A bold ruler ascends—going by the name Google AuthorRank – and his reign will be a long one. Because, in the very near future, information will take a back seat to who supplies it. We can no longer trust content – there’s just too much of it.  And many of “the facts” are flat-out wrong.  [...]

This post is part of a series on social media, Facebook data and the 2012 Presidential election. It updates Portent’s initial research. You can read the original report here. This year’s presidential race continues to be a great marketing study: The niche brand with a universe problem versus the hesitant big brand. After the debate [...]

Update: Here’s the latest numbers and my take on them: Facebook political update: Debates, spam and a polling slam. Update: You can watch the video of my interview, now, in this blog post. My KOMO TV appearance 10/3 was a bit of surprise, and our research wasn’t written up as prettily as I’d like. Still, [...]

Update: You can watch the video of my interview, now, in this blog post. I’m going to be on KOMO 4 News Primetime tonight, speaking in a 3-minute segment about social media’s growth and influence in this year’s Presidential race. We’ve been researching Facebook/Twitter interactions and the election for about 5 months—I’ll be talking about [...]

I just finished reading the 2012 SEMPO/Econsultancy State of Search Marketing report. Lots of great data in there, but a few things leapt out at me. Some leapt out all smiles and happiness. Others leapt out and tried to bite out my spleen. Whenever I read a report like this, I ask myself three basic [...]

Marketing can save the world. Or it can sit there like a turd you throw on businesses, hoping it’s fertilizer. I think it’s up to us which way our industry goes. So, I started work on this code of ethics: The code of ethics What I do affects businesses. It affects the jobs, lives and [...]

For months now, Portent CEO Ian Lurie and Director of Search Marketing Elizabeth Marsten have not slept. They have not eaten. They have missed out on critical episodes of True Blood. Why? Because they have been brewing brilliance with co-authors John Arnold, Marty Dickinson, and Michael Becker, developing the second edition of Web Marketing All-in-One [...]

These are the notes from my Mozcon 2012 presentation. I emphasize ‘notes’. There’s quite a bit of stream-of-consciousness going on here. If you want to see the presentation and supporting materials, instead, go to the bit.ly bundle, or check out the slides themselves, right here: I think the folks at SEOMOZ are mad at me. [...]

If you want to skip the babbling and just sign up, click here, then install the app. Life is very random. You’ve probably noticed. For example, did you know that I like Marilyn Manson’s music, but I’m also a fan of Beethoven. I love to watch the NFL but not baseball. I like electric cars [...]

I biked to work today. Which has nothing to do with this post, except that I biked back, too. My ride home includes a 500-foot climb that pitches up to a 10%+ grade in a few places. No big deal when I was 30 (or even 40). But now, at 44, with about 10 extra [...]