October 6, 2008 by ian
You don't need to tell the public about your product and why it inspires you. You don't need any great, SEO-friendly content, either. Oh, yeah, don't worry about that connection to the entire blogging world. You don't need it, either. A place where you can quickly post messages about product changes, or news stories about your company? HAH! Who cares. Gasp. It might even let people talk to you. Directly. It'll be way too much work. It'll require, what, 45 minutes a day? It might generate traffic, and customers. And more customers requires more work, too. You don't need a…
Continue Reading Nah, You Don't Need A Blog »
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September 8, 2008 by ian
I'm speaking tomorrow at the IAMAW's Grand Lodge Convention about free speech and the internet. These are my remarks. I would GREATLY appreciate comments and feedback, today, so I can adjust if I'm about to say something moronic. So, a little detour today from internet marketing to freedom of speech. I'm a leftie, no doubt... Update: You should be able to watch me swallow my tongue tomorrow, around 9 AM EDT, via live streaming at this address: http://www.goiam.org/iamglc2008/video The internet can open up speech and communications like nothing else. It has the potential to let almost anyone speak out. But…
Continue Reading Internet Freedom of Speech »
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September 2, 2008 by ian
This is a live narration of my first test of Google Chrome: No Mac version? WTH?!!!!.... OK, I'll try it in Parallels (Windows running on my Mac): ...OK, it's stinkin' fast: Google Chrome started up Plurk, a javascript-heavy microblog, in just under 1 second. In Safari it took about 3 seconds. Hardly a big deal either way, but it's definitely handling javascript more efficiently. ...Google Reader load times are faster as well, by about 50%. Checking memory usage. Check this out. Chrome launches a separate process for each tab: Installing Flash now. Google Chrome seems OK with it. Gives me…
Continue Reading Google Chrome Test Drive - First Thoughts »
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September 1, 2008 by ian
Man, those guys at Google piss me off. Just when I think they might be getting a little stale, they go and announce a new web browser. And they get Scott McCloud, the brilliant author of Understanding Comics, to announce it in plain language and clear illustration in an online comic. And, just to really chap my hide as an entrepreneurial has-been, it looks like Google Chrome will be a major step forward in browser tech. You can read the comic to learn more, but here's the gist: Google Chrome will run javascript-heavy AJAX applications faster and better. That means…
Continue Reading Google Chrome Could Change Web Browsing »
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August 20, 2008 by ian
Sorry I'm not blogging as much as normal. I have a little project I'm working on, and it's taking a lot of time: The book isn't in print yet. Actually, I'm still writing my parts of it. I'll be back in blogging shape in no time, I promise.…
Continue Reading Internet Marketing for Dummies: Why I'm Not Blogging Much »
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August 14, 2008 by ian
I'm taking a brief break from internet marketing pondering and prognostication to vent a bit about words. Specifically, words that aren't actually words: Irregardless. Wait, so is that the opposite of 'regardless'? So, regardful? With regards? Oh, wait, it's not a word! Nuculer. Our wonderful President, as well as Jack Bauer, seem to know about a whole new form of energy. It's not 'nuclear', it's 'nuculer' or 'nooculer' or whatever the hell it's supposed to mean. Not a word! Like.. Like is actually a word. But it's not, like, supposed to be a, like, conjunction, you know? I abuse this…
Continue Reading 9 Words That Don't Exist »
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August 13, 2008 by ian
Sometimes, you just strike out. You spend a week researching that perfect link bait article, post it, get your friends to give you a Digg... And nothing happens. Nada. You can hear the crickets chirping as your boss or client winds up a kick that'll land you out on the street. Don't give up on that article just yet. Sometimes the payoff can come months, or even years, later. For example: I wrote a letter to Google way back in May. It even included a cute rodent pleading for its life. I published it, and grabbed the attention of…
Continue Reading Content's Long Tail, and Why It Matters »
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August 12, 2008 by ian
If you had, say, 1000 subscribers yesterday and 0 today, it's probably not you. At least 3 other bloggers are reporting the same issue:…
Continue Reading Feedburner Showing Zero Subscribers »
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July 23, 2008 by ian
Today's my 40th. My staff made me a Kit-Kat Parthenon birthday cake, complete with worshippers: They swore it had nothing to do with my age. Also, I'm going to Nova Scotia for 10 days. For 5 of 'em I won't even have cell access. So no blog posts for a bit. I shall return, more sarcastic and bitter than ever. Oh: All I want for my birthday, by the way, is more subscribers. Get on that will ya?…
Continue Reading My Birthday Cake, and a Blogging Break »
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July 22, 2008 by ian
You're marooned on a desert island. Miraculously, you've got plenty of food and water, and a laptop that's mysteriously connected to the internet. But you are only able to browse 3 blogs. What 3 would it be? And no cheating: You can't use Alltop, or Google Reader, or that kind of thing. As for me, I'd want: AgencyTart, assuming she doesn't abandon us all again. Smashing Magazine, so I could remain jealous of their success and ability. The Huffington Post, so I could keep up with the world and remember that being marooned isn't all that bad. How about…
Continue Reading What 3 Blogs Would You Take To A Desert Island? »
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July 13, 2008 by ian
Mary Anne Dorward is interviewing me on her BlogTalk Radio show this week, 7/15, at 9 AM: I'm very flattered. Her other interviewees include folks like Microsoft's CTO and the creator of the California Raisins (the cool dancing guys - if you don't know who they are, ignore me 'cause I'm old).…
Continue Reading On Blog Talk Radio 7/15 »
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July 13, 2008 by ian
Note: This post is utterly devoid of value. It's a venting rant. You have been warned. Here are seven tips that, if I hear them any more, may force me to stab myself in the face: 'Write what your readers want'. Really. Never would've thoughta that. 'Brand generates customer loyalty'. True since 0 BC, when my ancestors ignored a guy with much better branding. We've paid for it ever since. Why do folks say that and then puff up like they just revolutionized advertising? 'Write copy that attracts links'. Nah. I'm going to specifically write copy that repels links. I…
Continue Reading 7 "Tips" I Can't Stand Any More »
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July 3, 2008 by ian
I've been battling Movable Type. An epic struggle, really, over nofollow comments. But, I finally got it working. From now on, all author links on my blog will be 'dofollowed'. Andy Beard's posts on the subject persuaded me. It was one hell of a struggle though, and I think it's worth posting the procedure. Deactivating 'Nofollow' In Movable Type 4 First, make sure you don't have any old, leftover plugins from Movable Type 3: Log into Movable Type. Go to System Overview >> Plugins. Look for nofollow.pl. If it's there, deactivate it. Now, turn off the built in 'nofollow' tool…
Continue Reading How to: Dofollow Comments in Movable Type 4 »
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July 3, 2008 by ian
I'm trying to set my blog's comments to 'dofollow'. I've followed Andy Beard's advice, turned off nofollow.pl, etc. etc.. Yet links back to authors within comments still show as 'nofollow'. I've flushed the cache, rebuilt templates and I'm using Movable Type 4. Their documentation is slightly worse than useless. So I'm throwing myself upon the mercy of my readers: Has anyone managed to 'dofollow' their comment author links in Movable Type 4? If so, can you let me know what you did?…
Continue Reading "Dofollow" in Movable Type: A Cry For Help »
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June 30, 2008 by ian
Many bloggers try to take the high road, avoiding mocking the work of others. I have no such reservations. My creative lead pointed out that 2008 has, so far, been a truly great year for godawful advertising. So I'm stepping away from internet marketing for a moment to bring you the worst 5 ads of the year (and maybe of late 2007): Number 5: WAMU Wahoo! Anyone remember this one? Probably not, since it was immediately buried in a wave of layoffs and horrific financials. But it's painful nonetheless. I hope WAMU's CMO, if they have one, is either hiding…
Continue Reading 5 Worst Ads of 2008 (so far, give or take) »
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June 21, 2008 by ian
My wife's officially put up with my sarcasm and attitude for 10 years today. I'm happy. She's happy. We have two great kids. What else is there?…
Continue Reading 10th Anniversary »
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June 17, 2008 by ian
Firefox wanted to break the world record for downloads with their new Firefox 3 browser. Neat! I signed up for 'Firefox Download Day', which is today. I go to their site and see this: Can you give me a D’OH! My piece of internet marketing wisdom for today: If you want to try to break a download record, be sure you have the bandwidth and servers to handle it. Oh, and you might want to test, too. Update: 2 PM PDT - I just downloaded Firefox 3. It’s dang nifty so far. Although it did disable just about all of…
Continue Reading Firefox Goes for Record, Crashes Instead »
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June 12, 2008 by ian
If you're interested, I'm on Mike Corso's most excellent talk show on Talkshoe: Listen here…
Continue Reading I'm on Internet Radio »
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May 31, 2008 by ian
Read all updates here, on The Planet's discussion forums. If you host with the Planet, your site may be down now because of the fire. But they're right on top of it, and keeping everyone updated. FYI: If you use Entrecard, they're down because of this fire.…
Continue Reading News Flash: The Planet's Houston Datacenter Has Fire »
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May 30, 2008 by ian
There are sooo many awful business blogs out there, I figure folks must really want to create them. So, in 13 easy steps, here's how you write a terrible business blog, torpedo your internet marketing strategy, and gain the scorn of your customer base at the same time: Talk about yourself. Ooooh, this is a winner every time. Blather on about your latest product, how great you are, why readers should buy your stuff. Link to your own site a lot. Bore the heck out of 'em. I guarantee blog suckage within a week. Go negative. Tell everyone why your…
Continue Reading How To: Write a Really Crappy Business Blog »
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May 30, 2008 by ian
The level of suffering in Myanmar (Burma) is off the scale. Here's your chance to help a little bit. Distilled is running a competition. Write a great PPC ad for their benefit. Put it in a blog post about the Myanmar Cyclone Appeal campaign. Let's help out.…
Continue Reading Bigger Than Us: Benefit for Burma »
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May 29, 2008 by ian
I'm in some pretty good company on a new site called Voices of Search. Tom Schmitz sent me, Steve Rubel, Will Critchlow and Michael Gray a set of questions about search marketing, internet marketing and social media. I get to rant about the term 'social media', talk about SEO and other fine things. Have a look here.…
Continue Reading In August Company »
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May 21, 2008 by ian
Yes, it's May, it's 60 degrees and rainy out, and I now have a cold. Maybe winter just won't leave Seattle this year. As I'm feeling utterly lousy, I'll take the easy route and link to some great stuff other people wrote in the last few days: Tom Schmitz at my company wrote this great piece about competitive research in SEO. Rand over at SEOMoz did a Whiteboard Friday video about blogging your way to higher search engine rankings. Yo, Rand - when are you going to do an audio podcast?! Garr Reynolds of Presentation Zen fame wrote a great…
Continue Reading Link Day, 'Cause I'm Diseased »
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May 12, 2008 by ian
How do you differentiate between linkbait and debate? How's about "Don't"?! Last week I published a rebuttal to Shoemoney's riff on the death of SEO. Most of the world ignored it, which I'm used to. But I got a few responses that basically said "Ignore him, he's just linkbaiting". The way I see it, a smart post that incites discussion may be linkbait, but it's also a good post. And it deserves some debate. And I'm not about to ignore good posts (with which I don't agree, by the way) just because the author might get a few links. When…
Continue Reading One Man's Linkbait is Another's Debate »
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April 24, 2008 by ian
Brought to you by the same manic-depressiveness that generated 11 Internet Marketing Trends To Ignore. Here are 17 internet marketing things I will not write about: Twitter. I love Twitter, and spend a fair amount of time on it. But a quick search on Google shows 37,845 blogs posts in the last week. What. The. Hell. I think this story's been done, OK? Facebook's slow fall from grace as an advertising platform. I already wrote about this a while ago. Before most other folks. So nyah nyah. I don't need to write about it any more. What Jason Calcanis…
Continue Reading 17 Internet Marketing Things I Will Not Write About »
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April 22, 2008 by ian
I got nominated for a Blogger's Choice award (for best marketing blog). It says I nominated myself. But I swear, I didn't. If you like what you read here (you know, the writing I slave over, day in and day out), please click the badge and vote.…
Continue Reading Vote Early, Vote Often: Nominated for Bloggers Choice Award »
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April 20, 2008 by ian
The guys over at eVisibility sent me this cool t-shirt. The front is a series of disallow commands. The back reads 'rel=nofollow'. It's so geeky that two friends of mine who've spent most of their lives creating Linux software in their heads didn't get it. Thanks, Miguel and Stephen!!!…
Continue Reading SEO Geekery x100: Thanks, eVisibility »
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April 14, 2008 by ian
...if you ask me what the ROI on blogging is. I. Am. Sick. Of. That. Question. Seth Godin said it very well today. Few blogs earn a measurable sum of money. So, if you're in blogging for the wealth, give it up. My blog directly earns me $1.50/day. Seriously. That's it: One (cheap) Kit Kat. Possibly the Greatest Food Ever Invented So Why Blog? Yet I advise most of my clients to add blogs to their sites. And I can't seem to shut up on my blog, either. Why? Because blogs have some lovely side effects: They are networking tools.…
Continue Reading I'll Squish Your Head... »
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April 10, 2008 by ian
Ah, youth. 13 years ago I started my company with a spare room in my house, a credit card (limit: $1500) and a computer (Pentium 75 mhz, Windows 95). I was out of my ##@!)(@#$*!@@ mind. If I'd known then what I know now, would I have gone into this business? I don't know. But here's some wisdom I wish I had back then: No one has a clue how to market anything. We are all winging it. It's just that some are better at winging it than others. Corollary: Seth Godin, et al are brilliant about the high-level stuff.…
Continue Reading 38 Things I Wish I Knew When I Started In Marketing »
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April 1, 2008 by ian
I rarely do lists of links, but thought it worthwhile today. Some of these were jokes. Some, I just wish were jokes: Google lets you search the future... and e-mail back in time. Google actually went insane with the April Fool's jokes this year. Check out the list at Search Engine Land. Seriously guys, don't you have, like, a search engine to run or something? My company found Google's missing PPC clicks. Thank goodness. Problogger launches Pay Per Tweet. OK, this one suckered me, because Darren posted it yesterday my time, which was today my time, so it wasn't April…
Continue Reading April Fool's Roundup, 'cause I'm a Sheep »
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March 13, 2008 by ian
John Cass over at the PR Communications Blog posted an excellent, thoughtful piece about the Cluetrain Manifesto. His examination centers around (at least in my mind) two primary themes of the Manifesto: That companies need to 'get out of the way' and 'let the inevitable happen'. The 'inevitable' in this case is the formation of smarter, more dispersed markets via what we now call social media. And that command and control within a company is a bad thing that should go away. I won't rewrite John's points here. You can read his excellent post for yourself. I do have three…
Continue Reading The Cluetrain Manifesto, Critiqued by John Cass »
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March 7, 2008 by ian
OK Rand, it's time to join the Mac-erati. Danny Sullivan bought a Mac. Now it's your turn. Here's why: The Mac is stylish. It'll go with your keen fashion sense. It's a better computer (doh, I wasn't going to say that). You'll be able to drive Danny crazy by refusing to put stickers on your laptop. To make things easier, we're taking up a collection. If everyone in the search community donates $2 we can buy you a nice rig. Here's what we'll get you: Note that we're including Parallels, so that you can still get your Windows fix. Everyone,…
Continue Reading Help Rand Fishkin Join the MACerati »
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March 6, 2008 by ian
The last six weeks have sucked. Aside from SMX West, which was a nice, positive interlude, I've been dragging my rotting remains across a rocky, jagged waste filled with people who say things like "Your daughter just threw up again" and "Can you get me a breakdown of your hours for the last 5 months?". In that theme, I've written down 9 internet marketing questions that even God probably can't answer: Why are the Google rankings jumping up and down like my son on a sugar rush? Over the last few weeks, I've seen sites moving up 10 spots and…
Continue Reading 9 Internet Marketing Questions I Just Can't Answer »
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February 16, 2008 by ian
A few other blogs have picked up my XHTML Social Media Press Release template. Just a couple here: Reed Media DaveFleet.com If you're using the template and making changes, cool! Please send me your ideas, though, so I can continue to improve it.…
Continue Reading Social Media Press Release: Are You Contributing? »
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February 15, 2008 by ian
Sorry all. My now infamous burst discs have flared up rather badly. I'm uncomfortable and even grumpier than usual. Rather than show up at Ignite! and babble like a moron stoned on Vicodin, I've decided to skip it.…
Continue Reading Ignite! Seattle Appearance Cancelled On Account of My Spine »
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February 13, 2008 by ian
I wanted to say thanks. One year ago, Conversation Marketing received 3100 unique visits in February. This year, I've already got 8,200, and am on track to have 18,000 unique visits in February. Last year, I had 20 RSS subscribers (not tracked in Feedburner, so the graph below doesn't include it). This year, I have 550: While these numbers don't come close to, say, Darren or Rand, it's pretty darn cool. There's been no PR campaign, no advertising, no marketing. You all did it, by subscribing, commenting, spreading the word, etc.. The Question So, the question: What do you like…
Continue Reading Saying Thanks: Internet Marketing Requires an Audience »
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February 12, 2008 by ian
I'm going to be speaking at Ignite! Seattle next week (February 19). My topic: Build your own Internet Bullshit Detector. I won't give away too much, but the basic principles will be: Hairstyle is not a feature. If they can't communicate, run. Bold letters do not increase value. Nor does large type or the ability of a site to induce seizure. Bankruptcy does not equal experience. Stock is toilet paper until you sell it. If you feel dirty now, how will you feel in the morning? We get 5 minutes and 20 slides to communicate. If you want to…
Continue Reading Internet Bullshit Detector: Speaking at Ignite! Seattle »
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February 10, 2008 by ian
Truth is, I don't like 95% of SEOs, either. I make a habit of tearing down the fraudsters whenever p
