Internet Marketing Blog Posts

Internet Marketing

Digital marketing covers a huge range of potential channels, tactics, and occasionally even a dash of strategy. Being an expert in everything is nearly impossible, and a big part of why agencies like Portent have a job. The risk of low return on ad spend, or even low return on your sweat equity is enough… Read More

Internet Marketing

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, before I was a digital marketer, I was a screenwriter. It was a period of endless coffee, erratic pay checks, and afternoons that inexplicably turned into early mornings. I learned many valuable skills as a writer that I still use to this day. For example,… Read More

Internet Marketing

If you’re not tracking your own hours as well as those of your team, I’m here to convince you to start today. Time tracking task by task isn’t fun. It can seem trivial for some and scary for others. But with effective time tracking and analysis, the payoffs in identifying bottlenecks in current work processes… Read More

Internet Marketing

We’re all busy, which means we’re all occasionally guilty of relying on executive summaries and best practices guides to get things done. Give me a quick guide to optimizing landing pages? Can you send best practices for social media at events? What template should I use for our site’s metadata? How frequently should keywords be… Read More

Internet Marketing

This is the first edition of our annual Pi in the Face column. May many follow. Note: If you’re a marketer, this post will frustrate the hell out of you. I apologize. I needed a good rant. Plus, at a conference last week I heard a speaker say, “If it doesn’t generate ROI, we don’t… Read More

Internet Marketing

Walk through any professional services office around the country and I bet you’ll hear a similar theme when asking executives, managers, and practitioners about their workload- ‘there’s never enough time in the day.’ It happens all the time at Portent. I hear it from our team and I hear it from our clients. For marketing… Read More

Internet Marketing

Marketers live for the moment they do that one thing and stats go through the roof. But that doesn't happen often, and when it does, there's more to it. There's a ton of work and learning, and assuming it's all magical does the field a disservice.

Internet Marketing

Internet advertising is perilous. Your ads can show up in all sorts of places. Remarketing is particularly dangerous. This story is an example of how remarketing can go horribly, horribly wrong. I am, in case no one guessed, a left-leaning over-privileged pinko liberal. I’m a feminist. I’m pro-immigration. I like taxes. OK, that’s a lie,… Read More

Internet Marketing

Platitude #1: Google owns a massive majority of the search market. If all the internet’s a directory, and the game is to ensure you’re optimizing as such, consider that about 80% of desktop searches and over 85% of mobile searches are performed on Google. Their directory is dominant for many kinds of information. Old joke:… Read More

Internet Marketing

Email lists are very powerful and have many different applications. They’re a great way to re-engage past customers, share your great content/knowledge, and keep your business at the front of people’s minds. If you aren’t using yours (or if you don’t keep one), no judgment. Okay, maybe a little judgment, but here are some things… Read More

Internet Marketing

I know, I know. I piled on the tips and tools. It’s OK!!!! Here are the links, related content and slides from my Marketing Worldbuilding talk: 30 Tips For Better Content If you want a bunch of ideas for creating better places, check out this presentation and links Google Trends Compare trends around keywords. Figure… Read More

Internet Marketing

Earlier this year I wrote that any digital marketer must know how to write a blog post in HTML. I caught a little flak for that. I earned it. I should’ve been clearer: There are four HTML elements every digital marketer should know. If you know them, you can write a post using the code… Read More

Internet Marketing

Nothing gets taken out of context more than web content. Except maybe innocent remarks by public figures. Search engines pull bits and pieces from your page. People cut-and-paste. Aggregators grab headlines. We all tend to ignore the lack of context and write like we always have: We assume readers will see all our stuff together.… Read More

Internet Marketing

From businesses ready to go to market with a new product or service, to companies with a longstanding history but little digital presence, business owners, investors, CEOs, and marketing managers are always looking for quick wins when it comes to getting started with their digital marketing initiatives. Quick-result potential initiatives provide marketers the ability to… Read More

Internet Marketing

As a child from a small, rural town, I was fascinated by skyscrapers. My family would often drive through Chicago and I would gawk at the monoliths and later, brag that I had seen the World’s Tallest Building. I maintain this fascination today as evidenced by my favorite Wikipedia page about the tallest buildings in… Read More