Internet Marketing

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… Read More

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… Read More

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… Read More

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… Read More

“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… Read More

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… Read More

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… Read More

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… Read More

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… Read More

First things first: I have law degree. I’m not a practicing lawyer. I am not giving legal advice. Nor can I. This is, instead, common-sense advice as a social media nerd. Your staff are all over the internet. You know that, right? They’re writing stuff on Facebook. And on Twitter. They’re blogging, too. Best case?… Read More

You’re a plumber. You want to rank #1 for ‘Seattle plumbing’. That means you have to write interesting content about plumbing, in Seattle, every 2 days, for the next year. All you can think is “Oh crap oh crap oh crap oh crap.” Well, Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain (ex-college professor) laughs at your silliness. You… Read More

A quick update: A lot of folks are e-mailing/IMing/Tweeting me that I ‘outed’ FTD. I didn’t out anyone. The New York Times sent 6000 suspect links to Google a while ago. And the Seattle Times contacted Google while writing this story. All I’m doing is analyzing what folks said in light of the link profile.… Read More

I make no promises. But I suspect if you do some of this stuff, your customers will thank you. Or, they won’t notice the stuff that used to make them curse you: Make every page on your site load 1 second faster. Start by taking every image on your site and compressing it. Please. It… Read More

A big part of problem solving is stepping away from the problem. Whether you’re writing code, writing a book or trying to figure out why a web site isn’t generating sales, there comes a point where your brain over-saturates and needs a good wringing out. Here are some common signs you need a break: You… Read More

Never underestimate the Marine Corps. Here’s one of their reading lists: Yep. Ender’s Game. One of the greatest pieces of science fiction ever written. On the US Marine Corps. reading list. That is awesome. The Marines do more with less than any other branch of the military. They do it, in part, by encouraging creativity… Read More