Before we get into this I’d just like to say a big thanks to Mike for agreeing to let me publish an extract from his book for this blog post, I’d also like to wish him a happy birthday! (or ‘appy both’dee as we say here in Stoke) …enjoy..

Below is an exclusive extract from “Free Stuff Everyday”, the book by Mike Essex which explains how to build a brand by giving away freebies. If you enjoy this post be sure to check out Mike’s experiment that is happening today (!) which you can help with by visiting the Koozai website

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I’m a firm believer that there is a ton of great information and insight available about many aspects of inbound marketing  all over the internet and much of it is completely free of charge. 100% Gratis. In fact, I don’t “Believe” this, it’s just a fact, deal with it.

There’s often a stigma attached to anything “free”, people think that free means it has no value but nothing could be further from the truth in many cases. Giving away free eBooks and white papers is a legitimate inbound tactic in it’s own right, and if they are not great quality you’re doing it wrong. Now to be clear, by “free” I mean they don’t cost any money, you may need to hand over an email address, or pay with a Tweet but I promise, not a single credit card or paypal account required.

I’ve created this list of 38 (Now 43!) free eBooks and white papers from various sources, some I used myself when I was learning the trade, some I’ve picked up more recently and the rest have been recommended to me or are from trusted sources. This is going to be a work in progress so feel free to add your own recommendations in the comments and I’ll consider adding them to the list.

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I guess you heard right? Yeah, that’s right, the Google+ epidemic has claimed it’s latest victim in the shape of the treasured (and often spammed to death) Google Places. I jest of course (not about the spamming), on the face of it the newly branded Google+ Local looks pretty good and in reality everybody has been waiting for this to happen since the launch of G+ some months ago.

Google+ Local has been launched for about a week now and as is always the case when “The Big G” launches anything new there has been a flurry of activity in the blogsphere as every man and his dog tries to catch some traffic on the coat tails of the announcement. If you’ve been out of the loop for the last 7 days (or just been doing something else, like work or something) here’s a run down of the Google+ Local “Best Bits”…

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Hello, and welcome to “Meet your SEO“…The Takeover!! For those of you who don’t know (where have you been??) my good buddy Alessio Madeyski (twitter) has been running a fantastic series of interviews featuring great SEO’s from all over the world. I had the honour of  being the first person to be featured in the series and have been hooked ever since. It’s not that often that I read SEO interviews but I never miss one of these. 

Alessio is dedicated to becoming a famous and well respected SEO. Don’t believe me? Well check out the yellow background AND facial hair! Remind you of anybody?

Alessio is a scientist (molecular biologist know less!) turned SEO coming out of his beautiful homeland of Italy, he is well travelled and has lived across Europe, finally settleing (for the moment) in Berlin, Germany. Currently he is the SEO Manager for well know eCom company Zalando looking after their Scandinavian and Italian operation.

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One of the things I love most about the SEO community is the people, some of the friendliest, intelligent and most inspirational folks I have come across are working in this industry. Another thing which stands out about the people and which is something I can totally identify with is their love of music. Alessio compiled a great piece a little while ago “Now that’s what SEO’s call music” which was an amazing insight into what SEO’s listen to when plying their trade.

I don’t know what it is about the industry but it seems that every other SEO I come across is/was/wants to be a rapper and that’s cool with me. I’ve pulled together some of the best SEO related raps for your entertainment.

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