SEO Firm: Don't Ask Sites for Links!

Chicago SEO Firm

SEO Company in Chicago

Yep. That's what I said. Don't ask websites for links! It's bad PR. What you need to do is find people and connect. Network! Since many SEOs are trained in the traditional practice of link building, we typically go through a process somewhat like this.

1. Find a relevant website.

2. Search for contact information.

3. Get in touch and make a trade.

If you've done this before...you know this type of Chicago Internet Marketing sucks. Conversion rates are typically very low, and the Return on your Investment is there, but it is a painfully long road to travel. But there is a much better way.

Find human beings! 

What a concept! They can be bloggers, journalists, forum participants, social networkers, people in the media, or perhaps you're simply well connected already! (Lucky you!)

Follow them

No not like a stalker. Follow their internet contributions: Twitter, Facebook, their blog, Forum conversations, emails, etc. Don't ask for anything.

Make yourself useful to them

Offer them great content, give them a referral, build trust.

Make them aware of this 'thing' you have for them

Talk about it on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, email, blog comments, or whatever way you wish to contact them.

There are huge advantages to building connections and links this way because it's coming from a trusted source and not from random email spam. People also like people. People who interact with them specifically. Getting an email from info@somerandomsite.com isn't likely to reap any rewards.

Credibility is huge here. Not only are you building credibility for yourself, but you're doing it for your clients as well. You've got greater brand awareness, attention from influential people, social sharing and more! And the best part? It's future proof. No matter what signals search engines measure, your work will carry value. If Facebook sharing or Tweeting takes over the internet, it won't be a problem, because you're already getting your links shared.

Good luck out there! We're rooting for you here at Integraphix. The process can be longer, but it will reduce the painful awkwardness on both sides of the fence. If you've got a comment, (a useful one) let us know by adding your name below!

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Integraphix, a Chicago SEO Firm

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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Are No-follow Links good for SEO?

I've recently seen a lot of discussion on the value of no-follow links for SEO. Half of the Internet Marketing community is saying there IS value to them and the other half thinks there is absolutely no value. After some research, I've found compiled some information on backlinks and their do-follow/no-follow relevance to SEO.

No-follow Links: Is is still valuable to get them when you can? Social Media sites are mostly no-follow. Is it worth the reach even without the SEO value?

With some research, I've come to this conclusion: Yes, no-follow links are definitely important. There is much debate on no-follow links and as an SEO, I don't believe there needs to be so much concern over getting do-follow links. If a link is from a strong website with high PR such as Huffington Post, or Forbes and can pass traffic, then I say go get it! Search Engines are paying a lot of attention to Social media websites (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn) so why bother with worrying about nofollow/dofollow when they're still incredibly important to have. If you're trying to build a brand and rank on Google, it's best not to obsess over whether a link is good for SEO - think about what is good for your brand.

Nofollow links to not pass search engine value for Google and Bing - Yahoo might be another story. But you CAN have a link on Wikipedia or even Google's own blog and it won't count, but that doesn't mean it's not incredibly valuable.

Websites with lots of links, even if they're no-follow links, can still send traffic: meaning that the link is still clickable or live. This can still help with increased website traffic, leads and potential conversions and perhaps even encourage others to link to your website with a do-follow link. The point of all the Social Media links is about creating awareness and a following for your product and services. This awareness about your brand will lead to more link building from other sources and develop a larger community for your brand. So do no-follow links matter? Yes they most certainly do.

Investing in SEO for your Website

Is your website getting all the traffic you'd like to see? Often, good web design is not enough. To draw visitors to your site, an SEO campaign may be necessary.

Search engine optimization is not a do-it-yourself project. SEO experts use a collection of sophisticated tools to dive into the details of your website to make it more attractive to search engines, and build sophisticated strategies to improve your search engine rankings. But not all SEO firms are created equal. Here are five red flags to watch out for when comparing SEO firms for your search engine optimization campaign.

1. Aggressive timelines. If a firm promises high rankings and big results in the first 30 days, beware. True search engine optimization takes time to achieve. This sort of short-term gain usually requires a flurry of activity in promoting your site online -- and can often get you banned from Google or other search engines indefinitely. A reputable SEO firm will talk about results over months, not weeks.

2. A one-time shot. Just as you change your product or pricing in response to the market, good SEO requires changes in strategy over time. A short-term project may create short-term activity, but just because your site is ranked #1 today doesn't mean it will be tomorrow. Good SEO firms provide constant monitoring and updating as required to see search engine success over the long term.

3. A "trust me" approach. Your SEO efforts are only worth as much as the results. If you're writing a check each month for services and aren't sure exactly what's being done on your behalf and what impact that's having on your search rankings, find another SEO firm. Most solid SEO firms will provide reporting regularly (we provide reporting monthly) and will keep you informed of how their work is progressing.

4. Tactics that harm your business reputation. No matter how much search engine rankings are worth, they're not worth damaging your business reputation. Some more questionable SEO practices can end up with your company information associated with unsavory areas of the web -- including adult content, organizations that you may not support, and websites that sell or in other ways profit from private user information. SEO firms that play fast and loose with your good name should be avoided.

5. Difficulty connecting with a real person that understands your business. SEO firms that use a cookie-cutter, one-size-fits-all approach will likely miss great opportunities to promote your website and add to visibility because they don't adequately understand your customer, your products, and your business goals. If someone wants to sell you an SEO package without an expert consultation which considers your wider marketing strategy, run.

Reputable, effective SEO firms can double or triple the number of visitors to your website over time, and they can make the difference between a winning web strategy and a site that's beautiful but unused. Before selecting an SEO firm, ask questions, get a detailed proposal, and make sure you understand what you'll be getting for your money.

Integraphix is a full-service Chicago website marketing company, developing and promoting stunning websites and dynamic mobile applications for large corporations and small businesses nationwide. Our SEO experts can design a search engine optimization campaign that grows your business without busting your budget. Contact us to see how investing in promoting your website can pay off over and over again.


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SEO Marketing on Tumblr: How to Optimize your Tumblr Blog

SEO Website Optimization for Tumblr and other Social Media Websites

Tumblr could possibly be the most addictive social media and micro-blogging platform behind Facebook and Twitter. This is especially so if you're looking for an easy to use (and awesome) photo/text/link blogging website. It'll be even easier to get addicted when you read this post. Also, please take not of the fact that Tumblr Corporate heads have plans in to expand significantly next year. If you're in it for internet marketing and seo...that's another story.

While fun to use, and wonderful to look at, Tumblr isn't the best blogging site out there to support an SEO campaign. Wordpress and Google's Blogger still reign supreme, while Tumblr rarely ranks well on search engine results. We're not saying that it will never rank well, but typically it does not rank without a few tweaks and tricks. What are these tips and tricks? Read along grasshopper:

Optimize your page Titles
Here's the great thing about Tumblr: their customization allows you to modify the HTML of your website and of the posts themselves. HTML...that's scary right? Well it's not that scary as it involves the simple change of a title tag of the post so that it contains the title of your post, a summary and perhaps even your blog name. This way, the information you want will show up in search results and help your content gain exposure (instead of just your blog name) and in turn help your search engine optimization.

Add Meta Descriptions
Don't know what a meta description is? It's the short paragraph seen  under Search results in Google, Yahoo, and Bing. Google is the main search engine most people should focus on, and they display no more than 160 characters for each description, so try to keep your meta description under that. If you don't create a meta description, Google will pull one from your website for you and you may not like the outcome! It will be a random accumulation of 'spidered' words. This is not good for SEO or the likelihood of someone visiting your website.

Submit your XML sitemap to the search engines
Tumblr gives users the ability to generate what's known as an XML sitemap. That's very nice because it gives you the ability to tell the search engines that you have amazing, organized and well thought out content.

Customize the URL of your post
Do not post anything before altering the URL of your blog post. It's in the lower right hand corner of the post/reblog page. Alter the URL so it is SEO-friendly - also remember add tags so people can find your post.

Optimize your Photos
This means more than just adding tags through the tumblr website itself. Make sure you are uploading pictures that are named properly, and have the appropriate alt text description.

Get going on Social Networking
The reason Tumblr is growing and becoming more successful is the social aspect of the blogging platform. Users can talk to each other much like Facebook and Twitter though their blog posts. This doesn't mean you don't have to get on Facebook or Twitter and use it religiously. Tumblr has a feature where you can connect your blog to Facebook and Twitter, so that whenever you post on Tumblr, it will automatically repost to Facebook and Twitter - saving you time, and building your following.

More questions on Social Media Marketing with Tumblr, Facebook and Twitter? Contact Integraphix for a FREE Internet Marketing Analysis and start your SEO campaign today!

-- Marketing Company in Chicago

Integraphix, a Chicago SEO Company serving the USA and Beyond!


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Why Press Release Marketing is Important for SEO

Why Submit Your Press Release to Distribution Services?

In order to get your PR content to be indexed in Google and Yahoo, and to generate Google Alerts, you have to submit your press release to one of the recognized press release distribution services. That is how you can gain online coverage from mainstream media and bloggers as well as gain backlinks for your search engine optimization campaign. Integraphix, a Chicago SEO company, uses press releases to inform the public of our new clients and website launches. 

Where to Submit Your Press Release?

There are paid press release services littering the Internet and though people don't have the extra $200 per release to spare. There are free services you can use and I highly encourage it. Press releases are a company's lifeblood and we use article writing and press releases for our SEO clients all the time. While we encourage you to experiment with them, make sure you know what you are getting with them. 

The # 1 Critical Element in Press Releases

Including links with relevant anchor text in your press releases is critical. Make sure you hyperlink relevant words that take you to targeted pages. This is essential for search engine optimization.

Don’t Forget to Publish on Your Site or Blog

In addition to sending the press release to reputable distributions services, you should also publish it on your own website. Put it up on the Media page, on your blog or wherever you think is appropriate.  The content of the press release doesn’t have to be much different from what you already put together for the PR services.


Have more questions bout optimizing your press releases? Contact Integraphix for a FREE Internet Marketing analysis and we can talk to you about website and search engine optimization for your business.
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Integraphix, a Chicago SEO Company.
Chicago Marketing Company, Chicago SEO, Chicago Web Design, Chicago Internet Marketing, Chicago Medical Marketing, Chicago Attorney Marketing, Chicago Dental Marketing, Chicago Financial Marketing, Chicago Business Marketing, Chicago Marketing
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