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Part of the problem is people wanted replication in every situation. If there is anything we know about being human, if you draw a circle, somebody is going to step over the line. The psychiatric people are desperate to do reductionism where we are nothing but a bag of reactions from chemicals.This has now become an economic quest as well, with pharmaceutical companies needing validation. Psychological formats are trying to be scientific with their replication of testing, trying to have thinking as primarily a logical-behavioristic model.We are talking thinking processes, not biology. In addition, sorting why people think, much less act the way they do, is as variable as the weather. We can get general ideas but there are literally lists of different models which are all viable from a particular point of view. Science likes consistent, replicable reasons things happen the way they do, so some people just eliminate the models that don't work for theirs. You won't get consensus. Each group or school of thought has a viable interest on theirs being the one chosen for THE definitive model. It's not going to happen except where maybe money is involved.So lets start with the bio stuff and also some common errors.There is no lizard brain.That got popularized by Paul MacLean with his describing what he liked to call the "Triune Brain Theory. The basic idea is that every human brain contains three independent competing minds – the reptile, the early mammal, and the modern primate.People grabbed it. Problem is, its not accurate. His neuroanatomy has the proverbial holes in it.– Ben Thomas, Scientific AmericanYou do not use only 10 percent of your brain.This has gained some traction again because of the new movie Lucy. But it is Science Fiction at it's worse. This idea actually started from an urban legend. In Lucy, it now implies things such as hugely increased intelligence, super strength, ESP, complete control of all the cells in her body, the ability to control other people’s bodies, mind reading, telekinesis, and the ability to access electronic communications. Nature would never do that with evolution. Stupid people maybe but not natural selection. You use it all. How well is another story.- Neurologist Barry Gordon, Johns Hopkins School of MedicinePeople are Not either "right-brained" or "left-brained."Because of the popular notion that people are either dominated by their right or left hands, there is an assumption the opposite side of their brain hemispheres is dominate. There for, people who are "right-brained" tend to be more creative and expressive, while those who are "left-brained" tend to be more analytical and logical. Not accurate. Lateralization of brain function tends to be more associated with a particular region of the brain, they still work together.– Carl Zimmer, DiscoverThe human brain contains close to 85 billion neurons. instead of 100 billion neurons.To contrast, a baboon brain has around 14bn neurons– Dr. Suzana Herculano-HouzelThe human adult brain forms new cells throughout life. Neurogenesis– Dr. Dan Cossins, The ScientestHumans Do not have the biggest brains.The average adult brain is about three pounds and measures up to about 15 centimeters in length. The sperm whale, weighs 18 pounds, and even elephants are around 11 pounds.The another size issue is ratio to body size. The Encephalization Quotient is a measure of brain size relative to body size. Humans are nearly 7.5.They tried it with Dogs and Ravens because ravens are way smarter than Dogs. Nope other factors.Humans are smarter because of our increased cortical network, which supports more complex information processing. Whales and dolphins may have big brains, but their cerebral cortexes are much simpler in structure than in primate brains or even the brain of your pet dog.– R. Douglas Fields NeurobiologistAnd Finally, all brain damage is not necessarily permanent.Brains are fragile and can be damaged by trauma, stroke, or disease. I should know as I work with people who've had those and had a stroke myself. It is amazing what some of the recovery can be. It's true there can be and often is permanent personality or cognitive function but there are also some absolute miracle comebacks. The human brain has a huge amount of plasticity. Those little gray cells often realign themselves where they handshake their old friends as soon as possible. It often heals itself over time and form new connections.– BrainFacts.orgBut there are some things agreed on because we have been able to replicate it across cultures and races with some certainty. There are exceptions to this with disease or trauma but we are looking for general formats.Sensory inputs convert data into binary formats via nerve conduits. Those nerves collect and distribute info to certain parts of the brain. Those parts have specific functions which must work together for proper thinking to take place. Now we have cognition. Here are a few replicated research social experiments.When a number of people witness something such as an accident, the more people that are present, the less likely it is that someone will step forward to help. This is known as the bystander effect.People will go to great, and sometimes dangerous, lengths to obey authority figures. In his famous obedience experiments, psychologist Stanley Milgram found that people would be willing to deliver a potentially fatal electrical shock to another person when ordered to by the experimenters.Most people will go along with the group, even if they think the group is wrong. In Solomon Asch's conformity experiments, people were asked to judge which was the longest of three lines. When other members of the group picked the wrong line, participants were more likely to choose the same line.Situation variables can play a major role in our social behavior. In the Stanford Prison Experiment, psychologist Philip Zimbardo discovered that participants would take on the roles given to them to such an extreme that the experiment had to be discontinued after just six days. Those placed in the roles of prison guards began to abuse their power, while those in the role of the prisoners became anxious and stressed.People typically look for things that confirm their existing beliefs and ignore information that contradicts what they already think. This is known as expectation confirmation or conformational beliefs. This is part of the reason why stereotypes and prejudice exist.Our attitudes, or how we evaluate different things including people, ideas, and objects, can be both explicit and implicit. Explicit attitudes are the ones that we form consciously and of which we are fully aware. Implicit attitudes, on the other hand, form and work unconsciously yet still have a powerful influence on our behavior.Our perceptions of other people are often based upon things such as expected roles, social norms, and social categorizations. Since we expect people who are in a certain role or part of a particular social group to behave in a particular way, our initial impressions of a person frequently rely on these mental shortcuts to make fast judgments of how we expect people to behave.When explaining behavior, we tend to attribute our own good fortune to internal factors and negative outcomes to external forces. When it comes to other people, however, we typically attribute their actions to internal characteristics. For example, if we get a bad grade on a paper, it's the teacher's fault; if a classmate gets a bad grade, it's because he didn't study hard enough. This tendency is known as the actor-observer bias.In groups, people often go along with the majority opinion rather than cause disruption. This phenomenon is known as group-think and tends to occur more frequently when group members share a great deal in common, when the group is under stress, or in the presence of a charismatic leader.Credit: Kendra Cherry, 10 quick facts about social psychologySO now some othersAn estimated 10 to 15% of adults in the United States experience symptoms of at least one personality disorder.Researchers have identified a number of factors that may contribute to the onset of different personality disorders such as obsessive-compulsive disorder and borderline-personality disorder.These factors include:GeneticsRelationships with peersHigh sensitivityVerbal abuseChildhood traumaBirth Order Can Influence Your PersonalityYou've probably heard of this concept before. First born children are often described as "bossy" or "responsible," while last-born children are sometimes described as "irresponsible" and "impulsive." A few recent empirical studies have found that such things as birth order and family size may indeed have an impact on personality. One study even found that birth order can influence your choices of friends and romantic partners; first-borns tend to associate with other first-borns, middle-borns with other middle-borns and last-borns with last-borns.Your Personality Is Relatively Stable throughout LifeIn long-term studies of personality, some of the most core parts of personality remain stable throughout life. Three aspects that do tend to change as we age are anxiety levels, friendliness and eagerness for novel experiences.According to researcher Paul T. Costa Jr., there is no evidence our overall personalities change as we grow older. "What changes as you go through life are your roles and the issues that matter most to you. People may think their personality has changed as they age, but it is their habits that change, their vigor and health, their responsibilities and circumstances - not their basic personality," he suggested in a New York Times article.Huffington post had a list.We all have some capacity for evil.Philip Zimbardo proved it with the prison experiment but we all know we have been mean at times.We don't notice what's right in front of us.In 1998, researchers from Harvard and Kent State University targeted pedestrians on a college campus to determine how much people notice about their immediate environments. They were all basicly in their own worlds.Delaying gratification is hard -- but we're more successful when we do.This has been done many times with children. The research has shown when they do it with candy as a child. They tend to have sucessful lives as adults. When they can't. Their lives are more stressed and problematic.A famous Stanford experiment showed we can experience deeply conflicting moral impulses.A famous 1961 study by Yale psychologist Stanley Milgram tested (rather alarmingly) how far people would go to obey authority figures when asked to harm others, and the intense internal conflict between personal morals and the obligation to obey authority figures. They would nervously laugh but still gave what they thought were 450 volts of shock to people they were training.We're easily corrupted by power.We've all know the statement "power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely." It's true and replicated in real life but in experiments. Even simple ones. A 2003 study published in the journal Psychological Review put students into groups of three to write a short paper together. Two students were instructed to write the paper, while the other was told to evaluate the paper and determine how much each student would be paid. In the middle of their work, a researcher brought in a plate of five cookies. Although generally the last cookie was never eaten, the "boss" almost always ate the fourth cookie -- and ate it sloppily, mouth open."When researchers give people power in scientific experiments, they are more likely to physically touch others in potentially inappropriate ways, to flirt in more direct fashion, to make risky choices and gambles, to make first offers in negotiations, to speak their mind, and to eat cookies like the Cookie Monster, with crumbs all over their chins and chests," psychologist Dacher Keltner, one of the study's leaders, wrote in an article for UC Berkeley's Greater Good Science Center.We seek out loyalty to social groups and are easily drawn to intergroup conflict.This classic 1950s social psychology experiment shined a light on the possible psychological basis of why social groups and countries find themselves embroiled in conflict with one another -- and how they can learn to cooperate again.Study leader Muzafer Sherif took two groups of 11 boys (all age 11) to Robbers Cave State Park in Oklahoma for "summer camp." The groups (named the "Eagles" and the "Rattlers") spent a week apart, having fun together and bonding, with no knowledge of the existence of the other group. When the two groups finally integrated, the boys started calling each other names, and when they started competing in various games, more conflict ensued and eventually the groups refused to eat together. In the next phase of the research, Sherif designed experiments to try to reconcile the boys by having them enjoy leisure activities together (which was unsuccessful) and then having them solve a problem together, which finally began to ease the conflict.We only need one thing to be happy.The 75-year Harvard Grant study --one of the most comprehensive longitudinal studies ever conducted -- followed 268 male Harvard undergraduates from the classes of 1938-1940 (now well into their 90s) for 75 years, regularly collecting data on various aspects of their lives. The universal conclusion? Love really is all that matters, at least when it comes to determining long-term happiness and life satisfaction.The study's longtime director, psychiatrist George Vaillant, told The Huffington Post that there are two pillars of happiness: "One is love. The other is finding a way of coping with life that does not push love away." For example, one participant began the study with the lowest rating for future stability of all the subjects and he had previously attempted suicide. But at the end of his life, he was one of the happiest. Why? As Vaillant explains, “He spent his life searching for love.”We thrive when we have strong self-esteem and social status.Achieving fame and success isn't just an ego boost -- it could also be a key to longevity, according to the notorious Oscar winners study. Researchers from Toronto's Sunnybrook and Women's College Health Sciences Centre found that Academy Award-winning actors and directors tend to live longer than those who were nominated but lost. Winning actors and actresses outlived their losing peers by nearly four years."We are not saying that you will live longer if you win an Academy Award," Donald Redelmeier, the lead author of the study, told ABC News. "Or that people should go out and take acting courses. Our main conclusion is simply that social factors are important ... It suggests that an internal sense of self-esteem is an important aspect to health and health care."We constantly try to justify our experiences so that they make sense to us.Anyone who's taken a freshman Psych 101 class is familiar with cognitive dissonance, a theory which dictates that human beings have a natural propensity to avoid psychological conflict based on disharmonious or mutually exclusive beliefs. In an often-cited 1959 experiment, psychologist Leon Festinger asked participants to perform a series of dull tasks, like turning pegs in a wooden knob, for an hour. They were then paid either $1 or $20 to tell a "waiting participant" (aka a researcher) that the task was very interesting. Those who were paid $1 to lie rated the tasks as more enjoyable than those who were paid $20. Their conclusion? Those who were paid more felt that they had sufficient justification for having performed the rote task for an hour, but those who were only paid $1 felt the need to justify the time spent (and reduce the level of dissonance between their beliefs and their behavior) by saying that the activity was fun. In other words, we commonly tell ourselves lies to make the world appear a more logical, harmonious place.We buy into stereotypes in a big wayStereotyping various groups of people based on social group, ethnicity or class is something nearly all of us do, even if we make an effort not to -- and it can lead us to draw unfair and potentially damaging conclusions about entire populations. NYU psychologist John Bargh's experiments on "automaticity of social behavior" revealed that we often judge people based on unconscious stereotypes -- and we can't help but act on them. We also tend to buy into stereotypes for social groups that we see ourselves being a part of. In one study, Bargh found that a group of participants who were asked to unscramble words related to old age -- "Florida," "helpless" and "wrinkled" -- walked significantly slower down the hallway after the experiment than the group who unscrambled words unrelated to age. Bargh repeated the findings in two other comparable studies that enforced stereotypes based on race and politeness."Stereotypes are categories that have gone too far," Bargh told Psychology Today. "When we use stereotypes, we take in the gender, the age, the color of the skin of the person before us, and our minds respond with messages that say hostile, stupid, slow, weak. Those qualities aren't out there in the environment. They don't reflect reality."So these are some of the evidence based scientific psych data which can be replicated by yourself if you wish to. There are others which are always facinating. But there always is the guy who doesn't do it the way everyone else does. We have an assistant minister who periodically does the children's sermon. He's in his 40's and never has been married nor has children. Every time he is telling his story and interacts with the kids, they mess him up because they don't respond like an adult would, logically. In addition, many of them haven't the experience to know what he's driving at. This happens with adults too. They miss the point.And one last thing, all the models are trying to explain a phenomena which is already occurring. Even astrology is an attempt to explain why people do what they do. Body types were used as well as cranial shape. Even the famous paull reading is swarm to by some people. Now, some of the biological/chemical models are doing the same thing where they are throwing in the proverbial kitchen sink for all motivation and personality. We are more than a dopamine factory. But they are models, not fact. Our drives are still connected to Darwinian processes in which there always will be variables which play against the norm in every aspect of life. It is the way of nature. We diversify and adapt in every dimension.Thanks for the A2A by Vasco

try not to get offended---RECOGNIZING STEPS THAT AREN’T MOVING YOU FORWARDLet’s start with five common time-wasting behaviors. You may be guilty of one or more. Most writers have been guilty of the first.TIME-WASTER #1: Submitting manuscripts that aren’t your best workLet’s be honest. We all secretly hope that some editor or agent will read our work, drop everything, and call us to say: This is a work of genius! YOU are a genius!Few writers give up on this dream entirely, but to increase the chances of this happening, you have to give each manuscript everything you’ve got, with nothing held back. Too many writers save their best effort for some future work, as if they were going to run out of good material.You can’t operate like that.Every single piece of greatness must go into your current project. Be confident that your creative well is going to be refilled. Make your book better than you ever thought possible—that’s what it needs to compete. It can’t be good. “Good” gets rejected. Your work has to be the best.How do you know when it’s ready, when it’s your best? I like how Guide to Literary Agents Editor Chuck Sambuchino typically answers this question at writing conferences: “If you think the story has a problem, it does—and any story with a problem is not ready.”It’s common for a new writer who doesn’t know any better to send off his manuscript without realizing how much work is left to do. But experienced writers are usually most guilty of sending out work that is not ready. Stop wasting your time.TIME-WASTER #2: Self-publishing when no one is listeningThere are many reasons writers choose to self-publish, but the most common is the inability to land an agent or a traditional publisher.Fortunately, it’s more viable than ever for a writer to be successful without a traditional publisher or agent, primarily due to the rise of e-books and e-readers. However, when writers chase self-publishing as an alternative to traditional publishing, they often have a nasty surprise in store:No one is listening. They don’t have an audience.Bowker estimated that in 2009, more than 760,000 new titles were “nontraditionally” published, which included print-on-demand and self-published work. How many new titles were traditionally published? About 288,000. And none of these numbers take into account the growing number of writers releasing their work in electronic-only editions.If your goal is to bring your work successfully to the marketplace, it’s a waste of time to self-publish that work—in any format—if you haven’t yet cultivated an audience for it, or can’t market and promote it effectively through your network. Doing so will not likely harm your career in the long run, but it won’t move it forward, either.TIME-WASTER #3: Publishing your work digitally when your audience wants printE-books have become the darlings of the self-publishing world, and for good reason. They’re easy to create, require little investment, and can reach an international market overnight. They also allow you to experiment, to have a direct line to a readership, and to see what effectively grows that readership.But it won’t do you a bit of good if your audience is still devoted to print. If you don’t know what format your readers prefer, then find out before you waste your time developing a product no one will read or buy.Rework this maxim as needed for your particular audience (e.g., don’t focus on producing print if your readers favor digital).TIME-WASTER #4: Looking for major publication of regional or niche workThe cookbook-memoir that your local church ladies produced this year is probably not appropriate for one of the major New York publishers.That may seem obvious, but every year agents receive thousands of submissions for work that does not have national appeal, and does not deserve shelf space at every chain bookstore in the country. (And that’s typically why you get an agent: to sell your work to the big publishers, which specialize in national distribution and marketing.)Now, if those church ladies were famous for producing the award-winning Betty Crocker recipe 20 years in a row, we’d be onto something with a national market. But few regional works have that kind of broader angle.As a writer, one of the most difficult tasks you face is having sufficient distance from your work to understand how a publishing professional would view the market for it, or to determine if there’s a commercial angle to be exploited. You have to view your work not as something precious to you, but as a product to be positioned and sold. That means pitching your work only to the most appropriate publishing houses, even if they’re in your own backyard rather than New York City.TIME-WASTER #5: Focusing on publishing when you should be writingSome writers are far too concerned with queries, agents, marketing or conference-going, instead of first producing the best work possible.Don’t get me wrong—for some types of nonfiction, it’s essential to have a platform in place before you write the book. The fact that nonfiction authors don’t typically write the full manuscript until after acceptance of their proposal (with the exception of memoir and creative nonfiction) is indicative of how much platform means to their publication.But for everyone else (those of us who are not selling a book based solely on the proposal): Don’t get consumed with finding an agent until you’re a writer ready for publication.And now we come to that tricky matter again. How do you know it’s that time? Let’s dig a little deeper.EVALUATING YOUR PLACE ON THE PUBLICATION PATHWhenever I sit down for a critique session with a writer, I ask three questions early on: How long have you been working on this manuscript, and who has seen it? Is this the first manuscript you’ve ever completed? And finally: How long have you been actively writing?These questions help me evaluate where the writer might be on the publication path. Here are a few generalizations I can often make:Most first manuscript attempts are not publishable, even after revision, yet they are necessary and vital for a writer’s growth. A writer who’s just finished her first manuscript probably doesn’t realize this, and will likely take the rejection process very hard. Some writers can’t move past this rejection. You’ve probably heard experts advise that you should always start working on the next manuscript, rather than waiting to publish the first. That’s because you need to move on, and not get stuck on publishing your first attempt.A writer who has been working on the same manuscript for years and years—and has written nothing else—might have a motivation problem. There isn’t usually much valuable learning going on when someone tinkers with the same pages over a decade.Writers who have been actively writing for many years, have produced multiple full-length manuscripts, and have one or two trusted critique partners (or mentors) are often well-positioned for publication. They probably know their strengths and weaknesses, and have a structured revision process. Many such people require only luck to meet preparedness.Writers who have extensive experience in one medium, then attempt to tackle another (e.g., journalists tackling the novel) may overestimate their abilities to produce a publishable manuscript on the first try. That doesn’t mean their effort won’t be good, but it might not be good enough. Fortunately, any writer with professional experience will probably approach the process with more of a business mindset, a good network of contacts to help him understand next steps, and a range of tools to overcome the challenges.Notice I have not mentioned talent. I have not mentioned creative writing classes or degrees. I have not mentioned online presence. These factors are usually less relevant in determining how close you are to publishing a book-length work.The two things that are relevant:1. How much time you’ve put into writing. I agree with Malcolm Gladwell’s 10,000-hour rule in Outliers: The key to success in any field is, to a large extent, a matter of practicing a specific task for a total of around 10,000 hours.2. Whether you’re reading enough to understand where you are on the spectrum of quality. In his series on storytelling (available on YouTube), Ira Glass says:The first couple years that you’re making stuff, what you’re making isn’t so good. It’s not that great. It’s trying to be good, it has ambitions, but it’s not that good. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, your taste is still killer. Your taste is good enough that you can tell that what you’re making is kind of a disappointment to you. You can tell that it’s still sort of crappy. A lot of people never get past that phase. A lot of people at that point quit. … Most everybody I know who does interesting creative work, they went through a phase of years where they had really good taste [and] they could tell that what they were making wasn’t as good as they wanted it to be.If you can’t perceive the gap—or if you haven’t gone through the “phase”—you probably aren’t reading enough. How do you develop good taste? You read. How do you understand what quality work is? You read. What’s the best way to improve your skills aside from writing more? You read. You write, and you read, and you begin to close the gap between the quality you want to achieve, and the quality you can achieve.In short: You’ve got to produce a lot of crap before you can produce something publishable.KNOWING WHEN IT’S TIME TO CHANGE COURSEI used to believe that great work would eventually get noticed—you know, that old theory that quality bubbles to the top?I don’t believe that any more.Great work is overlooked every day, for a million reasons. Business concerns outweigh artistic concerns. Some people are just perpetually unlucky.To avoid beating your head against the wall, here are some questions that can help you understand when and how to change course.1. Is your work commercially viable? Indicators will eventually surface if your work isn’t suited for commercial publication. You’ll hear things like: “Your work is too quirky or eccentric.” “It has narrow appeal.” “It’s experimental.” “It doesn’t fit the model.” Possibly: “It’s too intellectual, too demanding.” These are signs that you may need to consider self-publishing—which will also require you to find the niche audience you appeal to.2. Are readers responding to something you didn’t expect? I see this happen all the time: A writer is working on a manuscript that no one seems interested in, but has fabulous success on some side project. Perhaps you really want to push your memoir, but it’s a humorous tip series on your blog that everyone loves. Sometimes it’s better to pursue what’s working, and what people express interest in, especially if you take enjoyment in it. Use it as a steppingstone to other things if necessary.3. Are you getting bitter? You can’t play poor, victimized writer and expect to get published. As it is in romantic relationships, pursuing an agent or editor with an air of desperation, or with an Eeyore complex, will not endear you to them. Embittered writers carry a huge sign with them that screams, “I’m unhappy, and I’m going to make you unhappy, too.”If you find yourself demonizing people in the publishing industry, taking rejections very personally, feeling as if you’re owed something, and/or complaining whenever you get together with other writers, it’s time to find the refresh button. Return to what made you feel joy and excitement about writing in the first place. Perhaps you’ve been focusing too much on getting published, and you’ve forgotten to cherish the other aspects. Which brings me to the overall theory of how you should, at various stages of your career, revisit and revise your publication strategy.REVISING YOUR PUBLISHING PLANNo matter how the publishing world changes, consider these three timeless factors as you make decisions about your next steps forward:1. What makes you happy: This is the reason you got into writing in the first place. Even if you put this on the back burner in order to advance other aspects of your writing and publishing career, don’t leave it out of the equation for very long. Otherwise your efforts can come off as mechanistic or uninspired, and you’ll eventually burn out.2. What earns you money: Not everyone cares about earning money from writing—and I believe that anyone in it for the coin should find some other field—but as you gain experience, the choices you make in this regard become more important. The more professional you become, the more you have to pay attention to what brings the most return on your investment of time and energy.3. What reaches readers or grows your audience: Growing readership is just as valuable as earning money. It’s like putting a bit of money in the bank and making an investment that pays off as time passes. Sometimes you’ll want to make trade-offs that involve earning less money in order to grow readership, because it invests in your future. (E.g., for a time you might focus on building a blog or a site, rather than writing for print publication, to grow a more direct line to your fans.)It is rare that every piece of writing you do, or every opportunity presented, can involve all three elements at once. Commonly you can get two of the three. Sometimes you’ll pursue certain projects with only one of these factors in play. You get to decide based on your priorities at any given point in time.At the very beginning of this article, I suggested that it might be nice if someone could tell us if we’re wasting our time trying to get published.Here’s a little piece of hope: If your immediate thought was, I couldn’t stop writing even if someone told me to give up, then you’re much closer to publication than someone who is easily discouraged. The battle is far more psychological than you might think. Those who can’t be dissuaded are more likely to reach their goals, regardless of the path they ultimately choose.

60% of content marketers create at least one piece of content each day. Or, how about this one: content marketing campaigns costs 62% less than traditional marketing, yet it generates approximately three times as many leads when it comes to potential customers.These types of statistics are sure to excite you regarding the power of a good content marketing campaign. What these numbers won’t do is help you achieve success with your blog posts and content creation. Only you can implement a plan that generates positive results.In this post, we’re going to review 15 marketing campaign guides that can speed up your success.We’ll look at the finer details of each marketing program and guide, ensuring that you have a clear understanding as to how you can use each one to your advantage when it comes to creating your own blog posts.By the end of this post, you’ll have a better idea of how each guide can push you down the path to reaching all of your content marketing campaign goals.Let’s stop talking and start learning!1. The Beginner's Guide to Content Marketing (Moz) - Everybody dreams of becoming a savvy content marketer, generating thousands of leads and growing their target market. But, most people don’t put the time into learning the basics even about crafting good blog posts.With this content marketing program from Moz, you can start at the beginning and slowly work your way towards rockstar status.There are nine chapters, with each one dedicated to a different area of great content marketing. And, as the title implies, the content is targeted to beginners. Some of my favorite chapters include:Building a Framework and a Content TeamContent IdeationIteration, Maintenance and GrowthMoz may be one of the top brands in the SEO space and the search engines may love them, but that doesn’t mean that they have nothing to teach you in regards to content marketing.As far as beginner’s guides are concerned, this one is hard to beat. It will put you on the right track and make sure you stay there.2. The Advanced Guide to Content Marketing (Quick Sprout) - This is one of my favorite guides on content marketing, and not just because I had a hand in creating it.Just as the Moz guide I mentioned above is perfect for beginner content marketing strategies, this one is the right choice for those who have moved to the next level with their content creation and blog posts.There are 10 chapters that make up this guide, each one building on the one before it.If you aren’t familiar with the basics of content marketing, such as starting a blog, creating content, and different types of content you won’t benefit much from this guide (at least at the present time). It’s for those content marketers that are ready to implement advanced tactics and strategies.For example, the second chapter is entitled “How to Generate Thousands of Clickable Ideas for Your Content.”Day after day, I am asked “how do you come up with such great topic ideas for your blog posts?” This doesn’t come easy, but there is a process that you can follow to do the same.Here is the last thing you will read before you visit chapter one:“Simply put, use this guide to help you take your content marketing to the next level.”If that’s what you want to do, then this is the guide that can take you there.3. A Practical Guide to Building a Killer Content Strategy (HubSpot) - I truly believe that the hardest part of a marketing campaign, at least for most people, is the act of getting started. They just don’t know how to implement a strategy they can trust.This HubSpot guide aims to solve the problem. It helps you remove the guesswork from your content marketing plan, giving you the confidence necessary to move forward.The guide breaks down the many steps in building a great content strategy, focusing on details, such as:How to build an editorial calendar to help with content creationIdentifying and understanding your target market.How to map content to attract customers and succeed on the search engines and social networks.HubSpot can help you develop your first content marketing efforts or rework the one that you've been using.As you can see, those who have implemented the advice in the guide are excited about what the future holds for them.4. The Beginner’s Guide To Content Marketing (Kissmetrics) - Written with the same approach as the Moz guide listed above, this guide from Kissmetrics provides a unique take on getting started as a content marketer.The entire guide is a solid read, as it will help to establish your mindset as a beginner in the world of content marketing. It is broken down into four primary sections:The trouble with traditional advertising.An introduction to content marketing campaigns.The advantages of content marketing, as compared to traditional advertising.Best practices.Since this guide is for beginner’s, it’s only natural for my favorite section to be the introduction to content marketing. It is here that readers will learn the basics of content marketing, including an in-depth look at a few companies that are doing this right and getting search engine success.For example, it examines how River Pools and Spas has reached the top of its industry, thanks to powerful blog posts.If you require a practical guide on building a content marketing campaign from the ground up, this one from Kissmetrics will not disappoint.5. The Definitive Guide to Engaging Content Marketing (Marketo) - If you are going to spend time and money on content marketing campaigns, you might as well get the results that you deserve. This guide from Marketo can help you do just that.The key word in the title of this guide is “engaging.” This is what content creation is all about: engagement.The Marketo guide teaches you how to:Optimize great content for your audience.Measure your success.Use the resources that are available to you to create killer content.Create an editorial calendar.Develop a voice and style for your brand.Identify your target audience.When it comes to content marketing, there are people who go through the motions and people who do whatever it takes to create engaging content and blog posts. It is the latter group that achieves the most success.You can use the Marketo guide to create an engaging strategy that yields results.6. Content Marketing Made Simple: A Step-by-Step Guide (Neil Patel) - If you have ever read any of my guides, you know one thing to be true: I try to keep things as simple as possible when it comes to my types of content. Even when a topic is complex, I strive to deliver the content in easy to digest terms.One of the best examples of this is my step-by-step guide to “content marketing made simple.”So many people tell me that they have never given content marketing a second look, because they don’t understand the ins and outs. I always tell them the same thing, “there is nothing to be afraid of.”This guide will you help you understand that content marketing truly is simple, if you take the right approach.Every portion of the marketing program is helpful, but the thing I enjoy most is the “3 examples from content marketing history,” as well as the comparison to their “modern day equivalents.”This provides an inside look at how things have changed over the years, and, of course, the ways you can get personally involved.Don’t let your fear of content marketing stop you from getting started. Use this guide to simplify the subject matter.7. 2016 Content Marketing Toolkit: 23 Checklists, Templates and Guides (Content Marketing Institute) - It may not be a guide, in the true sense of the word, but it’s well worth putting on this list to help improve your marketing efforts.Nobody knows content marketing better than the Content Marketing Institute. This piece of content is full of checklists, templates and guides that will turn you into a content marketing pro in 2016.Not only is it updated with the most recent resources, but it provides a variety of tools for all stages of content marketing; from the initial create content stage to the final publish my blog post button.I enjoyed the “Doing phase,” the most, thanks to the fact that it’s all about taking action.This is one of the most well-rounded and well thought out guides on content marketing. It’s not just for beginners. It can be used by anybody and everybody who has an interest in content marketing.8. Content Marketing Strategy Guide (Smart Insights) - You should never use the scattergun approach, when it comes to content marketing. A targeted strategy will suit you much better, especially when growing brand awareness.Smart Insights put together a guide on creating a killer content marketing strategy. With 96 pages and 30,000 words, get ready to dig in for some serious learning.There are seven chapters in the guide, including:Content Marketing capability audit and setting goals.Define target markets and personas.Create a content marketing plan.Editorial management.Create content that is compelling for your content hub.Content distribution channels.Evaluate and measure ROI.All of the content in these chapters comes back to one thing: creating a content marketing strategy that generates results.You can have some success with an on-and-off, scattergun content marketing approach. But, if you want to win big, it’s time to create and carry out a more targeted and defined strategy.9. SEJ White Paper: What Works in Content Marketing (Search Engine Journal) - There is a lot of information out there on content marketing.You are seeing that right. There are more than 95 million results for this search phrase alone.With so much information floating around, it’s hard to differentiate the good from the bad. While you can rely on the guides in this blog post to point you in the right direction, it’s safe to assume that you will search for more advice at some point down the line.If you want to know what works in content marketing, Search Engine Journal has you covered.This guide was written with the premise that you only have so much time and money to spend on content marketing, so you might as well make the right decisions. You will learn:What content marketing is and why it works.Why your company needs to use content marketing.How content marketing has evolved over the years.What type of goals you should set and how to reach them.Successful content strategies of top brands.Tools to help you reach your goalsYou will not be disappointed with what you learn from this guide. It’s a true gem for those who want to know what works and what doesn’t. Why guess when you don’t have to?10. An SEO Driven Approach To Content Marketing: The Complete Guide (CoSchedule) - This guide takes a unique approach to content marketing, thanks to its SEO spin.Search engine optimization and content marketing should go together, like peanut butter and jelly. But, sometimes, marketers don’t see the big picture. They see one but they don’t see the other.CoSchedule aims to provide an SEO powered strategy to content marketing, helping you understand how the two work together.For example, it discusses how to properly optimize headlines. Headlines are important, from both an search engine optimization and content marketing perspective.The CoSchedule guide shows you that it’s possible to kill two birds with one stone. If you are spending resources on content marketing, you might as well focus on SEO at the same time.11. Content Marketing Guide: How 10 Startups Became Thought Leaders & Generated Massive Revenue Growth (Small Business Ideas Blog) - You only have so much time to read about other companies, as it’s important to put most your marketing efforts into growing your own brand.But, there is a lot to learn from how others have achieved success. Chapter 6 of this guide is all about showing you how other companies have used content marketing to grow their brand.Buffer is the first company on the list. Its target audience and content strategy is broken down in simple terms.You can’t duplicate everything other companies are doing, but you can definitely take bits and pieces to strengthen your content marketing strategy.If you need some inspiration or if you need help realizing that content marketing can pay off in the long run, this guide from the Small Business Ideas Blog will provide you with everything that you require.12. The Only Guide to Content Marketing You’ll Ever Need (The Content Factory) - The title may be a bit strong, but that’s okay. This guide truly is one of the best.The thing that stands out is the way the guide is laid out in a resource format, as opposed to providing first hand advice.The first section is entitled “9 Articles to Read Before You Even Get Started.” It’s here that you will find nine of the best articles on creating a content marketing strategy.This includes It's Time to Treat Content as Part of the User Experience and How to Create a Successful Blog Strategy: A Step-by-Step Guide.It will take you some time to read this guide. From there, it will take you hours on end to click on every link and read the information. But, if you do this, your knowledge will skyrocket and you will create incredible blog posts, and get the best from all types of content.If you are seeking a guide full of resource pages, you can’t go wrong with this one by The Content Factory.13. Visual Content Marketing: A Resource Guide for Marketers (Social Media Examiner) - Not all types of content marketing are the same. This guide shows that visual content marketing is alive and well.Here is how the guide is explained:“This article will help you find tools to create the perfect image, to drive traffic and engagement with your images and to use visual content to improve your marketing.”A big part of content marketing is content itself. But, don’t think of this strictly in terms of words as there are all different types of content. Content can also include images.This guide is broken down into several sections, with each one linking out to more information on the subject:How to create images.Top tools for creating and editing images.How to drive traffic and engagement.Ways to improve your visual content marketing.Specialized platform tips.Curating visual content.This guide, created by Social Media Examiner, is one of a kind, thanks to its unique approach to visual content marketing.14. A Complete Guide to 2016 Content Marketing Trends (Social Media Today) - Just the same as SEO has changed over the years, so has content marketing.If you want to make the most of your content marketing strategy, you need to know what is and is not working for others. This guide from Social Media Today focuses on the trends that are in style at the present time.In infographic form, you will learn the following:Digital marketing trends for 2016.Main marketing goals for 2016.How to measure marketing success.Popular B2C content marketing tactics.What to focus on in 2016.What to invest in for 2016.Content marketing planning techniques.How to get it all done in 2016.One of my favorite sections is on the most popular B2C content marketing tactics.These statistics give us an idea of what other B2C brands are doing, in regards to content marketing.Social Media Today hit the ball out of the park with this guide.15. The Content Marketing Strategy Checklist (Velocity Partners) - For many, organization is a big hurdle on the way to content marketing success.This strategy checklist, from Velocity Partners, helps protect against a lack of organization and structure.This checklist is designed to help you stay the course, implement your strategy and track your results. But, remember, it’s not good enough to just read the checklist. You need to understand what it’s saying and then follow along accordingly.Part one is all about setting goals. There is space to write down your goals, short and long term and to check off the metrics you will track.As you move through the checklist, each section is simple and to the point. It may be basic in form, but it’s more than enough to keep you on the straight and narrow.ConclusionIf you want to be among the 42% of B2B marketers who say they’re effective at content marketing, it would be in your best interest to learn as much as possible from each one of these guides.There is more to content marketing than meets the eye. If you want to generate more traffic, more leads and more revenue, it’s not a question of how to do so. Content marketing will put you in position for success. There are all different types of content out there; from blog posts to social network content and more - the trick is learning how to utilize this.I encourage you to read every one of these content marketing guides, from start to finish. Furthermore, keep your favorites close by for future use.