Top 30 Most Influential People in Online Marketing

Top 30 Most Influential People in Online Marketing

From my past and present experiences, i have complied a list of top 30 most influential people in Online Marketing. The authenticity of any list is always questioned whenever somebody makes one.

To start with the following parameters were used to shortlist the nominees for the article.

• Usefulness and reliability of blog and social-media posts
• Advanced knowledge in one or more areas of online marketing
• Size of audience
• Level of engagement on their blog or social media
• Ability to create and sustain a sense of community with their audience
• Awards received
• Books written

I hope there would be great learnings for you from this list. Let’s start with the superstars:

1. Neil Patel is a web analytics and conversion expert, and founder of Crazy Egg, Kissmetrics and Quick Sprout.
2. Matt Cutts doesn’t normally make it onto these lists, but there’s no doubt he’s near the top in terms of online influence. He’s the star of Google’s Webmaster videos and current head of Google’s Webspam team.
3. John Rampton is president at Adogy, editor at large of Search Engine Journal and a frequent contributor to Entrepreneur.com and Huffington Post.
4. Tim Ferris, a productivity expert, wrote the must-read 4-Hour Workweek.
5. Rand Fishkin is the founder of Moz.com (formerly SEOMoz), speaker and expert on search-engine optimization, marketing and entrepreneurship.
6. Danny Sullivan, an SEO expert, is founding editor of Search Engine Land.
7. Larry Kim is a pay-per click and SEO expert, and founder and CTO of WordStream, an industry leader in keyword research and PPC tools.
8. Seth Godin wrote many bestselling marketing books, including Permission Marketing: Turning Strangers into Friends and Friends into Customers.  He also founded squidoo.com and was an inductee into the Direct Marketing Hall of Fame.
9. Sean Gardner, ranked as number one on Forbes’ Top 50 Social Media Power Influencers in 2013, is a social-media consultant and regular contributor to Huffington Post and Social Media Week.
10. Aaron Wall founded SEO Book and its corresponding SEO training program.
11. Jeff Bullas is an online-marketing blogger, author of Blogging the Smart Way – How to Create and Market a Killer Blog with Social Media, and number eight on Forbes’ World’s Top 40 Social Marketing Talent.
12. Mari Smith is a Facebook-marketing expert and author of The New Relationship Marketing.
13. Chris Brogan is a New York Times bestselling author, business strategist and online marketing expert. According to his bio, his consulting is “business strategy meets powerful personal development.”
14. Gary Vaynerchuck, the author of Crush It!, is a professional storyteller and CEO of VaynerMedia, a social-media brand-consulting agency.
15. John Boitnott, a journalist and digital consultant, has worked at TV, newspapers, radio and Internet companies in California for 20 years. He has written for NBC, Entrepreneur, USA Today and Venturebeat, among others. He now invests in startups and works primarily with tech entrepreneurs to scale their businesses.
16. Aaron Lee founded Ask Aaron Lee and is number five on Forbes Top 50 Social Media Power Influencers 2013. He is perhaps best known for his strong presence on Twitter.
17. Sandi Krakowski is a Facebook-marketing expert and one of Forbes’ 20 Women Social Media Influencers. She also writes for Entrepreneur.com.
18. Heidi Cohen, a marketing expert who focuses on providing practical, actionable online marketing advice for business owners, is on Social Media Examiner’s list of Top 10 Social Media Blogs.
19. Jay Baer is author of New York Times-bestselling book Youtility: Why Smart Marketing is About Help, Not Hype, speaker, marketing coach and founder of digital marketing consulting agency and blog, Convince & Convert.
20. Amy Porterfield, a social-media strategist, is co-author of Facebook for Dummies and creator of the FBInfluence 2.0 training program.
21. Danny Brown co-authored Influence Marketing: How to Create, Manage and Measure Brand Influencers in Social Media Marketing. He was voted one of Social Media Examiner’s Top 10 Social Media Blogs in 2011, 2013 and 2014.
22. Lewis Howes, a podcaster and blogger at LewisHowes.com (also published on Entrepreneur.com), was named one of Details magazine’s “5 Internet Gurus Who Can Make You Rich.”
23. Andrea Vahl, co-author of Facebook Marketing All-in-One for Dummies, is former community manger at Social Media Examiner and a social-media speaker and strategist.
24. Darren Rowse is a blogging and copywriting expert at ProBlogger.net.
25. Jon Loomer is an advanced Facebook marketing expert and founder of Jon Loomer Digital.
26. Brian Clark is founder of CopyBlogger, the web’s premier source of content marketing and copywriting info, and host of New Rainmaker, a weekly marketing audio broadcast.
27. Kim Garst, an expert on leveraging social media for business, is owner of Boom Social and one of Forbes Top 50 Social Media Power Influencers.
28. Brian Solis is a digital analyst and author of What’s the Future for Business: Changing the Way Businesses Create Experiences.
29. David Airey is an author and graphic designer who blogs about visual identity, marketing and branding.
30. Ann Handley, chief content officer at MarketingProfs, is a regular contributor to Entrepreneur magazine and co-author of Content Rules: How to Create Killer Blog Posts, Podcasts, Ebooks, Webinars (and More) That Engage Customers and Ignite Your Business.

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