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The old adage, "If it sounds too good to be true", applies to SEO (search engine optimization). There are many companies that will promise top results using less than ethical methods. Including slick salesmen that will convince you that all the top sites cheat the search engines in order to stay on top. You will run into web site owners that mask keywords to get top positions making it sound very tempting to follow in their foot steps.
Don't be fooled by such hype. These are short term solutions that can lead to a permanent ban in the top engines. Once you are banned in Google, Yahoo, MSN or ASK, you may as well dump your site and start over. If you're looking for long term success on the internet, don't cheat the search engines.
One of the cheats I have been seeing lately is masking content with “noscript tags”. The noscript tags are used to define an alternate content (text) if a script is NOT executed. People have been taking advantage of this and filling it with content that visitors don't see, but the search engines do. While this does work, it is short term and believe me when I say, you will be caught. You will have no warning, no second chances. You will wake up one day and your site will not be found.
There is no phone number to call, your emails go unanswered, and traffic to your site drops off overnight. Your income dries up and it's all over. It can take six months or more to undo the damage and, in some cases, it's permanent. The major search engines are always on the lookout for new cheats. When found, they will program the search engines to drop the sites using these methods. Without warning, you're gone. Also, don't forget, your competition watches your site and is looking for ways to rank higher than you. Your competition may report your unethical methods to the search engines.
If you're planning to be around for the long haul and want some success on the internet, then you need to be ethical in your promotion. Unless you have daily time dedicated to studying SEO and making the needed changes, you should contract with a reputable SEO company. You need a company that studies the SEO industry on a daily basis to keep on top of what it takes to rank at the top for the long run. A company that is above cheats and quick fixes. A company that offers solid optimization that can keep you on top of the search engine results. A company that will take the time to target your specific audience to get you visitors that are interested in your product or service.
Many SEO companies will promise thousands of visitors a day. Unless those visitors are interested in what you have to offer or ended up at your site and did not find what they searched for, they will remember you. They will remember that you did not have what they wanted. They may leave disappointed and your good name will have a black mark next to it. Don't get sucked into damaging your image by slick salesmen.
When looking for a company to handle your SEO, first and foremost, be comfortable with the people you will be directly working with. They will need total access to your web site and server to make the needed changes. At times, the verbiage of your site may need minor changes. A word or two may need to be changed to improve keyword density. You need a company you can trust with your company's image.
In today's business world, you must have a web site. After all, your competition does. Your site must be marketed ethically and monitored daily. Changes must be made ASAP when conditions change. Hire a professional to handle SEO. When your business is booming, it's too easy to put SEO on the back burner. Before you know it, your rankings will have dropped from top to bottom, as well as your bottom line.
You read magazines. I read magazines. We all read magazines. We all think the same thing: My God, there are some beautiful people in the world. Or are there?
Of course, there are incredibly beautiful people in the world. The uber couple of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are just one example. Many of the photographs you see in magazines, however, are not exactly accurate. This is also true for the Internet.
The massive improvements in software over the last 10 years have led to some interesting developments. In this case, we are talking about digital editing software. Editing software is all about touching up photographs. Prior to the digital revolution, this meant images would get small changes to correct minor imperfections. In the digital age, it is fairly shocking models are actually employed any longer.
Using basic desktop programs such as Adobe Photoshop, one can mold a body into practically anything you want. Hair can be made longer, shorter or a different color. Noses can be made bigger, smaller, wider, darker or lighter. Prefer the model to look insanely thin? Just start pointing and clicking. The same goes for any part of the body. If a photograph does not have the correct lighting for a magazine cover, it can be corrected using software.
Is there anything wrong with this? Yes and no. On one hand, there is not law against touching up photographs to fit a marketing position nor should there be. There is, however, an indirect downside. Many people view these images as a goal for their personal appearance.
When considering plastic surgery, you must be objective about the potential results. It is highly unlikely you are going to look like the model in your favorite image. Heck, the model did not even look like that until undergoing a bit of editing! Plastic surgery has come a long way, but it has its limits.
Plastic surgery is designed to enhance your personal appearance. That being said, it is important that you have reasonable expectations. Forget the images in magazines. Sit down with your plastic surgeon and get an opinion from them regarding what you can expect in regard to results. If those results sound attractive, go ahead. If they don't sound like enough of an improvement, then surgery probably is not a good option.