Just got my first-ever article published on Smashing Magazine: Getting Started With Defensive Design. Anyone who’s read this blog for a while knows I obsess about good web defensive design. I’m really excited that SmashingMag accepted this article. The folks there put in a ton of time helping me get the article ship-shape, and put [...]
Articles by Ian Lurie
Ian Lurie is founder and CEO of Portent Inc., an internet marketing agency that has provided internet marketing, including PPC, SEO, social and analytics services, since 1995. more >
What freakish and frumpy aircraft teach you about internet marketing
This is a rewrite of an old, old bit I wrote on the Portent web site way back when. It’s not the same. Nor are my feelings on the subject. The best internet marketing campaigns are the ones you don’t notice—they just do their job, delivering the stuff you need to your screen, when you [...]
Inconceivable! 4 signs your project’s in big trouble
In every internet marketing project, there comes a time when the team members look at each other and say some version of “We. Are. F—ked.” And the project manager, like our friend Vizzini above, will say some version of “inconceivable!” I’ve been on both sides of that exchange. You probably have, too. Here are a [...]
The secret to internet marketing success? ‘Because I said so’
I’m going to let you in a secret. It’s the One Big Thing you have to know if you’re going to run an internet marketing campaign. Sometimes, you have to say ‘Because I said so’. Part of leadership is willingness to go out on a limb—to make a decision that isn’t supported by consensus or [...]
If Google were in charge of the 5/21 Rapture
I couldn’t resist. Everyone else is on the bandwagon, so why not me? If Google were in charge of the Rapture scheduled for Saturday, 5/21: It’d be in beta for the next 4 years; They’d check your e-mail messages to see if you were eligible; Famous people would get to the head of the line, [...]
Keyword research that doesn’t suck – how to
“You own a shoe store? Then you should optimize for shoes.” I actually heard an SEO tell that to someone at a conference, many years ago. The hapless listener (let’s call him HL) owned a shoe store. I don’t know if the SEO involved: Hated HL; Wanted the property that HL’s store occupied; Was was [...]
The shame of linkus interruptus: 9 things to check before you click publish
Some new, some not—my pre-blog publication checklist. I don’t follow these as well as I should, but do as I say, not as I do: Check links. Make sure they work! I blow this one all the time. It feels really stupid. Spare yourself the embarrassment of linkus interruptus. Delete the 1st two sentences. Whenever [...]
3 rules of great copywriting, taught by Vogon poetry
Caution: Lots of ‘inside joke’ humor for Hitchhiker’s Guide readers in this post. If you haven’t read the books, consider moving on quietly while avoiding eye contact. Or, read it and see what you’ve been missing. Vogon Poetry, described in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy as “The third-worst poetry in the Universe”, is a [...]
New infographic: Internet marketing planner
I just finished a new chart. It maps out the typical steps I take when reviewing an internet marketing campaign for the first time. I was inspired by Julian Hansen’s So You Need A Typeface piece. While it doesn’t have every single step/channel/tactic in it, it does give you a high-level view of the various [...]
Stop crying, start writing: The Awl, The Atlantic, and Web Headlines
OK, everyone take a step back. Go to your corners. Breathe. Yesterday, David Wheeler published an article about web copywriting, SEO, and headlines: ‘Google Doesn’t Laugh’: Saving Witty Headlines in the Age of SEO is a great piece, and not just because he quotes me in paragraph 14. Then The Awl wrote this amusing little [...]
