Articles by Ian Lurie
Ian Lurie // 21 Dec, 2005
Have They No Shame?
I received an e-mail offer today from ‘Top Position’. It’s a perfect example of why so many folks don’t trust search engine optimization (aka SEO). It includes impossible promises, out and out fiction, and an opportunity to have your site completely banned without lifting a finger. Here’s the exact text: “We can put you at… Read More
Ian Lurie // 15 Dec, 2005
Watch AskJeeves
A couple months ago I started telling folks to watch AskJeeves, now that Barry Diller is at the helm. A quick update: Nielsen is reporting that AskJeeves has seen a 77% increase in search queries. They still only hold under 3% of the market, but at this rate they could theoretically surpass AOL in the… Read More
Ian Lurie // 14 Dec, 2005
2006 Advertising: Internet’s Up
Standard & Poor’s is predicting a terrible 2006 for every advertising medium except one: The Internet. It’s not hard to figure out why: With the focus on leaner/meaner/faster everything, the Internet is the logical marketing medium. It’s the only one where organizations can measure their audience, place an ad, and then measure exactly how well… Read More
Ian Lurie // 8 Dec, 2005
Yahoo and Me, We’re Like That…
At Chicago’s Search Engine Strategies expo (which I’ve never attended, by the way, but really want to someday), Yahoo’s Tim Meyer gave the a great overview of smart search engine marketing: Tim: “We basically treat [your site] as plain text. Use common HTML if you want the search engines to know what is on your… Read More
Ian Lurie // 1 Dec, 2005
2005: Online Marketing Tipping Point?
ZDNet has a new article up that refers to 2005 as the ‘turning point’ for online advertising. I look at 2005 as even more – it was a watershed year for online marketing. Organizations are catching on: In an age when consumers are skipping TV commercials, cancelling newspaper subscriptions and replacing their radios with iPods,… Read More
Ian Lurie // 16 Nov, 2005
Sometimes Silence Is Better
Sometimes you’re better off saying nothing at all: www.ralesforsenate.org/issues.html The page shows ‘under construction’ for his ‘issues’ page. All jokes about honest politicians aside, couldn’t someone have taken 2 minutes to write a few bullet points? The first rule of good Internet marketing or political speech: If you have nothing to say, say nothing. This… Read More
Ian Lurie // 13 Nov, 2005
SMPS Blogging Luncheon
Tuesday, November 15, I’ll be speaking to the Seattle Chapter of SMPS about blogs as a marketing tool. It’ll be pretty free-form, but I’ll cover what really makes a blog a blog, how to decide if you need one, and a few do’s and don’ts… You can get the full information at http://www.smpsseattle.org/calendar/111505.html
Ian Lurie // 19 Oct, 2005
Another Term Opportunity Slips Away
Dang, looks like I missed another chance to coin a trendy term and make millions. Apparently Micropublishing is the new wave in advertising. Apparently that’s using blogs as an advertising vehicle. Put another way, it’s all about buying ads on lots of small, topical sites and then measuring the return. What a shock. Excuse me… Read More
Ian Lurie // 14 Oct, 2005
Everyone’s A Barometer, Too
Seth Godin’s latest ebook, Everyone’s an Expert (On Something) states that the current version of the Web “is about enabling people to share meaning.” The many blogs, customer reviews and online bids are ways that individuals share the meaning they attach to something. Hence, he says, everyone’s an expert about something. His upcoming service, Squidoo… Read More
Ian Lurie // 4 Oct, 2005
ROI Article in Direct Magazine
My article on measuring Internet ROI made it into this month’s Direct Magazine. You can read it at this address. But my obsessive compulsive side is coming out, and I can’t help but point out that Direct could improve their production standards a bit. On my trusty Powerbook, running Mozilla FireFox as my web browser,… Read More
Ian Lurie // 4 Oct, 2005
Internet Marketing: Tools or Message?
What is it about Internet marketing that has everyone so confused? Not the technology – you can always find folks to explain that. Not the creative, either. It’s how you blend them that drives marketers and technologists nuts. It’s a division between the creative and the technical. Some folks see their web sites as big… Read More
Ian Lurie // 28 Sep, 2005
Conversation Marketing Breakfast #3
Just wanted to let everyone know that my next Conversation Marketing Breakfast is next Wednesday, October 5, at 7:15 AM. The topic this time will be, appropriately enough, Conversation Marketing. If you’re looking for a chance to see how the whole Internet Marketing equation comes together, this is a good one to attend. The discussion… Read More
Ian Lurie // 15 Sep, 2005
Instant Search, and Return on Investment
Yahoo has added this nifty new instant search feature. You can check it out here. Really, it’s nifty. It also looks like a monumental waste of money. Here’s why… Yahoo probably expended a fair amount of time and money on this tool. It shows you best match for a given search, before you even click… Read More
Ian Lurie // 30 Aug, 2005
Stupid Google Adwords Tricks
Yup, it’s ranting time. Why are the biggest online players the worst online marketers? I don’t know the ‘why’ but I can sure prove the ‘what’. Here’s a story of Yahoo and GoDaddy wasting pay-per-click dollars like they owned their own mint. It’s also a great story of what not to do. I was searching… Read More
Ian Lurie // 30 Aug, 2005
RSS Made Easy
Seth Godin gives some good hints for using RSS in his recent post, What’s RSS?. He left out one important, really easy tool, though – no cutting-and-pasting required. Install the Mozilla Firefox web browser on your computer, and whenever you use Firefox to visit a site that’s correctly configured, you’ll see a nifty little icon… Read More