I know it sounds strange"an SEO firm telling potential clients to NOT outsource their SEO? What kind of business sense does that make? Shouldn't I be trying to get as many clients as possible? Here's the catch, I only want to work with clients that I know I can help! Otherwise, it's a waste of my time and their money.

The most important thing to remember when it comes to conducting your keyword research is that you have to understand your user. If you don't understand how people are searching for your product, you'll never be able to target the right keywords. For instance, you might call your product a "workforce analytics and planning software" but your potential clients are searching for "business intelligence software.

The most important thing to remember when it comes to conducting your keyword research is that you have to understand your user. If you don't understand how people are searching for your product, you'll never be able to target the right keywords. For instance, you might call your product a "workforce analytics and planning software" but your potential clients are searching for "business intelligence software.

In my 12+ years as an SEO professional, I've found that just about every business can benefit from publishing a company blog. It doesn't matter if it's B2B or B2C, or what industry your business operates in"a good business blog can be invaluable for your SEO and Internet marketing in general. There are probably hundreds of blog posts out there full of great reasons why you should start a company blog. )I have even written a few such posts myself(.

Your website is an incredibly important and powerful online tool. First off, it's your business's calling card. When someone arrives on your site, they way it looks will influence whether they stay or bounce out. Your brand is )at least it should be( well reflected in your website design. An outdated website creates a bad user-experience. Websites need to be fast, clean and well organized in order to convince your traffic that you are worth doing business with.

I came across this article on PCMag.com a few weeks ago. The story focused on an SEO firm that has started selling Google +1s. "Plussems, which is owned by SEOShop.biz, is selling 50 clicks for $9.99, 250 clicks for $69.99, and was selling a bundle of 2,000 clicks." This isn't the first time I've come across an SEO or social media marketing company that was selling bundles like this. I've seen companies promise to get you 1,

There are plenty of good reasons to outsource your content writing and marketing to an SEO firm. For instance, you may not have the time or writing skills to fully invest in a managing a content marketing campaign. Since content marketing is one of the fundamental elements of inbound marketing , outsourcing it to a reputable SEO company makes sense. But when looking to outsource your content marketing, or any other part of your SEO, keep it in the U.S!

For all intensive purposes, the US space program is done and over. After 135 missions over 30 years, the last shuttle launched and landed this past July. Some blame the program's slow demise on cost, others site lack of interest from both the public and corporations who could have helped shoulder the expenses. Whatever the reason, it seems like the US is done with "the final frontier." Sometimes your SEO might feel a little bit like a space mission.

For all intensive purposes, the US space program is done and over. After 135 missions over 30 years, the last shuttle launched and landed this past July. Some blame the program's slow demise on cost, others site lack of interest from both the public and corporations who could have helped shoulder the expenses. Whatever the reason, it seems like the US is done with "the final frontier." Sometimes your SEO might feel a little bit like a space mission.

If you belong to an industry association )especially for B2B companies(, make sure you are getting real value from your membership! Aside from a link, an industry association's site is a great place to publish articles or guest blog posts. Being associated with reputable industry associations can also lend more credibility to your site, which can be very useful for newer sites. Watch this week's SEO video tip from Nick Stamoulis here!

When it comes to social media marketing, one of the few "must-dos" is to actually listen to your network. Social media is a conversation, not a soap box for your brand. No one wants to be talked at, whether it is in a face-to-face conversation or an online one. Social networking has taught your customers that they have a voice and a right for their opinions to be heard, and they are expecting you to listen.

White hat SEO dictates that you take a blended approach to your link building. A diverse and consistent link building campaign demonstrates to the search engines your commitment to branding your site and building your online presence. It is important to make sure that your site isn't flagged for trying to spam or "cheat" the algorithm in order to artificially boost your own ranking. But that isn't the only reason it is important to diversify your link building.

SEO best practice dictates that a full-optimized site means every single page of that site )from homepage to individual product/service pages to the About Us page( has been properly optimized for SEO. This includes conducting keyword research, possibly rewriting the content, writing Meta tags and descriptions, customizing the URL, developing an internal linking structure and more. A smaller site could easily spend 40 hours or more optimizing itself.

SEO best practice dictates that a full-optimized site means every single page of that site )from homepage to individual product/service pages to the About Us page( has been properly optimized for SEO. This includes conducting keyword research, possibly rewriting the content, writing Meta tags and descriptions, customizing the URL, developing an internal linking structure and more. A smaller site could easily spend 40 hours or more optimizing itself.

Since the Internet is "everywhere" you don't have to hire the SEO firm down the street if you don't want too. As long as they are US-based, feel free to work with the best SEO firm for you, even if they are in a different time zone. However, if you want to have that face-to-face interaction that comes with working with a local SEO firm, here are a few things to keep in mind: 1. Respect someone's time If you're just shopping around, stick to the phone.

When I say that everything you do both online and offline can be leveraged for SEO, I mean it! Recently, the company that owns the office building where my SEO firm has its office told us we had to move out to another property several towns over. We had 30 days left in our old office. Naturally I balked at being moved, especially on such short notice. I had meetings with clients, both current and potential, employees )myself included( were taking long scheduled vacation days,

Social media marketing is not something that happens overnight, much like SEO. It takes long term, dedicated commitment to be successful. One of the biggest reasons most companies' social media marketing campaigns fail is because they don't stick with it! In a marketplace that demands immediate ROI, social media takes too long. But the long term value of social media marketing is well worth the wait. Watch this week's SEO video tip here!

In addition to this blog, I write for/manage a company blog )the Brick Marketing Internet Marketing Blog (, as well as a blog on my internet marketing consulting site. I kid you not when I say that I can easily get 4,000 spam comments every day. Now most of those 4,000 spam comments go directly to my spam folder and I never have to see or deal with them.

The SEO skill set has evolved )and continues to(. While being a great link builder, knowing how to write content for SEO and understanding best practices for optimizing a website are still incredibly important, they are not the only things we as SEO professionals need to understand in order to do our jobs well and produce real results for our clients. In today's online world,

In addition to this blog, I write for/manage a company blog )the Brick Marketing Blog (, as well as a blog on my SEO consultant site. I kid you not when I say that I can easily get 4,000 spam comments every day. Now most of those 4,000 spam comments go directly to my spam folder and I never have to see or deal with them. A lot of these comments are coming from black hat or overseas link building companies toting the benefits of natural Viagra and the like.