TopRank has been publishing the BIGLIST of SEM blogs since Jan 2007. We’ve created other BIGLISTs of resources as well including the BIGLIST of 100+ Search Marketing Resources posted in October. The categories for that list of SEM resources includes books, conferences, newsletters, blogs, forums and many more. We decided it would be interesting to see which resources from that list our readers felt were the best.
In the past 3 plus years TopRank’s Online Marketing Blog has run over 50 polls: Everything from Best Social Media Podcast to best Keyword Research Tool to Best City for a Search Marketing Conference. In that longstanding tradition, we recently conducted a poll focused on Best Paid Subscription SEM Communities. We defined the category as membership and subscription model sites that include forums, tools and/or training or content focused on search marketing. After asking for additional suggestions in the BIGLIST 100+ SEM Resources post, no additional sites besides SEOmoz, SEOBook, WebmasterWorld Supporters and SEO Dojo were suggested.
After 220 votes, we can now announce that the Paid Subscription Community that Online Marketing Blog readers like best is SEO Dojo. Congratulations!
SEO Dojo was launched publicly over 2 weeks ago, but has been in operation for about 10 months, according to David Harry, creator of the community. While an early stage SEM community, SEO Dojo members are clearly passionate evidenced by the number of votes and comments left on the poll. Here’s the official description:
We are here to teach, learn, and grow. Every teacher a student. Every student, a teacher. This SEO Dojo was founded to give those with an interest in search optimization, personally or professionally, a place to gain knowledge, interact and even teach others the craft.
The SEO Dojo (or Fire Horse) was started as a place to collect search related documents, interact with others and spread the word of search optimization in it’s highest form. We felt there needed to be a place for the new adventurers and uber SEO geeks alike. For determined website owners, or professional SEOs, the in-house, the consultant… the shirt maker.
The basis of SEO Dojo’s creation is similar to other free and paid communities, to serve as a resource and community for search marketing students and long time professionals. In particular, there’s a passion for testing and openness as well as an appreciation for search as something where the learning never ends.
As the newest paid SEM community in the poll, (Sphinn Members launched after this poll was started) the response was impressive, especially considering the size and tenure of the other SEM communities in the poll. In the end, the enthusiasm demonstrated by SEO Dojo members resulted in winning the poll, a free ad on toprankblog.com for 2 months (we don’t sell ads, so this is very unique) and a press release distributed on PRWeb announcing the poll results.
Congrats again to SEO Dojo and thank you to all who participated in the Online Marketing Blog Reader Poll.
We’ll be running polls on SEM Resources in other categories on a bi-weekly basis, so be sure to watch for the next category to be posted. If you have suggestions for additional sites/blogs/forums/books/conferences/newsletters/etc to be added to the BIGLIST of Search Marketing Resources, please visit that link and add them in the comments. Of course, after we started the Best Paid SEM Community poll, a number of suggestions were made and we’ll include those the next time we run it.
