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Be Present. In the SERPs: Online Marketing From Oprah’s Pers...

Oprah is quite possibly the world’s most famous Chicago resident, at the moment at least.  Therefore, our Chicago SEO company is looking at search engine optimization and online marketing through the eyes of Oprah. 

Oprah herself would definitely be a white hat SEO consultant, even if she had the opportunity to get away with black hat techniques.  After all, she says “real integrity is doing the right thing, knowing that nobody is going to know whether you did it or not“.  She would also be a very dedicated online marketer, passionate about her work - so passionate, in fact, she’d likely care more about results than her paycheck (and I think we can safely assume Oprah’s not hurting for cash).  In her own words: “what material success does is provide you with the ability to concentrate on other things that really matter. And that is being able to make a difference, not only in your own life, but in other people’s lives”.

She would also be no stranger to working hard and taking risks with online marketing tactics, since she believes that “where there is no struggle, there is no strength” and that people should try to do the one thing you think you cannot do. Fail at it. Try again. Do better the second time. The only people who never tumble are those who never mount the high wire.”

It’s unlikely that Oprah would get too caught up in the fluctuations in the SERPs or in the latest trends and industry gurus, however, since she knows that “with every experience, you alone are painting your own canvas, thought by thought, choice by choice” and that “The greatest discovery of all time is that a person can change his future by merely changing his attitude“.  In fact, her positive attitude would likely be her ticket to SEO success; it has certainly done her well in her actual career and life.

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Commenting On Other Blogs: Waste of Time or Key Internet Mar...

Many bloggers and internet marketing types profess the importance of commenting on other blogs in order to get your website on their radar, share your relevant information, and simply to join the ongoing conversation that is the web (especially the social media and blogosphere elements). After all, “markets are conversations” and no where is there a bigger or more worldwide conversation than the internet.

On the other hand, there are plenty of online marketers and SEO companies who feel that commenting on other blogs is mostly a waste of time since the vast majority of websites nofollow their comment sections (hence no rankings boost from the links) and very few people actually read all the comments anyways. Furthermore, being engaged enough to write interesting, relevant comments takes a good amount of time.

Support for Commenting On Other Blogs & Websites

Our search engine optimization and internet marketing company tends to be in favor of commenting on blogs, especially other blogs that deal with topics related to your industry or niche. Besides being a good way to network with other bloggers, writing thoughtful and positive comments is a good way to make yourself known in the blogging community and spread your brand. In addition, once you get a blogger’s radar as a helpful commenter, they are much more likely to link to your site in the future, or even ask you for a guest post or interview (obviously, this is especially good if they have a bigger audience than you, but even if they don’t you can still benefit from appearing on another blog and reaching a new group of readers).

Keep it Positive

The key to comment success is to keep it on topic and positive - never comment just to drop your link or promote your business (although mentioning relevant articles or areas of expertise is fine), and if you are commenting as a representative of your company, keep things positive and never go on the attack. Hopefully this goes without saying, but posting angry, insulting comments is not going to do anything beneficial for your business in the long run.

Go on the Offensive Without Being Offensive: Reputation Management

Another reason to comment on outside blogs and articles is to influence the conversation about your company and manage your reputation. If you come across a blog that mentions your business in a positive way, why not leave a comment thanking the blogger for posting their experience? On the contrary, if you find a negative mention, you can tell your side of the story in the comments - just remember to maintain a reasonable tone, however, and remain respectful of the blogger and other commenters or else you may do further damage.

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Web Design and Search Engine Optimization are Closely Connec...

Last Wednesday we posted the “ABCs of Search Engine Optimization“; this week it is our parent web design company’s turn to feature the alphabet with the “ABCs of Web Design“.  Of course, web design and search engine optimization are closely intertwined - after all, a proper SEO campaign involves on-site optimization as well as off-site marketing and link-building techniques.

If fact, if you check out the ABCs of web design post, you can see just how closely SEO is tied into overall web development, as there are a lot of similar terms and ideas on both lists (only a few are actually repeated, however, and the definitions are targeted for the relevant topic).  Ideally, a SEO team should be involved from the beginning and participate in the entire process - this may save you a lot of time, money, and overall effort in the future (or you can just contract a web design company like the Ocean Online Group that has an in-house SEO and online marketing team already in place).

Furthermore, part of SEO involves optimizing the website for users, because in the end, if visitors find it difficult to navigate your website and discover what they are looking for, chances are they will click away immediately (also known as bouncing - and of course, a site with a high bounce rate is definitely not something you want to have).  After all, even being on page one for all your relevant keywords won’t lead to conversions if your website is difficult to use and understand.  Therefore, it is clear that search engine optimization and web design are closely connected.

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Internet Marketing and Social Media: Building It Does Not Me...

Stories about businesses that have experienced huge amounts of success marketing themselves with social media are all over the media lately; everywhere you look there is another profile of a company that used MySpace, Facebook, or YouTube for fun and profit.  Social media marketing and social media optimization are the latest buzzwords in the search engine optimization and internet marketing world.

However, with social media the medium is not the message.  Simply creating a brand profile on MySpace or Facebook or wherever is not enough - simply building it does not mean they will come.  Much like creating a website and then neglecting SEO, just creating profiles on social media sites is not the ticket to success.  You have to participate and join the conversation.

First of all, however, you need to make sure that your customers are using social media to begin with - be wary of any SEO company that tells you to create some clever videos and you’ll be successful, or that all you need is a social media presence to get more customers, because they are likely just trying to sell on latest trends.  On the other hand, for many industries and companies, reaching out to customers where they live - on social media - can work really well, as evidenced by the by popularity of many viral marketing videos.

A good social media strategy recognizes the fact that the medium is not the message and if you build it they still won’t come - you have to use social media tools effectively, conversationally, and with your real voice, not merely to promote your brand.  Authenticity is the key, so take off your marketing hat and put on your blogging/sharing/helpful hat.

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