Yearly Archives: 2011
Ian Lurie22 Feb, 2011
Book giveaway tomorrow at Searchfest
I’m speaking tomorrow at SEMPDX Searchfest. My topic: Building your search agency. I figure someone should learn from my pain. If you’re going to Searchfest tomorrow (and you should be), come up to me and say ‘hi’. I’ll even bribe you to do it: I’ll be giving out 30 copies of my book, Conversation Marketing,… Read More
Ian Lurie21 Feb, 2011
Trash the web sites: What Gawker (probably) said
Update: Read to the end for a graph that Rishil sent me, courtesy of Sitemeter. The data is hard to ignore: Gawker is literally designing themselves out of existence. Gawker. Media. Need I say more? They launched a new design for all their sites—LifeHacker, Gizmodo, etc.—a few weeks back. In doing so, they reduced their… Read More
Ian Lurie18 Feb, 2011
11 signs you’re not ready to run your own company
So, you want to run your own company? Check this list first. If you fit more than 4 of these, you might want to wait a while. You still have some growing up to do: Your ego is bigger than you are. You just have to be the smartest person in the room. Uh-oh. That’s… Read More
Elizabeth Marsten17 Feb, 2011
Taking the Microsoft AdExcellence Exam Part 5
Moving on to section #5 of the video series, Optimizing Ad Performance, we start to see the light at the end of the tunnel of this video series! Stay tuned for parts 6 & 7 to close out this marathon of AdExcellence. Campaign Optimization (6:01) The bottom line of this video is really is how… Read More
Ian Lurie16 Feb, 2011
Groupon’s days are numbered
Yesterday I wrote about how discounts are addictive, and can kill your business. The addictive nature of discounts is why I think Groupon should’ve sold to Google. Most of the businesses that use Groupon have no idea how to handle discounts as a marketing tool. So they fling deals out left and right. That leads… Read More
Ian Lurie15 Feb, 2011
Discounts: The Vicodin of internet marketing
Discounts are the Vicodin of internet marketing I’m not a fan of discounts as a core marketing strategy. Use them once in a while? Sure, that’s fine. Use them too often, though, and they’ll kill your business. See, they’re an addictive substance. An aside: Vicodin, addictive stuff, and why this matters Four years ago I… Read More
Featured Ian Lurie14 Feb, 2011
5 instant internet marketing upgrades
I’ve made a bet with myself that, by adding ‘instant’ and the number ‘5’, I will get triple the normal traffic to this post. If I win, I have to buy myself a chocolate bar. No fun intro today, so I’ll just get to it—five utterly random but simple little things you can do to… Read More
Doug Antkowiak14 Feb, 2011
Facebook Page Changes You Must Make Before You Upgrade
Facebook finally made the page design changes we all expected since their accidental upload in December. Tabs are gone, FBML is on the way out and pages can talk to other pages (hope you’re hungry for a tasty batch of Facebook Spam). Every Facebook marketer should be asking themselves, "When do I have to upgrade… Read More
Ian Lurie11 Feb, 2011
Companies need tension: Avoiding the ‘You Go’ effect
I had a discussion yesterday with Ed Lopit, one of the most insightful businessmen I know. That discussion led to this blog post. If you want to learn to master this stuff, talk to him I’ve been called a lotta things over the years. Most of them can’t be written on a PG blog. But… Read More
Michael Wiegand11 Feb, 2011
Studying for the Google Analytics IQ Exam
I cannot lie – The prospect of taking the Google Analytics Certification Test intimidated me. I know my way around Google Analytics well. I counsel clients. But Google has this way of concocting test questions that are just odd enough to make you question your answers. Would there be lots of questions on the code… Read More
Tom Schmitz10 Feb, 2011
Include SEO Early & Often in Your Web Projects
Use SEO early & often. Don’t make search engine optimization a discrete step in your project cycle. SEO: Not a Project Milestone Within a project, reaching a milestone means you finished an important and related group of tasks. Too often businesses isolate SEO as a separate project milestone, usually close to the end. Their project… Read More
Featured Ian Lurie9 Feb, 2011
Don’t be a literary prude: How to write with personality
I’m reading Writing with Style by John R. Trimble. If you want to learn to write with personality, this book’s a fantastic place to start. My favorite chapter so far is titled “Superstitions” and begins “This chapter concerns literary prudes.” In it, Trimble describes a few ‘rules’ for writing. I put rules in quotes because… Read More
Ian Lurie7 Feb, 2011
10 phrases that mean your blog post is worthless
I’m guilty of these myself. But I’m starting to see them show up more and more, on big sites (you know who you are) that are supposed to know better. Inevitably, these phrases are followed by a stock photo and 250+ words that basically repeat the same phrase, again and again. Then the writer gets… Read More
Elizabeth Marsten7 Feb, 2011
Google Places: Treat Tags & Boost Like Your PPC
Are you managing your own or your client's Google Places page promotion? If not, you probably should think about it. It all boils down to PPC type management in the end and if left to their own devices, you know what will happen. One person fills it out to the best of their ability one… Read More
Featured Ian Lurie7 Feb, 2011
10 tips for Larry Page
Yo, Larry. I know we go way back. So I’ve got a bit of business advice for ya: Keep your eye on the ball. Google’s been all over the damned map: Wave, for heaven’s sake? Focus on what you do well: Making tons of stuff findable. Keep spam in check. Right now, your rankings are… Read More