A lot of people decide to get into the search engine optimization game expecting immediate results, this is misguided. It seems strange that people who have built up some important businesses would be so impatient with any process. If anyone should know something about being patient with a process it is the small business person.

Anyone who has ever decided to start a business would be silly to assume that profits and success would come easily. They know that these things take time, as do all things worth doing. The same is true of developing a web presence and making your way upwards in Google rankings. When you hire an SEO company they begin a slow but steady process that includes a wide array of services on a number of platforms. For all of those to converge and lead to some fantastic search rankings is going to take time.

As in all building national and local internet marketing is all about reputation building with both customers and the services (search engines) driving those customers to your site. As your reputation for offering valuable content on the internet grows so too will your ranks and then with that your customer base and web presence. But patience is the most important thing.

You’ve got the Facebook fan page setup and the Twitter account. Every time you have a sale or a contest or just something important going on, you share it with the world. But that’s just one part of being social. You want to share, share, share. But you can’t forget to listen and interact. Ajax Union will take you pretty far in your status updating endeavors, but you have to be paying attention too. Customers might want to know when and if you’re getting a product back in stock. We’d love to answer for you, but you do know your business pretty well.

Also, be on the look out for complaints and suggestions. You might not realize a link on your site isn’t working, but the fans sure do! Social sites aren’t just about posting valuable information. It’s about getting a discussion going. It’s about listening to what your customers have to say about your business. You need to take that feedback and use it to become even more awesome at what you do. People want to know you’re listening and that they’re being heard.

Facebook and Twitter are great ways to build up some good street cred among all little people that made your business what it is today. Now that you have the social sites, start socializing!

While we spend much of our time on this blog discussing the importance of finding the best keywords and focusing your company on ensuring that each page of data includes several when it comes to the internet you simply can not beat content. Sure SEO is all about finding the best search terms and maximizing their usage but doing so in a way that seems clunky and not engaging can turn into an embarrassment for you and your company.

Google, always attempting to be ahead of web search meddling, has updated their search algorithm to ensure that online marketing companies are not generating traffic through less than stellar content. In fact if you are just overloading posts with keywords Google’s algorithm will actually actively downgrade your site. This is why as important as generating content is, quality always has to be on your mind.

A great solution is of course having actual writers generate content that is creative, dynamic and personal. This is the sort of content that is known to turn heads and hold page views on the internet. In all this ensures a mutually beneficial relationship between reader and content generator. A relationship far more likely to result in sales and positive feedback that can help fuel a business organically on the web.

Actual writers generating original content is just one of the many services offered by Ajax Union’s AnewB Plan.

Search Engine Optimization(SEO) is a useful tool for any business. It gets your name ranked in Google so that traffic to your site increases.  As you build an online presence it only makes sense that you keep track of it. You can use tools like Alexa and the Google toolbar to check on your current ranking. If you’re running a blog you should also notice which posts generate the most traffic and see where they rank and what keywords were used to get it there. If you’re in need of keywords to help advertise business, look toward Google Adwords.

Also, add your site to search engine indexes. Search engines use crawlers (sometimes referred to as spiders) to browse for pages. Basically if you’re generating good content, rankings, and linking the amount of times your site is crawled will increase. Overall this will help you. It’s a way of creating faster searches and up-to-date data.

However, keywords are your best friends when you want to get search engine’s attention. titles, content, links, and image names can all include keywords. Just be sure that you use them wisely. They must be appropriate and they must be used effectively. Too many will get your material labeled as spam, too little won’t get your page noticed. Also, link internally to pages with keywords or relevant text. The more you link to your own site, the more traffic each page will get.

Other good practices are to add image descriptions, avoid flash and other media that isn’t used by every format. Link to associates. Having an alliance will boost both of your reputations. When you’ve build yourself a cornerstone and these foundations it’s time to keep traffic going through social media sites, like Twitter. Good luck!

Welp, the genie is out the bottle. The internet is ablaze with news of the Christina Aguilera leaked photos — the result of an alleged hacking on the starlet’s computer. Ajax Union handles situations like these, on a smaller scale, for our PR online marketing plans on a regular basis.

To remove undesired pics from Google Images, our PR staff pursues one of two plans of action:

1. We contact the owner of the site hosting the image and request that it be removed.
2. We push the image down on Google Images by uploading pics of our own with strategic file names, titles, and captions.

Sometimes, we even do both. So next time you feel yourself facing a Christina Aguilera-type debacle, remember our search engine agency. You can visit us online at www.AjaxUnion.com, or give us a call at 1-800-594-0444.

Even those outside of the online marketing community were waxing SEO and such last week, when The New York Times (perhaps you’ve heard of it?) published an article about DecorMyEyes, an online eyeglasses retailer based in Brooklyn with a reputation for gnarly customer service.

Knockoff products? Sure. Fraudulent charges? Uh-huh. Threats and harassment? Yessir. And all over luxury eyewear.

Understandably, consumer review websites doth overflow with warnings and complaints re: DecorMyEyes. Bad for business, right?

Maybe not. In the article, the owner of DecorMyEyes, Vitaly Borker, explained the NYT that his company was actually benefiting from the negative press, as it was pushing his name up on Google. It’s like the SEO version of that old expression — “There’s no such thing as bad publicity.”

Like every part of the Google algorithm, whether or not the search engine factors in customer feedback into their rankings is rather mysterious, although the industry consensus is, um, probably not.

Still, Borker’s evil plan would only work for shoppers searching for keywords alone; run the company name through a search engine, and the results page practically explodes with DO NOT SHOP-aganda.

In response to the article, Google has penalized DecorMyEyes and resolved to investigate similar issues. Google reps reported the site was the exception, not the rule, in such matters. Borker was also arrested post-article, by the way, for fraud.

The moral of the story? For consumers, thou shalt Google the name of any company you’re (err, thou art) considering doing business with. And for search engine marketing folks — as usual – it’s always good to stay above board.

It doesn’t take a magnifying glass to see Google’s new magnifying-glass-clad feature, Google Instant Previews. In fact, the aforementioned enlargement icons are rather distinct — and distinctly game-changing to the world of online marketing. Why? At the click of a mouse, Google Instant Previews transforms the search engine experience from verbal to visual, allowing users to eye before they buy.

What does this mean for online marketing? For one thing, it means that the Creative Suite 5-wielding Mac enthusiast you’ve been hiding in your utility closet has been right all along: design matters. And with Google Instant Previews, it matters even more.

Some simple tips for improving your website’s design — and making it snapshot friendly:

• Stick to a color palette. Pick two or three colors to brand your site, creating a vibe of visual legitimacy for your search engine audience.
• De-clump your text. It doesn’t matter how informative your website is: searchers are turned off by large blocks of text. Make sure the preview of your website shows short, easily digestible paragraphs for your visitors to enjoy.
• Do some housecleaning. In web design, everybody loves doohickies — from Google AdSense to social media badges. But if said thingamabobs dominate your search engine snapshot, your website will wind up looking like spam. Be mindful of this content, and push it to the bottom of the page if necessary.

Need more help with web design? Check out www.ApplesCreations.com for affordable small business websites by the Ajax Union search engine agency.

Whoever said “There’s no such thing as bad publicity” obviously never met Yelp. Or TripAdvisor. Or any of the other customer review websites that can make or break a business and disrupt an otherwise smooth sailing online marketing campaign.

If a negative review is showing up for your company on Google, this complaint is likely costing you business, and it’s in your best interest to counter or remove it ASAP.

How? You have a couple of options:

• Contact the consumer. If your review comes from a consumer with a specific complaint, the simplest course of action is to correct the damage at your source. Are they mad that you didn’t refund their shipping? Refund their shipping. Do they claim their product was defective? Send them a new one. Spending $20 or even $100 pleasing a customer is a worthy investment, consider dozens of customers it’s likely scaring away.
• Consult the Powers That Be. If your review includes information that you know to be false, you can try asking the website that hosts it to remove the offending content. You might even consider taking legal action.
• Cancel it out. Sometimes, despite your best efforts, negative publicity cannot be removed. In this case, your best course of action is to counteract the bad press by promoting a positive company image. This means a company blog, Facebook, Twitter, etc., and positive buzz on other forums and customer review sites to help push that negative feedback off the front page of Google.

Whether you’re working with an SEO company or doing your online marketing in-house, it’s important to keep tabs on your business’s reputation online. Sign up for daily Google Alerts of your company name — including variations: Ajax Union, AjaxUnion, AjaxUnion.com — to monitor the web for negative publicity.

And if you need help countering bad press, trust PR United, our business PR service, to repair your reputation online.

Facebook? Check. Twitter? Mmhmm. But online marketing is about more than these two biggies. Let’s take a look at five resources you might have overlooked.

1. FFFFOUND! — It’s like social bookmarking, but with images! Our SEO company loves FFFFOUND! — in part because it’s so fun to type, but also because it allows you to promote your company logo and other relevant images online.
2. DISQUS — A popular tool used by CNN, MTV, and similar, DISQUS allows you to add suped-up commenting to WordPress, Tumblr, Blogger, and many other platforms, and integrate the aforementioned with other social networks, and the rest of the DISQUS community.
3. Vimeo — It’s no Youtube, that’s for sure, but Vimeo isn’t exactly small potatoes either. If your company has a lot of videos, you should promote them wherever you can!
4. Gather — This site makes it easy to share blog posts, photos, and videos online to its growing audience. Worth giving a spin, eh?
5. Mixx — The other other other white meat — or, um, social bookmarking outlet. Mixx offers all the standard stuff, and it’s another chance to reserve your company name online and create a profile.

Ever wish someone would create all of these profiles for you? Our SEO company will — it’s part of the standard setup on our off page SEO program, the AnewB Plan.

Done any Googling lately? If so, you might have noticed a subtle change amid your search results — the Pay-Per-Click search engine marketing advertisements, normally known as “Sponsored Listings,” are now labeled as “Ads.”

It’s short, it’s punchy, it’s vaguely hip. But what will the new “Ads” label mean for PPC advertising? Good things, apparently. Search Engine Agency reported that CTR (Click Through Rates) have jumped 11.4% since the switch. Nice.

Why would “Ads” inspire more clicks than “Sponsored Listings”? It’s hard to define exactly, but “Ads” just sounds better. The word “sponsored” has always had awkward connotations — as in, “And now a word from our sponsors…” — and we’re glad to see Google moving in a different direction.

Want to get started with search engine advertising? Ajax Union offers full-service Google AdWords management with no long-term contracts. To find out more, call us at 800-594-0444.