Showing posts with label Social Media. Show all posts

5 Avoidable Mistakes in Press Release Writing

Friday, May 20, 2011 · Posted in , , , , , , ,

Search Engine Marketing Firm




Writing press releases for a Social Media, SEO, or Marketing campaign requires a bit of thought and a lot of preparation. Without the fundamentals, your release will end up in the trash bin of your recipient's email. A well written press release is a very valuable asset to any company and the success of the product or service can be dependant on it. Take a look at these steps to easily avoid getting trashed, and to become more successful at pushing your products or clients.

1. Not doing your research. Spend some time to actually read other press releases to see how they're worded, how they're put together, and mimic that. Additionally, don't only send your press releases to those in your niche: send them to other successful submission sites as well.

2. Don't assume your reader knows what you're talking about. If they have no clue about your product and you don't spell it out, why are they going to spread the word about your product? They're not. The goal is to get your PR reader to generate buzz to their audience or outlet. Let them know how!

3. Do NOT talk down to your readers. Don't be condescending. Period.

4. Adding too much 'fluff'. A press release is not a blog post. It is not an article. It is not a journal to get flowery with. It is a press release. Keep the fluff to a minimum and focus strictly on the details. Be informative and tell your reader what they need to know!

5. Boring subject lines. Chances are, most emails you delete are the type of subject line you DONT want to be putting on your press release. Be creative, and non-spammy. The difference between success and failure is a fine line. The subject line.

Avoid these mistakes and you'll have a much higher success rate across the board. Emails will be opened and media outlets will write or speak about your content. Above all else, PROOF READ.

Until next time.

-- Integraphix, a Chicago SEO Firm

Chicago Blog Marketing, Chicago SEO, Article Marketing Firm, Social Media Marketing

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Are No-follow Links good for SEO?

Monday, April 11, 2011 · Posted in , , , , , , , , ,


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.

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How to find a good Chicago SEO Company

Tuesday, March 29, 2011 · Posted in , , , , , ,





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.


Manufacturing and Marketing, Chicago Marketing Company, Chicago SEO, Marketing Chicago, Marketing

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SEO Firm of Chrysler Group Fired over vulgar tweet

Monday, March 28, 2011 · Posted in , , , , , , , ,


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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SEO Firm of Chrysler Group Fired over vulgar tweet

· Posted in , , , , , , , ,


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

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Monday, March 21, 2011 · Posted in , , , , , , ,

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!


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

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Twitter for SEO and Link Building

Thursday, February 10, 2011 · Posted in , ,

The very popular social networking and micro-blogging website Twitter is hot buzz right now. All for good reason. Twitter has a very unique platform that allows both social media and SEO (search engine optimization) - two of the most explosive trends in internet marketing - to marry and come together. They even support each other.

Twitter has many more useful attributes that the ability to let users broadcast what they're eating for breakfast or what outfit they picked out. It you use it properly and use Twitter's best practices, you CAN improve your link building campaign performance.


Now we'll look at the numerous ways that you can use Twitter for link building.

1. Engage your followers.
Using the search tool to find the people who are relevant to your business and start tweeting! Share @mentions, send them @replies, retweet their tweets and links. This all points towards the goal of getting them to link back to you or getting them to say - hey thanks for spreading the word. It sounds like a ton of work, time, and effort, but it cuts down on you having to post to blogs, finding relevant sites to post to and writing articles.

2. Get more followers.
Without going into too much detail about how to get more Twitter followers (that's an entirely new blog post for later), we'll say that the more followers you have, the more people see your tweets, the more likely your links are to be reposted and talked about! That also means that people start seeing you as an authority in your field and respect your opinion.

3. Are your tweets "retweetable"?
Why is this important to be retweetable? It helps you gain popularity. It also helps others who dont follow you to FIND you. Another important note about being 'retweetable' - make sure you are #tagging your posts so they can be searched by users. If you are making your tweets searchable and retweetable, you will be seen more often by more people. These people may even post a link to your website on their own website if you're posting relevant content.

4. Join Twitter Directories
A Twitter directory brings businesses and consumers together without lifting a finger really. Tweetfind can also help get your customers and prospects to follow you on Twitter. It's also another backlink  to your website or blog. Plus it's free!

5. Don't Tweet a link to everything!!
Followers won't click on your name anymore if all you do is post the same links to your website over and over. You're asking for people to unfollow you. It's called SOCIAL media for a reason - that means don't talk about yourself all the time. Promote other people and other ideas. It makes you look smart! Be respectable, interesting, compelling, and friendly. If you do share a link - make sure it's something your followers will actually want to look at.


Now go out into the Twitter Social Media world and Tweet!

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