By the time I landed my first paid writing gig at the #BosCon Bash, I had known for 10 years I wanted to be a writer. My room was always brimming with books and journals, bits of poetry and scraps of prose on napkins. As a teenager, Carrie Bradshaw confirmed my career aspirations. Even if my life did not include designer shoes, I still wanted the freedom to write and that skinny Macintosh computer. But as I forged a different path after college, the discomfort of dismissing my dreams became greater than my fear of leaping into the unknown.

When introducing a new member to your content marketing team, you may feel a rush of excitement. New blood, new ideas and new attitudes can completely re-energize your team, your strategy and even you.

But when faced with a stack of all-too-similar looking resumés, all from candidates lured in by the trendy title of “content marketer,” hiring can seem like a challenge — especially when you are tasked with deciding among a crop of equally well-read, well-educated and eager professionals.

Just the thought of it makes you cringe. But you know it’s a necessary part of business, so you drag yourself to events, zealously hand out business cards and make awkward small talk for as long as you can bear it.

But it doesn’t have to be this way.

Networking doesn’t have to be a chore. Believe it or not, it can actually be fun. Follow these tips the next time you go to a networking event, and you may find yourself having a good time while you forge important professional connections.

Creating content for SEO is, at its core, about creating something the user will remember, whether a brand, an idea or a website. If that happens, Google will do the same.

There’s plenty for marketers to remember — and just as much to forget — when generating content ideas with a specific mind for SEO. At UpWord, here’s what we try on a daily basis to commit to memory, and also what we throw away.