September 1, 2010 by ian
I presented yesterday at the SEOMOZ Pro Seminar. I had the incredible misfortune of going right after Rand Fishkin, aka SEO Rockstar, aka He of the Fashionable Wardrobe. But it was still a blast. It was one of a bunch of great moments at my first Mozinar. I heartily recommend it to anyone looking to really learn SEO. Here's why: You'll learn real stuff. Every presenter comes on stage with executable to-do's and examples. I've never attended a training seminar that delivered as much hard information in a short timespan. I learned new stuff. I'm not saying that to somehow…
Continue Reading 5 reasons to go to the SEOMOZ Pro Seminar next year »
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August 27, 2010 by ian
It's true. As egos go, mine is a bit small, damp and non-resilient. So, when I search for my own name on the web, it's mostly to see who's writing mean things about me and making ready to defend myself. Years ago, I set up a page on Wikipedia, so that someone I knew in 7th grade couldn't come along and write about how, at that age, I looked like ET with a wig. Imagine my surprise, then, to find out that I'd been marked for death speedy deletion: Note that I check in on my Wikipedia account about once…
Continue Reading Monday, I could be dead: Marked for speedy deletion »
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August 16, 2010 by ian
Per my post of a few minutes ago, I can laugh at simple-minded content thieves. But, as I've said in the past, so-called 'professional marketers' who steal other agencies' sites and copy need to go to a special circle of Hell. Today, I bring you Caerus Digital, an agency apparently located in New Jersey, not far from where I grew up. Here's their home page, with stolen text highlighted: I found them with my traditional search-for-the-first-sentence trick. But then a little voice in my head said, hey, this looks familiar: So I suspect they actually lifted our entire site design,…
Continue Reading It's plagiarism day! Part 2: An agency steals everything »
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August 16, 2010 by ian
I love people who steal my stuff. Sometimes, I can't think of any clever blogging ideas. So I go to Google, do a quick search and wham, some idiot not only stole my article but also hotlinked directly to my images. So, I use my handy anti-plagiarism 3-step process and replace an image or two, and voila! Instant entertainment: The butthole, in this case, is apparently some guy named Dave Sweeting, or someone pretending to be Dave Sweeting (giving him benefit of the doubt). Now, I figure they posted this article and said "Hey, Ian will contact me first. In…
Continue Reading It's plagiarism day! »
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August 10, 2010 by ian
I spend a lot of time worrying about writer's block, and an equal amount of time coming up with ideas for blog posts and articles. Here are 10 more I've used a few times: Write about the latest silly thing a celebrity did. If Mel Gibson just stuck his foot in his mouth again, write about it. Connect it with what you do: If you're in customer service (who isn't?) maybe tell folks they should always pretend they're being recorded. You get the idea. Answer the buttheads. Someone out there said something that ticked you off. Answer them. Don't do…
Continue Reading 10 more ideas for blog posts »
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July 22, 2010 by ian
I've been doing an unscientific study: Watching a random sampling of folks who retweet my blog posts, and then tracking the number of folks who respond to their retweets. As it turns out, on average you'll get more visitors when someone with a moderate following retweets your post. I'm leaving out @GuyKawasaki, of course - one tweet from him can crash entire server farms. Here's the results in a nutshell: How this got started I started collecting this data after someone (call him @Spammyguy) with 32,000 followers retweeted 10 tips for publishers. I'm not an idiot, and I knew he'd…
Continue Reading My followers are bigger than yours: On Twitter, quality beats quantity »
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July 15, 2010 by ian
This is a rant. Anyone reading this, understand that you're not the target. No specific person has done any one thing that made me crazy. I was born that way. But for the sake of future generations, corporate America, get it through your goddamned thick heads that talking, planning and philosophizing is 100% worthless if you don't do stuff, and do it right. Execute. Or die. Helpless turds It seems like I can't sneeze without infecting some slack-jawed 'leader' who just steepled his fingers and said "I'll take that under advisement" or "Let's put that on the list for…
Continue Reading Execute or Die »
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July 7, 2010 by ian
After this morning's HVAC flood, we put our long years of planning to good use. Your data is safe with us:…
Continue Reading Portent's data protection program springs into action! »
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July 3, 2010 by ian
If you can't cut-and-paste and do it right, you're really short on skills. Here's someone who stole an entire page from The unFun Parent, a site that's only 4 days old, and left in the image with my name on it. Clearly he/she is using a scraper. That doesn't make them any less of a loser, though. It's so pathetic that, on a mellow Saturday morning, I almost don't want to belt whoever did this in the mouth. Oh, wait, I lied. I still want to kick your teeth in, whoever you are. Cheers!…
Continue Reading You know you're a loser when you suck at plagiarism »
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July 2, 2010 by ian
I just published a new book: The UnFun Parent. It's all about internet safety for kids, and how we as parents can help keep our kids safe and smart without yanking every cable out of the wall and putting our kids in walking Faraday cages. You can buy it on Lulu.com: $10 for the paperback, $5 for the e-book. I've launched a blog to go with it at unfunparent.com. Where the book came from About six months ago, my sister-in-law and her wife said "Ian, you should write a book on kids' internet safety, for parents." I don't know why,…
Continue Reading My latest project: Internet safety for kids as the 'UnFun Parent' »
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July 1, 2010 by ian
I suck. I really do. I've managed to miss the deadline (today) to launch the first unit of the Fat Free Guide: SEO training. Stuff like running a business, cleaning litter boxes, changing guinea pig cages, speaking at conferences and such got in the way. I tried to cut back on sleep and food, too, but that backfired horribly, with me sleeping 4 hours/night and eating KitKats in an attempt to stay awake. The site's 90% ready to go. But at this point it's sleep and care for the menagerie, or end up dancing in my underwear on the Seattle…
Continue Reading SEO training package: Delayed »
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June 29, 2010 by ian
I'm seriously considering switching my RSS feed to use excerpts instead of full posts. I hate excerpting - I really do. But I need to try some things to improve the meager ad revenue I get (about $250/month, now). Given the choice between pissing off every Conversation Marketing reader or making another $150/month, though, I'll opt for keeping the readers happy. So, please answer the poll below: If Ian switches to excerpt-only RSS updates, I will...online survey You can help me be as spineless about excerpts as my city government is about replacing the Viaduct.…
Continue Reading Poll: RSS excerpts vs. full posts »
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June 22, 2010 by ian
It's time for an intervention. Ignore the influencers before you turn into a sheep. Then: 'They' in limited doses Think way, way back, to before Facebook. The internet was still pretty much a nerd hang out. Sure, everyone tried eBay, or used Amazon.com, but sites like MySpace were for young folk, musical acts and pedophiles. Everyone else stayed out. Back then, great sources like talk radio, the evening news, our teachers and friends and maybe even a newspaper told us how to think. Two, maybe three times a day we'd get a nice dose of mass media. Then we'd…
Continue Reading Ignore the influencers: The dangers of a social media world »
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May 26, 2010 by ian
Every now and then, I start to feel optimistic. Civilization might actually last. We haven't blown each other up. We're inventing cool stuff. And Iron Man 2 didn't suck. Then something comes along to remind me that we are. all. doomed. Exhibit A: A snail mail mistake that required a procession, nay, a parade of stupidity. And all the nubwits had to be exactly in sync to make it happen: Scene 1: Storm clouds loom Today, I received an envelope from a lawyer: I get these now and then. It's how the Universe recounts my moments of head-thumping idiocy: Times…
Continue Reading The Stupid Shall (not) Rule The Earth »
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May 22, 2010 by ian
Michael Surkan was kind enough to invite me onto his radio show with Charlotte Wintermann. As usual, I was the big mouth in the show. You can listen in here:…
Continue Reading News flash: I have strong opinions »
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April 21, 2010 by ian
So, with Facebook's big Open Graph announcement, I decided to create a 'Like' button. This likes my whole blog. So, if you like my blog, show it! Click the button: I'll be writing a bit about Open Graph and why I think it's important, too.…
Continue Reading Facebook Open Graph: I try a Like button »
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April 15, 2010 by ian
I've got a problem with blogging. I've been out here for about, what, 5 years or so now, writing blog posts on various sites, offering advice, etc.. I'm a huge proponent of supporting the community through education. In the last 3 years I've written 800+ posts. Not a ton, but respectable. That sucks up about 1 hour per day, on average, 7 days a week. Sometimes it's less, sometimes it's more. But, even though I've written about how your blog can make money, and I can trace a nice group of clients back to this site, I have doubts. If…
Continue Reading I have a problem with blogging »
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April 9, 2010 by ian
A couple of weeks ago I wrote about how your blog should be on your business web site. Holy crap, was that a mistake. I immediately started getting smart-ass comments about how my blog (this one) isn't part of my company's web site. Then last night Rand called me out, heckling me from the audience at SMCSeattle. Hmph. I'll have you know there are very good reasons I have this blog in a separate location. I can write slightly harsher stuff than I would want to put on Portent Interactive's web site. Clients find Conversation Marketing, of course, and I…
Continue Reading Why my blog isn't on Portent.com »
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April 5, 2010 by ian
This is pure venting. Just a warning - not much to learn about the nitty-gritty of internet marketing in this post. Test out this scenario - tell me if it seems familiar: You're in a meeting. Your pulse is becoming audible as you try, for the fifth time, to explain why the company needs to venture into blogging, and how easy it is. Once again, someone in the room raises a legal/paranoid/outdated/technical or other argument and shoots it down. You answer, calmly, as your brain starts running around in your head, shrieking OH GOD LET ME OUT OF HERE.…
Continue Reading It's OK to give a crap »
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April 1, 2010 by ian
I realized at about 1 AM that I'm so routinely full of crap that there was pretty much no way anyone would believe any April Fools joke I tried. I did have a lot of ideas, though: Redirect my site to someone like The Internet Shark, because I'm such an admirer. He, after all, does have The System That Makes Bank On Google. Announce that I'm quitting Portent Interactive and Conversation Marketing to become a cat farmer. I decided that was too believable, and tabled it. Send out a press release announcing we'd been acquired by Ogilvy. But I got…
Continue Reading 10 April Fools I thought of doing, then gave up »
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March 31, 2010 by ian
I sit here, day after day, slaving over a hot keyboard... OK that's not true. I like blogging, and I love speaking. I'm speaking at PubCon South in a few weeks. It costs me a lot of money to fly down there, stay in a hotel, drink beer, etc.. So, I have a favor to ask: The PubCon folks gave me a 20% off discount code. If you register and use this code - rc-2215720 - you get a discount, and I get a little affiliate fee. If I can get maybe 10 of you to buy tickets using the…
Continue Reading PubCon South discount code: Help me pay my plane ticket »
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March 29, 2010 by ian
Michael Surkan interviewed me for his Entrepreneurs Northwest podcast on Friday. We talked internet marketing, SEO and the like. The real takeaway: It's still work, sorry guys. You can listen to it here. Sorry for the sound quality - not sure what happened there...…
Continue Reading In internet marketing, there are no silver bullets: Entrepreneurs NW Podcast »
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March 17, 2010 by ian
It's time to play Stump Ian. If you have an internet marketing question, fire away in the comments, below. I'll choose questions and answer them in post in the coming days and weeks. If you don't want the question published, just let me know in the comments. Thanks!…
Continue Reading Got an internet marketing question? Ask. »
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March 16, 2010 by ian
You know what's really hard? Finding original stuff to write about. I'm at my 3rd conference in 4 weeks. The presenters are great. And the attendees who are hearing it for the first time are getting a lot out of it. But it's all been said before. And before that. And maybe even before that. You can only hear "Optimize your title tags" and "The important thing in blogging is to start writing" so many times before you feel like you're in a Twilight Zone episode. Now I'm sitting in my hotel room trying to come up with something…
Continue Reading Finding original stuff »
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March 12, 2010 by ian
March 12, 2010, Seattle, WA - Ian Lurie, CEO of Portent Interactive B-list SEO geek, has catapulted himself into the limelight by suing every business using words that contain 'ian'. The lawyer-turned-marketer wants all businesses using words containing 'ian' to request permission, first. According to documents leaked to the media, Ian's lawsuit claims he's had his reputation unfairly smeared by publications such as Wikipedia: Law scholar Febrile Ezureis stated this suit could have far-reaching implications. "Never mind the Lindsay Lohan suit against E-Trade. This could mean marketing copywriters everywhere will have to buy a thesaurus. Imagine if you can't use…
Continue Reading Breaking news: Ian Lurie filing suit for use of 'ian' »
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March 5, 2010 by ian
Plot synopsis: Drunk Google engineer, me trapped in window seat, 90 minutes stretches out like years. That's the short version. Here's the long one: Have to give Rand Fishkin credit for the title 'Captain Crazy Pants'. Rand was sitting across the aisle and heard some of the goings-on, so you can check with him to verify I'm full of truthiness. Last night as I boarded my flight home from SMX West, a somewhat twitchy guy sat down next to me. He was pretty big, and all elbows. I hunkered down, ready to play compress-the-body-bubble until we got to Seattle. No…
Continue Reading Captain Crazy Pants and the Flight to Nowhere »
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February 24, 2010 by ian
Lucky for all of us, I'm a pathetic weakling. Still, I am blogging angry. Furniture-throwing, people-punching, burn-your-business-to-the-ground and then watch you weep over the ashes angry. Your typical plagiarism I can deal with. I booby-trap pages and send pissy e-mails. I'm OK with all of this. Most of these people are stupid - they're using scrapers, etc. without bothering to learn how they work. But 'professional marketers' who brazenly steal content for their own company sites are different. They're evil. They're not qualified marketers and they know it. To fool unwitting potential customers, they steal someone else's copywriting. So, scumbags,…
Continue Reading Content thieves: I want to punch you in the face »
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February 14, 2010 by ian
Remember how I once said I'm not mean, I'm just angry? Well, this is definitely one of those times when I go from 'just' angry to 'volcano' angry. A while back, Scott Hendison, an SEO down in Portland, caught a company (who shall remain nameless) being a bit naughty in the SEMPDX discussion forums, which he moderates. Scott tweeted about it, then called the company. The guilty party was less than contrite, but that could've been the end of it. Except the company then proceeded to forge negative reviews of Scott's SEO consulting firm. At that point, I would've been…
Continue Reading Thou Shalt Not Mess With Each Other's Client Lists »
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February 10, 2010 by ian
When Google announced Google Buzz, I groaned. Another tool to work with. Another reputation management timebomb. Another place for people to spam me with ridiculous miracle marketing plans. I have a modest proposal: Let's kill all social media platforms save 1 or two. I don't even care which ones. Just kill any duplicates. I mean, is Plurk ever really going to take over Twitter's marketshare? Is Myspace going to miraculously rise from the grave and crush Facebook? No. But every me-too launch of yet another social media knockoff means another place I have to track, or another $5 Streko's going…
Continue Reading What we need is a social media monopoly »
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February 9, 2010 by ian
I'm one of the panelists tonight for SEMPDX's Link Building Six Pack. I feel I must warn everyone that, after driving down here, while eating a McDonald's lunch and listening to SEO Rockstars on Webmaster Radio, I'm feeling a bit, er, cursey. Is that a word? I'm not sure. Anyway: Tonight's presentation will be PG13. Bring children or heightened sensibilities at your own risk.…
Continue Reading Presenting tonight at SEMPDX event »
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February 5, 2010 by ian
This is really, really geeky stuff for a Friday. Plus, I had to dig waaaay back to my college Sociology courses to figure it out. You've probably heard a lot about the fact that a person can only maintain relationships with 150 people before their brains are frappe'd into cottage cheese. It's a valid assumption. Try to keep actively in touch, day-to-day, with more than 150 people. It's hopeless. That 150-person limit is called Dunbar's Number. It's like the speed of light (C, if you're a hardcore geek): Current physics says you can't exceed the speed of light. You get…
Continue Reading Dunbar's number and warp drive: Building your social network beyond 150 »
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February 1, 2010 by ian
I'm probably way too excited about this, but hey, it's stuff like this that compensates for lots of nights writing blog posts. Thanks to everyone who voted for my post, 10 Questions to evaluate a social media 'expert'.…
Continue Reading 2010 SEMMY Winner: You like me! You really really like me! »
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January 30, 2010 by ian
Rey Ybarra of the New Media Radio Hour interviewed me last week. Here's the recording, if you want to listen:…
Continue Reading My BlogTalkRadio Interview with Rey Ybarra »
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January 28, 2010 by ian
Blake Cahill of Visible Technologies invited me to present tomorrow in the first of his 2010 webinar series. The subject: The disappearing divide between search and social. I'm going to talk about how you use social media to boost your SEO efforts. Plus, I guarantee at least one photograph of a smug lemur. Really. You can register here: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/807915257…
Continue Reading Webinar tomorrow: The disappearing divide between search and social »
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January 25, 2010 by ian
There have been a lot of rumblings lately about eHow, one of many massive content farms, hurting their writers' revenue. Accusations include: Copying articles from the US site (where writers get paid for pageviews) to the UK site (where they don't); Keeping their payment algorithm a mystery, so no one knows how or why they earn what they do; Mucking with the payment algorithm to reduce writer payments; Deleting negative comments in the writers' forums in an attempt at spin control. Side note: What is eHow? Read Rishil's article Content Farms - The Who, What, and The Why, for…
Continue Reading eHow, I call bullshit »
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January 25, 2010 by ian
My post, 10 Questions to Evaluate A Social Media 'Expert', is in the industry section finals of the Semmy Awards. If you know what the Semmys are, you know why I want to win. If you don't, then just trust me it's about time that I stop being the Susan Lucci of the SEO world, k? Vote here: http://www.semmys.org/2010/industry-2010-finalists/…
Continue Reading Vote for me in the Semmys. Pretty please? »
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January 21, 2010 by ian
Mark Anderson created a great comic about blogger's block (bloggage, in my own unique language). It's fun to look at, but more important, he points out great, time-honored tricks for any creative type who's stuck for an idea. I've used them from time to time and they're lifesavers: Combine, like I sometimes do with my big lists of ideas; Exaggerate, which I've been doing since birth; Reverse, like when I talk about things to do to wreck your corporate blog; Anthropomorphize, which I don't do much. At all; Expose unspoken truths; Modernize, which is all we ever do. Go read…
Continue Reading Six Stunning Secrets to Blogging Like a Cartoonist »
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January 15, 2010 by ian
Todd Mintz interviewed me for Search Engine Journal. The interview includes nuggets like: "when I meet them I get an immediate desire to hit them with a chair. It's some kind of superpower, I guess." and "It all comes together eventually. I hope. Cough." Great reading if you want heckling material for when I speak at SEMPDX Searchfest. Read the interview here. You can follow Todd Mintz on Twitter at ToddMintz. Recommended reading!…
Continue Reading Interview on Search Engine Journal »
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January 7, 2010 by ian
Today's post is more of an observation than anything else. Now that I'm back on the bike, I've started training using videos from a clever company called Sufferfest Studios. Their videos are... ...hard to describe, unless you're a cyclist. Basically, they're training videos make you mash the pedals until you're ready to vomit. I'm not going to try to explain the why of it right now. The important lesson is this: As I was churning away on my bike, gasping for breath during yet another hard interval, it dawned on me: The Sufferfest videos are mashups! Sufferfest Studios has mixed…
Continue Reading Mashups are everywhere »
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January 7, 2010 by ian
Who's Blogging What put together a cool survey regarding social media. It's got all the smart people in the business, plus me: Social media collective wisdom survey 2010…
Continue Reading Social Media Collective Wisdom Survey: 2010 »
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January 5, 2010 by ian
I just guest posted on Knowem's blog about Google Real Time Search, and the fact that they've created the ultimate smear weapon. Check it out here.…
Continue Reading Google Real Time Search Screws Reputation Management »
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January 4, 2010 by ian
It's a shock, I know. What IS shocking is just how accurately Dan Zarella's new tool, Tweetpsych, has me pegged: You can see the full profile here: tweetpsych.com/?q=portentint. PS: Dan also has a nifty book on social media, which you can buy here…
Continue Reading I'm an educational, anxious, negative control freak: So says Tweetpsych »
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December 14, 2009 by ian
I may not be able to summon sufficient grumpiness for a while. I came home today, and my family had gotten me 2 kittens as a surprise Hanukkah present: Better photos eventually when I can get them to stand still.…
Continue Reading Kitten alert »
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December 14, 2009 by ian
We're in a quickie culture, and I'm sick of it. Just once, I'd like to see a businessperson or marketer interested in building truly lasting wealth or a lasting organization. "Lasting" means "past my next bonus check" or, God forbid, "past my retirement/death". Seriously. The last few years have brought us credit default swaps, collapsed banks and a bunch of Mariner's trades that make you wonder what they're pumping into the vents at Safeco Field. Gotta put a stop to it. Or buy an island somewhere and build a bunker on it. How you break out of quickie culture…
Continue Reading I'm sick of quickies - a marketing rant »
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December 7, 2009 by ian
I need to clear the air. I. am not. mean. Ask my kids. While I may have the title "The un-fun parent" (see below for a full explanation) they've never accused me of meanness. Lately, whenever I get on the phone with a new consulting client, or do a site review, or meet someone at a conference, they end up saying "Wow, you're a pretty nice guy!" That's fine. It's the tone of shock and surprise that makes me furrow my brow. So I want to explain why I write the way I do on this blog, and why my…
Continue Reading I'm not mean. I'm just angry. »
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December 3, 2009 by ian
See this? This is my ego: You can help it grow, or at least dry out a bit, if you just vote for me in Invesp's Top 100 Online Marketers of 2009 contest: Yeah, it's just a link play, I know. But it's kind of neat, and gain, my sad little ego could use the help. So vote. K?…
Continue Reading Vote for me please »
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December 1, 2009 by ian
"Do this bit of work for me for free. It's a huge opportunity! You'll get rich! I swear!" Uh-huh. David Thorne wrote this hilarious piece about an alleged exchange with someone who wanted some free design work. While it may be an utter fabrication, it got me thinking: In 15 years, I've never - never had a 'great opportunity' pan out. Not. Once. I've been lured in a few times to provide free consulting time, do some free copywriting and the like. But somehow the client's stock options/promises end up worth about as much as really low-quality toilet paper. The…
Continue Reading Why a 'great opportunity' rarely is: Consultant lesson number 1 »
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November 30, 2009 by ian
OMG I CAN'T THINK OF WHAT TO WRITE!!!!!! We all say it. Truth is, it's not that you can't think of what to write - you don't want to think of what to write. Every day you're bombarded by potential ideas for articles and blog posts. Here are a few I've used time and again: Answer the common question. What question do you hear the most times per week? Answer it. In painful detail. Your painful detail is my clarity, because I don't do what you do every single day. Brag about yourself. It's perfectly OK, once in a while,…
Continue Reading 9 copywriting ideas to get you started »
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November 26, 2009 by ian
Filtering isn't enough. 99% of social media users don't get it, though, so their attempts at outreach fail. Filters are passive. Some stuff passes through. Some stuff doesn't. But a filter doesn't add anything. Most bloggers grab lots of links, post 'em up on the page and leave it be. Or they write something like "This is a great post!". Commenters do the same thing. So do most Twitterers. And tools like StumbleUpon, much as I love them, can encourage us to do the same thing. Click. Stumble. Bookmark. Move on. That turns 90% of blog posts, bookmarked content and…
Continue Reading Filtering isn't enough: Why your social media strategy failed »
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November 16, 2009 by ian
I go to conferences, eat the dry sandwiches, sleep in the hotel room and then head home. Usually, it's a wash - I learn a thing or two, bounce around outside the circles of the 'in' people like the smallest puppy in the litter, and that's it. This year, though I went to my first PubCon. And it was fantastic! Here's why: I didn't attend a single session that was a 50-minute sales pitch. That's a first. Not one speaker I heard said something that set my teeth on edge: No recommendations like "Optimize your keywords meta tag" or "You'll…
Continue Reading 7 Reasons PubCon is a must for next year »
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November 8, 2009 by ian
This guest post is from Sarah Edwards, a writer and SEO at the Creare Group. You have to check out their SEO Song. It's like marketing combined with American Bandstand. With so many search engine optimisation companies around, it can be difficult to know which ones are protecting your best interests. It's important to know the difference between two kinds of SEOs: So called 'black hat' experts, and the scammers. First, there are the black hats. Black Hat SEO is loosely defined as using search optimisation techniques that exploit weaknesses in search engine algorithms and go against search and webmaster…
Continue Reading I got snake oil in my black hat (Guest Post) »
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November 2, 2009 by ian
Yep, my least favorite marketing term finally gets its own list. Aside from my occasional outpouring of hatred. Truth is, though, whatever you want to call it, social media is teaching us how marketing should work, and how it's always worked. Here's a list of my thoughts on the subject: 1. It's just media. Listen to Gary Vaynerchuck. And Steve Rubel. And to me. The secret is that it's just media. What we call 'social media' is a fantastic evolution of media. It's media distilled down to a bazillion conversations, all going on, all at once. Sounds chaotic? That's…
Continue Reading 14 social media lessons we can all learn »
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October 29, 2009 by ian
After a few years in marketing, it's hard to say any of these without blushing. The louder we say it, the more you can depend on the fact that we're lying: We care about your business. Typically said as the customer service department shoves something splintery into whatever orifice you forgot to seal shut. Made with you in mind. Only if 'you' means '30 people locked in a room behind one-way glass, fed caffeine and sugar and then egged on by a facilitator until they were all ready to kill each other'. We will beat any price. Except prices…
Continue Reading 8 marketing messages we all know are lies »
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October 21, 2009 by ian
The submissions are in, the judges (well, judge) has decided. The winners of a free 10Things web site review are: Cherryloop.com, because they bought a copy of my book. LaurelCrown.com, because Laurence's post made me laugh. Alex Hardy, even though he spells 'favorite' funny. I'll contact each of you no later than Tuesday to set up a time for your review. Everyone submitted cool stuff - thank you all for participating. I'll be sending everyone else a little something via e-mail in the next few days. Thanks again - this was fun, which means I might do it again, or…
Continue Reading Free web site review contest: The winners »
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October 14, 2009 by ian
The nice folks at Wordcamp.tv recorded my presentation at WordCamp Seattle 2009. You can watch it right here: Or in larger size here. Note how I skillfully conceal myself behind a concrete post at least 3 times in the presentation. I thought that was pretty damned clever. PS: I'm in Las Vegas for Blogworld until Friday, so blog posts may be few and far between. Ironic, huh?…
Continue Reading Watch me hide behind a concrete post: My Wordcamp Seattle Presentation »
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October 8, 2009 by ian
It's not just you - as reported by The Guardian and a bunch of other publications, Twitter is having some kind of bizarre problem. Again. If I had $100 million in investment dollars, my web site would never ever go down. I'd put servers in orbit, for God's sake. I'd pay someone $40k/year to stare at a traffic monitor and switch on an extra server farm that's in a concrete bunker, just-in-case. This is the kind of thing that makes me want to punch overly smug owners of meteoric startups in the face. I'm just sayin'.…
Continue Reading Yep, Twitter is Down »
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October 5, 2009 by ian
I publish every reasonable (and some unreasonable) comments on my blog. My tolerance for dumbassery is pretty high: But some tooth-grinding commenting habits cause immediate deletion. If you: Grammar that know sense makes use. I like Yoda and all, but please at least proofread your comment? If I can't make heads or tails of it, my readers can't, either, so I'll delete it. And yes, I make allowances for folks typing English as a second language. But if your name is Bob Smith, check your grammar. Link to unrelated content. Leave a comment on my post about canonicalization, and include…
Continue Reading 10 Comment Habits I Hate »
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October 5, 2009 by ian
My first Internet marketing book, Conversation Marketing, is now out on Kindle. It costs a whole $1.99 You COULD read it for free, but for $1.99, why not buy it? Then you can geek out about reading an Internet marketing book on your Kindle, instead of reading plain old HTML. How cool is that?…
Continue Reading Conversation Marketing: Now On Kindle »
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September 24, 2009 by ian
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 for goldfish. No brand can remain silent when they screw up. Not even American Girl. Bidding on brands is even making it to TV. America's infrastructure is doomed. Remember I said this six months from now, when my office is underwater.…
Continue Reading Things I learned this week »
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September 20, 2009 by ian
Want a 1-hour SEO consulting call with me? Use this widget: var is_ssl = ("https:" == document.location.protocol); var setsHost = is_ssl ? "https://www.setster.com/widget/" : "http://www.setster.com/widget/"; document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + setsHost + "js/setster_over.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E")); var feedback_widget_options = {}; feedback_widget_options.display = "-"; feedback_widget_options.uri = "portentint"; feedback_widget_options.noInfo = 1; feedback_widget_options.setsterURL = setsHost; var feedback_widget = new Setster.feedback_widget(feedback_widget_options); By the way, this uses a cool new site called Setster.…
Continue Reading Set a 1-hour SEO Consult Appointment With Yours Truly »
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September 17, 2009 by ian
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 couple of weeks later, I'll be at REBlogWorld talking about social media and branding. If you've never had a chance to heckle me in person, it's not to be missed... PS: Also speaking at Pubcon in November. Details coming soon.…
Continue Reading Speaking gigs: Wordcamp Seattle, REBlogworld »
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September 3, 2009 by ian
Everyone else can debate the merits, the ROI etc. until they're blue in the face. The truth is, social media or whatever you call it is a great tool. But there are considerable legal implications. Don't let the implications stop you. Do be mindful: Social media muddies attribution: It's increasingly hard to judge just who's responsible for the spread of this defamatory statement or that illicit video. Here's an example. Say you create a corporate Twitter account. You accumulate 10,000 followers, and you follow most of them back. Then someone posts ". @youraccount My apartment is full of mold." Because…
Continue Reading Legal Implications of Social Media: Attribution »
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August 27, 2009 by ian
Our resources are our network, research skills, intelligence and ability to communicate. Our knowledge is the stuff we already know. Resources crush knowledge, every time. Why, Ian, why? Here's why I'm writing like I'm in a philosophy survey course: Several times in the last year, I've gone to Twitter, Facebook and such to get input from colleagues. I'll ask something like "Anyone else had trouble with [insert feature] in Google Analytics?" Generally, I'm asking those questions because of a client project. The result, nearly every time: Someone at the client's office sees that I actually asked others for advice, freaks…
Continue Reading Resources beat Knowledge: A survey of marketing gurus »
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August 21, 2009 by ian
Buh?... Ian's writing about TV? What the heck? Here's the deal: It's Friday. It's 6:15. I've been up since 5 AM. I went to bed last night at 2 AM after wrestling with WordPress for 8 hours straight (I won. HAH.). So, I'm in the mood to mix things up a little. The TV shows you watch can provide inspiration, or suck the intelligence out of you with a greedy slurping sound. I'm not saying one's better than the other - just that these are my favorites, in no particular order: Mad Men. If you haven't seen this show yet,…
Continue Reading 7 TV Shows I Watch »
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August 18, 2009 by ian
A review from an 'a-list' blogger, or even a 'z-list' blogger, can bring you customers, prompt discussion around your product and, at a minimum, create a nice, authoritative link. That causes a lot of folks to 'write' (I use the term advisedly) wonderful notes like this one: Dear blogger, Love your blog! If you have a chance, please come look at my blog. I think we have a lot of the same thoghts and would appreciate a link. Thanks! Name removed While we may share a lot of 'thoghts', this person's e-mail will only make it out of my spam…
Continue Reading How To: Ask A Blogger For A Review »
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July 9, 2009 by ian
More hyped than Barack Obama, less understood than quantum mechanics... It's Twitter, folks! (applause) I'm here to dispel a few myths. There are lots of other Twitter mythbusting posts out there, so I decided to put my own spin on it. If you buy into any of these myths, and demonstrate by inflicting your beliefs upon me, I will unfollow you so fast your Obama particles will travel back in time: I care where you're eating right now. Actually, I won't unfollow you for Tweeting that you're at the neighborhood deli. But it's just not something that'll change my life.…
Continue Reading 9 Twitter Myths That Make Me Unfollow »
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July 6, 2009 by ian
Oh, the humanity. I owe Chris Anderson an apology for this one. After rereading it this morning, I was horrified. Did I really write this? Don't get me wrong: I do NOT think 'free' is a good idea. Nor do I think 'information wants to be free' will win out over 'information wants to be expensive'. But I singled out Chris' book because I happened to listen to it. What I write below makes a lot more sense as a general argument against 'free' as a business model. However, I'll leave this up, so you can all enjoy my embarrassment.…
Continue Reading Free = Worthless: Information Can't Be Free »
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June 18, 2009 by ian
I don't know. I can't measure that. I've blogged angry (duh). I buy links. NO, NO I DON'T! I DON'T! I've used nofollow. I use tables when I can't get divs to work. I've used Web 2.0 button generators. I tried to make money selling Acai Supplements. After feeling dirty, I gave up. I can't predict the ROI. Bonus Round I use the phrase "social media" regularly (I lick 9-volts to atone). Your popular idea is dumb. Your unpopular idea is fantastic. You did everything right. It just didn't work. We did everything right. It just didn't work.…
Continue Reading 9 Things I'm Not Allowed to Say »
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June 16, 2009 by ian
Yawn stretch OK I'm up. mmmm mini wheats. No guinea pigs I will not give you mini wheats the last time I did that you ran around your cage so fast I couldn't see you. Drive drive HOONK WATCH OUT YOU LOSER. Hrm what's our alarm code again? Oh yeah. Phew. Ah crap forgot the SEO review for www.mysite.com and also to review the links pointing at www.theirsite.com. Hmmm, links. Links are fun. Let's go look at Linkscape and see what's in there for this client. Gaaaah they lost 20 links wth!? Ring ring. Wait so you're telling me that…
Continue Reading Internet Marketing Stream of Consciousness »
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June 15, 2009 by ian
...at least make sure your error messages don't scream 'cloaking' to the world:…
Continue Reading If you're going to run a spam blog... »
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June 4, 2009 by ian
Writing is my most favoritest thing. I like to write, always have. In elementary school I got in trouble when the teacher asked me a question I didn't hear, because I was too busy writing about science stuff. I got beat up a lot in elementary school. Cough. ANYWAY, writing uses a part of your brain that's like a muscle. The more you exercise it, the easier it gets. Here are the exercises I do, every day, to help improve my writing: Sit down at a computer. Start a stopwatch. For 4 minutes, write down everything that comes to mind.…
Continue Reading Improve your writing in 15 minutes a day »
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May 27, 2009 by ian
How can you best deliver training materials and procedures online? Usually I'm up here preaching at you, which I know can get a little annoying at times. Today, something different: I need some opinions and recommendations. One of my main jobs as the CEO at Portent is to teach. I write a lot of stuff down in this document called the Fat Free Guide. 2 months ago I decided this internet thing isn't going away, and I decided to move from the old, PDF-driven version of the guide to HTML. I tried 2 different wikis. They're hideously ugly, and while…
Continue Reading Today, A Question: Information Delivery Online »
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May 16, 2009 by ian
If you're a Kindle owner, and you want to support this blog, one great way to do it is to subscribe to the Kindle version. How much, you ask? $1.99/month. C'mon, that's practically nothing. In all seriousness: There's a free 14-day trial. I don't yet own a Kindle and am very interested in hearing how this works. So if a few folks wanted to subscribe, I'd greatly appreciate it. You can cancel later on if you hate it.…
Continue Reading Conversation Marketing: Now on Kindle »
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May 11, 2009 by ian
Yup, it's finally here in Kindle format, folks. The Web Marketing for Dummies All-In-One, which weighs in at over 3 pounds and 2 inches thick, is available in 100% weightless electronic format. You can read it on your Kindle. You can read it on your iPhone. You can read it on your iPod Touch. Most important, you can buy it, thereby putting money in my pocket, making me smile and buttressing my flagging faith in free market capitalism:…
Continue Reading Web Marketing For Dummies All-In-One: Now for Kindle »
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April 27, 2009 by ian
A note from Ian: Fred Janssen wrote today's post. Fred is the most knowledgeable operations and business consultant I know. He worked with Portent and helped us totally turn around our customer service and management processes. In this post, he talks about choosing, serving and keeping customers. Every business owner wants a diversified base of satisfied, profitable customers who are loyal to the business and who refer you to others like themselves. It certainly leads to more money, and it also leads to more time to do the things that you really want including a better nights' sleep. Successful businesses…
Continue Reading Keeping Customers Longer, Happier and More Profitable (Guest Post) »
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April 14, 2009 by ian
Why, you may ask? Let me tell you why. It all starts with the Seattle Parks Department. See, once a year they come by our office, which is backed up against a very nice greenspace, with this huge weedwhacker machine that looks like a Terminator nightmare. They turn it on (pushing it with a full-sized tractor, by the way) and it goes bzzzzzzzzzz, chopping down all that pesky green stuff. This year, it threw a small rock through one of the windows in my office. I wasn't there at the time but near as I can tell it was going…
Continue Reading Why my 5th link-building post is a little late »
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April 14, 2009 by ian
I'm not a vindictive person. OK, maybe I am. Waaay back in 1996, when I was a struggling entrepreneur (and what's changed exactly?), I sent a long letter to Schwinn's marketing department offering to build their site. They sent back a somewhat mocking reply. So when I happened to do a search today and discovered that their site only shows 4 pages to Google: ...you'll imagine I didn't exactly weep. My schadenfreude is in spite of the fact that I won my first-ever BMX race on a Schwinn Scrambler, rode across New England on a Schwinn Varsity, and even tried…
Continue Reading Schwinn Doesn't Exist »
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April 8, 2009 by ian
I just finished reading Me 2.0: Build a Powerful Brand to Achieve Career Success. Usually, when a book title includes things like 'brand' and 'success' or a book deals with a topic like 'personal branding' I buy the book based on its ability to act as a doorstop. But I've been reading Dan Schawbel's blog for a while and have always liked his stuff. So I gave this one a go. It reads well, and (gasp) provides actual, individual steps and ideas for building a personal brand. This is not a 'how to get a job' book. That's important. It's…
Continue Reading Book Review: Me 2.0 - Building a Personal Brand »
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April 1, 2009 by ian
I figured since it's April 1, there's no chance of a substantive post being heard through the thousands of comedic wannabes. So I went with stream of consciousness instead. I'd buy a lot more links. Really, I should. It seems to work anyway. I'd own a lot more internet access accounts, so I could spam StumbleUpon, Digg and other social networks. You wouldn't be reading this blog. 'Cause I sure wouldn't want to tell anyone what I know. Luckily my need for attention outweighs my evil tendencies. I'd be rich. My guinea pigs would be far more nervous. They look…
Continue Reading If I Were Evil... »
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March 30, 2009 by ian
Brevity is good. OK, I've always wanted to do that. But I do have some real advice for writing on Twitter. I get a lot of of new Tweeple (That's Twitter slang for 'people'. See? You're already becoming One of Us.) asking me: "What should I write?" or "How should I write?" Here are my quick guidelines: Kill the adverbs. You don't need that "Obviously". That'll save you 9 characters! 10 if you include the comma. When you only have 140 characters to write, that's a lot of extra room. Write in active voice. "I washed my car" is easier…
Continue Reading ZOMG! Writing for Twitter »
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March 28, 2009 by ian
If you've read the new Web Marketing All In One Desk Reference for Dummies, please review it here. Thanks!…
Continue Reading Please Review My Book (If you read it) »
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March 26, 2009 by ian
Twitter is the web's water cooler. Lots of people hang out and chat. I'll talk about the business uses another time. For now, understand this: Twitter is insane. Get a few hundred friends and their tweets racing past you like ants heading for a picnic. There are a lot of tools out there to help you manage the flood of information. My personal favorite is TweetDeck. It's got a multi-column format that lets me organize my twitter friends, their messages and other stuff: Here's how you set up: Download and Install Tweetdeck Download Tweetdeck and install it. When prompted, enter…
Continue Reading Using TweetDeck to Make Twitter Sane »
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March 17, 2009 by ian
Dreambox Learning, one of our clients, has put together a nifty parenting styles quiz. I am, as it turns out, a Mentor: Since a stranger once referred to me as "The unfun parent", I find "mentor" to be a step up. You can take the quiz, which is full of nift and a great example of how simple but well executed is best, right here: Edu-Parent Quiz provided by DreamBox Learning a kindergarten, 1st grade and 2nd grade math game.…
Continue Reading Parenting Styles Quiz - blatant plug »
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March 17, 2009 by ian
Look at the referring keyword list in your analytics report can teach you a lot. I'll be doing a video tutorial on that in a few minutes, hopefully. In the mean time, here are some of the strangest, most bizarre key phrases generating traffic to my blog: "Buy a wife". Actually explained by this post, which ranks in the top 20 on Google. I will not sell wife-market ads on this page, sorry. "Snidely Whiplash". This one's generated by the image search result and top-10 ranking for 'snidely whiplash' for this article. "I hate customers". No I don't! You pay…
Continue Reading Weirdest Keyword Searches of 2009 »
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March 13, 2009 by ian
I admit, I am way too excited about the new book. But it arrived today! Like any obsessed nerd, I decided to take a bunch of photos while I took the new book for a test drive: First Look Here it is, fresh outta the box: Proof positive that Elizabeth and I did write part of this book: It's an all-in-one, which means it's about 8 books in a single volume. This is one big book. 2+ inches of web marketing goodness: Meeting the Family We hit it off the moment it arrived: The book meets my grandfather's Depression-era typewriter:…
Continue Reading Web Marketing For Dummies Unboxing Shoot »
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March 12, 2009 by ian
The finalized Web Marketing All-in-One Desk Reference For Dummies book cover is now complete: I am very excited. Amazon claims they now have 'em in stock. I just ordered 4. How many have you ordered?…
Continue Reading Final Web Marketing for Dummies Book Cover »
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February 27, 2009 by ian
My post this week about social media appears to have, er, riled a few folk. Not my intent, but I figured I'd roll with it. Here's a list of the posts/comments about my post, as well as my panel discussion regarding social media at the NWEN: Ian Lurie Says He Hates Social Media. Do You? A Tweet titled: Ian Lurie hates "Social Media," and thinks 99% of the human race is sub-literate? Correction - I only think 98% of the human race is sub-literate, and not ONE PERCENTAGE MORE. By the way, you mis-spelled 'adress' in your blog post.…
Continue Reading A Kerfuffle!!!!! »
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February 25, 2009 by ian
This is my last post on the subject, I swear. For a week at least. You hate writing. If you really, truly hate to write, why are you making yourself blog? Are you just a masochist? You made fun of a family member in a blog post, and now they give you the stink-eye at every get-together. Quitting is the only way to make it up to them. Your World of Warcraft character has really been suffering from neglect. Your kids can't remember what you look like. You've worn out the keys on your keyboard. You've worn out your welcome…
Continue Reading 10 Reasons to Stop Blogging »
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February 20, 2009 by ian
I'll be on a Tuesday night Think Tank panel at the Northwest Entrepreneur Network. The details: Tuesday, February 24, Networking starts at 7:00 PM. Program starts at 7:30 PM. Location: Seattle University Schaffer Auditorium The topic: Social media. My first statement will be "I hate the phrase social media". Should be a fun time...…
Continue Reading On A Panel At NWEN Next Week »
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February 17, 2009 by ian
There's been a lot of stink lately about bloggers bowing out. In the most publicized example, reporter Dan Lyons decided to call it quits. The refrain: "We just can't make any money." I won't want to be too confrontational, but: Bull pucky. There's more than one way to skim dollars off your blog. Here are some serious, and some not-so-serious, techniques, and my experience with each. Sell Ads The only way to make money by selling ads on your blog is to be rich or famous first, and then write about how you became rich or famous. Before you say…
Continue Reading 5 Ways Your Blog Can Make Money »
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February 5, 2009 by ian
I'm doing another Trump University Webinar tonight: Blogging for Business Time: 5 PM Pacific You can register here. This will be a pretty elementary look at blogging: Setting up your first blog. Listening in to the blogging world. Getting yourself to write. Handling comments. Blogging etiquette. If you're looking to get started you'll probably like it. The description refers to me as a "Social Media Expert". Please don't hold that against me. Note: I've created resources page that includes all of the links I mention in the webinar, as well as a few extra goodies. Click here to see it.…
Continue Reading Webinar Tonight: Blogging For Business »
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February 4, 2009 by ian
Sniff. My post, 17 Internet Marketing Things I Will Not Write About, came in a distant second to a knock-off of an Alanis Morisette tune. I retreat to my secret hideout, swearing, "I'll get you next time, Gadget. Next tiimeeee...."…
Continue Reading Bridesmaid, Again: Crushed in the Semmys »
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January 21, 2009 by ian
OK people, it's time to put up or shut up. I've come in second in landing page competitions. I've gotten my butt kicked in the Shorty Awards. I got thumped repeatedly in the Webbys and was summarily flushed down the toilet in public at last year's SearchBowl. I'm always the bridesmaid, never the bride. Or, in some cases, I'm the turd the bridesmaid steps in and says "ewwwwwwwwww". Regardless, suffice it to say, I feel unloved. So now that I've got two posts nominated for SEMMY awards, I'm asking, where's the love, people? If you really care, when voting opens…
Continue Reading Whine! And Cheese! I'm in the Semmy's, so vote dammit »
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January 9, 2009 by ian
I've just had to let 4 employees go. We've lost four clients in 2 weeks thanks to the economy. While we may replace that business fast and get everyone back on board, I'm listing their qualifications here. If you know a Puget Sound-area position for them, or of contract work they can do, please contact me via e-mail (ian AT portent DOT com) or on Twitter. Jann VanOver is a top-notch developer with over 10 years' experience in ColdFusion, SQL Server, Java, PERL, PHP, javascript, AJAX and a list longer than my arm. If she doesn't know it, she figures…
Continue Reading Some Help, Please »
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January 5, 2009 by ian
I have strived (striven? striveded?) for years to write the perfect blog post. I think I finally have it. Here goes (ahem): Introduction involving cute puppy, family member, description of recent travels or new toy. Synergy. Web 2.0 internet conversations branding. Branding conversations web 2.0 XML hyperlinking dynamic community. Twitter. Facebook social media 3.0 mashup, ROI analytics and metrics to leverage marketing. Blogging RSS web 4.0. Dry humor here hahahaha. Google is on a mission to possess our very souls. Yahoo! sucks. Microsoft joke hahahahahahhaha. Steve Jobs is cool. Guy Kawasaki quote here. Steve Ballmer chair-throwing reference. Reference to 2008…
Continue Reading The Perfect Blog Post »
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December 21, 2008 by ian
Yes, I finally wrote '2.0' on my blog without referring to violence. We had a real, honest-to-goodness blizzard last night, with snow drifts and stuff:…
Continue Reading Seattle Blizzard 2.0 »
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December 5, 2008 by ian
[warning - navel gazing ahead] Why the hell am I in marketing? When I started college, my plan was to do ROTC and become a pilot. Then I because a History major and decided to go to law school so I could Save The World. Then I graduated from Law School and realized I'd be one of the worst lawyers in history. After a few more years of drifting about, I landed first in copywriting, then in marketing copywriting, then in marketing. Then the internet turned out not to be a fad, and here I am. So I'm not saving…
Continue Reading Why Am I In Marketing? How About You? »
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December 5, 2008 by ian
Next week I'll be releasing another e-book. This one will cover web analytics for business. It's going to use the same format as my SEO Copywriting e-book: Short, very high-level, only the essentials, and really cheap. This goes along with the webinar I'm doing with SEMPDX. I'll also be offering a bunch of free copies to folks who want 'em. Follow me on Twitter (@portentint if you'd like to be in on the freebies...…
Continue Reading Coming Next Week: Web Analytics E-Book »
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November 26, 2008 by ian
SEO widows, you know who you are: Your spouse/significant other comes home with a twinkle in their eye because they just "fixed a major spider trap" or "discovered a new component of the Google TrustRank algorithm". Then they leave for a week to go to some conference, and you get to hear about their drunken exploits on 451 different social media outlets. Worst of all, you have no idea what to get them for the holidays. What the hell do you buy for someone when their greatest thrill is attracting links from .org domains? Well, I'm here to help. As…
Continue Reading The SEO Widow's Holiday Gift Guide: 15 Ideas »
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November 23, 2008 by ian
I'm presenting at a webinar tomorrow: The Conversational Marketing Summit. My presentation is entitled "Why Does Most Marketing Suck?" A good time will be had by all. I'm on at 4 PM PST tomorrow, 11/24 (Monday). You can sign up here…
Continue Reading Presentation Tomorrow: Conversational Marketing Summit »
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November 22, 2008 by ian
The Elite Retreat is almost totally booked. With speakers like Jeremy Schoemaker, Neil Patel and Gary Vaynerchuk, you'll want to be there. Just FYI: They embargo blogging about the details of the event (from what I understand) so if you're hoping I'm going to write lots of cool stuff to teach you everything, you're out of luck. Go sign up for the Elite Retreat…
Continue Reading Elite Retreat: Seats Almost Gone »
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November 11, 2008 by ian
Blogs are the new web sites. Marketers launch 'em because they think they need 'em. They don't consider the time commitment required, goals or why their audience would want to hear from them. Then the blog dangles off the corporate site like an appendix until it irritates someone in the organization, at which point it's removed. It's a shame, because blogs can do a lot for your business: Humanize it. Let the you share your business philosophy. Leak exciting news or 'teasers' about new products. Allow you to solicit direct feedback. Add search-engine-friendly content to your site. So make the…
Continue Reading 15 Rules for Business Bloggers »
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November 4, 2008 by ian
It's a momentous day, so instead of blathering on about marketing, here's a few handy links for tracking the polls and the news around today's election: Slate's hour-by-hour guide to the election is a good run-down of what's going to happen when. Polltrack has tons of maps, graphs and data for all you numbers geeks. I've always liked CNN's poll tracker, too. Electoral-vote.com is my favorite for their averaging of data across many polls. They'll be liveblogging tonight. What links are you going to follow?…
Continue Reading Election Day Guide »
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October 31, 2008 by ian
Every now and then I let folks know the various places you can follow or connect with me online. I'm working on consolidating a bit, so here are the current online places I hang out: LinkedIn.com/in/ianlurie Twitter.com/Portentint Facebook Follow/connect and I'll follow back. I'm always up for a good conversation.…
Continue Reading Find Me Online »
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October 30, 2008 by ian
I recommend the death penalty for plagiarism. Until that happy day arrives, I'll share a technique that at least makes life harder for thieving scumbags. Step One: Trap Your Post First, you need to add a trap to your blog post. Usually that means an invisible GIF image. Use your image editing software to create a 10x10 pixel image that matches the background of your blog or that's transparent. Insert that into your blog somewhere where no one will notice. Use the absolute address for the image. So: http://www.conversationmarketing.com/2008/10/stop-plagiarism-in-3-easy-steps.htm instead of just images/trap.gif Don't include a height or width attribute.…
Continue Reading Stop Plagiarism in 3 Easy Steps »
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October 29, 2008 by ian
Portent Interactive is now hiring: Portent's Seeking SEO Interns Don't know who the smartass was that wrote that post...…
Continue Reading My Company's Hiring »
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October 20, 2008 by ian
[Update: After about 2 weeks, StumbleUpon lifted their ban on me and several of my staff. My guess is that our single office IP address flagged something in their spam algorithm, and after human review they let us back in. If you get banned, and you haven't been spamming, send them a note explaining what you think happened. It seemed to help in this case.] Yup, it's true. After 3+ years as a StumbleUpon user, over 1300 Stumbles, a bunch of contributed content and all my talk about them, StumbleUpon banned me and shut down my account. Here's the informative…
Continue Reading StumbleUpon Banned Me »
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October 17, 2008 by ian
Who knew? I'll try not to let it go to my head. Twitter Elite in Seattle: Twitter Grader…
Continue Reading I'm Twitter Elite in Seattle »
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October 17, 2008 by ian
Are apparently like that, man. Either that or he found me in his soup and wasn't happy about it: I had nothing to do with this image. McCain made the face. My staff did the Photoshopping. I am now heading for shelter...…
Continue Reading Me and John McCain »
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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 possible. But man, Shoemoney, could you get someone to proofread a bit? "Its like people don’t know you can goto a web site without going to a god-damn Search Engine." Which, when filtered through 6th-grade grammar books, becomes: "It's like people don't know you can go to a web site without going to a god-damned search engine." I'm hardly Hemingway myself. This shouldn't be a big deal. It really shouldn't. But I'm sitting here after a four-kid sleepover, studying up for…
Continue Reading Shoemoney Dislikes 95% of SEOs, Can't Do Grammar »
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January 30, 2008 by ian
Do you find this blog useful? Like what I write? I've got a business proposal for you: Donate $3 to my blog, once. I'll keep writing the same stuff I always do. Tips about internet marketing, strategic advice, site reviews and of course, the occasional rant. I'll do it whether you donate or not. But, if you don't donate, I'll have to start plastering ads everywhere to pay for the 20-odd hours/week I put into this. My site will look like a 1970s New York subway car: More graffiti than content. Look for this button: Click, donate, and you'll feel…
Continue Reading Support Conversation Marketing: Donate »
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January 29, 2008 by ian
Does anyone out there know of a Movable Type plugin for managing ads, ala Wordpress's AdServe? I don't want to go into affiliate marketing. But I do need to make this blog pay for some of the time I spend on it. So, I figure selling ads directly to willing sponsors is the cleanest, least-spammy way to do it.…
Continue Reading Today, It's All About Me: Movable Type Plugins »
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January 21, 2008 by ian
I'm traveling this week, so posts may be a bit thin. Which is ironic, given that I'll be eating burgers and fries 2 meals a day, no doubt. Here are a few recent posts folks seemed to like, to tide you over: 11 Internet Marketing Trends to Ignore in 2008 65 Easy Ways to Improve Online Sales SEO Tactics: Keyword Diversification = Happiness 10 Steps to a Sound Internet Marketing Strategy Social Media Press Release: A Template SEOMoz Whiteboard Friday: Personas Personas Tutorials Hopefully I'll post a few times this week, but no promises. Air travel these days leaves me…
Continue Reading Slow Posting Week, Sorry... »
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January 15, 2008 by ian
Timewaster alert! There is nothing of practical use in this post. It's funny though. I was poring through my comment list today, feeling a bit punchy, so I made a list of spam subject lines. I've left out the inevitable grossness, drug advertisements, etc.. So, here are the 10 that made me choke on my lunch: Jewish Beef Brisket. Wow. How'd they know I was Jewish? I was worried for a while, then discovered that every other blogger I know was deluged with the same thing. Relieved that my role in the Great Zionist Conspiracy is safely concealed, I moved…
Continue Reading 10 Greatest Comment Spam Subjects of All Time »
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January 10, 2008 by ian
I laughed out loud at this article: http://www.ppcvillain.com/article_6.htm…
Continue Reading Redundant Redundancy »
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January 5, 2008 by ian
I don't like the phrase 'viral marketing'. If marketing works, it's viral. If it doesn't, it's not. However, my team just completed three projects that are worthy of the title: PPCVillain.com, a hilarious look at how not to conduct a PPC campaign. Watch the first tutorial video - it's worth it. DesigningWithGod.com, a blasphemous yet funny site about design. Again, watch the video. Or call the 888 number. Just please remember it's in good fun, and don't throw bricks through my office window. Marketing Math, an OS X Dashboard widget that lets you do some of the basic marketing calculations.…
Continue Reading 3 'Viral' Projects »
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December 27, 2007 by ian
I'm giving Entrecard a try. Entrecard is an ad network for blogs. You earn credits when folks click on the Entrecard widget on your site: Or when they 'drop' a card, or if someone advertises. I'll let you know how it goes. So far I see the potential, but I also see a lot of junk arriving in my Entrecard inbox, and I only signed up about 10 minutes ago.…
Continue Reading Trying Out Entrecard »
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December 21, 2007 by ian
I'm taking a few days off to rest my weary brain cells. No blogging or tweeting until 12/26. Have a great Christmas and holiday week. See you in a few days.…
Continue Reading Blogging Holiday - see you 12/26! »
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December 20, 2007 by ian
OK, I'm Jewish. Hanukkah is over. But I still like Christmas*, too. This year, you don't have to buy me anything. All you have to do is subscribe to my blog's RSS feed. I'm currently at 480 subscribers. My goal was to hit 500 this year. Which pales by comparison to most marketing bloggers, but it'd make me smile. Subscribing is easy. It's free. It's painless. Just click here: http://feeds.feedburner.com/conversationmarketing Then you can get lots of conversational goodness in your RSS feed reader in 2008. What? You don't have a feed reader? Join the 21st century and get Google Reader.…
Continue Reading A Christmas Present for Ian »
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December 19, 2007 by ian
If you don't know, Twitter is a sort of chat room/microblog where folks post short 'tweets' to each other. I'm taking a page from Jeremiah's book. If you'd like me to follow you on Twitter, leave your Twitter handle below. I post links and little comments myself - you can follow me, too. My Twitter name is portentint.…
Continue Reading Connect with me on Twitter »
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December 18, 2007 by ian
Facebook just got rid of 'is', I think. I may be totally out of touch, and maybe they made this change days ago, but I'm so excited! I can write a status line without 'is'! Woo hoo! I now return to regularly-scheduled programming.…
Continue Reading Facebook Are Much Better Now »
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December 16, 2007 by ian
Yup, a couple days late. I was out sick (missing my second consecutive company Christmas party). I just finished Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't. I read it after seeing how thought-provoking the book was for SEOMoz's Rand Fiskin. It's not a book about internet marketing. Not directly. But we work in an emerging industry, and the teachings in this book could make the difference between the agencies that make money, then pass on when their leaders leave, and those that grown and thrive for decades. I found it to be a brilliant, sobering,…
Continue Reading Friday Book Review (On Sunday): Built To Last »
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December 9, 2007 by ian
Jeremiah Owyang of Web Strategist fame interviewed me last week. The video is up on his blog, or you can watch it here:…
Continue Reading Jeremiah Owyang Interview: Social Media, Soft Costs and Budgeting »
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December 6, 2007 by ian
Brevity is the soul of wit (Lord Polonius in Shakespeare's Hamlet) Online, concise copy will always get better results than verbose copy. How can I make that sentence shorter and give it more oomph? Dump the passive voice. Online, concise copy will always get gets better results than verbose copy. Get rid of meaningless words. Concise copy is always better, right? Plus folks are reading this online. Online, Concise copy will always get gets better results than verbose copy. Get rid of repeated words. In copy, concise copy gets better results than verbosecopy. Replace four words with one. In copy,…
Continue Reading 5 Steps to Concise Copy »
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December 5, 2007 by ian
I just checked my Technorati stats for the first time in a while, and saw this: Yikes...…
Continue Reading Am I Evil? »
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November 9, 2007 by ian
I've made the Biglist! Thanks Lee! It's a great way to end the week!!! Technorati Tags: blogging…
Continue Reading Conversation Marketing on the Biglist »
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November 9, 2007 by ian
Over the last week, my Feedburner stats have jumped and fallen by as much as 50%, even though my visitor count remained steady. Feedburner measures the number of RSS feed subscribers your blog has. It's hard for me to believe that my subscriber count is plunging to 150 or so one day, and then jumping to almost 400 the next. Has anyone else seen this? Technorati Tags: Feedburner…
Continue Reading Feedburner Stats Fluctuate Wildly »
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November 7, 2007 by ian
I'm running a blogging webinar for the Direct Marketing Association tomorrow: While I make no guarantees about the getting customers part, I will show some strategies for coming up with good ideas, keeping a rhythm of steady posts, and building your audience. It costs money (I don't get a cut, I'm afraid) but, if I dare say, it's probably worth it if you're looking to get into blogging. The subject matter is very similar to a previous seminar I did. You can sign up here: http://www.the-dma.org/seminars/bloggingbasics/ Technorati Tags: blogging…
Continue Reading Blogging Webinar Tomorrow »
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November 6, 2007 by ian
Two great typos today point out why proofing is really important: In an e-mail from Elastic Path. Can you spot the typo? In the subject line?: Neil Gaiman found this one (I added the bold): Angelina Jolie has admitted she was got a little shy when she saw her nude scenes in her latest film “Beowulf.†The actress says although the nude scenes were stimulated, she was still a little embarrassed. “I was a little shy,†she says. “I was really surprised that I felt that exposed. There were certain moments where I actually felt shy – and called…
Continue Reading 4 Step Proofreading Strategy, And Stimulated Nude Scenes »
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November 6, 2007 by ian
I'm playing with Flock, the social browser based on Mozilla Firefox. It's dang nifty. You can post to your blog straight from the browser, click-and-drag bookmarks and media from Flickr to a clipboard (or to a blog post), and keep an eye on Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, de.licio.us all at once. This is also a test post. If it worked, then I'm that much happier.Tags: flock, blogging tools…
Continue Reading Flock. Rocks. »
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October 28, 2007 by ian
Comments are now fixed - lots of look-and-feel stuff still to be done. By the end of Monday we should be looking sharp.…
Continue Reading Comments Fixed »
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October 27, 2007 by ian
I'm aware that comments aren't working right now. We're looking into it. Moving day is always such a joy...…
Continue Reading Comment Conniption »
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October 26, 2007 by ian
We're in the midst of rebuilding the blog with a slicker template. Sorry if it looks a bit odd this weekend.…
Continue Reading Pardon the Dust »
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October 24, 2007 by ian
I broke the cardinal rule of blogging Tuesday: Don't post angry. In my We're All Idiots post, my tantrum poked at Robert Gorrell's post about Viral Marketing and Word of Mouth. In my haste, I was unclear: GrokDotCom, Seth Godin and co. are the folks who invented these terms. When they reference Word of Mouth Marketing, Viral Marketing, etc., they're not using those phrases as a trendy marketing device. They're using them as a teaching tool. My blood boils, though, when I see folks who know very little about marketing prattling on, mixing in phrases like 'Web 2.0', 'viral…
Continue Reading Blogging Tip #1: Don't Post Angry »
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October 23, 2007 by ian
Update: Of course, had I read further, I would've seen that Matt already knew about the problem, and that it was being addressed by Feedburner et al. Cough cough... One of my daily reads is Data Mining. Just today, though, I saw that their feed has, uh, decayed a bit in Google Reader: Always check to see how your feed looks in a feed reader. If it's a mess, make sure your HTML code doesn't include an unclosed element, or a comment that's not closed, or something else. Matthew, I took a look at your source - couldn't find anything…
Continue Reading Tip of the Day: Check How Your Feed Looks »
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October 18, 2007 by ian
Feedburner is dead at the moment: Somewhere, someone is running around screaming at the development team while they mutter curses at the gods that spawned them. I'm OK with this kind of thing. It makes me feel better to realize my company isn't the only one who has days like this... Technorati Tags: feedburner…
Continue Reading Feedburner Down: No One's Perfect »
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October 17, 2007 by ian
I just noticed that yesterday I completed my 500th post. Should I have a party or something? Technorati Tags: blogging…
Continue Reading 500th Post »
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October 16, 2007 by ian
Mukund asks: “If the new marketing is all about conversation, why does it take so much effort to get people to talk. Why do only 1% people coming to our blog site comment?†Mukund, it's not easy, I'm afraid, and there aren't any magical solutions. But here are four techniques that have worked for me: Just Ask The most obvious technique, if you have a big enough audience, is to simply ask. For example, I've gotten four comments here and another 10 or so on Facebook from my Stump Ian post. But, this method depends on you having a…
Continue Reading 5 Ways to Build Blog Reader Participation »
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October 15, 2007 by ian
I'm speaking at Lunch 2.0 today. You can get the details on Josh's web site. Technorati Tags: speaking…
Continue Reading Speaking at Lunch 2.0 »
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October 12, 2007 by ian
Problogger has a most excellent community blog review project going on. The first site reviewed is Sourcebench.com. Here's my take on it: This looks like a very good start to me. The style is loose and friendly, and the little construction guy is great. Some specific changes I think you could make that'd help: Put a featured post up in the header area. Just the first 20-30 words. That'll let folks see what you're about right away, and let them dig in. Make your typeface about 2 points larger. Increase the size of the left-hand column. It should get…
Continue Reading SourceBench blog review: Ideas for Improvements »
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October 10, 2007 by ian
Made you look! That headline made no sense, of course. But you looked. That seems to be the way to get attention in the blogging world these days. When top-ranking Yahoo folks make the astonishing claim that fewer downloads will make a page load faster and get featured on O'Reilly for it, and others stuff entire blogs with obvious or blatantly untrue/unresearched claims, it gives me a stomach ache. Steve Rubel declares that the Geek Marketer is an emerging career path. Really? What's been going on for the last 10 years, then? Stoney deGeyter proudly states that Content Is…
Continue Reading BLOG STUPIDHEAD DUMB POOP BLOG!!!!!!!!!! »
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October 9, 2007 by ian
If you go to read my book online, now, you'll see adver... adv... advert... I can't say it. I've kept ads off my site, for the most part, for years. But I've finally added a leaderboard ad unit to the online version of my book. Frankly, I gotta make this sucker pay, just a little bit. No pressure, but if I earn some money off the current ads, I won't have to add them elsewhere on the site. cough cough…
Continue Reading Gone to the Dark Side »
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October 1, 2007 by ian
I got really angry this weekend, when I discovered someone stole my content. It sounds like it was an accident: Someone gave the blogger in question my writing, said they had permission to use it, and she published it. It's still plagiarism, though. Few bloggers or internet marketers understand this. So, here's a quick explanation of plagiarism, and how you can avoid it. What Is Plagiarism? First, you have to understand what plagiarism is. I dusted off my handy copy of Black's Law Dictionary: Plagiarism: The act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of…
Continue Reading Plagiarism and 5 Ways to Avoid It »
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October 1, 2007 by ian
Update: The page was removed from DSD-Professionals after several folks commented there (thanks everyone!). The owner says she was given the content by someone else who said I gave permission. And I do give permission, all the time. As long as you follow the Creative Commons license I placed on my book: Click here for the license. I have tried to be nice about incidents like this in the past, but I'm running out of patience. Would you photocopy a book, hand it out in your store and then be surprised if you got in trouble? I've had my stuff…
Continue Reading Plagiarism and Stupidity »
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September 26, 2007 by ian
I looked in my Pythia-Analytics report and saw that this blog currently has a very unlucky number of pages: So I'm publishing this post to go for 667. Technorati Tags: analytics…
Continue Reading Good-Luck Blog Entry »
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September 25, 2007 by ian
Don't know if you've seen a site called 'Jew Watch'. It's a nasty collection of lies, conspiracy theory and crypto-fascist crap. As you can tell, I've had enough. And yes, I'm jewish. Google can't remove them without engaging in censorship. I understand that. I have another suggestion: Let's bury them. Here's how I'd like to do it: Move other sites up. There are several Holocaust museums, plus the Museum of Tolerance in L.A., that certainly deserve a better ranking. While they're not strictly jewish history, certainly they're relevant. I am contacting each museum to see if they'd like help.…
Continue Reading 'Jew', Google, and Fighting Hate Speech »
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September 18, 2007 by ian
These days, when I visit Technorati, I'm more likely to see this: Than I am to see their site working. What's up? I love that site! Technorati Tags: technorati…
Continue Reading Technorati Circling the Drain? »
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September 17, 2007 by ian
Blogrush is like a really bad relationship. You try it. It works pretty well, makes you feel decent, etc.. Then you realize that your significant other has been involved in all sorts of dirty doings, and still is, and not only that, but you're becoming associated with them. In case you didn't know, Blogrush is a traffic-generating site/scheme where you put a widget on your site that lists other blogs. For every referral you generate to those blogs, you receive X referrals back. Seems great. I added it to my site yesterday, and saw an immediate uptick in traffic.…
Continue Reading Why I Yanked Blogrush »
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September 13, 2007 by ian
I did my post ranking internet marketing tools about 2 hours ago. A few minutes ago, I found this: http://www.hotyamarketing.com/internet-marketing-tools-ranked-conclusion-search-rocks/ Wow. Awe-inspiring. Plagiarism at light speed. I have no problem with people linking, summarizing, using my stuff, etc.. If they ask first. Technorati Tags: ethics, plagiarism…
Continue Reading Plagiarism at Lightspeed »
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September 12, 2007 by ian
Copyblogger asks who inspires my writing. I've got a few sources: My kids. Are ingenious, creative, innocent and sophisticated all at once. They're a constant stream of inspiration for me. Politics. I continuously see people across the political spectrum do things that excite my admiration or disgust. Fiction. I read a lot of books. Right now I'm re-reading the Aubrey/Maturin novels by Patrick O'Brian. You'd be amazed how much you can learn about marketing from a Napoleonic-era naval captain and his surgeon/intelligence agent. Technorati Tags: writing…
Continue Reading Who Inspires My Writing »
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September 7, 2007 by ian
There I was, happily perusing the blogging questions in LinkedIn Answers. Then I saw someone asking this. If the world ends tomorrow, I was not involved. Remember, this was posted in the blogging section: Technorati Tags: bizarre, fun, linkedin, weird…
Continue Reading LinkedIn Plots The End of Civilization »
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August 24, 2007 by ian
Monday and Tuesday I will be in Orlando, FL, streaming and possibly liveblogging a presidential candidate forum. The IAMAW organized it. I'll be using uStream.tv to do the webcast. I know that may mean fits and starts, but it's fast, expedient and I didn't have a whole lotta warning. I'm very, very excited to take part! I'll provide details of how we did it, and what bumps we hit, after the event. Here's the full media notification: Washington, D.C., August 21, 2007 – Five presidential candidates confirmed they will take part in discussions of key domestic issues before more…
Continue Reading uStreaming a Political Debate Next Week »
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August 17, 2007 by ian
Open source journalism kicks ass. Our local neighborhood scooped every Seattle news outlet, providing critical information in a crisis: My story about it. Their story about it.…
Continue Reading Open Source Journalism »
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August 10, 2007 by ian
In this crowd, I'm the newbie. If you want to get a great liveblog of the event, and some insight, visit: http://twitter.com/Scobleizer…
Continue Reading NOT Liveblogging Gnomedex »
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August 9, 2007 by ian
I will be at GnomeDex tomorrow, and possibly Saturday, depending on schedule. If you're there, look for the guy walking with a limp, clutching a Treo in his hand and resisting the urge to liveblog. If you walk up and say “Aren't you old for a fancy road racing bike?†I'll give you a free copy of my book. Amazingly, this is my first big conference of this type - I'm very excited. I will, however, keep a fairly low profile and refrain from writing much about what I hear until I've had a day or two to digest…
Continue Reading GnomeDex Tomorrow »
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August 7, 2007 by ian
AdAge took over the Power 150 Marketing Blogs site, and look who's lurking around #145: http://adage.com/power150/index.php?start=100 So, taking a page from my own book, how will I move up? Spend more time commenting on other folks' blogs, so they know I exist. Do more tutorials. Those seem to attract a lot of attention. Write deeper stuff. Less time bragging about getting into the top 150 on some marketing blog list. Wait... If I get to the top 50 I'm buying myself a new hybrid... Technorati Tags: blogging, adage…
Continue Reading AdAge Launches “Power 150†Marketing Blogs: We're in by the skin of our teeth »
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August 1, 2007 by ian
I blame Timothy Ferris. And blogs. Timothy's book, the Four Hour Workweek, showed lots of folks the path to carefree happiness, by selling other people's products and outsourcing just about everything in your life. Blogging encourages linking. That's cool. It also encourages copying. That's not. How many '10 ways to grow your blog' posts can we really write, anyway?! Enough already - I'm making a commitment to being original. Hopefully a few of you can do the same. I solemnly swear to: Make sure the idea comes first. Contribute to the discussions I see on other blogs, rather than…
Continue Reading Write Something ORIGINAL Already! »
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July 18, 2007 by ian
I'll admit that I don't warrant this kind of speed, but BlogStorm reports getting updated by Google Blog Search in as little as 120 seconds. I'm going to experiment and test the theory right now. Back in a minute... ... and I'll be darned. 3 minutes after I posted above text, it showed up in Google Blog Search: Yowsa. That's fast. If you want the same, I suggest: Using Feedburner's ping service. Signing up for a Feedburner account, and using the PingShot service under the 'Publicize' tab. Technorati Tags: blogging, Google…
Continue Reading Google Is Fast: Updates Blog Search in 120 Seconds »
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July 17, 2007 by ian
Always check the comments on foreign language blogs. You never know what folks are saying. If your blog or site gets a lot of traffic from another country, be sure to use Google Translate to read the comments. Pythia-Analytics.com got a huge hit from drweb.de last night - 500 new sites in just under 4 hours. I found out by looking at my Google Analytics data: My German is respectable - I could make out that a couple of folks saw problems, and that they couldn't get their sites to show up. I cut-and-paste the comments into Google Translate,…
Continue Reading Blogging Tip of the Day: Check Comments on Foreign Language Blogs! »
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July 14, 2007 by ian
I've just launched a Facebook group for Conversation Marketing: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2427040837 If you're on Facebook and are interested, please feel free to sign up. Technorati Tags: facebook…
Continue Reading Conversation Marketing on Facebook »
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June 26, 2007 by ian
The 'top 5' list attracts readers to your blog. No question about it. If you're looking for inspiration, read on: Follow the keywords. Check your web site traffic report. Find the most common phrase used by folks to find your site. If your own site keywords aren't useful, try Ask.com. It shows you a list of phrases related to any keyword search you perform. Base your list on that phrase. Check the Answers. Look at Yahoo! Answers. Lots of folks ask questions there, every day. It's a great source of inspiration. Check the tooth-grinders. If you get asked the…
Continue Reading Top 5 Ways To Write a Top 5 List »
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June 12, 2007 by ian
Here's a way to guarantee at least one post per day on your blog: Use del.icio.us. This cleverly-named site lets you bookmark sites you like, and then organize those bookmarks. You've probably already bookmarked a particular page somewhere on the web, at some point, by clicking 'bookmark this' in Internet Explorer or Firefox. Del.icio.us does the same thing, only online. But it goes beyond that - you can have del.icio.us automatically post your bookmarks for the day to your blog, like this. Here's how: Make sure you know your blog editing username and password. You'll need these. Find out…
Continue Reading Post A Daily Link List On Your Blog: Easy-Peasy!!!! »
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May 30, 2007 by ian
I'm in Manhattan right now. Specifically, I'm in the spare room in my mom's apartment, trying to coax my daughter to go to sleep. Then, out of the blue, one of my staff instant messaged me (I'm the blue messages on the right): I won second place in the Copyblogger Copywriting contest! Woo-hoo! I missed first by 1 point. But I'm a magnanimous guy. I'm practically wallowing in magnanimity. You can read what the judges, Seth Godin, Darren Rowse and Brian Clark all said about the ad and landing page. You can also read the landing page, love the…
Continue Reading Second Place in Copyblogger Contest »
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May 25, 2007 by ian
I wrote a little checklist, Early last Wednesday. Now it's proofed and ready, So you blogging can play. The first page helps you start up, It takes an hour at the most. The second helps you build up, Your new blog post by post. Sung to dreydel dreydel dreydel, for all you other Hannukah celebrants out there. And yes, I know it's May. It's Friday, OK? Download to your heart's content: 562kb PDF file. Please don't hate me for my horrible poetry. Technorati Tags: blogging, fun…
Continue Reading Blogging Checklist »
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May 21, 2007 by ian
My blog's categories stink. So, I'm figuring out a new structure. Then, of course, I'll have to rearrange all my articles. Argh. If you want to avoid that pain, or at least minimize it, here's a process for developing a good, flexible category set: Write down the purpose of your blog. Even if you've done it before. Write down why you're writing it, and for whom. Stumped? Start a statement like this: “My blog will help people who need to...â€. The end of that statement could be 'laugh more' or 'write a good business plan'. Write down the four…
Continue Reading Blogging: Picking Good Categories »
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May 18, 2007 by ian
A great point from Laura about clearing blogger's block: Keep publishing, and chances are you won't have to worry about topics. Folks send me ideas all the time now. Technorati Tags: blogging…
Continue Reading Clearing Bloggage: A follow up »
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May 15, 2007 by ian
In step 1, we walked through how to get started: Setting up your blog, and building a list of sites to watch for story ideas. Now it's time to figure out what you're going to write. Here's how I do it: Create a blog planner: Create a note, a whiteboard space, a page in your notebook, a textfile, whatever you like, as a place to write down blogging ideas. Every day, spend 5 minutes reviewing the blog beat you created in step 1. If a headline or summary grabs your attention, review the article, star it in Google Reader,…
Continue Reading Creating Your Own Blog: Planning What You’ll Write »
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May 14, 2007 by ian
Thursday I'm giving a very brief crash course on building and writing a blog. As a warm up, I'm writing out a bit of the 90-minute curriculum. Here's part one: Creating Your Own Blog: Getting Started Blog setup is a snap, if you can come up with a good idea. Figure out your theme. What are you going to blog about? It should be something about which you're passionate and knowledgeable (hopefully). Go ahead and blog about your business, if you want - just make sure it's something about your business that's important to you. Get a pen and…
Continue Reading Creating Your Own Blog: Getting Started »
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May 10, 2007 by ian
Have you looked at any presidential candidate's blogs lately? How many are actually written by the candidate? I know they're busy and all. But something like half of the world that uses the internet looks to blogs for unvarnished, or maybe just partly varnished, peek at what the candidates are thinking. So why doesn't Hillary write on her own blog? How about Barack? Or John McCain (who looks so down in the dumps these days that I can't refer to him by first name, sorry). I suspect that it comes down to a phrase I coined yesterday with the…
Continue Reading Clearing Bloggage in 7 Easy Steps »
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