Yearly Archives: 2008
SEO Ian Lurie24 Sep, 2008
5 Tips for Generating 10,000 Links Overnight
Don’t No, really, don’t. Are you listening? If you get them naturally, good for you. But otherwise, don’t! K, for the last time, don’t.
Featured Ian Lurie23 Sep, 2008
10 SEO and Marketing-Friendly Title Tag Formulas
You want keywords in the title tag. Your marketing VP wants the brand. You know he’s wrong, because search engines are structured thinkers. He knows you’re wrong, because the title tag shows up in the search snippet and branding matters: Now what? Here are 10 title tag formulas that balance SEO and marketing and hopefully… Read More
SEO Ian Lurie23 Sep, 2008
U-Haul: Fire Your Lawyer (and Your Marketer)
Sarah over at SEOMOZ outlined U-Haul’s ridiculous case against someone who outranks them. I won’t re-evaluate the case. Sarah undoubtedly got higher grades than I did in Intellectual Property, which was one of the law courses that made me become a marketer. Instead, I’ll say this: U-Haul, fire your lawyer. Only a total moron or… Read More
Ian Lurie22 Sep, 2008
4 Metrics for Analyzing SEO Traffic (and one to ignore)
I have a defense mechanism: When something makes me want to puke, I look at statistics, and I feel better. Last week’s economic shenanigans were more than enough to make me ill, so I figured I’d have a glance at my blog’s organic search engine traffic. Here’s my analysis, with a little teaching blended in.… Read More
Ian Lurie19 Sep, 2008
5 Daily Social Media Builders In Less Than 10 Minutes (Total!)
I am sick of social media. Social this. Social that. Everyone asks me whether I ‘do social media’, and it’s hard to resist the urge to caper around like a lunatic yelling “Am I being social? Am I?! Then quick, call the media!!!!” I hate the phrase, the concept and the need for sound bites… Read More
Featured Ian Lurie17 Sep, 2008
Google Local Search: Crackdown is Coming
Google just published business listing quality guidelines for local search. Warning: The new guidelines mean a crackdown’s a comin’. Whenever Google issues new guidelines, it’s their way of saying “quit screwing around”. So if you’re doing anything shady to gain a higher ranking in the local search results, this is a good time to mend… Read More
PPC Ian Lurie15 Sep, 2008
Opportunistic PPC Buying: A Great Example
Hats off to whoever manages Barack Obama’s pay-per-click advertising buy. On Lehman’s bankruptcy announcement today, they immediately bought a super-relevant ad: Very smart. I’ll bet that key phrase is both cheap and a great traffic generator at the moment. Keep this in mind: Reading the newspaper and watching the news is a great way to… Read More
Portent Staff12 Sep, 2008
A Loaded Gun – Quentin Tarantino’s Secret Weapon for Creative Professions
DISCLAIMER: Get over the gun analogy. It’s Quentin Tarantino, so of course he’s going to use incredibly violent imagery. Don’t let that stop you from learning some of the best creative advice I’ve heard this year. First, a little stage setting. As a Creative Lead in an Internet marketing agency myself, I would venture to… Read More
Internet Marketing Ian Lurie11 Sep, 2008
Book Review: 2008 Landing Page Handbook
Disclaimer: I’m a Marketing Sherpa Affiliate. I was not paid for this review. But if you buy the book from this link I will get a bit of cash. Pretty please? I re-read this book every year, and make most of my staff read it (or at least try to) as well. There are plenty… Read More
Ian Lurie10 Sep, 2008
Branding In 30 Seconds
Real branding is really hard, and I suck at it. So, I’ve had to come up with simpler, faster ways to make sure that, when I’m hired to do some internet marketing, I don’t pick up a client’s brand, rip it into a thousand tiny pieces and shove it into the garbage disposal. Here’s a… Read More
Ian Lurie10 Sep, 2008
A Day In The Life of an Internet Marketing Company
With the advent of ‘Mad Men’, a brilliant TV show on AMC, a lot of my friends and family seem to think I sit around drinking Scotch and soda. It’s not quite like that. So I thought I’d give a brief outline of a typical day at my internet marketing company: 7:00 AM: Get to… Read More
Tom Schmitz8 Sep, 2008
PPC Hero Guest Post – PPC Quality & Relevancy
Editors Note: Today Portent Interactive welcomes guest blogger Joseph Kerschbaum, Senior Search Marketing Consultant with Hanapin Marketing and one of the funtastic writers of the PPC Hero blog. For Portent Interactive, sharing effective methods and best practices is a passion. Joe shares that passion, so we are thrilled to have him share a little of… Read More
Ian Lurie8 Sep, 2008
Internet Freedom of Speech
I’m speaking tomorrow at the IAMAW’s Grand Lodge Convention about free speech and the internet. These are my remarks. I would GREATLY appreciate comments and feedback, today, so I can adjust if I’m about to say something moronic. So, a little detour today from internet marketing to freedom of speech. I’m a leftie, no doubt…… Read More
Ian Lurie6 Sep, 2008
10 Rules for Setting Your Internet Marketing Budget
It Costs WHAT?!!!!! I’m tired of hearing that. Budgeting your internet marketing project may seem like a crap shoot. But I can simplify things for you: If you’re building a new site, expect to spend 2X that amount again in the year after the site launches. Unless you want it to sit there, all alone,… Read More
Featured Ian Lurie4 Sep, 2008
Tutorial: Picking Great Keywords Starts with Great Questions
If you want to pick the right keywords, you need to start by knowing the questions your audience wants answered. Great tools are helpful, but if you don’t Your customers don’t walk around with keyphrases in their heads. They think “how do I plan my wedding?” and then translate that into “wedding planning” because search… Read More