In October of 2009, Invesp Consulting started researching and selecting 100 of the most influential marketers online — those trailblazers that have their finger on the pulse of the online world and lead the way for others, with torches in hand.
Attempting to rank online marketers can be viewed as a bit of a thankless effort. Let’s face it, you can’t include everyone. I, myself, can think of a few people who I feel should have been included and weren’t. But Invesp worked to formulate their criteria and eventually, they whittled it down to four main requirements and then selected the top 100 accordingly.
So, who made the top 10, you ask? There were some names that you’d probably expect to see – and then there were some names that were surprising to see. Here are the top 10 most influential online marketers of 2009, as chosen by Invesp:
- Aaron Wall, SEOBook
- Seth Godin, Seth’s Blog
- Brian Clark, Copyblogger
- Chris Brogan, ChrisBrogan.com
- Bryan Eisenberg, BrianEisenberg.com
- Danny Sullivan, Third Door Media
- Rebecca McKinnon, Global Voices
- Avinash Kaushik, Occam’s Razor
- Dharmesh Shah, Hubspot
- Rand Fishkin, SEOmoz
And there you have it – the Invesp list of the top 10 influential marketers of 2009.
But wait – there are 90 more! And I imagine you’d like to know who they are, too.
To give you an overview, you’ll see some new names and you’ll also see some new businesses. You’ll also see some businesses that you normally wouldn’t expect to see in the world of online marketing – like Ford Motor Company and its head of social media, Scott Monty. There are representatives from unexpected industries, too, like Leo Babauta of Zen Habits, who writes about health and wellness. And then there’s Glen Allsopp of ViperChill. Glen started his first website at the tender age of 15. By the age of 17 he was earning several thousand dollars a month. At 18 he was headhunted to become the Social Media Manager for some big players – and at 20, he’s a world traveler earning a monthly five figure income. I should also mention that another one of the names you will see (#49) is our very own Anita Campbell.
Enough talking, it’s time to reveal the full list of Top 100 Influential Marketers of 2009. After reading through them, what do you think? Did they miss anyone? Who else would you put on the list? Maybe we can give them some suggestions for next year, here. . .
Congratulations! I like the Blog Rank widget by Invesp. I have added it on my EGO blog.
Between this blog, her radio show, the OPEN Forum, etc., etc. I think Anita reaches and influences a heck of a lot more real business owners than just about anyone on this list. #49? No way.
No disrespect to the people who made the list and ranked highly, but it’s a bit of a joke when you consider some of the people who didn’t. I think a lot of us feel the list was only made for the sake of linkbait.
Staci,
Thank you for posting this awesome list!
Anita, congrats!
The Franchise King
RedHotFranchises
Interesting list, I will certainly dive into these profiles during my spare time and will study the techniques of these modern influential online marketers.
Ivana Taylor
CONGRATS ANITA — and the whole Small Business Trends community! I’m with @MattMcGee! Small Business Trends is by FAR my biggest resource for what’s going on in the world of small business.
Anita Campbell
Thanks for the congratulations, all. I was surprised to be on the list in the first place, because I do not think of myself as a marketer (I’m more into being a general business resource.)
When you own your own business, you’re usually GIVING kudos to your employees and others — rarely getting it. “Thank yous” are few and far between. So it’s nice to get a pat on the back, I must admit.
I think Khalid and Ayat and their team at Invesp deserve a big thank you for all the work to put together this listing. I agree with Staci that it’s a bit of a thankless task to come up with a list like this. It must have been many hours of work.
I find the list a good resource. It’s a resource of new people to follow on Twitter and whose blogs I will discover and read, to learn more (because no matter how much you know, there’s always something new to learn). It’s also a list of people I can tap into when I’m looking for speakers and radio show guests.
I can think of some who probably should have been on the list. I know how you must feel, because I’ve been disappointed at missing out on other rankings and awards in the past. The best advice I can give is to take this year’s ranking as a good sport, and resolve to get on the list next year.
Lisa Saline
Excellent reference materials. It’s always great to learn about new IM experts and the knowledge they have to share.
Marketing for Chiropractors
I’m with Matt, Anita should certainly be ranking higher then #49. She is influential to my biz.