Portent’s starting a free webinar series, presented by yours truly. The first one is January 31, 2012 at 11 AM Pacific time. I’ll be doing a deep dive into inbound search content social media internet marketing strategy: The role of search engines, social media and other channels in your internet marketing campaign. What ‘inbound marketing’ …

Most people are terrified of problem solving, whether they’re figuring out how to replace a flat tire or diagnose a problem on their blog. They see a problem, and run so fast their pants are literally flayed from their bodies. Why? Because: A failed solution = A mistake Solutions require time, which no one has …

After my post yesterday, I realized I need to come up with some nice, concise definitions for what we do at Portent. Here’s my first try: Internet Marketing, defined in 3 sentences Internet marketing does three things. A good digital campaign: Improves visibility through SEO, paid search, social media and any other relevant vehicles. Builds …

Can I pay you based on performance? I hear that a lot. On its face, performance-based pay for internet marketing seems really fair: Clients pay their marketer a percentage of sales, or some dollars per lead, or something similar. If I help you sell more stuff, you pay me more. If I help you sell …

‘Engagement’. Shudder. It’s the latest beaten-to-death marketing term. Truth is, though, there’s a genuine need to ‘engage’ with your customer. I get it: You want to stand out. You want your customers to like you. You want them to remember you. But do you really have to over-complicate your web sites, and your marketing campaigns, …

I did it before. I’m doing it again. Here’s a list of 59 more things you need to do for your internet marketing campaign. I’ve tried my darndest to avoid duplication, but be patient: Speed up: Get Google Page Speed. Run it on every page of your site. Until you have a 90+, you aren’t …

Dear President Obama:

You’re not going to read this. Republicans will read it and roll their eyes. Democrats will read it and grind their teeth.

But I’ll feel better, because this crap is driving me crazy, and I finally wrote it all down…

My forehead should be bleeding. I’ve pounded it against my desk about thirty times in the last 24 hours. If I can help other people and companies market themselves, why can’t I ever do it for myself? This isn’t the first time I’ve asked myself this question. But it’s the first time that I can …

Dear CEO/VP of operations or whatever you are: Information technology departments don’t kill businesses. CEO’s using IT departments kill businesses. I’m reading a great book by John Hughes: Haunting the CEO (affiliate link). He’s a CIO-for-hire, and he’s seen it all. I’d started writing this post before I started the book, but the book really …

How the hell do I teach my team internet marketing? Why do we all suck at it? I spend a lot of time on this puzzle. My company’s survival depends on it. I have to find ways to teach, and to teach teachers, while working it around everyone’s busy schedule. And I have to find …