SEO Company Toledo| Web Site Optimization Tricks| SEO Expert Michigan

Question of the day:

Are SEO experts destroying the internet as we know it?

Brennan: “Like a dog chewing on its own tail!”

The invention of the internet has changed our life! We can do anything online now. We can shop, research, write journals, pay bills and even bid on online brides. It even opened the doors for new jobs. Such as Internet Marketers, Search Engine Optimizers (SEO), Digital Marketing Specialist, Pay Per Click Managers, Blog and article writing and Social Media Management.

SEO started out as an innocent and useful art that increased the ranking for many websites across the globe. First, the keys to find success for top rankings was to optimize the HTML code on the sites. Then the art of building links was realized. However, those were in the days that Dogpile and Lycos were cool.

Individuals studied SEO and were able to charge $400 for ten hours of work. That comes out to $40 an hour. Not too bad. In 2001, SEO experts began to write books on SEO strategies. People like me would read the book thinking they knew everything. But what they failed to realize is that there is no definite strategy to get top ranking on search engines such as Google. Every business and website architecture is unique and will deliver different results. Plus search engines own the advertising space your website link appears on. Why would powerhouses like Google allow you to get top rankings easily?

Many SEO companies failed to deliver the top ranking results they had promised and panicked. This is where blackhat SEO was born. Inexperienced internet marketing managers then decided to build links anywhere and everywhere. The anonymity of the internet allowed users to join forums and add keyword rich signatures even if the forum was not relevant to their site. They would not add one piece of useful and relevant information to the discussion. They would just promote their site.

For example, there could be a forum that is dedicated to showing support for cancer patients. This individual joins the forum and writes a message like this “Buy Nike Shoes” with a link to their site. This is called SPAM! Imagine this situation going on everywhere on the internet. Finally, the search engine giants such as Google and Yahoo put their foot down in a big way.

They were forced to introduce intricate algorithms that detected spam like this. Google made it even more difficult to achieve top ranking on their search engine for the targeted keywords. Now website content was viewed as the king.

However, the large amounts of spam also forced blog owners and forum moderators to stop allowing hypertext links to be detected by web crawlers. This is a simple code written that is called “nofollow“. This was to reduce the amount of spam on the internet. With nofollow tags on blogs or forums, the links are almost worthless to the link building process. This made spammers hesitate to promote their website because it was a waste of time.

I have discovered many websites and forums as an internet marketing manager. I would venture to say 60% of them have been forced to Nofollow links due to spam. This has reduced the impact SEO has on search engine ranking. The importance of a link is now based solely on its source, relevancy and keyword. Just like those annoying telemarketers that continue to call you, Spamming the internet ruins the experience of everyone involved.

The bottom line is this. There is no hidden secret to SEO. There also is no SEO company that can guarantee 100 links a day and top ranking. Internet marketing is extremely competitive. You have to find a niche market and establish a good reputation. To achieve top ranking, you also have to establish a loyal following. You do this by getting involved with the online community by writing unique content on blogs and social media platforms.

Remember this line: “link building should come naturally, not forced”.

By this I mean, users should share your link because they found it useful and want to spread the word about your product or service. It should not be a way to manipulate Google into giving your website top ranking. I guarantee you that if you try to manipulate Google, you will eventually get caught and you will get the famous Blackhat. What good would it be if your website is nowhere to be found on the internet?

My suggestion is to play nice! Take an ethical approach with your internet marketing strategy. If the internet continues to be filled with spam, link building will become obsolete. Learn how to optimize your website content and architecture first. Then use the social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook and Myspace to build awareness. Would it be prudent to risk your job or career? I certainly hope not. Save the internet and save some jobs!

Social Media Strategist| Social Networking| Community Manager Ohio

Do you have a feeling that the Internet and various social media platforms is leaving your company behind? If you are not tracking the relationships you have with the online community, you are missing some great opportunities to address customer complaints and improve your companies image across the entire world.

In the previous decades when cell phones weighed ten pounds and the internet was just a twinkle in our eyes, there was a deeper connection between customer service and the almighty customer. For service or repair of a microwave, you called the company and actually got to speak with a human being! Sounds great right? Well, even though you were able to speak to a human being who speaks English, you had to play the “on hold” game. So you could be on hold for an hour trying to figure out why you can’t fry ice cream in the microwave.

However, today many things are done electronically. Help lines are voice activated and companies will prefer to respond via email. I call this relationship of the consumer to internet as the e-relationship. The main drawback with an e-relationship is the loss of communicating emotions with companies to voice their opinion.

In the old days, if you had a bone to pick with a company, you could call them or even mail them. Most employees would ignore calls from irate customers. But some complaints would be heard. These complaints can be used to improve the product or service.

The internet allows anyone from anywhere to say just about anything. They can even speak their mind anonymously. Many consumers jump at the chance to review products or services. Especially, if the customer is ready to spill their emotions.

Let’s use Amazon.com as an example. Look at any product on their site and you will notice the many reviews toward the bottom of the page. Customers can rate products 1-5 stars and leave a brief comment. Sometimes, reviewers leave some pretty interesting comments. Unfortunately, there could be hundred’s of sites like Amazon that have the same type of review system.

A good community manager will use software or their own methods to find any review like this. They will do their best to find the individual and contact them. The idea is to find out why the customer is not satisfied. All successful businesses make mistakes. But a longstanding business must attempt to learn from their mistakes Speaking with unhappy customers is a sure way to improve a product or service.

The internet can even cause “multiple personalities syndrome”. Even the most reserved, timid and well mannered individual will use the internet as a medium to voice their displeasure. If you do not believe me, consult other websites that allow product reviews. Even use Facebook as an example. People feel inclined to write what’s on their mind, regardless of what it means to anyone else. If a customer with a reserved demeanor has a bad experience at a restaurant, they will use the anonymity of the internet to voice their displeasure. This situation brings up another point to why monitoring the online community is so important.

Hiring a community manager is a good idea to help build a loyal list of customers. The most rewarding customers sincerely appreciate companies that reach out to them to help resolve problems. So even if the customer has one bad experience. Due to the company’s diligence to resolve their complaint, they will return to your business again!

People will use the internet as a method to research products. So it is important that a company manages reviews. Positive reviews are great. But negative reviews signal a missed opportunity and an area for additional revenue. All companies with an online presence should acknowledge this idea.

The internet is open to the entire world. Unless 100% of your customers are satisfied with your product or service, you have some work to do! If you do have a 100% satisfaction rate, you deserve an e-high-five. (Electronic high five) Perhaps it would just be easier to “Like” your Facebook page.