Random Blog Posts

Random

Earlier this week, a ex-Portent employee-who-remains-a-fan sent me a note: Sure enough, it had happened again: Someone ripped off our site, images, text and all. They didn’t even bother to change the names. Apparently, we now have an office in Sydney: To me, there are three classes of plagiarists: The smart: They steal your copy,… Read More

Random

I wouldn’t be surprised if some people in the internet marketing industry secretly called me an “old hat” behind my back. I’ve been at Portent for ten years now so maybe I deserve that. The average tenure at a company these days is 4.6 years . Fewer than 10% of people my age stay at… Read More

Random

When we announced my job change, I figured it’d just slip by. Who’d care if I shuffled leadership at Portent? I’m just some guy. Man, was I in for a shock. I got literally thousands of ‘congrats,’ and hundreds of ‘WTFs?!!’ Which was flattering, and a little intimidating. Hopefully this explains the why, what and… Read More

Random

Update! Learn the ins and outs of a faster site in our Ultimate Guide to Site Speed We did a survey of every Affordable Care Act health benefits exchange, including Healthcare.gov. I expected to find deep, complicated server latency issues or similar. Instead, we found some of the most ridiculous, simple-to-fix, small issues that are… Read More

Random

Well, not really. First, PORTENT DID NOT POST THIS. We never would. The guys who did may have been joking, I guess? Hopefully? Understand: This is exactly the kind of shock-jockey crap that makes marketing a joke. It doesn’t just insult an entire religion. It also insults our intelligence. I somehow doubt that the Christian… Read More

Random

At first Google was just a search engine; then it started to get funny. Now, Google tricks, or “Easter Eggs,” lurk behind every Google search. The right keywords or an “I’m Feeling Lucky” search will often lead you to odd and awesome Google jokes. And Google Easter Eggs aren’t just in Search, you can also… Read More

Random

For three years, I got to work in an awesome professional setting at Portent. Sure, the office space wasn’t as nice when I first started in the outskirts of Seattle as it is now downtown. But that didn’t change the fact that I became part of a close-knit community which thrives in the office environment… Read More

Random

While we do love SEO, PPC, social, content, and Internet marketing in general, we’re more than that – we’re also people, people who love our pets. (I mean, we love them so much we built an entire Facebook app called the Kitten Moodinator.) So for this fun, furry, Friday post I present The Pets of… Read More

Internet Marketing

Most people hate public speaking, don’t they? Anecdotally, we hear that people would rather die than have to get up in front of a group of other human beings and make a presentation. I sure can relate to that! People who know me now might not believe this, but I grew up very shy and… Read More

Random

It’s been awhile since we’ve checked in on the internal workings of Portent’s Smith Tower headquarters, and I figure it’s about time since we have some pretty exciting news to announce. The very first winner of the Best Section in the Portent Office has been selected and it’s none other than… The Southeast Corner, aka… Read More

Random

Words are powerful. If you’re like me, 10, 11, 40 times a day you mentally slam your head in a drawer and say “That was STUPID.” That’s the wrong word. 99.99999% of the time, you can replace ‘stupid’ with ‘experimenting.’ You didn’t do whatever it was that blew up in your face, failed, imploded, left… Read More

Random

Back in November, we detailed the (Real) Life of Pi from pre-dawn breakfasts at the train station to lights out. In honor of International Pi Day, we decided to pull back the curtain again so you can see how each department contributes to the Internet marketing expertise here at Portent. Account Strategists @portent Account Strategists… Read More

Random

Here’s the video from yesterday’s webinar, 30 Tips for Awesome Presentations, in case you missed it and would like to hear my dulcet tones: And the slides: And the audio, for all you podcaster types: I’ll be uploading a transcript on Monday or Tuesday!

Random

Last Saturday, Portent owned the Snow Day Snow Castle competition (though we didn’t win—drats, that REI!). The building contest and subsequent Guinness Book of World Records’ record-breaking snowball fight benefited the Boys and Girls Clubs of King County.  Below are the fruits of our labor: Video and original music by Josh Patrice We had a great… Read More

Random

Every now and then I have these epiphanies so blindingly obvious that, when I point them out, people look at me like I’m a hapless dolt. I call these ‘stupiphanies.’ Most of mine relate to leadership, either as a parent or a CEO. A few I’ve had in the last month are particularly worth sharing:… Read More