What are ‘good’ and ‘bad’ links? 2 Jul 2013 7:34 AM (12 years ago)

What Is Link Building?

More and more customers are becoming aware of “bad” links. They might even bring up “Penguin” and ask, “What is a bad link?” Here we look at what unnatural links might look like and, even better, what a “good” link is and where you might acquire them.

Up until now many SEO companies relied heavily on link building and acquisition. The idea is simple; create a link from external sources with an anchor matching a popular search query. So I could use a link to my site with “New Jersey SEO” as the anchor from multiple locations in an effort to improve my search placement for that term. Google has always stated that “paid” links are against their guidelines. Last year, however, Google started to devalue these types of links and many sites with large link profiles found themselves further down the page or completely vanishing from search.

What are “Bad” Links?

So what makes a link ‘bad’? It’s pretty simple really. Did you pay a service to acquire links? If so it’s very likely considered to be “unnatural” by search engines. The internet is laden with article sites full of duplicated or poorly spun content and marketers would be wise to avoid them at all costs. Often misinformed business owners participate in article marketing or comment links without knowing the long-term consequences.

What are “Good” Links?

So if paid links are ‘bad’, what makes a ‘good’ link? If you aren’t participating in a paid link service or ‘link wheel’, where you link out in return for reciprocal links, chances are your links are natural. For example, if you’re an attorney and you have links from Avvo or Lawyers.com, two authoritative lawyer sites, those should be considered ‘real’ and ‘natural’. If you write a great article or blog on your site and it gets attention in relevant searches it might get linked from other blogs and used as a reference. This is a great way to build relevant and authoritative links.

Other Things to Watch Out For

The two big mistakes I see are using the same anchor text repeatedly and using incoming links from every page on a domain. Google likes to see varied anchor text from incoming links. So using the same anchor every single time is not a good idea. Instead try and mix up your keywords with the actual domain name and/or the company name. Some folks even use anchors like “Click Here” which seems like a pretty natural approach to me. This issue can be compounded by affiliate links from every page on a site when the anchor exists on a sidebar or footer. Ask people linking to your site to keep it to a single page, preferably the homepage.

What can you do if you used ‘bad links’ in the past?

Getting back on track can be difficult. You can disavow those links through Google web master but that can take some time and there is no guarantee that you will see your site return to it’s former glory. You can reach out to the webmaster for links you do not want to disavow and ask them to remove the link or change the anchor but you’ll likely see limited success with getting people to comply.

Contact us

Let’s face it, links can be dangerous to your marketing campaign. While great links can be huge for your search results the wrong ones can kill it. Many companies, or their SEO companies, got involved with building links since that seemed like the “thing to do” at the time (up until Penguin 1) and it was proven to work for many industries. As Google continues to move toward a quality-centric algorithm we expect to see quality search results with authority instead of those with the most links for their keywords. This should be embraced by companies and SEOs alike. Contact our New Jersey SEO team to learn how we can help your internet campaign.

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Why Genesis? 13 May 2013 10:13 AM (12 years ago)

The Genesis Framework Saves Time & Expense

While a lot of web designers promote custom websites “built from scratch,” we take a different approach. Hundreds of web developers have spent thousands of hours building, refining and supporting website frameworks. Why not take advantage of all this hard work? While there are plenty of websites that require more development than a framework can provide, I would venture to say that 90% of websites being built today could cut development time and dollars by using a framework.

Why is Genesis the best framework for WordPress?

Huge Community

One of the reasons we have embraced WordPress as our development platform of choice is because of its huge community of developers, designers and bloggers. The Genesis WordPress framework is a thriving niche within the larger WordPress community.

Genesis Development

– The official Genesis WordPress resource site has a growing library of tutorials, reference documents and showcase of sites developed using the framework. Building with the Genesis Framework gives us an incredible head-start on deploying websites. Built in layout options, powerful custom widgets and beautifully marked-up code means that we can deploy a website in nearly half the time it would take us to create it from scratch. In turn, this also reduces the cost of projects using the framework.

Constant Upgrades

The Genesis Framework has already undergone several upgrades since it was introduced. As WordPress continues to add new features, Genesis has grown and evolved with it. Because of the child/parent theme structure that the framework is built on, upgrades to the Genesis will never break your site.

Easily Understood

Unlike custom coded websites, other developers can easily pick up where we leave off with Genesis. This means that if you were ever to switch web development companies, a new developer that is familiar with Genesis could jump right into the code and easily make updates without a long (and costly) learning-curve.

Built-in Features

Out-of-the-box Genesis comes with powerful SEO options, advanced custom widgets, state-of-the-art security and a a lot of other features. This means that Genesis will be able to make almost any website function you want happen.

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Why WordPress? 13 May 2013 10:12 AM (12 years ago)

WordPress is the best choice for small businesses

Here are some of the reasons why you would want to use WordPress:

Availability of plugins

– a plugin is a package of code that someone has written to accomplish a specific task. For example, Akismet is a plugin which makes sure that WordPress doesn’t get completely spammed by wayward spammers. Some more fun examples of things that plugins can do are embedding Flickr streams, put one of those neat sliding images that you see on websites these days, make your events calendar look and work better than the default one. Plugins are available freely and most of the time don’t cost anything or much. If you want to find a plugin to accomplish your goal, just Google this formula “‘insert your problem here’ WordPress Plugin (Free)”

Designer Availability

– the design community loves WordPress and you can be sure that there’s already a theme out there that already fits what you’ve got in mind. That can save you a whole bunch of money.

Community Support

– There’s an impressive list of people who are using WordPress already. They include: Playstation, Smashing Magazine, The Who, Tom Jones, Pac-Man and many more. If those guys are using WordPress, they must all agree on something.

Awesome Support

– If you ever get stuck, you’re never alone. There has never been a time in all the years I have used WordPress that I haven’t found the answer to a question by Googling the problem. The WordPress.org support forums are incredible places to find answers to questions with a very dedicated community who love to help.

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Best SEO Company in the World? 16 Feb 2013 10:55 AM (12 years ago)

Is there such a thing? With the quickly changing SEO landscape it’s very difficult to stay on top. How do you judge what the “best” really means for Search Engines? How would you judge the best SEO Company in the world?

SEO Results

The results an optimization team can provide is always a great metric to demonstrate the acumen of an SEO approach. Google constantly changes their search engine algorithm (how they figure out who #1 should be) and SEO specialists are always in a perpetual state of catch-up.

Being the best SEO Company in the world certainly means being able to adapt to these changes. Unique and creative content has always been considered to be the backbone of great search results. While this is true, creating great content alone is not enough to flourish in this extremely competitive online marketplace. The right combination of optimization, great content, and successful off-site tactics are necessary.

Return on Investment

Return on Investment or ROI is usually a good measure of how profitable a SEO campaign has been. Of course the age of a campaign is a tremendous factor in the overall return a customer will see. And, since many customers want an affordable package, their return can often be limited.

The best can often mean how much money you’ve made for your clients but there is more value to SEO than just immediate return. The long term benefit of being on top of the search engines is amazing. Not only does it create a respectable brand image but it also draws customers to your site via search over many years.

How do you find the Best SEO Company in the “World”?

Search For One! Put your money where your mouth is! Fortunately for you there is no shortages of SEO companies. You can look for the “best” SEO specialists and literally browse for several days until, in many cases, you feel like an expert yourself! However, if you want to rate a search engine company based on their own ranks you might need some training to judge which phrases are actually the most competitive.

So What Should I Do?

Many small business owners will often do some level of SEO on their own, many successfully. Most, however, realize how complex, time-consuming, and often confusing it can be to start much less maintain a good campaign.

If possible, find a local SEO firm that you can deal with face-to-face at least once if not more. Word of mouth is always a great way to find a reputable company. Of course doing some searching is also recommended. If you like in New Jersey, for example, you might search something like “new jersey SEO company” or “NJ SEO”. Also, find a company who can tout some success in your given vertical. For example, if you’re a law firm make sure your SEO company has some experience with lawyer and attorney web marketing before moving forward. You can also check their web design experience if you’re interested in a new site or a redesign of your existing.

You should also interview several companies before making a decision. You can learn more about them and their team before making any commitments.

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Does SEO Work For Moving Companies? 19 Dec 2012 7:25 AM (12 years ago)

Is Moving a Competitive Term?

Actually, “movers” is one of the more competitive terms around!

If you do some searching on the Google Keyword Tool you can find what the average Cost Per Click (CPC) is for any term or phrase. In fact, you can choose a phrase or word – in this case “Mover” and “Long Distance Mover” and click search to see how competitive a term really is. You can also see how much money you can expect to pay for every click to your website. There are terms such as “nyc long distance moving companies” that are seeing $24.71 for every click! While that isn’t the most competitive out there is blows away many industries for advertising costs. Of course it wouldn’t be done if advertising didn’t work. Transportation can be a lucrative business and a long-distance move can mean thousands of dollars.

So Why Organic SEO For Movers?

Because you can’t buy everyone

Organic results are real results, not paid for results. This can mean a lot to a customer for a number of reasons. First of all the website result demand trust. We expect the best search results from search engines. Internet users today are particularly savvy when it comes to recognizing when they’re being advertised to. The results in pink are clearly marketing ploys and while many people choose these results, a large percentage look mostly at the top natural search results. These are the sites that users will trust immediately. What’s more.. these results are long-lasting and cost only a fraction of what you would spend for a PPC campaign. If you can return first page results for moving related terms you are sure to get clicks.

Should I try using PPC for my moving company?

Don’t discount the power of advertising

It’s clear that search optimization for movers can be a long-distance strategy worth investing in. Google, Bing and Yahoo have also built an unstoppable marketing and advertising force with their search engine models. A paid advertising campaign can work for customers in some markets. However, managing a campaign in the moving industry is no simple task. It involves some background in marketing in addition to the complexities of a typical AdWords campaign and ad groups. Finding a company capable of managing your PPC campaign can be key to success.

Case Study: UMEX Moving & Storage, Inc

This New Jersey Moving Company contacted us after seeing our results on Google for “New Jersey SEO” and other terms. We created a long-term campaign for New Jersey terms and a shorter-term campaign for long-tail terms like “New Jersey Local Movers” where we knew we could deliver great results without a extended time-frame. They also cater to the Japanese community and wanted search terms including that term.

It’s still early in the campaign but we’re already returning search results for our targets.

What Are You Waiting For?

Get started today

Contact us today to get a free website evaluation. Find out how we’re helping our clients succeed in a competitive marketplace. Contact Us today to learn more or call us on 800-866-5970

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Get SEO Search Results For Your Law Firm 8 Nov 2012 5:51 PM (12 years ago)

91% of all people choose results on the 1st page

Castronovo & McKinney, LLC opened a NYC law office and needed quality SEO services for the new office and new website. They are NYC Employment Lawyers that specialize in discrimination and harassment lawsuits. They also handle the negotiation of severance agreements, employment agreements, non-compete agreements and all other contracts. We’re working on several fronts to create a powerful SEO Campaign. Check out their website here. There are several components we want to cover including:

Local Listing Optimization. As more and more people type simple phrases like “harassment lawyer” without a geographic location like “nyc harassment lawyer” local listings are going to become more and more meaningful.

Social Signals. Including Facebook, Twitter and Google+ we’re creating a web presence that not only captures attention but lends credibility to the site and it’s authors.

Content. We’ve started updating and creating content both on-site and off-site. The site’s blog has begun with some posts that will gain natural attention and links by means of good unique content. In addition we are looking at high quality article links for authority sites.

Video. We’re in the design process of creating video for various places on the site including the home page, blog posts and, eventually, video testimonials.

Stay tuned for updates from our Attorney SEO company.

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Martial Arts SEO : New Jersey SEO Firm 4 Oct 2012 7:52 PM (13 years ago)

Want to get found online? Let us show you how.

91% of all search traffic goes to the results on the first page.

American Martial Arts is a NJ Martial Arts Gym specializing Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Muay Thai, Karate, Kickboxing and more. We’re excited to work with them. We have begun our campaign to make them #1 on Google for a range of terms but also help them convert those web visits into subscription and, ultimately, regular customers. It’s actually pretty easy since their facility is pretty incredible. It’s amazing the amount of talent at your disposal from a learning perspective.

Our Martial Arts SEO strategy is to keep their existing domain and improve on their existing site for them to showcase their expertise.

Here are some of our growing success rankings:

We’re also on the 1st page for many towns such as Morristown Martial Arts, Morris County MMA and Martial Arts.. and we’ll continue to grow as our campaign continues. We’re already seeing an increase in web traffic as a result.

Contact Us today to learn how we can create or improve your Internet presence. Want to have your local business found on-line? Let us show you how.

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Catering SEO : New Jersey SEO Firm 4 Oct 2012 7:32 PM (13 years ago)

Want to get found online? Let us show you how.

91% of all search traffic goes to the results on the first page.

Drive Leads and Sales

How can Search Engine Optimization (SEO) help a catering business?
Being on the first page for popular searches is hugely important for driving leads. Organic results means quality leads. Quality leads means great conversion! Properly marketing a business Online is no simple task. With two search engines that are constantly evolving, it’s more difficult than ever to properly promote your catering business with SEO. Add in social media, video, blogs, press-releases and more customer soon realize finding a great SEO company that knows small business like catering is well worth the investment.

Case Study:
Simply Delicious

With a already great business, Simply Delicious Catering in Secaucus, NJ reached out to us to discuss marketing. They work predominately with corporate customers for all types of meals as a Jersey City Catering company. They needed a website developed on a modern CMS framework and a general update on their existing layout and design so when customers visited the site they would like what they saw. They had some preexisting problems due to Google’s Penguin update that had completely removed them from the Online catering search results.

We decided to take on the challenge with their existing domain and attempt to reconcile the problem with Google. We were successful in getting the site re-listed with the Google search engine. We had to reach out to multiple webmasters to remove or edit links. Google also added the ability to disavow links which assisted greatly in our efforts.

Once rectified we launched a new site complete with video, gallery photos, full catering menus, promotions, a blog and more. We started building a campaign centered around their location to get attention from people searching for geography related terms like Newark catering, Meadowlands catering, etc…

A few months later and things are progressing well. We’re looking at New Jersey terms now and are watching great content creation get rewarded by the search engines. Here are some of our results:

The key to great SEO for catering is a constant process of monitoring the results of efforts and changing based on the reaction of your search placement. Of course you can’t get any ranks without great content. Content is fundamental to any SEO project and we know and do it well.

Contact Us today to learn how we can create or improve your Internet presence. Want to have your local business found on-line? Let us show you how.

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Google Street View in California’s National Parks 12 Jul 2012 10:05 AM (13 years ago)

Google does a road-trip through some iconic parks

I’m not even sure my neighborhood is mapped using Street View but I’m sure this is a better use of the technology. You’re now able to follow Google Maps through five of Californa’s historic national parks in a 360 degree panaorramic view. They’ve also updated their Street View maps of the entire state allowing you road-trip through the entire state from north to south.

Yosemite National Park, CA

View Larger Map

Now everyone is able to enjoy the magestic imagery these places have to offer. Of course it’s not quite like driving through but it allows you to control the experience and take the time to really look around. Its inspiring enough to make you want to visit and plan a road-trip right now. You can read more about the details of each location on the Google announcement.

Of course Google doesn’t pass up the opportunity to advertise right on the page. Notice the Ads on the sidebar? What if you wanted a hotel for the night? Type “Hotel” directly in the search box and Google will find one relative to your location using Google Local Places. Also, you will see the Zagat ratings for those hotels giving you even more information to make a decision. That means properly optimized local places is key for attracting business and integrating that with the proper social media channels is becoming equally important. Our NJ SEO Company provides Local Listing Optimization with Social Media to give our clients visibility whenever possible.

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