Articles by Ian Lurie

Total. Mind. Meltdown. I’d do a brilliant insightful post today, I’m sure, except that today’s events, professional and media-related, combined with my concussing myself with a bicycle rack yesterday, have left me a gibbering idiot. Or brought out the gibbering idiocy that normally lies just beneath the surface. Or something. So instead, here’s a little [...]

Google has let their subscription to the Twitter firehose expire. That means Twitter’s gone from real-time search, for certain. Actually, it appears real-time search is just gone. I don’t see ‘latest’ any more: I’ve never been a fan of real-time search: As I said in 2009, a real-time stream of poo is still poo. The [...]

I must eat crow now. Not tasty, breaded and fried, but vaguely icky, with feathers still stuck to it. I dissed Google+ the moment it came out, in part because it failed—it vomited everywhere when I tried to sign up. But now that I’ve used it for a while, I have to say that it’s [...]

I just tried to sign up for the Google+ notification list. This is what I got: In case you didn’t know, Google+ is Google’s latest attempt to break into social media. Judging by the result, I think it’ll easily eclipse… Google Buzz.

Google rolled out their latest Toolbar PageRank update today. Yawn. I said it was stupid last year. I’ll say it again this year. Toolbar PageRank is 50% meaningless, 25% misleading, 20% useless and 5% worth tracking. It has slightly more impact than Google +1. Here’s why I wouldn’t use it to measure page value if [...]

What makes Steve Jobs so damned compelling? What about Seth Godin? Howard Stern? Richard Feynman? (choke) Rush Limbaugh? They’ve found Marketing Nirvana: The place where their beliefs and their product match up. I’m not saying this as a pile of wishy-washy marketing-psychobabble crap. Marketing nirvana is on your to-do list. It’s on mine too. If [...]

It’s no secret I’m a Google Analytics fan. But Google Analytics version 5, coming soon to a browser near you, addresses some major shortcomings. Here are ten features you’ll want to check out, the moment they’re available: 1: Multi-touch attribution Important note: This is a separate beta and is rolling out on its own. So [...]

AppSumo has taken a real liking to Portent’s e-books. Today, they’re offering all of our e-books: Conversation Marketing The SEO CopyWriting e-book The Fat-Free Guide to Google Analytics PPC for Small Business (a two-book series) For a total of $25. You can get it here: AppSumo Online Marketing eBook Bundle Posting later today: 10 things [...]

Tomorrow I’m going to be speaking to the ONA/SPJ meetup about SEO and social media. ONA is The Online News Association). SPJ is the Society for Professional Journalists. My typical relationship with journalists and their editors goes like this: Ian is a cockroach, only less evolved. Ian isn’t a bad guy, but he’s going to [...]

On my vacation last week, I got to go sailing. I’ve sailed since I was 12. In the last 15 years, I’ve only gotten to do it every 2-3 years, at best, but I at least know my port from starboard. I sailed a boat called a Hobie Wave: (image from hobiecat.com) We nearly ended [...]