Yearly Archives: 2012
Michael Wiegand16 Aug, 2012
Google Analytics Remarketing Lists Beta: Quick Start Guide
Google AdWords (AW) Remarketing has been a brilliant tool from the outset, but let’s not kid ourselves – it’s a bit of a chore to set up. You have to generate yet another tracking code, tag various pages on your site with it and wait for those pixels to gather precious user cookies. Google –… Read More
Social Media Jack Martin14 Aug, 2012
Are You Making the Right First Impression on Twitter?
First impressions are important. I remember when I was younger; I met a girl on a cruise that was high class and a lot wealthier than I was. Ordinarily she wouldn’t have given me a second glance, but after I saved her from an ill-advised swim, we fell in love almost immediately, even though she… Read More
Featured Ian Lurie10 Aug, 2012
How to: Mine server logs for broken links
I’ve broken this out into lots of steps. You could do it all in one or two steps with a shell script or other geekery. I wrote this to keep each step simple, and get you into Excel as quickly as possible, instead. I’ve railed about fixing broken links for years now. I’ve presented webinars… Read More
Copywriting Ian Lurie7 Aug, 2012
10 stupid blogging mistakes I’ve made
During my mediocre bike racing career, a lot of my teammates raced wearing two pairs of shorts. I didn’t. Then I crashed, ripped out the entire right cheek of my lycra tuchus-cover, and had to finish the race with a gentle breeze wafting across my abraded buttock. From then on, I wore two pairs of… Read More
SEO Marianne Sweeny6 Aug, 2012
SEO: Trading Tactics for Craft
I just finished 3 intensive days at MozCon 2012. Not for intellectual sissies or social introverts, the days were spent listening to presentations, demonstrations and exhortations from a list of luminaries. There was something for everyone: link building is the road to perdition, how-tos on link building, agile all over the place, data modeling, crunching,… Read More
Jack Martin3 Aug, 2012
Mariners Social Media Night
Since moving downtown to the Smith Tower, Portent has been getting a lot more social in Seattle. So when we saw that the Mariners were hosting a Social Media Night on August 1st, we grabbed our smart phones and headed over. Social Media Night Many sports organizations have been early adopters of social media, and… Read More
Featured Jack Martin1 Aug, 2012
Win the (Brand NEW) Web Marketing All-in-One for Dummies Book
For months now, Portent CEO Ian Lurie and Director of Search Marketing Elizabeth Marsten have not slept. They have not eaten. They have missed out on critical episodes of True Blood. Why? Because they have been brewing brilliance with co-authors John Arnold, Marty Dickinson, and Michael Becker, developing the second edition of Web Marketing All-in-One… Read More
Social Media Ian Lurie31 Jul, 2012
Your social media routine – slides from the webinar
I did the 7th Portent webinar today. The topic: Your social media routine. I talked all about tying together tools like Pocket, If This, Then That and Buffer to make social media marketing more efficient. The handy-dandy link bundle is here. The audio file, for all you podcast listeners out there: [ Your social media… Read More
SEO Nick Bernard30 Jul, 2012
7 Strategies for Getting .edu Links
As a linkbuilder, I love college websites. What’s not to love? Sure, getting authoritative links from .edu domains can pass a ton of equity, but college sites have a lot more going for them: They’re varied. Opportunities exist for every vertical. They’re fresh. You can expect the primary pages to be updated regularly. There’s nothing… Read More
Chad Kearns30 Jul, 2012
5 Critical Tips for PPC Success for Small Businesses on a Budget
Small business owners on a tight budget need to stretch their PPC advertising dollars to get the most bang for their buck. However, there are countless money-sucking traps along the way that can derail your online advertising goals. Here are five critical tips for PPC success for small businesses on a budget. 1. Separate Networks.… Read More
Featured Ian Lurie26 Jul, 2012
Say what matters: My Mozcon 2012 presentation
These are the notes from my Mozcon 2012 presentation. I emphasize ‘notes’. There’s quite a bit of stream-of-consciousness going on here. If you want to see the presentation and supporting materials, instead, go to the bit.ly bundle, or check out the slides themselves, right here: I think the folks at SEOMOZ are mad at me.… Read More
Featured Ian Lurie25 Jul, 2012
Help us build the Idea Graph: A click is all we ask
If you want to skip the babbling and just sign up, click here, then install the app. Life is very random. You’ve probably noticed. For example, did you know that I like Marilyn Manson’s music, but I’m also a fan of Beethoven. I love to watch the NFL but not baseball. I like electric cars… Read More
Doug Antkowiak23 Jul, 2012
How to Optimize Your Google+ Local Business Page
As a note, this blog post was supposed to publish last month around the announcement of Google+ Local. Unfortunately, I’ve been expecting Google+ to magically fix itself and update our currently blank profile image to one of the images we submitted. We’re still waiting. From what I hear, we’re not the only ones suffering. Even… Read More
PPC Elizabeth Marsten19 Jul, 2012
Using Visitor Flow and Site Search in GA to Prove You Need PPC Landing Pages
How do you know when you should use a lander over a category or product page in PPC? Well, yes, you test. But let’s say you’ve tested between the two, but are stuck in a circle and would really like to test a category lander just for PPC and need some “evidence” to convince a… Read More
Ian Lurie18 Jul, 2012
On cycling, near-death experiences and content
I biked to work today. Which has nothing to do with this post, except that I biked back, too. My ride home includes a 500-foot climb that pitches up to a 10%+ grade in a few places. No big deal when I was 30 (or even 40). But now, at 44, with about 10 extra… Read More