Author Archive

Yelp Interview Part 2: Luther Lowe Discusses Review Solicitation, Fraudulent Review Protection & Dealing with Negative Reviews

This is the second part of my three part interview with Luther Lowe, Yelp’s Business Outreach Manager. In Part One, we discussed what it means to be Yelp’s Business Outreach Manger, the recent class action lawsuit brought against their company and how Yelp is a transactional social media website. In this second part of the […]

Yelp Interview Part 1: Luther Lowe Discusses Recent Lawsuit, His Role as Business Outreach Manager & How Business Can Succeed on Yelp

I recently had the opportunity to sit down for an extensive interview with Luther Lowe, Yelp’s Business Outreach Manager. Luther was in town to speak at SEMpdx’s Searchfest, and was kind enough to set aside some time to enjoy a couple pints of locally brewed IPA and answer questions regarding his role at Yelp, the […]

Client Spotlight – MVP Seminars

  Client Spotlight – MVP Seminars At WebRanking we believe that our success is best measured by the success of our clients.  In my 8 years with the company, I have had the privilege of working with a diverse range of amazing clients, and I am happy to say that we have played a small […]

Ignite Portland 8 Sponsorship

WebRanking is a proud sponsor of Ignite Portland 8, which is being held on Wednesday March 3rd at 7 PM at the Bagdad Theater.  For those unfamiliar with Ignite, this geek friendly event gives 20 speakers 5 minutes on stage with 20 slides that auto advance after 15 seconds.  The speakers for this event were […]

Yelp Adds New Business Categories

Yesterday on their official blog, Yelp.com announced that they have launched new categories for business owners.  The expansion is quite thorough and allows the niche business to separate themselves from some of the more general category listings.  From “Disc Golf”, “Tattoo Removal”, “Window Installation”, “Lasik” and “Cosmetic Dentists”, there are now specific categories to match […]

A Love Hate Letter to Social Media

Dearest Social Media, I love you.  No, scratch that. I hate you.  Wait, please don’t unfollow me.  I didn’t really mean that.  I’m sorry. I was…drunk, yeah that’s it. I wasn’t thinking straight. Really, it’s not you…it’s me.  I really do love you…but to be honest, I think I might hate you at the same […]

Who’s been Naughty and Nice in Search for 2009?

We’ve Compiled Our List & Checked it Twice… With Christmas only a few days away, those last minute acts of kindness probably aren’t going to be enough to get your name scratched off the naughty list and penciled into the nice one.  Sure, you might hope to slip by this year on some clerical error […]

6 Frightening Tales from the Paid Search Crypt

Paid Search. Nothing seems to strike fear into the heart of a client quicker then the mention of those two horrifying words. Bring up Search Engine Optimization? No worries; they all want their sites to show up organically. Link Building? With a little explanation on the intricacies, most see the value these important links play […]

Patience in Life as in SEO

My first born is now officially 3 days overdue. Am I patiently waiting? Heck no, not in the least. I’ve seem to have turned into a hyperactive child in need of his Ritalin at the end of a three day candy binge waiting for his habitually late sleeping parents to finally get out of bed […]

Facebook in the News – Adds Live Search and Acquires FriendFeed

Facebook was making a little news on Monday, as they launched a new search interface that allows members to view all posted results from the entire network of registered Facebook users, or just results from current Facebook friends. This new “Everyone” filter is very similar to Twitter’s search feature, as it allows you to monitor […]