Yearly Archives: 2010
SEO Ian Lurie25 Jul, 2010
SEO training video – Huzzah! workshop
Last week I presented intermediate SEO training at the July 19 Huzzah! workshop. I recorded it, and Jenn Matthews has very kindly let me release the video. The sound is awful, for which I apologize. I’ll be bringing an external mic with a filter for this week’s advanced SEO training. But, there’s still some good… Read More
Ian Lurie22 Jul, 2010
My followers are bigger than yours: On Twitter, quality beats quantity
I’ve been doing an unscientific study: Watching a random sampling of folks who retweet my blog posts, and then tracking the number of folks who respond to their retweets. As it turns out, on average you’ll get more visitors when someone with a moderate following retweets your post. I’m leaving out @GuyKawasaki, of course –… Read More
Ian Lurie21 Jul, 2010
9 stupid things a CMO did today
Chief Marketing Officers have an average tenure of about 6 months. In corporate terms, that’s somewhere between the duration of gnat’s belch and the time it takes my son to eat a slice of pizza. So they live under a lot of stress, and they’re constantly pushed to turn around flagging campaigns in days or… Read More
Tom Schmitz21 Jul, 2010
A Flavorful Blend, Yahoo! Organic Search, Now With 25% Bing
And so it begins… You may have heard that soon Bing will provide all the paid and non-paid search results in Yahoo. Or you may have heard some twisted version of this because the whole thing is so complicated. Personally, I like the Frankenstein imagery. Although it’s kind of cool to think of a Bing… Read More
Design & Development Ian Lurie20 Jul, 2010
Google Plays Nice: XML sitemaps, images, and a mystery
Last month, Google announced that they’re now accepting mixed-media XML sitemaps: You can put images, video and regular page URLs all into the same map. I saw this and rubbed my hands together while cackling maniacally. I could finally make sure that valuable images that clients paid for, or paid to have taken, would get… Read More
Elizabeth Marsten19 Jul, 2010
PPC Negative Keyword Tales
We all know what a negative keyword list is- the qualifiers around your keywords that you don’t want associated with your business or ads. Words like free, cheap, download and wholesale are quite popular and there are some great lists out there in the hundreds of common keywords you should be adding. But- when is… Read More
Ian Lurie15 Jul, 2010
Execute or Die
This is a rant. Anyone reading this, understand that you’re not the target. No specific person has done any one thing that made me crazy. I was born that way. But for the sake of future generations, corporate America, get it through your goddamned thick heads that talking, planning and philosophizing is 100% worthless if… Read More
Portent Staff13 Jul, 2010
To Sub-Domain or Not to Sub-Domain? That is the question.
Just a quick note, I hated Shakespeare in school. Once I was done with school, it became a fascinating series of life lessons and twisted, timeless comedies. In the battle of sub-folders vs. sub-domains I always fight in the name of sub-folders. Sub-folders have that magical power of creating a unique URL and inheriting the… Read More
Ian Lurie9 Jul, 2010
The On-Page SEO Cheatsheet
A Fat Free Guide member asked for an on-page SEO cheatsheet. I put it together and uploaded it early today, so that subscribers could download it. But I’m feeling generous, since it’s Friday and no air conditioners have flooded us out in 2 whole days, so here it is. If you’re responsible for writing articles,… Read More
Ian Lurie8 Jul, 2010
9 steps to SEO PR that won’t drive the PR team crazy
SEO PR is important. Having a press release ranking for the right phrase can be a real boost: It can occupy a top 10 ranking for your company name, thereby pushing down a site that says bad stuff about you and your brand. If hosted by a wire service, it may rank for a long-tail… Read More
Elizabeth Marsten7 Jul, 2010
Portent Floods Finally…From the Inside
Well, here we were waiting all winter long for the Green River to crest its’ banks, meet the black wall of sandbags that block the trail from nothing but people (since water goes around things afterall) and our patience was finally rewarded. OK, it’s not THAT bad, but it is rather inconvenient as we are… Read More
Ian Lurie7 Jul, 2010
Portent’s data protection program springs into action!
After this morning’s HVAC flood, we put our long years of planning to good use. Your data is safe with us:
Ian Lurie7 Jul, 2010
Customer Service Is Marketing
Update: Our landlord has done right by us since the rocky start. Their representative got repairs under way within a few hours, and while this week has been a real pain, we could potentially be back running at 100% Monday or Tuesday. I have to give credit where credit is due. On the everything-is-marketing theme,… Read More
Ian Lurie6 Jul, 2010
The Fat Free Guide Goes Live: $7/month (for now)
It’s aliiiive! Aliiiiiiiiiiiiive!!!! As I click ‘publish’, I’m launching my internet marketing training site, The Fat Free Guide to Internet Marketing. But, it’s not done. I’m trying something a little, er, different: I’m going to charge new subscribers based on how complete the Fat Free Guide is when they sign up. Right now, there’s only… Read More
Elizabeth Marsten6 Jul, 2010
Fun Facts & Tips About AdCenter and Yahoo Paid Search Alliance
Look out it’s coming, the rhymes with “bustercluck” search alliance known as Microhoo. Or as they like to call it “the creation of the unified marketplace.” As we paid search marketers are all aware, October is the intended date in which the Yahoo paid search interface will cease to exist and everything will be managed… Read More