What is the Google Sandbox?

A lot of my clients have been asking me what is this Google sandbox and should they worry about it. The answer is simple, Google,although they wont admit to doing it puts all newly registered domains in a special holding area AKA the sand box and dose not give them a page ranking usually for a couple of months. They do this because off all the domains that get purchased but really never get associated with a website with unique intellectual content. In other words they just want to make sure your site is not a spam or temporary use site. Once they deem that your site is using proper Google SEO and has good content along with proper white hat SEO practices they may begin to rank your site. Not all sites will get ranked however, this is why you need to hire a SEO professional that knows how to increase your chances of getting indexed and ranked. The Google sand box is nothing to fear but definitely something to keep in mind when creating a new site. So you see for the average joe business owner the Google sandbox is not quicksand but if your not using ethical SEO practices it might as well be.

Mike Langmade

Lead Centric LLC

Why should every small business owner know basic SEO?

In the current marketing environment we are seeing off line advertising such as printed yellow pages and newspaper display adds quickly become irrelevant. We have seen a increase in consumers using the internet jump from 361 million in the year 2000 to over 2.5 billion today. Just ask yourself a question, are you on Facebook, Twitter or Google Plus. Most of us today can say yes to at lease one of those social sites and some of us can say yes to all. The world of marketing and promotion has literally been exploding, now it seems anyone with a computer, cell phone or portable device can make comments about the restaurant they they just visited or the item they just purchased. This means you as a small business owner needs to stay on top of things. It's not enough just to sit back and allow some online firm you've never actually visited or some person on the phone or email to conduct marketing on your company's behalf. What knowledge do you have to keep them accountable. Would you allow some random person to represent you and your company to a large group of consumers with out making sure they are properly vetted and trained appropriately? I'm not saying you need to be a certified Google SEO and adwords specialist, but you should at lease know the meaning of those names. It's in your best interest to keep up on the latest trends of digital marketing, that way you can make sure your not being sold a empty bag of goods. If knowledge is power than SEO and SEM knowledge is nuclear power.

Mike Langmade

Lead Centric LLC

SEO Consulting Firm

Digital marketing at its core.

In this current business environment we find focusing on the top tier issues such as site performance through search engine optimization and customer service. Our approach at Lead Centric is to design and market our customers sites in a way that is both creative and cost effective. We understand that your business's bottom line is the only real and tangible way to know if you are succeeding or failing, our customers always see from the start of their projects that we have their best interest in mind. Understanding dedication to design is very important but ultimately it's about driving traffic.

What is Link Building?

Creating a nice looking and functional site is just the first of many steps to a successful SEO campaign.

For example think of a back link as a reputable testimonial for your site. Google and other search engines rate your site on multiple factors and quality back links is one of the biggest ones. Just as in the real world you wouldn't want your company linked to a inappropriate or controversial company, the same thing go's online. You want your reputation to show that you work with only the highest standards and will only offer the products or services that meet those standards. 

For more information on SEO visit www.leadcentricllc.com

Ethical SEO

Search engine optimization AKA SEO is a virtually unregulated. There really is no watch dog group to ensure small business owners don't get taken advantage of. This is why I have made this small list of practise's to watch out for.

1. Payment in full up front. (No reputable company will ever accept full payment up front for work that has not been performed yet).
2. No references. (Even though some small SEO companies are just starting off , they still have the burden of proof that they are professionals in their field and have paying clients who are willing to give a testimonials.)
3. Check out their company website. (Again reputable companies have professionally designed and coded sites them self's.)
4. Beware of fast talking salesman. (Build a relationship with the company you chooses to work with by starting off small with some basic marketing and then depending on the performance of that campaign move onto larger monthly contracts)

I hope this little bit of information helps you make a informed decision on who to contract your digital marketing to.

ML Lead Centric LLC

Consumers beware of fake video testimonials

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I have recently ran across several sites that are trying make a quick buck by scamming small business owners into buying staged video testimonials. People this is bad on so many levels, the first of which is it's a basic form of fraud. Secondly it make's it that much harder for real reputable business owners who have real customer video testimonials on their site to prove that they are not playing this underhanded and misleading game themselves. Here are a couple of ways to combat this problem. If you are utilizing video testimonials on your website. Make sure to give your potential customer as much information about the interviewed client as posable. Such as, show a first and last name and it dose not hurt to ask the testimonial client if it's okay for potential clients to contact them directly or through your business. Most happy costumers who are willing to give you a video testimonial will have absolutely no problem with this. Remember video testimonials if back linked correctly for your site can help create a strong reputation with search engines.   S.E.O is a huge part of running a successful business, just don’t allow yourself to cheat your customers to get there.

Mike Langmade,

Lead Centric LLC

Free websites: You get what you pay for.

Let me ask just one simple question.  Has any successful company ever got to where they are today by using free marketing services?  The answer is absolutely not!  So why do small business owners keep signing up for all of these free websites?  That answer is also very simple, they are lazy and greatly under informed about the products they are getting from these free site companies.  The only way these website freebee companies make there living is off of advertising there services on your site and getting back links to build there ranking.  Meanwhile companies with these free are getting negatively looked at by major search engines because of the linking to the free site provider, this in effect tells the crawlers form the search engines you are not legit.  All is not lost, if you fix this problem ASAP and find a reputable firm like Lead Centric our digital marking firm, we can get your site setup with it's own original domain name  and design in just days.  When it comes to business use my advise "if it's free than it's probably not for me".