Palatine, IL Online Marketing Company

Optimizing your business website for search engines is becoming one of the most popular techniques for getting business and getting noticed as a small business. If you own a small business and either don't feel SEO Marketing is a good investment, or are simply not applying the strategies, you're missing out on a huge source of free advertising.

Although Search Engine Optimization is key to becoming popular in your geographical location, business owners are usually not skilled enough or have the know-how to do SEO on their own. This is where an SEO Consultant comes into play. An SEO Consultant will help small business owners put together a strategic internet marketing plan that ensures success online, or if one person is not enough, business owners can consult an Internet Marketing Company. Here are some tips to filter out the bad and choose the best company for your business needs.

SEO Reputation:
When researching SEO companies, you must check the reputation of the company. There is a practice known as 'Black Hat SEO' and many companies employ this. Black Hat SEO is an unethical form of SEO, that, while sometimes successful, will more than likely get your website blacklisted by major search engines.

Top Ranking on All SEs:
Beware of this promise. Companies that promise visibility or top rankings on ALL search engines for the length of your seo contract are lying to you. This is not possible as search engines, especially Google, are changing the way they rank websites all the time, and usually, without warning. Websites will move up and down all the time in rankings based on these changes, so guaranteeing a spot is unethical. An Ethical Search Engine Marketing Company will let you know that results are NOT guaranteed and your place will fluctuate with how the search engines are reading your website.

SEO Specialties
Legit SEO Companies will list their specific specialties on their website. The best SEO Companies will supply their website visitors with SEO strategy articles, blogs and other information. You should ask for recommendations from trusted online sources such as Google Maps, Yelp and other reviewing sites or ask business connections when looking for an Internet Marketing Company or SEO Strategist.

The Cost of SEO
If you're not sure what the average cost is of hiring an SEO Company or Consultant, it's best to do some initial research. First, know that SEO is not a one-time thing, and it will typically take a few months to see significant results, especially if your website has never been optimized before. Your second step will be to check out your competition: are you going up against a competitive niche? If so, it may be better to hire an Internet Marketing Company over a single SEO Consultant. Thirdly, remember that your cost will be based on how aggressive you want to be. If you want more backlinks, more social media activity, more articles and blogging, you're looking to spend around $800 on the low end. If you're hiring a huge company, be ready to pay at least $3000 a month in Online Marketing. Integraphix prides itself at being one of the less expensive SEO Companies in Chicago and you're more likely to be in the $300-600 range for monthly SEO marketing.

The most important thing to remember is this: You have a business to run, and if you're trying to become popular online, it is less expensive to hire a SEO Company than to lose business by doing it yourself. If you are unable to apply the correct strategies on your own, you might be hurting your SEO in the long run and it will be more expensive to fix and optimize you correctly. Be sure to do your research, ask questions, and ask to see their work. If they're not willing to share, they're probably doing some shady things behind closed doors.

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JC Penney SEO Fiasco

New York Times author, David Segal, recently published "The Dirty Little Secrets of Search" that describes how JCPenney.com and their marketing company utilized black-hat SEO tactics to rank high in Google for several keywords. JC Penney's SEO Firm unfortunately engaged in what's known as 'anchor-text-based paid links' which are stated plainly in Google's terms of services as being a strict NO NO. We all know that paid links are great for rankings but they can come back to haunt you and your website in the future. And we all know that some SEO firms continue to use this tactic even though they know the consequences.


The article is completely valid in sense that black-hat SEO is a horrid practice, should deter this type of search engine optimization. But blanketing the whole profession and making us look like a bunch of blog spammers is not cool! We at Integraphix, a White Hat SEO and Internet Marketing Company, give the author credit for quoting Google as stating, "[Google] draws a pretty thick line between techniques it considers deceptive and ‘white hat’ approaches, which are offered by hundreds of consulting firms and are legitimate ways to increase a site’s visibility." 


After reading Mr. Segal's article though, the uneducated are going to be quite disgusted and turned off with the SEO profession and strategic manipulation of the search engines and this I think is quite unfair.


1. There are Good and Bad Firms EVERYWHERE!

Black Hat SEO

Just because JCPenney decided to do it the wrong way, doesn't mean that every SEO Firm in the world is marketing their clients this way. There are many a credible, trustworthy and ethical SEO company that doesn't violate Google or any other Search Engine's rules. My own company, Integraphix, is an example of a Marketing Company in Chicago that provides white-hat SEO which doesn't violate rules and provides organic optimization.  JCPenney gives SEO a bad name, but Kesha gives a bad name to music and Michael Vick gives athletes a bad name. The main point is - there are bad eggs everywhere, and a blanket bad name shouldn't be said about an industry.


2. You have the right to question your SEO Company!
An SEO company with nothing to hide will hide nothing. Of course there are going to be details that you don't understand, but your Marketing Company should be able to present examples of what they've done for others. Understand that there are aspects of SEO strategy that companies classify as 'proprietary information' and will not give out less their strategy is stolen, but other than that, they should be open.


We're not trying to pat ourselves on the back, but Integraphix has always and will always provide white hat, effective SEO services to our clients and we abide by all search engine rules. There are no shortcuts, and there are no skeezy manipulations. No paid links. No link farms. No unethical SEO! But whether you use us or not, make sure your company is not risking the future of your website rankings and that you're leaving your financial future into the hands of real professionals.

Integraphix, a Chicago Marketing Company

~ Integraphix, a Chicago SEO Company