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Conversation Marketing: Internet Marketing with a Twist of Lemon
www.conversationmarketing.com
12
Helping you see the forest for the trees in internet marketing: Pulling together search, design, development and more with a cogent strategy.
#102493 in All

Portent moves downtown

So, here we are: Downtown. Smith Tower. At first, I started this post with “When I started my company…” Then I slapped myself. This isn’t about me. Here’s what this move is about: A great team creati...

1 day ago

And So Are the Days of Our Tukwila Lives…

Today, Portent is moving to the Smith Tower. But before we can say hello to downtown Seattle, we have to say goodbye to Tukwila Life. If you’re unfamiliar with the phrase “That’s Tu...

2 days ago

Goodbye Google Places, Hello Google+ Local

Business owners got a treat this morning as Google rolled out yet another update to its local platform, this time, ditching Google Places and replacing it with Google+ Local. This move completely int...

3 days ago

11 reasons your infographic isn’t an infographic

My infographic. Ain't it great!!!!!? OK everyone. Take a deep, freaking breath. I can’t sneeze right now without spraying germs on someone’s attempt at a data-driven work of art. Her...

4 days ago

SEO proposal: An example

Finally, without sarcasm or other unhelpfulness, here’s a sample of how we do our SEO proposals: SEO Proposal Sample View more presentations from Ian Lurie Some things we do with all of our SEO...

4 days ago

Major search player outed for bad link practices

Yep. Uh-huh. Google’s busted. I just took a look at Google’s link profile and the big G is clearly running a link network. Check this out: They own all these sites—YouTube, Feedburn...

26 may 12

How we made Portent.com really freaking fast

Please note: I am not a server expert. This is stuff I figured out by bumbling around, crashing our server and generally wreaking havoc. Be careful, unless you want to see steam coming out of your IT...

24 may 12

9 Tips for Setting Up an AdCenter Account from Scratch

It’s free to sign up! AdWords charges you $5 for account activation. Don’t dump your entire AdWords account in. That’s just silly. Use the 80/20 rule. 20% of what you’re doing in Google can go ...

23 may 12

Seducing the Client: Four Tips for Making a Good First Impression

They say you only get one chance to make a first impression. It’s true. On dates, with mother-in-laws and in business. Thankfully, I aced my first date with my husband and we currently live happily e...

22 may 12

Social media means business: Slides from the seminar

Last week, I did my first half-day seminar: Social Media Means Business. It was a great group, and we’re converting and editing the video (soon to be on sale on an internet near you) now. In th...

21 may 12

Not Adding Up (Literally) – Google AdWords’ Glitch

This is one of those short posts that will make you squint your eyes slightly, furrow your brow, tilt your head, and say, “Wait, what? This doesn’t make sense.” Like this: I have an account in Google...

17 may 12

Wanted: Enterprise Search Gods

Lately, I’ve been feeling like a grade schooler punished along with the rest of the class for one student’s bad behavior. With Google’s Pandas, Penguins and other pandemonium-producing up...

15 may 12

Google Penguin for non-SEOs

They were cute until Google got to 'em If I say ‘Google Penguin’ to an SEO pro, they shudder. In the SEO world, Google’s Penguin update is the nastiest, scariest update since, ...

15 may 12

SEO & UX – Working together to make your site better

A few years ago I stepped into a role as an information architect and user experience designer at a Portland ad agency. Coming from a background in search marketing, this was quite a bit of a change ...

10 may 12

How to hire an SEO company, 2012 edition

I’ve written other posts about hiring SEO firms: How to hire good ones. How to hire bad ones. But an update’s in order: Questionnaire for an SEO agency Start each agency you interview wit...

10 may 12

How to Use Hootsuite and Twitter Lists to Engage Your Audience

I remember when I got my first Twitter follower. I was a bright-eyed web surfer with a bushy tail (since birth). @getfree_ebooks3 followed me, and our relationship blossomed. She was beautiful. I wou...

08 may 12

10 Dangerous Defaults in PPC

You remember that episode where Homer Simpson goes into space as a NASA astronaut? He only got to go because Barney Gumble has an alcoholic relapse and Homer was the second runner up. Scientist: Well...

04 may 12

Why Google Is Not Going Away: On AllThingsD

Forbes published an article this week explaining why Google and Facebook could disappear in the next 5 years. I, uh, beg to differ. I wrote my thoughts on the subject in an article published on AllTh...

04 may 12

Hat Trick: How Account Strategists Do It All

For someone with only one head, I wear a lot of hats. Most people have jobs they can explain in a sentence (“I’m a doctor / librarian / deep sea diver.”) But I’m not one of those people: I’m an Accou...

02 may 12

4 tips for technical SEO

We’re all talking a lot about content and social media these days. But visibility boils down to technical SEO: Ensuring that search engines can easily find and categorize every page of your sit...

01 may 12

10 ways to get into big trouble in marketing

Base your campaigns on the ‘average’ customer. Only follow the data. Never follow the data. Skimp on content. Wait for perfection (hint – you’ll never get it). Leave design to...

29 apr 12

Expert PPC Management Within Your Reach

Pay-Per-Click advertising is a beautiful thing. Set up an AdWords or adCenter account and your ads can target thousands of potential customers looking for a product just like yours. Mmm, that’s nice....

27 apr 12

SEO Analytics, Middle Earth-Style

Who saved Middle Earth? No, not Frodo. His will shredded like wet toilet paper. Gollum took the lava bath, destroyed the ring, and saved everyone from a 36″ Dark Lord. Does he get any credit? N...

25 apr 12

The 10 Dumbest Tweets of All Time & the Idiots Who Wrote Them

It’s amazing how 140 characters can have such an impact on your career. Now that we live in a world where “Google before you tweet” is the new “think before you speak,” ...

25 apr 12

Good Design Roundup

Good Design Roundup Good design doesn’t just mean pretty, it means functional too. Sometimes a website is born that combines those two things seamlessly. It’s like a miracle. Or more likely, pe...

24 apr 12

Thurday’s Free Webinar: PPC for Cheapskates

Hey Everybody! Don’t forget about Portent’s free monthly webinar on Thursday, April 26 at 11am PST. This month, yours truly will be presenting: PPC for Cheapskates. Pick up great tips and tricks to m...

23 apr 12

Introducing the Facebook Custom Tab Generator

Custom tabs on Facebook Pages allow us to display our own HTML content inside Facebook Pages by embedding code in iframes. This is done by creating a Facebook app and providing a few parameters (like...

20 apr 12

Avinash Kaushik & His Awesome Google Plus Updates

When it comes to writing updates in Google+, some of the most influential people use the following formula to make their posts stand out: (Title in bold) + (3 to 4 short paragraphs) + #hashtag + URL ...

18 apr 12

Three principles of internet marketing

I’ve put in some time lately talking about what internet marketing is not. I thought I’d take a crack what internet marketing is, for a change. Internet marketing’s driven by three ...

17 apr 12

The 3 Most Important Lessons I’ve Learned as a PPC Strategist

I started working at Portent a year and a half ago as an intern. I was fresh out of college and did not know any specifics of internet marketing. I was introduced to the world of paid search during m...

16 apr 12

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