Gervais Group, LLC – Internet Marketing & SEO Company

The field of search engine optimization is can be divided into three categories; the professional SEO companies, the newcomers, and the do it yourselfers. Each of the levels of expertise can be categorized by skill levels, resources, and experience which translate directly into how successful the end result of an SEO effort will be. Unless directed at a completely un-served micro-niche, any SEO effort will require a defined process, resources, and the skill to see it through to a successful finish. Here’s look at the three categories and the likely results from each:

* Do it yourselfers – This category is populated with two types of search engine optimization people; those that are on their own for budgetary reasons and those that assume that SEO can be accomplished using their existing skill set. In many cases, those who are operating with limited budgets get better results than the existing skill set group simply because they need to maximize the results for each dollar spent. This group will often use grass roots campaigns to begin developing revenues and then direct some of that income toward outsourcing the work to an SEO company due to affordability and the time commitment required for SEO campaigns.
* Newcomers – The field of search engine optimization draws new people looking to “put out a shingle” on a daily basis. These newcomers are usually small (1 to three employees) operations with skill sets which can vary widely. There are a handful of potential problems in dealing with a newcomer including the lack of any track record, determining their level of expertise, and their daily work load. Regardless of skill level and track record, if a two man operation starts getting busy, current clients will suffer in terms of level of service and SEO activities due to the fact that the company is now spread thin with limited resources and not enough time in the day to do everything. It’s common in these situations for a newcomer to take on a new, high paying customer who requires putting everything else on the back burner or outsourcing the work of existing clients to an unknown entity.
* Professional SEO companies – Dealing with a reputable SEO company is, by far the best way to ensure a positive outcome for your search engine optimization efforts. These companies always have track records, satisfied clients, and a set protocol for developing SEO strategies, regardless of the type of business. This protocol always starts with keyword research, a step neglected by a high percentage of do it yourselfers and newcomers. The primary goal of the research is to define the keywords which will provide the best return on investment. On and off-site optimization practices are then determined from the results of the initial keyword research and the strategy is put into motion. With keywords in place, the work then revolves around the labor, time, and resource requirements of implementing a successful strategy. A professional SEO company will always be able to describe the process in detail with realistic goals and objectives. Of the three options, working with a reputable SEO company is usually the most expensive choice, but the ultimate outcome in terms of return on investment, targeted traffic, and conversion ratios are typically much higher.

Dealing with a reputable search engine optimization company can literally make the difference between success and failure. SEO companies, like the Gervais Group, which can provide past client successes and present search engine results are much more likely to deliver optimal outcomes than those new to the field. For more information, visit www.gervaisgroupllc.com or call (770) 529 2262.

As social media sites continue their growth, the importance search engine marketing on them grows as well. For many business owners the ease of setting up accounts and profiles leads to the impression that marketing to the millions of visitors to those sites is easy as well. Unfortunately, nothing could be further from the truth. The nature of the web and these sites is that once a mistake is made, undoing it can require a lot of humility, work, and effort, if it can be undone at all. As with much of search engine optimization, the key is to avoid making mistakes in the first place. Here is what to avoid:

* Spamming – This is perhaps the quickest way to alienate your followers and become a non-factor in social media. Pushing a sales agenda on sites where the primary activity is for social purposes simply won’t work. Communications should instead be conversational with intent to become a valued member of the community.
* Ignoring negative feedback and/or commentary – The advantage of social media sites is that they provide a great opportunity to communicate with a targeted audience. Failure to communicate should things go wrong won’t make them go away; it will probably make them bigger. Be sure to either monitor these conversations yourself or have your SEO company do it for you so that you can respond as quickly as possible.
* Being the “point man” for your site, even if your uncomfortable with it – If you’re not comfortable with, or have time for, regular communication on your social media sites have someone else do it. Depending on how things are going, this can be a full time job by itself. Having an SEO consultant provide that work instead can ensure that communications are prompt and framed properly.
* Set your pages and profile up in a haphazard manner – Remember, this is essentially an online storefront for your business. You would set up a physical location that looked like a hurricane just hit it so don’t do it with the social media sites. Like your physical location, your online visitors will be judging your business by the quality of its appearance and its presentation.
* Let your site get stale – Even if things are cruising along nicely, be sure to update your social media pages regularly. Just like SEO for your website, fresh content will keep your audience coming back, hopefully bringing their friends and followers with them.

Social media sites afford a fantastic opportunity for businesses to develop a following, brand their products and services and, communicate with existing and potential customers. To see how your business could benefit from the traffic generated from the growing audiences at social media sites like Twitter and Facebook, call The Gervais Group today at (770) 529 2262.

The migration of advertisers away from traditional media and toward the internet continues to grow each day. While there are many reasons for this migration, one of the primary ones is the different approach required of each venue.
The push of traditional advertising
The hallmark of traditional advertising has always been “push marketing”. Push marketing is essentially outbound communication in the form of direct mail marketing, newspaper/magazine ads, and television/radio ads. These formats have several factors in common including:
* Expense – Each format can be extremely expensive, mostly due to the fact that these types of advertising methods are rarely successful on a “one and done” basis. It’s common for campaigns to take months before they generate any meaningful measures of revenues. For many small to medium sized businesses the cost of these campaigns is so high that they are not even contemplated.
* They can be seen as an interruption or intrusion – People rarely look forward to seeing commercials on television or getting junk mail soliciting them for the next big thing. The development of “Do not call” lists is further evidence that consumers do not want their lives interrupted with sales calls. To compensate for the decreasing appeal of push marketing advertisers are now required to fund larger and more expensive campaigns thus pushing them further out of the reach of business owners.
* Push advertising is difficult to quantify and measure – A familiar quote “I know half of my advertising budget is completely wasted, I just don’t know which half” attests to the difficulties of measuring what is working within a campaign. While print circulation or television viewers can always be estimated, it’s impossible to know how many people are actually seeing or acting on the ads. This leaves the effectiveness of any type of campaign of this nature open to debate.
* The campaigns are temporary – Once an ad is run or a mailer is sent, that specific event has run its course and must be repeated, one of the primary reasons these formats are so expensive. Once the campaign is stopped, it’s over.
The Pull of Search Engine Optimization
An SEO campaign is basically designed to increase the visibility to consumers who are already looking for a company’s products and/or services thus pulling consumers toward them. Pull marketing then, sits on the opposite side of the coin from push marketing on a psychological basis because the consumer is already looking for a company’s product or service . This pull on consumers has several advantages over push marketing:
* Affordability – Search engine optimization campaigns can be tailored to the budget of a small business. It’s not uncommon for months’ worth of SEO work to cost less than a single print advertisement.
* A growing medium – Estimates show that between 60% and 80% of consumers use the internet prior to making a purchase.
* Search engine efforts are quantifiable – Unlike traditional advertising, search engine marking efforts can be analyzed and quantified in many different ways, allowing for visibility into what is working and what is not within a campaign.
* Search engine marketing efforts remain in the public view – Search engine marketing materials will stay on the web indefinitely whether a campaign is ongoing or not.
Business owners looking to maximize the return on their advertising dollars are increasingly seeing the value presented by search engine optimization over traditional advertising methods. For a free consultation on what a search engine optimization campaign can do for your business, call the Gervais Group today at (770) 529 2262.

Simply put, the content presented on your site will determine whether your site is successful or not. Create targeted, search engine optimized content and you will drive traffic to your site looking for exactly what you have to offer.  Provide compelling content which caters to the interests of your visitors and you will keep them on your site once they have arrived and motivate them to return in the future. Lastly, organize your content so that it guides your visitor through the conversion process in as simple a manner as possible and your conversion ratio could improve dramatically. The short list of rules for optimized content which will yield optimal results can be divided into the following three categories:
Writing content for the search engines:
* Define the keywords which will most efficiently drive targeted traffic to the pages on your site.
* Use specific keywords on separate pages on your site. This will assist the search engines’ crawlers determine each page’s relevance to each keyword instead of diluting relevance by throwing a kitchen sink of keywords on to a single page.
* Do not overuse or cloak keywords in the content or anywhere else on the page. These practices can get a site blacklisted, as well as create other problems (see below).
Writing content for your visitors:
* Once your keywords have been specified, work them into the flow of your content. Forcing keywords into your text will read awkwardly and give your site an amateurish feel.
* Visitors will arrive at your site with either a “What’s in it for me?” or a “Do they have what I want?” mindset. Be sure that your content can answer those questions quickly by conveying clearly that you have what they came for with content directly related to their search term.
* Make sure that your content reads well, doesn’t contain spelling and grammatical errors, and keeps your visitor interested.
* Don’t let your content go stale. Fresh, search engine optimized content keeps the crawlers happy and gives your visitors a reason to return to your site.
Guiding visitors through the conversion process:
* The AIDA formula (attention, interest, desire, action) has been around for about eighty years and is as relevant today as it was at its inception. An SEO company will start with information that grabs your visitors’ attention by using content targeted at addressing their needs. At that point you’re well on the way.
* Make sure that navigating the process is easy so that your visitors will be able to convert at any time during the process. Your “buy now”, “add to shopping cart”, and/or other conversion actions should be accessible and visible in case your visitor makes a buy decision prior to getting all the way through the process.
* Simplify your shopping cart or other conversion pages as much as possible. Once the decision has been made to buy you don’t want to overload your consumer with too many choices. An intuitive and clear path through the completion of the conversion process will eliminate dropouts due to confusion or the uncertainty of whether the consumer is making the right decision.
The decision on whether to do your own search engine optimization can include many factors including the investment of time and money and whether writing your own content is within your skill set. Talking to professionals in the field of SEO could help you determine the best option for your company. For a free initial consultation call The Gervais Group LLC at (770) 529 2262. They have a variety of packages available which can put your website on the road to success.

While there is no bad time to hire an SEO company, the best and most efficient time to hire is either when a new site is being started or when you are re-designing an existing site. These starting points will allow the incoming SEO company the opportunity to optimize your site using their own protocols instead of adapting to and/or interpreting pre-existing architecture. Whether you are hiring for work on the fly or starting fresh, hiring the right company for your search engine optimization needs is one of the most important aspects of your website’s success. The following questions, and the answers to them from each prospective company you interview, should be able to clarify which company will be the best to suit your needs, drive targeted traffic to your site, and improve the conversion rates from your site’s visitors.

On experience:

* How long have you been in business? – Hiring a new company carries its share of risks, even if their rates are discounted from the other companies you’re interviewing.
* Can you show me some of your successes? – Front page success is what you’re looking for and if the company has done it with others you’re on the right track. Take it one step further and see if you can talk to the companies which have had successful campaigns run for them.
* Can you tell me about some of the people in your company? – This gives you another experience metric to measure and leads to the next question.
* How many employees do you have? – Avoid one or two man shops whenever possible. The risk here is that, should they get more work than they can handle, your project will end up being outsourced or put on the back burner.
* Have you done search engine optimization for anyone else in my industry? – Industry specific experience may not be critical as most SEO work follows similar paths. This question can be used more as a tie-breaker if all other things are equal between companies.

On the services provided:

* How will you search engine optimize my website? – This answer to this question should help define whether the company is going to use ethical tactics for the optimization of your website. Be wary if the company is offering to do your SEO work at a steep discount to other companies, especially when the discount is combined with an unclear description of optimization techniques. The likely outcome here will be underperformance at best, and major problems such as being removed from search engine indices if the company is employing unethical or black hat techniques.
* Do you provide search engine marketing? – Search engine optimizing on the site is only half the battle. Be sure you’re working with a company that can build in-bound links to your site and create content such as press releases and articles for submission to blogs, news sites, and social media sites.

On the partnership:

* How and how often will we be in communication – Quantifying this answer isn’t as important as determining that communication is both open and welcomed. Run away if you get a “Don’t call us, we’ll call you” type of response.
* How will we define success and what’s our timeline? Getting to the front page for defined keywords will be one measure. An experienced and successful SEO company will be able to provide estimates on your timeline but can never guarantee a result. Should the company you’re interviewing respond with a front page guarantee within a certain time, they are simply telling you what you want hear and don’t have your best interests at heart.

Search engine optimization is a process usually conducted in a competitive environment with an ever-changing landscape. The best SEO companies won’t be afraid to convey to that information to you. One such company is The Gervais Group LLC, which has being executing successful SEO campaigns for a variety of clients across multiple industry groups. Call us today at (770) 529 2262 for an honest appraisal on conducting a successful SEO campaign for your company.

The business of search engine optimization can be divided into two types of companies; The Right SEO Companies and The Wrong SEO Companies. Hire the Right Company and your site will be optimized to improve its search engine rankings, increase its visibility, and see higher targeted traffic numbers. Hire the Wrong SEO Company and you will waste time, money, and even incur damage your online business. Making the choice between the two types of SEO companies is critical but relatively easy if you know what to look for, especially from the Wrong side.

Wrong SEO companies usually play to the tune of telling perspective clients exactly what they want to hear, whether the promises can be delivered or not. Another aspect of a presentation from a Wrong SEO Company will include deliverables only attainable using tactics which can risk damage to your site and the reputation of your products and/or services. The following is short a list of what to look for from the Wrong side of SEO work:

* The approach – Spammed solicitations via email are a dead giveaway. Responding to them is an invitation to trouble, at the very least confirming that your email is valid which will result in an ever growing stream of more spam. According to Google’s Webmaster Help page, even they get solicitations such as “Dear google.com, I visited your website and noticed that you are not listed in most of the major search engines and directories…”
* The guarantee of a number one ranking – The only guarantee of this nature which can be delivered is one where a ridiculously long keyword (eight words, nine words) is “optimized”. The end result is that you have a phrase which is ranked number one with absolutely zero traffic. Guarantees on any type of competitive keyword or phrase are a sure sign that you are being told what you want to hear regardless of whether it will happen or not.

* Submission the thousands of search engines – While it may sound great, these types of submissions are either unnecessary or a waste of time. Think about it; beyond the major search engines are a plethora of industry specific ones. If the promised submissions happened to occur, your apple-selling website would mean nothing on a site directed at buyers of home furnishings.

* A vague list of SEO activities – As Google points out, regardless of who does it, you are responsible for the actions taken on your site. A company using Black Hat techniques such as doorway pages and keyword stuffing might initially have some success in moving you up in the search engine rankings. The biggest risk is that, should the techniques be discovered by the search engines, your site could be removed entirely from their indices. At that point your online business is effectively dead.

Avoiding the Wrong SEO Company is critical to the success of your website. To see what the Right kind of SEO Company can do for your business; call the Gervais Group today at (770) 529-2262.

The Problem
So you’ve optimized your site for the search engines and have a marketing plan in place that’s giving you great rankings on the results pages. The traffic to your site is on the increase and you’re feeling pretty good about things. Conversions haven’t started kicking in yet but you know that it’s just a matter of time.
Time passes, and those conversions still aren’t happening. You’ve been so happy with the traffic numbers that you haven’t looked any deeper to see what’s really happening when visitors get to the site. A quick look at your analytics shows a big problem; your visitors are certainly arriving but they’re bouncing out just as quickly. Another piece of data shows that they’re not coming back, either. What you have is a lot of new visitors hanging around for a handful of seconds and then leaving, never to return. Taking a look at the various landing pages gives you some solace because, at first glance, they look great. You’re still happy with the design and layout with your pages, they’re loading quickly and they really pop when they open. So far, so good.
It’s only after reading the text on the pages that you see the problem, and it’s horrible. Your content, even though it’s optimized with your keywords, is disjointed, unorganized, and gives the appearance of being written by a third grader. It’s no wonder visitors are bouncing. It’s also not a surprise that they aren’t returning. Whatever credibility your site is establishing with its first impression, it’s losing that and more as soon as a visitor takes a look at what is written on each page.
The Fix
People are no longer impressed just to be cruising around the internet. The “Been there, done that” mentality of searchers on the web means that content must now offer much more than just keywords and phrases in terms of keeping visitors on your site and motivating them to return in the future. Content that is well-written and compels visitors toward conversion is now one of the most important facets of your website. Delivering what your visitors are looking for will keep them coming back to both visit and make purchases from your site. Here’s what they’re looking for:
* Fresh content – Original content with your own personal spin will give your site some character and differentiate it from your competition. Keeping it fresh will both help with your rankings on search engine results pages and keep visitors coming back to see what’s new on your site.
* Related content – Make sure your content is related to what your visitors are searching for. Being all over the board with your content can confuse and alienate your visitors.
* Timed content – Tying current events to your content extends both credibility and relevance of your site, products, and services.
* Targeted content – Direct your content at your target market. Don’t be afraid to offer specific and/or technical content. Expertise in an area requires thorough knowledge and conveying that will build credibility and trust.
* Directional content – You want your content to guide your visitor through the conversion process in as simple a manner as possible. Content that helps your visitor buy what you’re offering works better than selling to them.
Providing your site visitors with a dynamic and informative experience, related to what they’re searching for will motivate them to return to your site, stay on it, and increase the odds that they will buy from you. But the fight for rankings, visitors, and conversions, is more than just a function of search engine optimization and marketing. It’s a fight for trust and credibility, which begins – and ends – with high quality content.
Call us today at 770-529-2262 or visit Gervais Group at http://www.gervaisgroupllc.com

Recent statistics show that if Facebook was a country, it would be the fourth largest in the world. With the growth of social media such as Facebook , Twitter, and LinkedIn, an SEO program which does not include provisions to develop a presence, optimize for, and participate in the social web is effectively leaving money on the table and ignoring a massive opportunity for leveraging the content distribution and linking benefits of these social websites. The foundation of these networks, which encourages sharing, opinions, reviews, comments, and linking, provides an extremely efficient method to distribute search engine optimized content to the masses with an extremely cost effective effort.

Here are five basic steps toward optimizing your returns through social media sites:

1) Find the sites that fit your company’s demographic – Locating your audience is critical so find the sites where people will be looking for what you have to offer.  If you are offering products and services geared toward the AARP crowd, building a MySpace presence won’t be the most efficient use of your resources. That being said, with the size and variety of users on the major social media sites, you might still get some attention but it won’t be near as much as being present on sites with a better fit. If you’re unsure, starting tracking your audience using social media monitoring software that can identify where your company related keywords, and content related to them, are showing up.
2) Clarify your SEO/social media objectives – Direct selling on the social media sites is usually considered an annoyance and often thought of as pure spam. Because of that, social media related search engine optimization is a different animal than SEO in its pure form. Here, the optimal role of SEO is to directly influence discovery of social communities and/or content via search, guiding conversation, and building/protecting brand perception.
3) Determine how you’re going to participate – Successful participation on social media sites is centered on providing content, interacting, and being a part of the conversation. Be sure to put your best foot forward in all areas. If you’re uncomfortable with public communication, find someone who is. Make sure that all your communications present your company in the best light possible, are search engine optimized for your keywords, and are easy to share amongst members of the community.
4) Develop your content mix – Your content mix for a successful social media marketing effort should be based on how your audience receives and shares content whether via video, articles, research, etc. Doing the due diligence here will be well worth the investment as a seamless integration in to your community will develop your credibility and provide the means for getting your message out faster.
5) Test, measure, re-test – One of the great attributes of search engine optimization is that there is so much that is measurable and quantifiable. Goals, benchmarks, and objectives should all be tracked in order to constantly improve results. The combination of social media monitoring services as well as web analytics can provide measurements which can tell you whether you are on track and where results can be improved.

The importance of successfully combining search engine optimization with social media is growing as fast as the social websites themselves. For a free analysis on where your social media efforts should be focused, call The Gervais Group today at (770) 529 2262.

The process of setting up a website and going into business has never been easier and has convinced a large percentage of website owners that they can load some content on to a template and visitors will arrive. This practice rarely works in that manner but by taking the following five steps you can greatly increase the odds of building a website that generates traffic, leads, and conversions.
Take these steps before you do anything else:.
* Know your consumer – Determine who is going buy what you are offering and where you can find them. Search engine optimization will help with rankings but you can also reach out to your potential consumers through blogs, articles, and social media sites. These consumer direct venues may not generate a lot of revenues but they will help you build credibility with your consumers and the revenues that do come can help pay the bills while optimization efforts unfold.

* Know your competition – Getting advance information on whom else is already doing what you want to do, what keywords they’re using, and the costs of going head to head with them will allow you to set up a search engine optimization strategy with the highest potential for a return on investment. Competition isn’t a bad thing so don’t be intimidated. The benefit of having some competition is that you can gain intelligence on what is being done well in the field, where keyword and other opportunities exist, and get a sense on the size and activity of the market you plan to address.

* Differentiate your business – Separating your business from the competition by addressing neglected issues or offering the best product or service in the category will gain valuable attention from searchers. Try not to get bogged down with a “me too” type of product that looks like the same thing consumers can buy from a handful a sites. Articles, white papers, and blogs can also help to establish your brand’s superiority.

* Research your relevant keywords – Thorough keyword research can help you learn how your market is searching for what you are selling and will prove to be a significant factor in maximizing the return on investment for your SEO efforts. Many owners make the mistake of assuming that the keywords relevant to searchers and spiders are obvious and can be defined without paying for research. Popular keywords can generate tons of non-targeted visits, can be highly competitive, and can be extremely expensive to get ranked on the front pages of the search engines. Using relevant keywords with less competition, derived from analysis, might drive less traffic to the site but your stickiness and conversions will be much higher.  The can also be search engine optimized for faster results.

* Determine how you’ll define a conversion on the site – While a whiz-bang website might impress a visitor, but having them convert is what is ultimately going to generate revenues. If the objective of your website is to sell complex or customized products and services, a conversion might be defined as a visitor setting up a phone appointment for more information on your products or services. If the offering is clean and simple make it easy and obvious to the visitor that you have what they want and how they can purchase it. Beginning with the landing page, your site should guide the visitor through the process using the simplest format necessary to get the conversion.
It may take a while longer to get started, but following these five steps will get results much faster than plowing ahead blindly. Additionally, employing the services of an SEO Company can ensure that pre-campaign preparation is thorough, efficient, and gives you the best chance for optimal results. If you’re contemplating the initiation of a search engine optimization campaign, call the Gervais Group today at (770) 529 2262.

Keyword selection and usage, when incorporated using research and planning, can generate targeted visitors and increased conversion rates while taking shortcuts or operating with pre-conceived ideas on what will work can lead to a site’s underperformance and ultimate failure. Due to the required investments in time and money for effective search engine optimization of relevant keywords, many site owners attempt to do their own SEO projects and make the following mistakes:

* Getting dense on keywords – This kind of activity presents a couple of critical problems, the first being that search engines can decide that the site is “stuffed” with keywords and penalize it, resulting in a drop in rankings. The second, and most important issue is that content with overly dense keyword concentration can be awkward and amateurish, resulting in a poor user experience. Page visitors decide very quickly on whether to stay or leave, largely due to the content in front of them. Repetitive keyword use will turn an interested visitor into a departure with the click of a button thus negating any and all search engine optimization efforts.
* Making assumptions on which keywords will work – Have your SEO Company research which keywords will drive visitors to the site and conversions once they have arrived. When keywords are selected by pure guesswork the end results are usually terms which are too broad, too narrow, or overly competitive. Broad search terms might generate traffic but visitors will bounce off quickly while narrow and competitive terms typically result in minimal traffic. Keyword research will find terms which can generate targeted traffic with appropriate investments of time and money.
* Impatience – Search engine optimization and marketing are time intensive endeavors which can require hundreds of hours of labor for content creation, link building, and other activities. Many site owners make the mistake of getting impatient with the process and either change strategies, start making changes to the site, or quit the project. Using search engine placement ads is a great way to get on the front page in the sponsored links section while waiting for the results in organic search.
* Letting content go stale – Search engine optimization, even after making the front pages of the search engines, is an ongoing process requiring consistently fresh content. Regardless of how great your starting content may be, it needs to be supplemented on a regular basis. The implementation of new content works both to satisfy the search engines and to keep visitors coming back to site. Neglecting to add fresh content will result in the site being ignored by search engines and visitors alike.

These are all avoidable mistakes which will continue to be made by website owners across the web. Working with an SEO Company which can provide guidance, research, and an honest appraisal of the cost and time required for a successful campaign will go a long way toward achieving the objectives you set for your website. For a free consultation on optimizing your site, call The Gervais Group at (770) 529 2262.