50 of the Best Inbound Marketing Blogs and Influencers to Follow in 2016

You type 'inbound marketing' into the search box and, lo and behold, there are thousands of results thrown back at you. While the first page results can give you a snapshot of the landscape, it's not uncommon to feel that you're still missing something.

Finding the deserving thought leaders of which you will want to follow is not always easy. There are thousands of pretenders for every genuine guru. Sometimes, you just wish you could find the good while ignoring the bad. But, the noise still persists.

But fret not! We're in the same boat, and we've managed to sail the inbound marketing waters without a glitch, keeping these inbound marketing blogs and influencers on our radar.

Let's explore the best and brightest of the inbound marketing community together, shall we?

Inbound Marketing Thought Leaders

In inbound marketing, visiting these three marketing juggernauts will help you get a feel for the inbound community.

Inbound.Org - Founded in 2012 by HubSpot's Dharmesh Shah and Moz' Rand Fishkin, Inbound.Org is a community of passionate consultants, agencies, and freelancers who like to share and discuss the latest in marketing -- from content to growth-hacking to SEO. This is a good starting point to learn about inbound without sifting through Google's search results. Think of it as a rendezvous where the coolest folks in town meet regularly.

Seth Godin Blog - Seth Godin, writes HubSpot's Ellie Mirman, started talking about inbound marketing before anyone else seriously got in the game. Enough said.

HubSpot Blog - As mastermind of one of the best-integrated inbound marketing platforms out there, the HubSpot team does a nifty job in fulfilling their tagline - your daily dose of inbound. Audience segmentation is one of the blog's strongest assets.

Our Head of Operations Stephen Coursen wrote about how he learned inbound in this post.

Content Marketing GURUS

1. Content Marketing Institute - This should be your hangout of choice if you'd like to follow just one blog dedicated to content marketing and curation. Joe Pulizzi and his team aim to advance the practice of content marketing through online education, print, and in-person events.
2. The Content Strategist - As the official blog of New York City-based technology company Contently, the team behind Content Strategist churns out content focused on storytelling, branded content, and the industry's future.
3. Copyblogger - Copywriters, bloggers, or anyone who takes care of your brand's content needs would gain tons of insightful advice from Copyblogger's elite crew -- from Sonia Simone to Brian Clark. Their marketing and certification courses are also worth checking out!
4. CoSchedule - The CoSchedule editorial calendar is beloved by many due to its ease of use. Their content marketing blog is further revered by marketers for its content dedicated to helping writers, editors, and social media managers plow through their content planning woes.
5. Marcus Sheridan - The Sales Lion blog by Marcus Sheridan is chock full helpful advice that empowers content marketers and inbound practitioners to be the best communicators in their respective industries.
6. MarketingProfs - Ann Handley and the rest of the MarketingProfs team promise to deliver a simple way to learn marketing. This promise is reflected in their blog, boot-camps, and workshops.
7. NewsCred - Apart from their platform, the folks at NewsCred are also keen on helping content marketers scale their brands with efficiency and agility through hacks and tips in their blog.
8. Outbrain - Through the Outbrain blog, the team behind this content promotion platform shows how serious they are in their efforts to help marketers optimize content, connect with audiences, and create long-term relationships with readers.
9. Portent- The blog's how-tos, strategy, and training articles are great resources for inbound marketers looking into expanding their knowledge of content basics.
10. ProBlogger - Darren Rowse does a stellar job of breaking down what works and what doesn't when it comes to blogging for your business.

Social Media Marketing Masterminds

1. Buffer - Whether you're a corporate social media manager or an inbound marketing consultant, the Buffer Social blog is one of the best places to learn how to scale your brand and optimize customer experience through social media.
2. Convince and Convert - Along with guests posts, Jay Baer, one of content and social media marketing's thought leaders, shares his thoughts on how to make digital marketing and customer experiences remarkable.
3. Grow by Mark W. Schaefer - As its name implies, the blog's thoughtful content is dedicated to helping businesses grow by focusing on social networking.
4. Hootsuite - Whether it's Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram marketing, the Hootsuite team has something valuable to share in their blog including trends, skills, and strategy.
5. Jon Loomer - Jon Loomer writes about his experiments in Facebook marketing through in-depth blog posts. Worth a visit for Facebook-focused marketers.
6. Kim Garst - As one of Forbes' top social media influencers, Kim Garst' blog is filled with actionable advice specific to social selling.
7. Mari Smith - If Facebook marketing is your Waterloo, frequent visits to Mari Smith's blog will make you a pro after learning from her blog posts and webinars.
8. Brand24 - The Brand24 blog is a favorite of social media marketers who are into case studies and data visualization.
9. Social Media Examiner - The Social Media Examiner blog is your compass to everything current in social media best practices.
10. Social Media Today - As an independent online publishing company, Social Media Today's blog is a powerhouse of information designed for PR, marketing and other professionals in disciplines that call for social media expertise.

CRO/SEO/Analytics Geniuses

1. Backlinko by Brian Dean - This blog focuses on actionable SEO tips, strategies, and case studies. Dean is known for introducing the Skyscraper technique.
2. Conversioner - Everything you need to know about emotional targeting to boost conversion rates can be found on this blog led by Talia Wolf -- from evoking trust in your landing pages to figuring out the right words to write in your content.
3. Conversion XL - Peep Laja and the rest of Conversion XL's team are nailing what works in conversion tactics one blog post after the other, from what to A/B test to setting up Google Analytics.
4. Copyhackers - Joanna Wiebe's blog is the lovechild of Copyblogger and Conversion XL -- where copywriting meets conversion. Lots of valuable advice for marketers looking into revising their landing pages and sales copy.
5. Moz - As one of digital marketing's though leaders, Rand Fishkin of Moz and the rest of industry's top experts offer their best SEO advice and online marketing research.
6. Occam's Razor - This blog is a haven for analytics geeks!
7. The Conversion Scientist - Brian Massey does an excellent job in explaining how to achieve the perfect balance of the art and science of conversion in his blog posts.
8. The Daily Egg - As the flagship blog of heat map software Crazy Egg, The Daily Egg houses expert insights on how to get higher conversions via blog posts, tutorials, and webinars.
9. Unbounce - If there's one place you need to visit regularly for your landing page woes, it would have to be Unbounce.
10. PPC Hero - From learning proven PPC hacks to discovering new hacks through testing, you can rely on the PPC team to answer your burning pay-per-click advertising questions.

Email Marketing/Marketing Automation tribe Leaders

1. AWeber - The AWeber blog is perfect for beginner and intermediate email marketing folks who want to fine-tune their email campaigns this year.
2. Chief Marketing Technology - This blog by Scott Brinker talks about trends and best practices in technology, and its implications for marketing and businesses.
3. Email Design Review - Apart from email content and analytics, email design is another beast to tame. This blog helps you do just that.
4. Email Monday - As an independent email marketing specialist consultant for 13 years, Jordine Van Rijin shares his experience on email marketing tactics and vendors in Email Monday.
5. Litmus - Litmus delves into the technical aspects of email marketing such as figuring out your brand's email marketing metrics (hint: it differs for everyone).
6. MailChimp - The folks at MailChimp are experts on everything that covers email marketing. Their blog is ideal for email marketing newbies.
7. Marketo - Whether it's insights on lead scoring or email personalization you're looking for, the Marketo blogging team got you covered with their data-driven and actionable content.
8. Pardot - As Salesforce's flagship blog, Pardot is a nifty resource for inbound marketers who want to delve more into marketing and sales automation.
9. Vero - The Vero email marketing blog is filled with real examples and case studies on how you can improve your email conversion rates through careful segmentation.
10. Vertical Response - Next to topnotch email marketing content, the Vertical Response blog also tackles specific tips for brands who are looking into nailing their marketing campaigns this year.

Aside from visiting the aforementioned inbound all-stars of social media, content, conversion, SEO, and marketing automation, the following blogs are also worth a visit for their modern take on marketing (which inbound is all about!)

1. Brian Solis
2. ClickZ
3. Econsultancy
4. Forrester Blog
5. Growth Hackers
6. Jeff Bullas
7. Marketing Land
8. Oracle
9. Top Rank
10. Viper Chill

There you have it! We're positive that you'll be an inbound Jedi in no time with the list above. 

We probably belong on this list somewhere near the top... but we don't like to be all self-promotionishy! Of course, you can subscribe to our blog using the links below.

What other blogs do you follow for your regular dose of inbound? We'd love to hear from you in the comments!