue by Seth Godin
A comprehensive post about the importance of, and how to create, a favicon. It never ceases to amaze me how many cool looking sites don’t have a favicon. And for those who use WordPress, there’s the useful plugin Shockingly Simple Favicon

Convert shortcomings into advantages — without lying by Jason Cohen
Sometimes it’s easy for the sole trader to become a little gloomy when trying to compete with much larger organisations. Jason Cohen’s article does a great job of turning some of the perceived weaknesses of the small organisation into strengths.

Deepen Your Networks by Chris Brogan
Another blogger whose articles I always read and possibly my favourite article of the week, this should be printed out and placed by the screen of every blogger or blogging wannabe. The bullet pointed list providing tips on how to deepen your network are worth the price of a book. And Chris says, it only takes a couple of hours a week to deepen the quality of relationships with people in your network. This is definitely one of my key words for 2010 – ‘focus’.

Does Your Customer Want What You’ve Got to Offer? by Sonia Simone
An article that gives great advice about the content of our articles; it uses food as a very cool analogy.

Can We Live In Private and Demand Companies Be Open? by Louis Gray
The theme of the next article is exactly what is says in the title and comes on the back of the weird announcements recently from the head of Facebook.

Use it or lose it! 5 Tips on How to Keep Your Blogging Regular by Darren Rowse
A candid article by Darren Rowse that warns of the perils of taking your blog’s readers for granted or not keeping in regular contact with them.

Why a portfolio of web content is as valuable as a portfolio of property by Nick Tadd
A very thorough piece from Nick Tadd about SM and the need for clear objectives

How to set up your mobile blog design – Step-by-step guide by Marko Saric
An extremely comprehensive article that does exactly what it says on the tin – provides a step-by-step guide to setting up your blog design for mobile platforms.

Happy Reading!

Sometimes we can feel buried under the avalanche of blogs on SM issues. Below, I’ve detailed ten of the best that I’ve found from the last week, and listed them in no particular order – happy reading

Louis Gray on Blogging for Business, Social Media Sales, Strategy
Louis recently published three more short videos, including sales advice in the world of social media, how to launch a high quality business blog that gets traction amidst all the noise and three steps to a robust social media strategy.

Chris Brogan on How to Reach Out to Bloggers
Timeless advice form the author of ‘Trust Agents’ on how to connect with bloggers and get the word out about your product or service; how to find someone who’s interested in what your company is offering, and then share the pertinent details so that hopefully the blogger will write a decent story about you, maybe even include a few links; and how to get  a better return for your SM efforts.

Chris Brogan on The Soul of A New Business
Chris Brogan asks important questions that few businesses ever ask such as  What is the soul of your business? What resides at the center of all that you’re doing? What is the ecosystem that surrounds your business?

Marko Saric of How to Make my Blog.com – 36 favourite posts from 2009
There were lots of posts like this at the end of 2009 and beginning of 2010 and I like this one more than most, mainly because of the breadth of issues it covers. Well worth a read as is this post, that he wrote, about the  posts from other people  in 2009 that he found to be inspirational.

Darren Rowse of Problogger wrote this answer to those people who say that the only people who make money from blogging are those who sell material on how to make money blogging.
He uses his own experience to show that the statement isn’t true and it’s a well-argued post.

Steve Hodson of Shooting at Bubbles – I get mine back at all those slimy marketers on twitter
Annoyed at getting spam Tweets from “all the marketers and their following me just because I mentioned marketing in a message or a post here”, this post details Steve’s revenge – he set up a website to name and shame these marketers, called Twitter’s Marketing Hell. It will be interesting to see if the idea takes off.

Steve Hodson of Shooting at Bubbles was also responsible for making me laugh out loud with this post – This was almost too painful to read
I won’t spoil the fun, just read it and make sure you’re not drinking coffee at the same time!

Olivier Blanchard of the BrandBuilder Blog – wrote this blog on other Social Media absurdities.
Olivier Blanchard, whose slide show on Social Media ROI I posted earlier this week, was sent an e-mail offering him certification in Social Media! OK, the post is older than the last 7 days but creeps in as it is referred to in Steve Hodson’s post above. It goes to show that people are always inventing new scams.

Mitch Joel – What a website will be and Never Be
Author of one of my two favourite SM books of 2009 (Six Pixels of Separation), wrote this piece advocating the owning of your own online presence, building it and nurturing it and using the SM platforms to promote or extend the brand. Nothing particularly new in it, but it is well written and sums up the issues nicely.

Mitch Joel – The Google Phone
Unsurprisingly, there have been lots of posts on the Google Phone and I like Mitch’s the best, mainly because he takes a differrent line to many other writers. Whilst they are blogging about Google having released a rival to the iPhone, Mitch Joel argues that it’s about “A computer that is in every person’s hand that connects them to information and everyone else in the world.”