Search Engine Optimization Does and Don’ts Part 2 of 2

SEO Solicitations via unsolicited email are on the rise
Welcome to the final part of our two part series on learning how to pick an SEO/SEM company. 

As a reminder we will share what brought this article to life
There are warning signs to look for when you receive an offer to have your web site placed in the top of the search term results for the best keywords your customers utilize to locate you. In Part 2 we will share the two most common myths of search engine optimization share our check list some simple but important questions to ask an SEO firm before you select one.

Before we get to the questions you need to ask yourself and the SEO/SEM firm before you get started, let us share the two largest myths about SEO/SEM that come to mind.

SEO/SEM Myth Number One
Hiring a search engine optimization firm is a onetime deal, simply optimize the site onetime pay a few thousand dollars and your site will gain a great placement on the Internet.

No way, for more reasons then we are going to get into here in our article today.

But you can always contact us through this blog
We are happy to answer questions on technology relating to SEO and SEM and relax we are not here to sell optimization services; we mostly do these only for our own sites.

Here are a few things that show us all that search engine optimization requires long term planning, patience and persistence over not just months but years.

The Internet, your competition, search bots or spiders are all advancing at alarming paces gaining better footing and understanding to bring the best information a person doing a search on the Internet asks for so your site must get in and stay in the game otherwise you are just another one of the billions of sites and pages on the Internet forever lost in cyberspace. 

SEO/SEM Myth Number Two
When you or we receive an unsolicited email from a self proclaimed Search Engine Optimization Company or you contact an SEO company you will see or hear claims that they can get your site to the top of the search engines under any keywords or phrases in a few short weeks.

Both claims are an outright lie but to the unsuspecting site owner these claims seem to make sense and some might get you to the top of the search engines but it will be under a keyword or phrase combination that no one is searching for to find what you are offering. 

The ability to get any site to the top of the search engines in a few weeks is not possible and if it were possible it would be so short lived you would not gain any ground in your business through this type of phenomena. 

Search Engine Optimization and Search Engine Marketing requiring long term thinking, efforts, financial resources and a strong commitment from the site owner to share knowledge about their sites product or services on a month by month bases. Getting to the top of the search engines under the best keywords or word phrases is very possible and achievable and then once you have achieved a great (SERP) Search Engine Results Page placement, the efforts to maintain and service these this placement are ongoing, though not as intense usually as the efforts of getting your site placed in the first place. 

Questions you should ask an SEO/SEM company before hiring them
“A” Where is the SEO located
Be sure the SEO is located in the country you are in, so they understand the culture and the ways of doing business in that country.

It is time to be realistic with ourselves, though the Internet is global it is most important to be focused on your home country and concur all that is before you before venturing in a slim and half hazard approach.

This way you will have the resources to venture into one country at a time utilizing the incomes gained from your home countries customer base, then taking on the next country along with your gained knowledge you’ve learned from your home country.

If you do not follow our home country rule, you are merely throwing darts and taking a hit and miss approach building no real presence or brand for your company all the while burning through your cash reserves. 

“B” SEO/SEM knows what they are doing in search engine optimization
The world of being in the business of Search Engine Optimization has a few things to teach us all, it is easy for a person sitting at their home to start an SEO/SEM business for the cost of nothing more then a computer and a little knowledge.

Truthfully nothing can be farther from the truth.
To really know how to optimize a site for the Internet there is a lot to know and understand, there are tools available to assist an SEO in the performance of their job.

All of this said however, this profession is no different than any other profession, there are people who thrive to be the best and to be the most knowledgeable and apply that knowledge with what we preach a lot about PASSION, and there are persons that just do a job and the results are mediocre. 

How you get past this as a company wanting to hire an SEO/SEM firm is to ask the SEO Company these few questions.
Do you have an SEO/SEM Certification? Request a copy.

Ask for a list of sites they have done along with the keywords they have optimized the sites for then do a search engine search and see where they are placed they do not need to be in the top 10 but that depends on the popularity of the category they have optimized for.

Ask for a list of some of the clients and contact person as references, call a few and question them about the performance and the working relationship qualities we are looking for how well the SEO Company works with their clients.
 

“C” Reputable SEO firms
These firms will have insurance and be bonded to some level in the event that a client relationship turns bad, the site gets destroyed for fault or through no fault of the client. So ask if the firm has insurance to cover your losses also ask if they have and request a copy of the SEO firm satisfaction guaranteed type of written claim. 

Questions you should ask yourself before stepping into optimizing your site

“A” Do you have the time to devote into working with an SEO/SEM company?
You as the site owner are going to play a very important roll in your site success through providing information ion a regular bases so be prepared to devote a few hours of work each week for each month for years to come.

“B” Can you commit
Your commitment to the ongoing added expense of having a full time SEO/SEM service usually a few thousand dollars a month for the SEO form and a few thousand dollars a year in outside costs? This is not including some (PPC) Pay Per Click on search engines and advertising placements on other Internet sites.

“C” Building a Relationship in advance of hiring a firm
This whole search engine optimization system is going to be intense and it is going to be requiring a strong relationship between you, your site and the SEO firm.

So talk with the firm several times, meet a few other employees at the firm, have conversations with them over a few phone calls and emails to be sure you are feeling a level of trust building and have a good communications experience with these people before firing them.

Realize that you are going to turn over to this firm a lot of confidential information and you are giving them full run of your site by providing to them your FTP access the ability to work within your site, the firm might even be purchasing domain names to add other redirects or micro sites pointing to your main site so it is really important you are fully comfortable with the overall firm up front. 

Miss Part 1 of 2
Here is a link to Part 1 incase you missed it Does and Don’ts of hiring a Search Engine Optimization firm.

Search Engine Optimization Does and Don’ts Part 1 of 2

SEO Solicitations via unsolicited email are on the rise
There are warning signs to look for when you receive an offer to have your web site placed in the top of the search term results for the best keywords your customers utilize to locate you.

Viper Logic is a certified SEO/SEM Search Engine Optimization and Search Engine Marketing facility though we rarely offer this as a service to our clients we certainly offer direction and advice to our clients and let their internal technology personal handle the direction.

What is an SEO/SEM and who needs this service?
Simply put this is a way for a site, any site on the internet for a specific or general search term to be found easily and to place a site above of the mass amount of competing sites in the World Wide Web or Internet today.

All sites wanting to gain members, make sells or connect with partners need some level of SEO and or SEM regardless of the product, service or educational site they are operating.

Example
Viper Names is our domain name portfolio site
In our case it is only one of the service types we offer under Viper Solutions we offer. We are not real concerned with these sites (SERP) Search Engine Results Page you know where your site comes up on any search engine when a real person types into he search box on the search engine the term that best fits their need for knowledge because we only promote certain services and the other services a re vertical services offered for convenience to our clients.

The really interesting thing is the individuals, usually single working persons wanting to sell their search engine optimization services do not care actually or at least in our experience about your site either.

Most business is built on relationships
The cost of doing business, while a factor for both Viper Logic and the clients is true, at Viper Logic relationships are the only way we at Viper Logic that do business.  We take the long term approach to building trust and providing real services and solutions.

Always check these factors when selecting an SEO/SEM

Check the email address closely
If the email is coming from a free email account like a Yahoo, MSN, AOL or Google their local telephone or cable company then delete it they are not in the SEO business as rule number one teaches us a real SEO company is going to be associated with a real domain name tied to a business.

Email-Marketing optimization techniques
Since a part of the Search Engine Optimization business is growing the sites popularity through email marketing even a serious email marketing SEO is going to have that account tied to a real company with a real domain name. Read more about optimizing a site in part through email marketing for content and awareness of the site. 

Example of a real domain name would be .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Request an SEO/SEM certification for additional assurance
Most Search Engine Optimization and Marketing persons like Logic are trained and continually to be certified each month as search engine optimization and marketing is an ongoing ever evolving method of working within the rules of the search engines and applying the latest tools and techniques on an ongoing base.

Staying current with SEO/SEM Certification
Example though Logic does rarely offer these services to other companies we are certified by WEB CEO a service that also supplies the tools to help us maintain our task of retaining the best top of the page positioning you can achieve.

Thinking outside of the rules
There is a lot more to optimization techniques then just being a certified member of an organization and staying current with their news and advice, you need to know a lot about all of the other techniques and be skilled enough to venture outside of the suggested parameters without having one of your sites you are working on panelized.

SEO’s rarely contact a prospective client
This is not the rule but generally a search engine optimization organization will not contact a client trying to sell their services. If an unknown company contacts you to offer their services you should be cautious and you are going to need to do your homework before you turn over your site backend access a requirement for all SEO professional, who knows it might be a competitor wanting to destroy or interrupt your business. 

Insured and Guarantees
Most all replicable outside contractors carry some liability insurance against a worse case scenario and they might even have a written guarantee policy of satisfaction for the services they offer. The old rule still stands “Get it in Writing and Get it Upfront”. 

Passion
Ultimately the job of being a Search Engine Optimization and Marketing provider requires passion, passion to be the best of the best at anything you want to do in life both personally and professionally. 

Coming up this week in Part 2 of 2
Questions you should ask all SEO and SEM companies.
Our checklist of sorts for you to be sure you are going to hire the correct firm. We will share two largely and commonly misunderstood myths about SEO and SEM services and the client’s expectations.

Cherry Valley, California an event about a cities name

91 years in the making leads us up to the annual Cherry Festival

Welcome to Riverside Counties Cherry Valley
Located very near the border of San Bernardino County and Riverside County this little town of near 6,000 residents is located along the Interstate 10 Freeway and where the 60 Freeway meets the I-10.

The Cherry Festival Theme
This is the 91st annual Cherry Festival and the theme for this year is “A Very Cherry Long Time Ago”.

Let’s talk about the annual Cherry Festival
Because the Cherry Valley is only 8.2 square miles of land area this event a 4 day event of celebration takes place at Stewart Park.

What days for the Cherry Festival
This event runs for not just one or two days but for four days starting on
Thursday June 4th
Friday June 5th
Saturday June 6th
Sunday June 7th

How to find the Cherry Festival
Orange Street in the city of Beaumont also located right along side the Interstate 10 Freeway on Orange Street between 9th and 10th Streets.

Why is there an Annual Cherry Festival?
This event is to celebrate Spring Time in the San Gorgonio Pass. a great chance to meet locals and visitors in a happy environment.

What to do at the annual Cherry Festival
Starting each day at you is going to be treated to a great evening of fun food and entertainment and here is what is going on each day and night of the event.
Including a parade that runs from the beginning of Beaumont Avenue and runs to the Beaumont City Hall
Here is the official City of Beaumont Cherry Festival Flier 

Thursday the 4th line up is:
At the Carnival & Festival Grounds
Food, Rides and Fun
5:00 PM until 10:00 PM
Arts & Crafts
5:00 PM until closing
Live Music Family Night on the main stage

Friday the 5th line up is:
At the Carnival & Festival grounds
Food, Rides and Fun
5:00 PM until 12:00 Midnight
Arts and Crafts
5:00 PM until closing
Main Stage Live Entertainment

Saturday the 6th line up is:
Pancake Breakfast at the Beaumont Civic Center
6:30 AM until 10:30 AM
Parade 10:30 AM along Beaumont Avenue
At the Carnival & Festival Grounds
Food, Rides and Fun
Arts and Crafts 12:00 Noon until closing
12:00 Noon until 12:00 Midnight
Main Stage Live Entertainment

Sunday the 7th line up is:
At the Carnival & Festival Grounds
Food, Rides and Fun
12:00 Noon until 9:00 PM
Arts and Crafts
12:00 Noon until closing
Main Stage Live Entertainment

How to contact the Cherry Festival organizers call 951-845-9541

Learn about Beaumont the city at our California Discoveries - Beaumont

Site Traffic talk, is this the 1990’s all over again?

My name is Logic
The Silicon Valley writers are pushing traffic over call to action
Logic knows from living through a few recessions of our past decades that things that ultimately lean towards hope are brought back out of the closet when the economy is experiencing a healthy and needed correction.

Traffic is important
Traffic is needed by all sites including social sites because nearly all sites including Tech Crunch live on advertising though I personally visit the site less these days as it appears to be stuck in an area discussing traffic site hits and murdered rap stars.

What the nice people at Tech Crunch are even more stuck on is web apps and web 2.0 to web 3.0 come in over? Personally Logic has yet to click on side bar advertisements on sites like Tech Crunch offers us all. The site looks like an ongoing advertisement for Apple products these days.

There is a story through Tech Crunch
Disclaimer
Personal statement, we are daily skimmers and enjoy at times Tech Crunch, so this article is not a bash on them in any way in fact we even have a profile for Viper Logic and Viper Mailer in the Crunch Base after all it was FREE.

Shock Talk News?
Tech Crunch might even be running these off beat stories as a way to get twittered or blogs like Logics Talk to write about these out of the norm shock stories, who knows what companies will do to gain popularity, your answer is as good as our guess.

Social networks passing up in particularly ebay in site traffic popularity what a shocker and what breaking tech news and for losing out to the Facebook, MySpace and YouTube type of sites this is very surprising.

Maybe Facebook should buy ebay, oh that’s right ebay is worth more even at its low, a market cap near 23 billion versis a Facebook valuation of 6, 8, 10 or 15 billion.

No one can agree of course on the Facebook valuation, that is not the public trading valuation by the way of Facebook, who we also like and have a dormant profile or two on.

It is an investors estimated valuation, either way a great valuation we at Viper Logic would work hard at to achieve. 

The economy and ebay
Yes readers, the economy has had an impact on ebay’s sells for sure but to equate this to social network and FUN stuff with traffic to site drop off, WOW this is truly a stretch to fill Tech Crunch with content. It costs money to play on ebay but social networks are FREE, remember the 1990’s and free email accounts, they are not convertible over time to cash flow.

This article is really a retarded (sorry mentally challenged) story when you compare a social network site to a place where people buy and sell items they have.

Ebay beyond selling and buying
For one thing if it were not for ebay Logic and best friend Catnip could not buy the tools and products to run our business Viper Logic nor could we find the tools and products that fuel our hobbies for Logic California Lapel pins and for Catnip Watchmaker tools parts and products even supplies.

Citizen Band (CB) Radio
Social Networks are far from new
We wonder how we would be able to buy these things and build relationships with these friends on a social network because one observance is that social networks are similar to a 1970 craze of socialization it was called the CB radio.

The CB Radio had a term called skipping an ability to send your voice to far away countries share mailing information then mail each other a CQDX card, a postcard like item that we placed on the wall above or great early day communication and socializing radio devises.

First Major Social Network
When you talked through radio waves with other
There was also the sharing on a CB radio gaining knowledge and making friends in the local community where you would get together and have new buddies, you otherwise would have never met or been able to go to the arcade at the mall back then with.

Socializing through the CB Radio equaled the selling or trade of goods and services because Logic was there and knows similar to today of the placement of advertisements alongside videos and profiles on social networks. Looking back and applying our experiences looking forward like from the CB Radio to now the Internet’s World Wide Web nothing is truly new it is just reinvented and usually in a better and more intelligent format, like with all items in life and it the Internet is a great advancement.

Ebay has provided great relationship building
Furthermore as buyers on ebay we have connected socially with watchmakers, watch sellers and others in the lapel pin collectors world through ebay and though we have also done this for the watch making through forums mostly all of our contacts and relationships for our computer hardware and software requirements have come through ebay by working and building on the strengthening of these relationships that have been fruitful to both sides.

This to Logic is really not logical at all, it is like comparing a visit to your favorite news information site with Macys.com one is to share information and inform you while the other is to sell to you things you are wanting.

I want to drive this point further by comparing it to food because Logic enjoys food all too much. If the Facebook, MySpace or YouTube were the Ritz Restaurant in Newport Beach and we were comparing it to Jack in the Box there would be something in common with one another it would be we have to eat but what we eat might vary.

Silicon Valley hits a flat spot
Look the Silicon Valley has really not had any great innovative releases for years and what we are seeing a lot of is apps and hardware (toys) based on entertainment and socializing via electronic interfacing with no true friendships and relationships coming from these types of approaches.

Paris Hilton
What the article about ebay breaks out to attempt to show us
Traffic to an entertainment site like who is dating Paris Hilton today is going to receive more traffic then say our Viper Mailer an email marketing service for sure.

Traffic can and does grow, of that traffic though how much is coming from an underdeveloped country we call a third world nation because of the single most important two reasons, youth and free.

Quality of traffic far outweighs quantity of traffic
Social Network Evolution
No doubt social networks like YouTube, MySpace and Facebook are growing in popularity though we see MySpace beginning to fall soon, so will Facebook by the way, as Twitter is now the new hot item however one flaw with Twitter Logic can see and has since deactivated our account there is the repetitive reporting of breaking news and miss information and more product and service promotion then even this informed logical thinker can handle.

Video Share Site (in our opinion) we love them
YouTube is a money pit if it were not owned by Google today it would more then likely have went broke with the maintenance and bandwidth expense alone.

The bottom Logic line
We find ebay great and useful with powerful relationship building through shared common interests due to organized categorization, without the distractions of boys looking for and girls looking for identity and relationships.

Then there is the people pushing on us products and services we are not wanting or were not thinking about at the time.

The third world nation persons that usually are young want to be a part of all things America even the photos beyond them on their profiles are of American girls or boys and the social networks allow for free.

There is the ability to go beyond the television running American television shows in these countries and provide an ability to connect and interact with American’s and their world dominance of athletics, entertainment and fashion trends, not to mention the glamorized lifestyle, their number one goal of participating on social networks in our opinion is to be a part, any part.

Social Network Site Traffic
Now this is great you have 50 million visitors to your site per month, our number one question is how much money per person per month does this bring into these social networks?

Under developed countries have opportunities on ebay
Third world nations are afforded the ability through ebay to participate and gain friends and relationships while making money selling things unique to their great countries including American’s.

Logic and Catnip are not big ebay fans or supporters but if it works and makes money while connecting us with people we had no way to connect with then it is a great company.