If you want to get the most out of a city tour, hire the right tourist guide.

The same is true when it comes to hiring a search engine optimization company to provide your company with assorted online marketing services. Go out and do a search on Google for "[your city] + seo" and you will get a list of 300+ SEO firms offering you their services.

You begin by getting in touch with the firms, beginning with the top-listed one, since it seems obvious that the one at the top must know what it is doing. But as you get down to the other firms at the top, you realize they are saying the same things, or as one reader commented on a previous article I wrote, "SEO is definitely the biggest scam of all. How can every would-be Internet Marketer on the planet promise every client to put him or her onto the top page of Google natural search?" The clear answer is that some can deliver while others cannot.

If so, how then do you determine which SEO company to choose?

* Firstly, let us remove a few misconceptions regarding SEO firms. A fancy or sleek website does not necessarily make a good SEO firm. If you need an SEO firm that can likewise undertake design of your new website, of course, you might need to consider how good their own website appears. But if your priority is to hire an excellent SEO firm, some of the best ones have only mediocre or above-average websites.

* The highest-ranking SEO firm in your geographic location is not logically the firm you need to hire.

* The "SEO firm" you should hire need not be one most people will consider hiring. Size does not always matter. Often and, remember, not all the time, less is more. The SEO firm suited for your needs may only have a couple of workers down in a basement office. Or, perhaps, one that has 500 employees on hand. Either of the two could very well be the right SEO firm for you. You just need to find out which.

* "All SEO outfits are con artists." Of course, this claim is totally wrong because it is only 95% correct. Be very careful about the SEO firm you choose. So many individuals hire a firm only to regret after a couple of years, wondering if they just wasted their money for nothing.

Finally, the main point - how do you go about choosing the right SEO firm?

* List down the things you require from an SEO firm. Do you require reputation management, link removal, a one-time SEO audit, link-building, ongoing SEO, PPC management, content marketing, retargeting, or any of the other 20 services usually offered by SEO firms? If unsure which of those you need, begin by assessing the task that needs to be done. Do you need to increase sales by 20% across a period of one year, or leads by 50% for the next six months? Is your objective enhanced rankings, or do you just aim for the boss to know that an SEO company is doing its job for him and then you can cross off this nuisance of an item from your to-do list? Set a goal by which you will gage the success of your relationship with your SEO firm, and make that objective the focus of your interaction with it. Without that kind of success measurement of the SEO tasks, you are bound to lag behind your competitiors who do.

* Make manifold consultations, but keep it confidential. Once you have decided what you require, meet with an SEO firm -- face-to-face or via phone or email -- that seems convincingly capable and inquire how it can assist you determine what you must do. Many SEO firms are willing to provide a free consultation, knowing that by doing so they could convince you and get your business. By doing so, you will also find out if you can work well with the firm and the people. Through the consultation, which may require several days if the SEO firm has to conduct a research on your website and industry, you should receive a proposal with the necessary services and the price. Then, unless you are in a hurry and will go for the first firm you meet, do the same thing with one or two other firms for comparison. But do not tell an SEO firm you are shopping around or talking to other firms; this sorts of dampens their interest for your business and end up becoming less competitive. This applies particularly to some of the best SEO firms over which clients are eager to work with rather than those SEO firms striving to work with a client.

* Obtain case studies and references. The number one issue you want addressed by an SEO firm is: "Will you help me finish my job?" You need an SEO firm that has had the experience in helping other clients face the same problems you encounter. If you operate a self-storage company and you deal with an SEO firm that has done work with 10 other self-storage firms with great results, you have enough basis to be confident about working with that SEO firm. If your business is rather unique and you require a generalist SEO firm rather than one that is highly-specialized, obtain case studies and references from SEO firms that have done work for clients with comparable business parameters and parallel tasks as yours.

* Allow the firm to narrate stories. An excellent SEO firm operates strategically and is also highly creative, telling meaningful stories. These stories permit you to get a more precise picture of what the SEO firm truly is. Case studies and references are like browsing through someone's LinkedIn profile. You should do that before getting an employee; but you would never get someone based solely on their LinkedIn profile. You would do well to listen to their stories about their background, track-record, achievements and mistakes. This is one reason why video interviews from companies like are making points. Ask the SEO firm how they were established, what their best-client story was, what their worst-client encounter was and how they managed it, and how they have developed over the years. Although you might have decided to hire them after following the first three tips, listening further to their stories may abruptly turn your opinion into the opposite direction.

Establishing clear goals, getting a variety of bids, examining pointers to the future, and listening to stories - these are steps to take to assure you will choose the right SEO firm. Will there be exceptions? Certainly. We are so busy doing the work that creates results for our customers, and even though we know we should present case studies, somehow they are not the highest priority. And I know of some companies that I would not hire myself or endorse to anyone else, even though they have very appealing case studies. In both cases, hearing narratives of firm's experiences is the best way to appreciate the reality behind the firm.

Have you ever worked with an SEO company? What steps did you take to ascertain you hired the right one?

To be or not to be -- that remains the question today when it comes to the subject of grammar. No, not the school subject which can be traumatic and nose-bleed-inducing but the subject of applying grammar for blog-writing. And it covers just about all levels since ordinary people write blogs, just as senators (or their writers do) and professional writers do.

But often, when we mention grammar, the grammar guardians will always mean correct grammar. Someone might ask: Is there a different kind of grammar?

I believe there are as many grammars (or ways of writing in any language) as there are people. For example, Americans love to add the word "thingy" to every word they cannot recall or for any thing they do not know how to call - such as the pointed "thingy" that the pope wears during high mass or the green "thingy" you add to soy sauce to make a dip for sashimi.

So, who decides what correct grammar is or should be? Shakespeare? The English professors at Oxford or Harvard? My retired English professor-friend? Or the latest book on grammar from Amazon?

Grammar has rules or laws. But who made them in the first place?

Imagine the first human who ever spoke. Did he have a teacher? I suppose he had. Did his teacher teach him grammar? If by grammar we mean proper construction of words to form intelligible sentences that carry sensible or meaningful words, he must have for he had the best teacher of all time and eternity!

Reading the Bible (or any classic work) is one of the best ways to learn grammar. In fact, it has been the best way for centuries since many of the translators, particularly of the old King James Version published in 1611, were linguistic scholars who were contemporaries of Shakespeare (who may have been one of the translators) and were proficient in English as well as in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin. And remember, the last four hundred years gave us many excellent writers and leaders who grew up reading God speak in King James' English: Twain, Dickens, Verne, Steinbeck, Lincoln, Darwin, and Livingstone, among others!

That reminds me of a country - Japan or China, I cannot recall - where some adults are taught to speak English by listening, singing and studying the popular songs of the Beatles. Not a bad idea actually as the Four Fab did speak Her Majesty's English. Until, of course, they learned from the Americans and picked up some of the bad grammar. "One and one and one is three." Here come them ol' grammar cops come together with their batons flying in the air!

But we all know King James English is passé - not bad grammar, only outrageous conjugations. But if so, why do people still enjoy watching Shakespearean plays? I would venture to say it is not the grammar they are after but the sense of style and flair words are spoken. It is the passion in words, not the words themselves that matter. Rap music is popular because of that very reason. So is rock music and almost every kind of music, including grammar-less, sometimes senseless dance music. The beat in the spoken words energizes the heart to heights of rapturous flight!

But someone would say, "That is spoken language!" What about serious, written language we read online? Oh yeah? Did anyone ever really hear Shakespeare or his characters speak? We used the Bible and Shakespeare to prove that the written word can and do possess life and passion and truth.

We must write then to enhance life and all that is possible in it. The "thou", "doth not" and "be still" may have given way to "yo", "da'n't" and "hush"; but the essence and purpose of grammar remain: clear and understandable sentences.

In the end, it is the message, news or story that matters. As long as the majority of people get the meaning, the grammar matters less. Good grammar may lift us high to fits of ecstasy as that balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet does to any hopeless romantic; but love is intoxicating enough without grammar getting into the picture. The words, spun masterfully by the bard, and flowing effortlessly from lovers entranced by each other's beauty and each other's surplus of words is the pinnacle of what human potential is all about.

Words can make us fall into endless love. And, conversely, love can make us fall endlessly into words and words and words. In short, we can fall in love with words and with perfect grammar. The dangers of Babel's pride remains alive and confusion can arise from any writer who loses the fundamental goal of language.

So who really needs good grammar? If we could write like a poet every time we post a blog or a tweet, we would all be writers aware of the power of language and of the human potential for which we were destined. Meaning would flood our lives and no tweet would ever be wasted on the fly. Adam, the first language user for many of us, did clearly understand his destiny until the serpent twisted it with the use of "seductive" language. The grammar was good as well; but the purpose was evil.

There it is: While grammar is essential; it is the ultimate intention we use it for that matters. No matter how good or perfect our language may be if people are deceived or made to suffer, the truly wise among us would rather choose to use five "well-spoken words" -- even in poor grammar - as long as we lead people along the right path.

Grammar is the basic technical requirement for good, acceptable language. But "well-spoken words", though they violate grammar rules, will never violate any law. Grammar must pay homage to the higher, intangible standards of life, love and, well, language as well.

Article adapted from Search Engine Journal.

ABOUT LGO

LGO offers prompt and excellent writing services such as web-content building, link building, project feasibility and development studies, online marketing campaigns and press releases.

For more information, please contact LGO's friendly representatives at this email address - webmasters@logicgateone.com

In case a friend calls and tells you Matt Cutts has said SEO is dead and link-building out, remind him of these undying myths and 10 tips to keep alive in your business:

Myth 1: Anything you Build People will Visit

Content marketing establishes its existence on this motto. Build a fantastic website with the best content and see traffic rush in. Not so!

While great writing and excellent content takes a big part of SEO and what your site clearly needs, you also need links, a firm technical base, rapid downloads, and other advantages.

Myth 2: Link-Building is Dead

Building links will not guarantee movement to your site.

Cutts never said links were dead, rather the opposite.

Cutts said Google has tried excluding links from the algorithm but the results were "much worse." It will take years before they can possible disappear, according to Cutts.

What to do?

Do not go buying links. Hire an experienced guy to develop a strategic link acquisition program and to assist you implement it. Use strategic ways to obtain links that will make it appear natural.

For instance, you regularly sponsor a charity affair each year, tying it up with local news and press releases. All those tied back to you. This is a simple way of acquiring natural links to your site as part of a link-building plan, but NOT a link-buying one.

A link-builder will find so many other ways of innovating while keeping it entirely natural but with a little push. Most importantly, hire well since this is the most highly assessed area of SEO at present.

Some methods may be out; but links are not.

Myth 3: Using Google Analytics Allows Google to Spy on You

You need analytics. However, some clients have no Google Analytics on their site because Google they think spies on them, so they work blind.

True or not? Well, yes and no.

Example: If you are making multiple domains intended for criminal acts (as Google thinks) and these sites all have the same Google Analytics code then, yes, Google is aware of what you have done - linked the sites and made yourself known as the owner.

That is one sure way of outing yourself. If you have a penalty or you decided to merely start a new site without fixing the old one and used the same Google Analytics code, you still get booted out.

Does Google use Google Analytics as part of site positioning? No.

This is common sense. These are distinct parts of one company which do not interact at that level. Besides, many sites do not use Google Analytics, so if Google used Analytics to find out the results, it would probably be worse than excluding links as a ranking factor.

Bad data in = bad product out = bad business. Are you a regular company with a regular site? Go ahead and add Google Analytics. Only NSA does the spying.

Myth 4: Ranking (Positioning) Does not Matter

Some people will say ranking is not important and that traffic is what they measure. Although there is truth in that, it can be misleading.

Top 10 may not be as true now as before since with geolocation, personalization, and other factors, you cannot pull up an exact top 10 which everyone else sees.

Ranking has definite numeric order and stop and end points; but positioning is a more loosely defined placement within the SERPs.

Ultimately, converting traffic is the most important metric when measuring the ROI of you investment dollars, the difference between 1st and 5th and 5th and 10th greatly affects the flow and amount of that traffic. Hence, while we cannot ascertain what is seen in the site in the SERPs, we can have a good idea of the opportunities for traffic increases and where drops and where these are happening if we follow the keyword positions.

Position does matter. Rankings maybe not.

Myth 5: Social is the New Link Building

No. You can get links from social but only when you leave the walled garden, not from sharing itself (Google+ excluded here).

This is because in the history of Facebook and Google and Google and Twitter, neither company wants to give Google consistent access to their fire hose, so Google simply cannot factor them into the algorithm.

When Google tried to factor Twitter into the algorithm in the past, you ranked well for Twitter; but that changed when Twitter pulled the access from Google.

Link-building is still the new link building.

SEO Tips to keep you alive

Look now at the really important things: most common missed SEO opportunities.

1. Google Authorship

Is this or is this not helping with rankings? We often miss the very basic idea that an image by your result in the search engine increases your click-through rates.

Make sure, however, that you add this only on well-written, good content and give your site that extra lift.

2. Citations

Wherever you cite your business name (or where anyone else has listed it), make it the same - the name, phone number, contact, address, etc. - not just similar.

3. Content

Google prefers specific content, so keep topics clear and precise. Keep an average content of over 600 words per page to avoid being penalized for being thin.

4. URLs

Make sure your site URLs are absolute and not relative in your code, not too long and containing multiple query parameters. Rewrite them.

5. The Alt Attribute

Use alt tag properly. It belongs on every image on your site (sometimes it will be empty).

This is a tag for the blind. Treat it with respect.

6. Page Speed

Check your site on the Google Page Speed tool. Speed counts especially in mobile. Aim for a score above an 85-90.

7. Robots.txt

Your robots.txt doesn't block your web page from being indexed, only crawled. If you want to block a page from being indexed, leave it off the robots.txt and add a noindex tag.

8. Penalties

If you try to recover your site and you fail the first time, get an expert to help you. Google penalties are tricky subjects. You may not know enough about penalty recovery to get your site out of penalty status, which can take very long.

A site auditor will know what to look for and how to communicate with Google in order to get the best outcome.

9. New Sites

To make sure Google will not find your new site: lock it down with a login. Robots.txt will not prevent site indexing and Google does not need a link to find you.

10. Get a Site Audit Every Year

How to keep up with new aspects of SEO?

A yearly site audit will help you avoid issues, avoid penalties, and make sure you your site is running smoothly. An SEO professional can also help you build out strategies and assess missing income opportunities.

A good auditor is worth their weight in traffic, conversions, and missed penalties. Hire someone with real knowledge and expertise.

SEO is not Black Magic or Even 'Cow Dung'

Remember the past when SEO was called "voodoo" or "black magic" by unknowing people?

SEO is based on the rules of a mathematical algorithm. This means the site meets or doesn't, certain points on a mathematical scorecard and your site is then adjusted accordingly.

Although the search engines have not given those rules, we can test against the algorithm and do things we know work because a + b = c. Math is predictable, testable, and somewhat verifiable.

While Google may still consider SEO as "cow dung" - it is not, as long as you do it right.

Original article adapted from Search Engine Watch.

ABOUT LGO

LGO offers prompt and excellent professional services in Search Engine Optimization (SEO), link-building, web-content writing, Online Reputation Management (ORM) and other related services such as website management, project feasibility studies and press releases.

For more information, please contact LGO's friendly representatives at www.logicgateone.com

How do you maximize your budget when hiring a web-design agency to design and develop a website for you so that your web team can focus on high-value tasks activities like design and development?

Ideally, a web project will require 15-20% of the time on client communication and project management, while the 80-85% goes to strategy, design, copywriting, coding, search engine optimization (SEO), and quality assurance (QA). Unfortunately, many web project budgets get lost when client communication and project management creeps into the 30-40% range, squeezing out other tasks from the main picture.

Unending website projects or those that incur bloated price tags up to 10 times the size of the original estimate are some of the horror stories. Here are a few tips on how to assure your project succeeds:

1) "Absent-Minded-Professor" Syndrome

Missed meetings, unanswered emails, or uncompleted tasks lead web design agencies to spend more time reminding clients instead of doing your website. Do not get too busy such that you get overwhelmed and become unresponsive to your agency.

Solution: Before committing to a website redesign project, be clear on what your web company needs from you to do the project, how much time you can dedicate, and how responsive you need to be to prevent bottlenecks. Set your schedule to spend twice more time than they expect!

2) Being Wishy-washy

Changing direction often makes your web company to spend redoing work or re-communicating plans to the development group. If you are starting up or you are growing rapidly, your marketing needs may change daily, making it hard to undergo a design, message, or site restructuring.

Solution: Be decisive to avoid costly redesign and redevelopment work.

3) Lack of Direction or Team Alignment

Letting a web company settle issues with business partners or marketing employees as to the direction of a website (or company!) reduces production and design time. Work on these issues outside of your project meeting time and come to the table with a clear direction.

Solution: Before the project begins, engage your agency in a strategy phase first to clear up the direction, business goals, ideal customer, buyer personas, messaging, content, and site architecture!

4) Inviting Too Many Cooks into the Kitchen

Involving relatives and other people at every step of a website process can overwhelm with conflicting views. Asking for validation can come after site launching and when you have the data!

Solution: Keep a small and focused website project group and use your budget well. Assign a point-person to avoid sending inconsistent messages to your web design team.

5) Getting Stuck on Content

Entrepreneurs often think they can do everything themselves! Be realistic about how much time you and your team can commit to work on content without professional help.

Solution: Start working on the content early -- calendar your regular writing work. Ask your web company to provide a professional writer to keep things moving when needed.

6) Perfectionism

A useful website need not be perfect. Updating content is quite easy, especially under a web-based content management system. Launch first and keep improving instead of waiting for months working on an unfinished website.

Solution: Try a phased strategy to your project - Launch the "minimum viable website" you need to serve your prospects and customers, collect data on how they use your site, and then provide new features and content in time.

7) Paying Invoices Late, or Not at All

Don't believe the rumor that web agencies are like bounty hunters chasing clients down or withholding the release of websites prior to payment. Web projects can be costly, and cash flow can be a big hurdle for small or rapidly growing businesses.

Solution: Pay promptly as stated in the contract, or set a payment plan so your web design company will be there for you in the future!

Achieving website project success requires both parties (client and web design firm) to understand each other well. Like a marriage, the relationship must have the same vision of success and abide by the same rules of communication.

The desire to serve with commitment is vital on both the web design company and the client. Living happily ever after must nurture that desire!

Original article was published from HubSpot.

In the off chance that you don't have a website yet (I know, shucks), it's never too late to have one. Just get the web hosting and the domain registration and we'll handle the whole shebang. LogicGateOne Corp. will build your website from the ground up. And because we understand how SEO works wonders in the popularity of a website, we'll throw in that extra on your HTML coding.

Forbes.com contributor Joshua Steimle wrote an excellent article, 4 Tips For Hiring The Right SEO Firm, that might help those in need of this service cut through the fog that shrouds the overly crowded SEO industry. It is, perhaps, the ultimate irony that anyone searching the Internet for a company that can help them become more visible on the Internet, can easily experience confusion and information overload.

My company has used several SEO firms over the years. Some I would recommend and others I would not. Here are two that have certainly proven themselves.

Boostability. After interviewing Boostability's CEO, and writing an article about the company, I was impressed enough to sign up as a client. Not having used them for very long, it's hard to say what the long-term results will be, but their attention to detail and service levels have been stellar. Also, they seem to understand my business. For example, my rep is helping me extend the reach of my writing beyond Forbes.com, which is a good thing for a writer. So far, so good.

Mabbly. After using Mabbly for a while, I saw a relatively quick positive impact. What I like about Mabbly is the fact that they will work without a long-term contract. Also, they have a start-up package that is pretty reasonably priced.

Whichever SEO vendors you select and how choose no matter how you find them, go forward with this strategy as soon as you can.

Do not be a dinosaur. Be a teenager and learn to play the game, grow with it and, eventually, you will become proficient in no time at all.

The rules of social media change all the time. The plan that works one year might flop the next. The past year is no exception, as some creative marketers created campaigns that cemented the importance of some rules, and even changed our thinking about others.

Here are the best social media marketing tips to consider from 2013.

1. The Old-Fashioned Guilt Trip

After fighting the #firstworldproblems hashtag in 2012, Water is Life returned in 2013 with a new campaign daring New Yorkers to drink some of the city's most polluted water. The campaign, timed to coincide with World Water Day, was a bit of a guilt trip, but was highly effective. After filming New Yorkers' reaction shots to the 10 dispensing locations, they compiled them into a video about the project.

2. Make Em Laugh

Some fast-food social media campaigns backfired in recent years, either because of poor execution or because people just weren't buying their claims. Wendy's went for the funny bone instead with #PretzelLoveStories, a series of videos in which user tweets were turned into mini-telenovelas. No one criticized because they were too busy laughing!

3. Use Thumbnails

Display ads with graphics do better than those without " the same holds true for YouTube videos. Splasheo founder, Gideon Shalwick, creates a catchy thumbnail for every video he posts. He uses expressive photos, clear copy, and other thumbnail optimization tips to grab our attention and get more views than his counterparts.

4. Prepare for the Worst

Since people play a big role in social media, businesses have relatively little control over their campaigns. Durex learned this the hard way when its SOS Campaign was marred by pranksters who voted ultra-conservative Batman, Turkey, the city most in need of rush delivery service for condoms. The company immediately pulled the campaign.

5. Cater to Content Aggregators

Ever since the fall of Digg and Delicious, naysayers have been predicting the end of content aggregation sites. They claim that readers have more loyalty to specific sites and are not looking for aggregators or RSS readers to collect the content for them " hence the shutdown of Google Reader. However, others, like social media expert Drew Hendricks, predict that these sites will only get more important in the years to come. How do you cater to content aggregators? Try out new sites as they start generating buzz. If something clicks, add a social share button to your blog. Encourage your readers to share your content with a CTA.

6. Be Careful What You Wish For

Customer feedback is always great, almost. In 2013, numerous corporations launched Q&A campaigns to increase customer engagement. The results were disastrous, especially for companies that had been battling negative press. In one case, the comments were so snarky (earning the title of Snarkpocalypse) that JP Morgan had to pull the campaign hours after launching it.

7. Give the Power Away

Social media has provided a way for people to share original content with friends and family around the world. Nikon took advantage of this by giving their cameras to SXSW attendees and letting them record the musical performances. The resulting photos and videos generated 166 million social impressions, proving that sometimes, trusting customers with your message can pay off big time.

8. Leverage Social Media Search Tools

Search engines continue to be valuable, so we shouldn't be surprised that social media platforms have built their own. According to Cynthia Sanchez, writer and Pinterest expert, tools like Graph Search on Facebook and Twitter's advanced search can help you identify the potential audience on each channel, or even whether there's an audience to identify.

9. Get Everyone Involved

In order to keep your blog kicking and your social curation interesting, get everyone involved. In their 2013 eBook Creating a Content Machine, HubSpot explains the power of giving the ownership of your online success to all of your employees. They maintain monthly quotas for each department to contribute blog posts, which are then shared out through their highly-engaged-with social media outlets.

10. Connect to Timely Stories

A well-timed campaign about a hot topic can make a big impact. In 2013, as the Supreme Court was hearing cases involving marriage equality, the Human Rights Campaign changed its blue-and-yellow logo to red and pink. Within 24 hours, the logo had generated 10 million page views, and over time the HRC attracted thousands of new Facebook and Twitter followers. And don't get me started on that Oreo Super Bowl tweet.

11. Be Visual

Arment Dietrich CEO, Gini Dietrich, says, Sixty-five percent of human beings are visual learners. That means they'd rather look at pictures or watch videos than read text. This means that a motorcycle lawyer should supplement his blog about biking laws with the occasional photo or video. A selfie on a Harley would add a little humor to an otherwise dry post about the law.

12. Don't Ignore Google+

Although experts never seem to agree on the next big thing in social media, there's one thing everyone is talking about: the importance of Google+. Long considered the wasteland of social sites, it's been picking up over the past year - whether people really want it to or not. As Google's social network becomes more intertwined with their search, those who fail to jump on the bandwagon will likely be left in the dust. At a minimum, be sure to claim your business listing and add authorship to your company's blog. To get the full benefits of Google+, however, become an active contributor to grow your following, and be sure to add authorship to all of your guest contributions.

To keep up with the ever-changing world of social media, keep these top-ranked tips in mind and develop your social media presence in a novel, ground-breaking way!

Remember, these rules can become your most effective weapons to avoid becoming extinct.

About LGO

Logicgateone Corporation is a full service SEO company based in Subic Bay, Philippines that specializes in organic Search Engine Optimization.

Business online has become a dynamically complex matter that merely trying to comprehend it, much less engage in it, seems such a daunting task even for the average tech-savvy individual. Fortunately, there are companies out there, such as LogicGateOne, which can help you understand the phenomenon and take the first few steps toward harnessing its power to create business for you.

Obviously, marketing comes to mind when talking about business. How does SEO actually accomplish the marketing process effectively? As in billboard advertising, visibility is the key. How one gets to be at the top of the list of search engines is the goal.

Having a problem bringing customers to your place? Or do you want more customers to flock to your shop? SEO is the way to do it and LogicGateOne has the technical ability to provide this for you in a creative fashion. Consider the following steps you can take to make this become a reality in your own business:

1. Understand what SEO is all about from the inside to the outside as much as you can. Getting this done will remove all doubts as to the effectiveness of this method of doing business online. It is not a mysterious thing but a reality that has helped many companies succeed.

2. Visibility or popularity is the key to creating awareness of your product or service. The era of the small, hidden bookshop in a narrow alley in an old-city area remains as a quaint idea for many today. Yet, even that small shop can skyrocket in popularity if it utilizes SEO to propel itself into people's awareness.

3. When negative publicity regarding your brand or service arises, LogicGateOne will encourage you to avail of its Online Reputation Management (ORM) services in order to correct the problem. This can be an essential part of SEO; but it is an entirely different undertaking but one which is vital in any business.

4. This leads to the primary need for your business or product to be more than unique and excellent in quality. It must be competitive enough in price and delivery services that people would readily want to acquire it online. Setting up that capability is one of the things LGO can assist you in setting up.

After all is said and done, bringing in the sheaves in your harvest is the ultimate test to the effectiveness of SEO process. LGO can help you link with people and companies that have profited from availing of SEO services in order to encourage you to take the first step to committing to it.

Undertaking Search Engine Optimization (SEO) in the Philippines has become a truly exciting experience especially with the presence of social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Google +, YouTube and Pinterest. Unfortunately, together with this exploding social cyber-structure available to almost anyone worldwide, comes the distracting phenomenon of spamming. And even these social networks are not free from this unwanted intrusion.

Logicgateone endeavours to create sensible web content as a policy, along with proper links and keywords. So, if you have a brand to promote, here are some steps from Logicgateone on how they can create an effective brand awareness online for you:

1. Reach people through their smartphones and tablets; so that wherever they are, you can create awareness of your brand and its features.
2. LGO creates a marketing strategy that does not look like plain advertising. How? Through the word-of-mouth method where people share their experiences in using your brand within their trusted social circle without you bringing it to them directly.
3. Provide a more personal interaction and experience among people who have the same interests and passions in life. We know how this goes: Birds in the same flock use the same brand!
4. Promote effective customer service through the social interaction among social networks participants. When people know how and where they can call for help in their needs regarding your brand, they feel more confident patronizing your brand.
5. Quality of content in any brand awareness campaign matters as much as the quality of the brand itself. If you are confident about your brand's quality, LGO will help you enhance that quality through content that allows people to virtually sample your product online.
6. Produce product visibility through creating awareness and interest in the social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and others. LGO can show you how.
7. Make the right connections in the social networks. Having so many connections or links is not enough; finding the right ones is what LGO can do for you.

Communication is all about interconnection. More so in this Internet Age. And it is not merely connecting to so many other people but also to your own data and other sources of information derived from various sites.

Imagine doing a research work on a certain subject and browsing through numerous books and materials in the low-tech method. You will need to put bookmarks on each material so that you will have an easier time looking up topics you are working on from the various sources you have.

Online bookmarking of relevant links does this in a very similar way. Links are virtual streets which allow us to move from one webpage to another and back again and out again to another street, and so on and so forth. It seems like a labyrinth; but search engines utilize sophisticated link analysis to determine how pages are related to one another and in what ways.

Through this complex mechanism of links, search engines are not merely capable of analyzing the popularity of a website and page based on the quantity and popularity of pages linking to them, but also metrics like trust, spam, and authority. Reliable websites tend to link to other trusted sites, while spam-filled sites obtain very few links from trusted sources.

Knowing this, users can be confident that trusted sites are authoritative sources of information. And the more trusted friends or partners you have, the more secure is your own life and career, as we know in real life. Likewise, the more popular you are in the sense of having many trusted link partners, the better chances you have to gain success in your business and social dealings online as well as in real life.


Some tips on gaining this kind of this confidence online are the following*:

Local/Topic-Specific Popularity
The concept of "local" popularity, first pioneered by the Teoma search engine, suggests that links from sites within a topic-specific community matter more than links from general or off-topic sites. For example, if your website sells dog houses, earning links from the Society of Dog Breeders matters much more than earning links from an off-topic, roller-skating site.

Anchor Text
One of the strongest signals the engines use in rankings is anchor text. If dozens of links point to a page with the right keywords, that page has a very good probability of ranking well for the targeted phrase in that anchor text. You can see examples of this in action with searches like "click here", where many results rank solely due to the anchor text of inbound links.

Trust Rank
It's no surprise that the Internet contains massive amounts of spam. Some estimate as much as 60% of the web's pages are spam. In order to weed out this irrelevant content, search engines use systems for measuring trust, many of which are based on the link graph. Earning links from highly trusted domain can result in a significant boost to this scoring metric.

Universities, government websites and non-profit organizations represent examples of high-trust domains.

Link Neighborhood
Spam links often go both ways. A website that links to spam is likely spam itself, and in turn often has many spam sites linking back to it. By looking at the totality of these links in aggregate, search engines can understand the "link neighborhood" your website exists in. Thus, it is wise to choose those sites you link to carefully and be equally selective with the sites you attempt to earn links from.

Freshness
Link signals tend to decay over time. Sites that were once popular often go stale, and eventually fail to earn new links. Thus, it is important not only to earn links to your website, but also to continue to earn additional links over time. Commonly referred to as "FreshRank," search engines use the freshness signals of links to judge current popularity and relevance.

Social Sharing
The last few years have seen an explosion in the amount of content shared through social services such as Facebook, Twitter and Google+. Although search engines treat socially shared links differently than other types of links, they notice them nonetheless. There is much debate among search professionals as to how exactly search engines factor social link signals into their algorithm, but there is no denying the rising importance of social channels.


*Source:
http://moz.com/beginners-guide-to-seo/growing-popularity-and-links

We all know how press releases are done with respect to the traditional print media. But nowadays with Internet publishing and web social media, the game has totally changed. And the coverage has all but incorporated the whole globe - at least where there is Internet access.

So, if you are a digital book publisher or a visual arts dealer, coming up with a press release can help you reach as many dedicated clients as you can get through LGO's expert assistance.

First of all, you need to have the best writers to help you craft your press release in order to target the right customers. Logicgateone has a wide array of writers in many areas and industry lines who are available to consult with you with regards to your specific requirements. As long as you can furnish the basic information regarding your personal experiences, your products or services, LGO will take care of structuring the press release according to your specifications and LGO will also go about the task of reaching as many interested clients for you as possible through their marketing and SEO skills.

Gaining positive exposure online is what it is all about. Logicgateone has the experience to help its clients attain a high level of success in bringing in business and maintaining a foothold on their target market.

Writing articles for blogs, newsletters, journals and promotional campaigns is essential to many business firms and political, social and research organizations. Although many today have had academic training in composition, it takes a lot of experience and exposure to various forms of publications in order for a person to gain a comprehensive and high degree of proficiency in article-writing that is needed by LGO to serve its many clients.

Here are some of the specific jobs that Logicgateone can do for its clients:

* News
* Fillers
* Feature stories
* Evergreens
* Q & A
* DIY
* Feature stories
* Encyclopedia articles
* Opinion and analysis

How fast can LGO deliver articles? Unfortunately, for LGO the question is not how fast but how good the articles are. You can go to those who can produce cheap articles in a minute; but LGO only delivers top-quality articles that take equally valuable time to produce.

If you are one of those business people or, perhaps, individuals who have had years of track record in their line of work but without having gotten around to putting up a website, what are the steps one must take in order to make sure one finds excellent help, if not the best qualified quality website designer? Here are the simple steps to follow:

1. Know what a website can do to your business or line of work

A website is nothing more than a shop display window where a tailor or an artist displays his or her wares. And if you are a construction company or a shipbuilder, it would be an entire building complex where you can exhibit all your people, materials and resources needed to do an entire project for any client.

A website, however, brings your window to your clients anywhere they may be. There is practically no time, place and cultural constraint, unless there is no Internet connection.

Hence, a website is one of the cheapest and fastest ways of finding clients for your products and services. It is also the most effective as it can clearly exhibit all aspects of your work: scope, details, prices and other design and service requirements. Do you compose music for online games? YouTube, Vimeo and other online video servers can be your best partners for promoting your wares; but without a website to bring them to your showroom of various samples (plus HD visual input and unique add-ons) you could be left behind by the competition.

2. Designing a website is like building a house

Just as a showroom or display window need to have walls, ceilings and floors to contain any products, a website needs to have the proper structure to house your wares as well. If a writer tries to sell books online, he or she will have a library practically or at least a table upon which to allow a visitor to touch the book and taste its contents, if possible. We cannot simply show a book nowadays to people; we must try to convince them to buy it (unless we are talking of a bestseller, which is more an exception than a rule).

This is what Amazon does - show you a colourful photo of the book cover; but, in general, there is no access to the book's content, whether list of chapters or foreword. LogicGateOne can do better than that! What's a whole chapter or two to tease readers to buy? Bookstores do this now and you can, too, online - as easily as swiping on a tablet.

3. Get as much info as to the technical side of the project

Unless you are a techie as well, designing a website can be a challenging task to comprehend. So, how does one measure a designer's capability? Easy -- look at some of their actual work in the past and any ongoing projects they have. They can outline the technical requirements (LogicGateOne does this on their website).

Or you may already have the person in your company who can do the evaluation of the designer's abilities. Collaborating with good website designers in the Philippines on specific requirements you may have will make the process a lot easier for everyone concerned.

4. Seek LGO's advice on which servers can best suit your needs

As we said, YouTube and Facebook may be the only things you are aware of as an Internet user. LGO can provide an overview as to which Web 2.0 sites can best suit your needs.

Do these steps with a couple or so web designers and decide which one satisfies you. Happy hunting!

fun
fən/ noun
1. enjoyment, amusement, or lighthearted pleasure.

day
dā/ adjective
1. carried out during the day as opposed to the evening or at night.

Fun Day refers to an event organized by the company at which employees and their members participate in some activities, usually in an informal setting.

These events aim to facilitate bonding between employees enhance relationships between co-workers with the theme: "remembering childhood memories, making LGO/CBSI alive with youthful camaraderie through larong lahi."

It's more FUN at LGO/CBSI!