We just entered into the New Year 2017 and we wish you a Happy and Prosperous New Year! With that said, we all like to make new year resolutions, set new goals, or try to achieve new milestones. But sometimes, we lack the proper guidance, motivation, and direction to achieve those goals.

And that’s where we all need a mentor, an influencer who can motivate us and guide us through this realm of success!

So, Interested in knowing the key authority figures when it comes to Digital marketing, business management, blogging, and entrepreneurship? Well, we have created a list of 17 influencers who have proved that they are at top of their game and driving the change and innovation in their respective industries.

So, follow them, learn from them and try to work upon their advice to make a change in your own life or influence people around you.

1: Grant Cardone

Grant Cardone is a sales trainer, a motivational speaker, New York Times Best Selling Author and famous on virtually all the social media platforms.

Watch How Grant Cardone Talks a Kid out of Quitting on Himself:

2: Gary Vaynerchuk

Gary Vaynerchuk is the CEO of VaynerMedia. He is a serial entrepreneur, motivational speaker, investor and a famous internet personality.

Here are Gary’s 6 MINS FOR THE NEXT 60 YEARS OF YOUR LIFE:

3: Neil Patel

Neil Patel is a famous internet personality and nearly everyone in the Digital Marketing space knows him well. He is New York Times best-selling author, Co-Founder of KISSmetrics, Crazy Egg, Hello Bar and was recognized as one of the Top 100 Entrepreneurs under the age of 30 by President Obama.

In this interview, Neil discusses the small mistakes that keep you poor:

4: Rand Fishkin

Rand Fishkin is the founder and former CEO of Moz and one of the biggest influencers when it comes to Search Engine Optimization and Digital Marketing. He is also known as, ‘Wizard Of Moz’.

Watch Rand Fishkin discussing the 3 Biggest SEO Myths:

5: Mark Schaefer

Mark Schaefer is a globally-recognized Social Media Strategist, Author, Business Consultant and an educator. His clientele includes brands such as Johnson & Johnson, Adidas, Pfizer, Dell, The U.S Air Force, and the UK Government.

In one of his talks, he discusses how blogging saved his life:

6: Larry Kim

Larry Kim is the founder of Wordstream and an influencer when it comes to the subject of Pay-Per-Click. He is an award-winning author and frequently contributes in publications like Forbes, Inc. and, Search Engine Land.

Watch Larry discussing the state of online marketing:

7: Wil Reynolds

Wil Reynolds holds authority on subjects such as SEO and Digital Marketing. He is a renowned speaker and has been developing SEO strategies for famous Fortune 500 companies since 1999. He is also a founder of an SEO/SEM based consulting firm SEER Interactive.

Watch Wil’s discussion about Link building:

8: Sujan Patel

Sujan Patel is a famous Growth Hacker, Content Marketer, Entrepreneur and a speaker. He is also a Co-Founder of a growth marketing agency, Web Profits.

Sujan’s Advice On How to Start a Career in Digital Marketing:

9: Ann Handley

Ann Handley is a Co-Founder of ClickZ and also the Chief Content Officer of Marketing Profs. She is a keynote speaker and an influencer on the subject of Digital Marketing. She is also a columnist for Entrepreneur.com.

Ann Handley discusses about Creating Content that is engaging:

10: Brian D. Evans

Brian D. Evans is the CEO of Influencive, an online publication that is followed by millions of entrepreneurs all over the world. Brian is also an Inc 500 entrepreneur.

Here, Brian Shares Some Tips to Grow Your Business Using Social Media:

11: Joe Pulizzi

Joe Pulizzi is one of the leading online marketing influencer and he’s the one that coined the term, “Content Marketing” back in 2001. Joe is also the Founder of Content Marketing Institute.

Joe Pulizzi Shares With Us The Two Little Things that Made All the Difference:

12: Kimra Luna

Kimra Luna is the expert when it comes to personal branding and designing online business strategies. She grew her business from 0 to a Million Dollars in less than a year and now teaches young entrepreneurs on how to stand out and captivate their audiences’ attention.

Kimra Luna On How to Start a Successful Online Business Fast:

13: Avinash Kaushik

Avinash Kaushik is best known as the Digital Marketing Evangelist for Google, author of two of the most best-selling books on the subject of Web Analytics and Co-Founder of Market Motive.

Watch Avinash Kaushik’s Talk on Web Analytics:

14: Oli Gardner

Oli Gardner is the Co-Founder of Unbounce, and the biggest influencer on the subject of Landing Pages. He is a keynote speaker at different conferences and contributes to famous publications like Moz.

Here Oli discusses how you can overhaul your Landing Pages to achieve remarkable results:

15: Hiten Shah

Hiten Shah is the Co-Founder of QuickSprout, CrazyEgg and KISSmetrics. He is one of the most respected names when it comes to industries like Saas, Digital Marketing, and entrepreneurship.

Hiten’s session about A/B Testing for Startups:

16: Amy Porterfield

Amy Porterfield is a renowned social media strategist who specializes in Facebook Marketing. She is also the co-author of famous book “Facebook Marketing All-In-One for Dummies.”

Here’s How Amy Porterfield Went from Employee to a Millionaire Entrepreneur:

17: Andy Crestodina

Andy Crestodina is the Co-Founder of a Chicago-based Web Design & Development Agency, Orbit Media. He is a famous Web Strategist, keynote speakers at different conferences around the world and author of the book: Content Chemistry: An Illustrated Guide to Content Marketing.

In his Talk, Andy discusses How To Use Data to Make Better Content Marketing Decisions: