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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How to find a good Chicago SEO Company

With small and large businesses increasingly turning towards SEO for help marketing online, the number of Internet marketing companies and Search Engine Optimization companies have doubled as well. Chicago, with its large number of corporate companies has also hopped onto the Website Optimization bandwagon.

Search engine optimization and marketing services in Chicago provide small or large Chicago businesses with some of the most competent SEO services, and at highly affordable rates. With so many of these companies cropping up, its hard to find a really good Chicago SEO company that provides effective services and is affordable at the same time. But where there's a will, there's a way. So, if you are desperately looking for a reliable SEO company in Chicago that does not charge exorbitant fees, then here are a few tips on how to go with your search:

Word of Mouth – Asking around is probably one of the best ways to find a good yet affordable SEO company Chicago. Try getting referrals from other companies in your business niche. Choose companies that have a strong Internet presence. Such companies are probably hiring the services of a good SEO company. So, give it a shot!

Do not rely on fake guarantees – Many SEO companies try to sell their services by guaranteeing immediate results. If you know anything about SEO, you'll know that it takes a lot of hard work, patience and a lot of time for you to see any results with SEO. So, if anyone promises to give you instant results at low rates, ignore the rates and ignore the vendor. You'll find better.

There is a limit to affordability – No company that is really good can afford to provide their services at dirt cheap prices. So, if you are looking for a Chicago SEO company that is dirt cheap, then you can forget about it. Such cheap companies end up costing you more in the long run. Any reliable SEO company will provide services at reasonable rates that are not necessarily cheap, but by no means are they extremely expensive as well. You shouldn't only be looking at the price of the services, but the quality counts as well.

Ask the Chicago SEO company in question about the strategies they use – Always make it a point to ask the SEO company what strategies they use before you hire them. There are 2 basic SEO strategies, namely White Hat SEO strategies and Black Hat SEO strategies. By using Black Hat strategies, your site can get banned. So make sure you hire a company that only uses white hat strategies.

Using these points could help you find an effective yet affordable SEO company in Chicago. It is also advisable to check out whether the SEO company has testimonials from past clients. Above all, make sure you find a vendor who's SEO package fits in with your budget.


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SEO Firm of Chrysler Group Fired over vulgar tweet

Within the last two weeks, Chrysler Group ended it's long-standing relationship with their social media agency over a vulgar tweet that was posted to the official Chrysler Brand Twitter Account. Crazy!

The tweet was posted Wednesday March 9th, 2011 by New Media Strategies and read 'I find it ironic that Detroit is known as the Motor-city and yet no one here knows how to f*****g drive'. The tweet was removed shortly after being posted, but to no avail. 

Chrysler immediately made a statement the next day that it won't be renewing its contract with New Media Strategies for the rest of this year but noted that it will work with the agency through the transition period until it names a new marketing firm.

The Michigan based auto-manufacturer apologized in a blog post saying that the employee responsible for the tweet had been fired. In a follow up post, Chrysler said that the post had been meant for the employee's personal Twitter profile rather than Chrysler's and that they had not demanded the person be fired. Needless to say, it was a fireable offense in and of itself knowing how much social media runs the world these days.

The CEO of NMS, Pete Snyder said, his firm regretted the 'incident'.

"It doesn't accurately reflect the high-quality work we have done for Chrysler", he said in a statement, "We respect their decision and will work with them to ensure an effective transition of this business going forward."

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To a company who deals in a lot of social media marketing, reputation management and SEO services, this is outrageous. Integraphix believes whole heartedly in ethical SEO, even down to our employees being good and ethical people. The fact stands that even though that tweet was meant for a personal twitter account and YES free speech is an issue here, an employee has a particular image to uphold for the company they're working for AND the companies they represent.

New Media Solutions was in their rights to fire this employee. Ethical SEO and Search Engine Optimization Companies in general sometimes gets a bad wrap sometimes for being shady and the stories that have come out recently about black-hat SEO have not helped us much.

What can you do? Question your Chicago SEO Firm and ask them about their social media ethics. Ask who will be handling your social media marketing and make sure you're comfortable with who you're working with! 

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Integraphix, one of the Top Marketing Companies in Chicago | www.integraphix.com 

847.537.0067 or email us at info@integraphix.com for more information on Ethical SEO in Chicago

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SEO Firm of Chrysler Group Fired over vulgar tweet

Within the last two weeks, Chrysler Group ended it's long-standing relationship with their social media agency over a vulgar tweet that was posted to the official Chrysler Brand Twitter Account. Crazy!

The tweet was posted Wednesday March 9th, 2011 by New Media Strategies and read 'I find it ironic that Detroit is known as the Motor-city and yet no one here knows how to f*****g drive'. The tweet was removed shortly after being posted, but to no avail. 

Chrysler immediately made a statement the next day that it won't be renewing its contract with New Media Strategies for the rest of this year but noted that it will work with the agency through the transition period until it names a new marketing firm.

The Michigan based auto-manufacturer apologized in a blog post saying that the employee responsible for the tweet had been fired. In a follow up post, Chrysler said that the post had been meant for the employee's personal Twitter profile rather than Chrysler's and that they had not demanded the person be fired. Needless to say, it was a fireable offense in and of itself knowing how much social media runs the world these days.

The CEO of NMS, Pete Snyder said, his firm regretted the 'incident'.

"It doesn't accurately reflect the high-quality work we have done for Chrysler", he said in a statement, "We respect their decision and will work with them to ensure an effective transition of this business going forward."

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To a company who deals in a lot of social media marketing, reputation management and SEO services, this is outrageous. Integraphix believes whole heartedly in ethical SEO, even down to our employees being good and ethical people. The fact stands that even though that tweet was meant for a personal twitter account and YES free speech is an issue here, an employee has a particular image to uphold for the company they're working for AND the companies they represent.

New Media Solutions was in their rights to fire this employee. Ethical SEO and Search Engine Optimization Companies in general sometimes gets a bad wrap sometimes for being shady and the stories that have come out recently about black-hat SEO have not helped us much.

What can you do? Question your Chicago SEO Firm and ask them about their social media ethics. Ask who will be handling your social media marketing and make sure you're comfortable with who you're working with! 

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Integraphix, one of the Top Marketing Companies in Chicago | www.integraphix.com 

847.537.0067 or email us at info@integraphix.com for more information on Ethical SEO in Chicago

Is Search Engine Marketing Contagious?

Sure it is! Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is highly contagious. It catches like wildfire, and a good portion of online and offline business owners are reactive actively in their SEO efforts. This means that SEO and Marketing efforts are implemented because the competition is launching an SEO campaign as well. The only way to stay relevant and compete is to fight back! 

All it takes is a website owner of a lackadaisical or dormant website to see their competition rising from page 42 to page 2 and the race begins! If you launch a website with close to zero optimization, it's no wonder why you have no leads coming through that amazing website you've just paid to have built. Most web designers don't know their right foot from SEO or how to implement it. Integraphix works SEO into all of our web designs from the beginning, giving you a leg up on the competition.

Some of your first thoughts after a few months of having your website up is 'I have a gorgeous new website - what's wrong?' 

After some investigation, you'll fine something called search engine optimization (SEO for short). Now you realize that without this, there's a good chance that you're not visible online. You start to get a little panicked and research all the vendors that offer it. There is an endless sea of search engine marketing companies so come to the company that is doing it right!

Over the years, the idea has spread through the web like wildfire, and has created a contagious atmosphere of up and coming SEOs. The point is - search engine optimization should be proactive and readily sought after. Do NOT wait until you see your competitors in th search results because once they're there, it's hard to catch up because so much time has already been spent getting there. Playing catch up takes time.

Don't wait! Call Integraphix, a Chicago SEO Company, today for a FREE Internet Marketing Analysis.

847.537.0067 or email us!

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Search Engine Optimization isn’t just an extra step when designing and developing a website. It is a necessary process that needs to be developed and implemented throughout the entire web design and development process. We go even far enough to say that it should be the first step so that the web design can be developed around the optimization parameters. If you are hiring an Expert SEO Firm, or attempting to do it yourself, there are important steps that cannot be neglected in order to optimize your site the best.

SEO can be a confusing area to understand, and an even more elusive thing to keep track of, and while new websites must optimize their rankings for Google, Yahoo and Bing search engines, most often we find that people have no idea where to start. Luckily, SEOmoz has created a handy checklist that clears some of the confusion about what thorough SEO consists of:

The Checklist:

CRUCIAL!

1.    Target your Keywords. Each page must focus on ONE keyword. It will make it easier for the search engines to figure out what each page is for. Choose one ranking keyword for each page and keep it that way. Each following step should maintain that specific keyword for that page.

2.    Content. The most heard phrase in the SEO world is ‘content is king’. Why? Because website content is how people find you! It’s also how Google will inevitably rank you. Your content needs to be unique and relevant to your marketing and your focus. Otherwise, your website is getting lost in the fray.

3.    Title Tag. One of the most critical steps of SEO where you need to be very precise in the words you choose. Title Tags appear in search engine results (which means Google is reading them), the tops of browsers, and other external websites. They MUST be under 65 characters (including spaces) and be targeted.

4.    URL. Confusing, long urls are as annoying to Google and SEOs as they are to internet users. URL structure needs to be clear and easy to read for you AND the search engines.

5.    Meta Descriptions. What are meta descriptions? They’re the short paragraphic that appears under the website title in a search engine results page. While not especially important for search engine rankings, they are critical in attracting users to your website. They need to grab attention and make the user visit your site while maintaining keyword inclusion and relevancy.

6.    Alt Text. This is helpful not only for disabled users that need help viewing the internet, but also for spider bots that want to read what an image is about. If you’ve got ‘Mom’s Restaurant’ as an alt text instead of ‘Chicago Pizzeria’, Google is not going to index you correctly and it can hurt your ranking efforts.

7.    Internal Linking! This is a VERY important task. Link building in Ethical SEO is crucial to increasing page rank and it’s the task that takes the most time for SEOs (this is why typical seo contracts last for 6 months or more). Internal linking is one of the easiest ways to optimize. One you or your SEO firm has figured out your targeted phrases, figure out which pages will rank for them and use appropriate links for those pages. Do NOT link every single keyword on your site. This looks spammy and is unattractive to visitors.

If you think we forgot any crucial elements, let us know in the comments!

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For more information - Contact Integraphix to optimize your website and increase your business online!

Email us today!

You need to use SEO to be found online!

Is your company using SEO to get found on the internet? If not, then you're letting clients slip through your fingers. For every business or individual it is very important that they promote their products in the right way. It means that they should follow a proper way to make their products or services available to their target marketing around the world. If we talk about the different veins of marketing, then nothing can be better than Internet Marketing. The level of penetration it offers is simply untouchable. Internet marketing is not only an excellent way to market ones products, but it is also one of the cheapest ways. Both small businesses and big organizations uses internet as their prime mode of marketing. It is especially beneficial for the small businesses. Since they cannot spend much behind the marketing of their product or services, therefore internet provides them an easy and inexpensive way to promote their products and services.

There are many ways to increase the popularity of a business through internet marketing. The most important aspect of internet marketing is the SEO feature. SEO means search engine optimization. SEO helps you to increase the popularity of your website. It is quite obvious that more popular is your website, deeper will be your reach. Once your website becomes popular, it will become quite easy for you to stay updated with the latest offerings, which obviously means growth of your business.Before you opt for going to an seo expert, you need to understand that how the SEO helps in the growth of your business.First of all, you have to survive in this highly competitive world. It is quite possible that your competitors are following the SEO approach to promote their business.


So, to survive in the competition, you need to be equipped with this new weapon. It will definitely help you to survive in the competition at least.Web traffic is very important for the popularity of your website. More than 90% of the website traffic originates from the search queries and 80% of traffic comes through 3 major search engines namely Google, Yahoo and Bing. So, it is very necessary that you must be equipped with the SEO tools to make your website visible to the search spiders. It will help your website to get noticed, and will place it higher in the search ranking. Higher ranking in search engine means greater popularity and wider reach, which will definitely help you to increase your sales and expand your customer base as well. 


An expert Chicago SEO company can rightly guide you through these things.So for these reasons, it is quite necessary even for the small companies to get equipped with the SEO tools. The rate, at which penetration of internet is increasing, makes us to believe that internet marketing is surely going to leave behind the other channels of marketing. Therefore it is better to consult an SEO expert to provide a boost to your business. There are numerous SEO expert companies around the world. But you should always go for the good and reputed ones. If you want any information about SEO, you can check the website at Chicago Marketing Company.

Google Buzz and You

It's inevitable that an Internet Marketing and SEO Company - even ours - is thinking about Google Buzz and trying to come up with ways it will effect the future of SEO. Anything released by Google is going to effect the web. It's therefore inevitable that Google Buzz will affect the social media world - but what about your website's SEO efforts?

If you are not aware of Google Buzz - here is Google's official Buzz Video of the essentials:

The Good Things?

The Google Buzz recommendation feature is going to affect SEO the most. Google is saying that Buzz ''recommends interesting posts and weeds out ones the user is likely to skip over." It's Page Rank within Google Buzz - it will be very interesting to see if Google ends up funneling everything through their social media searches. They are highly likely to do this if you ask me. The main purpose of Google - or their mission to be more exact - is to organize the World Wide Web (old right?) and its masses of content into relevancy. There's absolutely no plausible reason that Google wouldn't push it's highly rated content within Buzz.

What does this mean for you and SEO?

It means that Buzz is just another means of making content go viral - with widespread effects. Buzz is already attached to Gmail and Googles millions of users including Twitter, Flickr, etc. Because of this centralized nature, a relevant and keyword heavy post is going to get a lot more screentime than a non-relevant post. This means SEO articles and blog posts are going to get a huge boost. It's just another form of search engine optimization, but not based on backlinks and meta tags. It will be focused on how many users and readers are 'liking' and sharing your content. Big news for the Chicago marketing company industry.

This means that quality content is going to be driving rankings. It's the way it should be, and Black Hat SEO techniques are going to go by the wayside and make room for ethical seo practices. The more your content is shared, liked, commented on and seen by readers, the more 'buzz' you're going to get and your Page Rank is inevitably going to rise. If Buzz gets connected to social search on Google, then your highly rated piece of content is going to be right up there on page 1. Score!

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