Yearly Archives: 2009
Ian Lurie27 Sep, 2009
10 Words on a Line, Please
Reading online ,10-15 words on a line is best. Don’t take my word for it anymore. I’m tired of arguing with you. Just go over and subscribe to the Designer Bookshop Newsletter. They’re design geniuses, and they say stuff like this: It is important that the columns are set to a length that is “proportional”… Read More
Internet Marketing Ian Lurie25 Sep, 2009
Call to action matters: Site Review #4
This week we review HealthyHalo.com. I focus in particular on the call to action, with a light sprinkling of SEO at the end: Call to action: CM Site review #4 from ian lurie on Vimeo.
Random Ian Lurie24 Sep, 2009
Things I learned this week
Google confirmed they ignore the keywords meta tag. Thank you thank you thank you! Seth Godin makes mistakes. At least, according to Danny Sullivan and Lisa Barone. And me, if it matters. You still rock, Seth, but own up, OK? Google will never, ever give up on social media and wiki stuff. I cannot care… Read More
Random Ian Lurie23 Sep, 2009
Google Sidewiki Hacks
Already found two useful hacks in Google Sidewiki, although I still wonder why it’s around. Make links work If you create a link in a Sidewiki entry, Google adds on some annoying extra stuff, so that: www.portentinteractive.com/services.htm becomes www.portentinteractive.com/services.htm&sa=D&sntz=1 That’s an invalid link, and it’ll give you a 404 error every time. The fix is… Read More
PPC Elizabeth Marsten23 Sep, 2009
Dear Google, Please Give Me Back My Money
Dear Google, I was going through my search query reports the other day and noticed that more and more I am seeing these broad match (session based) results. Interesting. I know that there is no opt out button for this and like my fellow SEMs am in a bit of an annoyed snit, but since… Read More
Featured Ian Lurie23 Sep, 2009
Google Sidewiki: Why?
Since no one at any major search engine gives a flying crap about me, I didn’t get an advance look at Google Sidewiki. This is an imaginary interview between me and the Google PR guy who, if he had given a flying crap about me, might have called to demo the tool: PR Guy: You… Read More
PPC Ian Lurie22 Sep, 2009
AdSense: Sometimes, Relevance Gets FUBAR’d
And now, a comedic interlude courtesy of Google AdSense: That FOREX trading banner showed up at the top of yesterday’s post, 10 Surefire Ways To Burn Money. If I’m the advertiser, I’m clicking ‘exclude’ in AdSense right now. Of course, most folks never even check their reports. Which is yet another great way to burn… Read More
Ian Lurie21 Sep, 2009
10 Surefire Ways To Burn Money
Hire one contractor to design your site, then send the development work to an offshore company. Guaranteed to produce a Frankenstein monster every time. Make your IT/development team build the entire site, with little or no input from the sales, marketing or fulfillment teams. You’ll spend at least twice the initial development cost on post-launch… Read More
Random Ian Lurie20 Sep, 2009
Set a 1-hour SEO Consult Appointment With Yours Truly
Want a 1-hour SEO consulting call with me? Use this widget: By the way, this uses a cool new site called Setster.
Featured Ian Lurie18 Sep, 2009
In SEO, Details Matter: Site Review #3
This week’s site review is OnlineFloorStore.com – a solid web site that needs an SEO tuneup. Michael Weigand and I reviewed it together: Site Review: SEO Details Matter from ian lurie on Vimeo. You can download it in full size, too from this link. Also, watch it all the way through for a shameless plug… Read More
Featured Ian Lurie17 Sep, 2009
The plague that is Powerpoint
I’m striking out against the grand tradition of Powerpoint-as-outline, aka Powerlines. They’re a fatal illness breaking out at conventions, conferences and in board meetings across the country. The authorities would like you to think this is all under control. But trust me, THEY WON’T DO ANYTHING until it’s TOO LATE, and we’re all barricaded in… Read More
Ian Lurie17 Sep, 2009
Speaking gigs: Wordcamp Seattle, REBlogworld
Just a couple of updates: I’ll be running a session at Wordcamp Seattle on 9/26. The session is called “Internet Therapy: Tough Love For Your Blog”. Send in your blog address in advance – I’ll choose a few and then conduct a live blog review for the group. Lots of discussion and questions. And, a… Read More
Ian Lurie14 Sep, 2009
5 Image Editing and Screen Capture Tools For Bloggers
If you’re serious about blogging, then at some point you’ll have to grab an image of your screen. And, in true Give-a-Pig-a-Pancake fashion, once you do that you’ll want to edit it. Then you’ll realize that video would be really cool. And so on. Screen capture: Snapz Pro X I’m probably old-fashioned here, but Snapz… Read More
Ian Lurie10 Sep, 2009
Here’s the thing about marketing…
…it’s only as good as the product you’re selling, and your knowledge of the product. See, I can write some great copy, and we can pull together a gorgeous web site, and then we can add all sorts of whiz-bang Web 300.0 stuff to it. We can make the cart really usable, too. And you’ll… Read More
Internet Marketing Ian Lurie9 Sep, 2009
Should I choose marketing or SEO?
Yes.