If you’ve read any of our case studies, you’ll know that Sixth City Marketing has been able to improve the web presence of a variety of companies. Through our strategies, we’ve taken existing sites and boosted their search engine rankings and SEO capabilities, leading to more visits and more business.

And if you are interested in increasing traffic to your site and bringing in even more business (and let’s face it, who isn’t?), then be sure to contact Sixth City Marketing today. Our SEO consultants will thoroughly inspect your site and provide recommendations for how to improve it. That can include a number of services, such as:

• Meta data creation
• Content optimization
• The incorporation of social media marketing and pay-per-click advertising
• Website design and development (We specialize in the WordPress platform)

As you can see, search engine optimization is an intricate process and no two sites have the same SEO needs. Every company needs a unique strategy for success, and we pride ourselves on offering that. Too many times have we seen companies go with an SEO plan that doesn’t work, turning them off to the idea altogether. It’s understandable – you’re paying for results and to not get them is obviously disappointing.

But that doesn’t mean you should give up altogether. You want to get the most out of your business’ online presence, right? Working with the right SEO company can unlock that seemingly impenetrable door.

Be sure to contact the SEO consultants at Sixth City Marketing today for a free consultation and to see what we can bring to your company.

Fans of the influence-measuring website Klout will be happy to know that the company has finally introduced an iPhone app that allows you to track your score while on the go. Better yet, the app gives you real-time updates on your Klout score.

For those unfamiliar with Klout, it’s a site that measures a person’s online reach by gathering stats from users’ various social networks. While the algorithm for how that Klout score is calculated can be confusing, the fact remains that many people are noticing this service and are beginning to take it seriously. And that’s okay, to an extent.

The idea of getting perks from various ad partners is a fun, harmless way to utilize Klout, but it’s starting to find itself in some places where it doesn’t belong.

For instance, there are stories of companies using a person’s Klout score as a reference point while researching potential candidates. If that is something that can be the difference between getting the job and losing out on an opportunity, what does that say about one’s actual tangible qualifications?

There is no doubt that everyone should be embracing social media. It does lead to excellent opportunities and allows you to remain visible and connect with customers, suppliers and, yes, potential employers. But your activity on these social networks – and certainly an algorithm based on your involvement with them – should not be the measuring stick for how you would perform in a potential job.

As long as Klout remains a fun way to measure one’s social influence, and the only result is added perks by partners who want you to speak kindly about their companies, it can be a tool worth mentioning. But as it begins its evolution into a serious recruiting tool for employers, it loses its fun luster, and everyone is left chasing an algorithm while hiring managers take the easy way out.

But hey, for now, the iPhone app is still pretty cool.

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Lately, I’ve run into a common issue with client sites that I’ve worked on for SEO purposes. Taking steps to resolve this issue has resulted in big dividends (traffic-wise) and I wanted to share the issue and the solution with you.

The issue was that the major search engines were not listing all of the pages of our clients. This is one of the first things we look at with a new client. Taking steps to make sure Google, Yahoo and Bing can see all of your pages can help increase traffic dramatically.

In the video below, I show you how to check whether or not the search engines can see your website. I take a look at BigLots.com and see where they stand as far as pages listed (or indexed) in the major search engines.

Tumblr is one of the most popular blogging platforms, which has partly been due to the company’s insistence on remaining ad-free. However, like any site that wants to make more money, advertisements will soon be creeping onto Tumblr as soon as May 2.

Tumblr CEO and founder David Kamp, opposed to the idea of advertisements for so long (and still against traditional advertisements), made the announcement at Ad Age’s Digital Conference in New York. It will begin by allowing branded posts to appear in the Radar section of the site and potentially follow up with additional opportunities.

But don’t get too sour on the idea right away; Kamp says that he will be looking for more creative ways to incorporate ads from companies, including increased involvement by brands compared to the ads on social networking giants like Facebook and Twitter.

Despite the potential creativity that might come from these advertisements, does it bother you that Tumblr will be including them at all? Every site should certainly have the drive to make money, but the allure of this blogging platform has always been its simplified interface, ease of use, and lack of clutter due to advertisers.

While Tumblr has tested brand promotion before, it will be interesting to see what happens when advertisers finally gain a larger voice.

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Ohio Brew Week is a festival held in Athens, Ohio every summer. It’s a week-long celebration of Ohio’s micro breweries. The festival is one of my favorites and I started to think about how to grow the nationwide popularity of the festival using search engine optimization strategies.

Watch the video below as I discuss how search engine optimization could help Ohio Brew Week draw more visitors to their website. It gives you a behind-the-scenes view of how we look at websites when we do search engine optimization.

The potential to increase traffic

As you can see, evaluating the target audience of Ohio Brew Week (beer enthusiasts) and doing some careful keyword research shows you the potential in strategically optimizing the site for search engines. There are an incredible number of relevant search terms with low competition that would bring more traffic to the website.

How we can help you

If you would like to hear more about how we can help your business with our search engine optimization services, contact us online or at 440-821-1425.

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We started working with UK-based commercial photographer Greg Harding in September of 2011. Greg had struggled to get consistent traffic to his websites from search engines. At the time, Greg had created a series of websites targeting specific UK-related keyword phrases. Greg Harding Photography hired us to to establish a long-term search engine optimization strategy and help with his content architecture. Greg opted for our budget-friendly SEO Foundation Package (our starter package).

We recommended focusing the SEO strategy around his main website: http://www.gregharding.co.uk. Building a bunch of domain-targeted sites with .net and .org extensions is not the best long-term SEO strategy (We’ve seen lots of folks doing this in the UK).

We then compiled a targeted list of keywords that would focus on potential clients in the UK (his target audience). From there, we reviewed the content on the website and made recommendations on adding and changing content.  Our ultimate goal of any SEO campaign is to match keywords to relevant content.

Results: 1,600 percent increase in overall traffic

If we compare the last 30 days of Greg’s traffic to the traffic in September of 2011, you’ll see significant improvement in overall website traffic. The first image above shows a 1,600% increase in traffic during this time period. The other key metrics such as time on site, pages per visit and bounce rate also improved.

Overall traffic snapshot

Traffic from search engines

As you can see, the SEO Foundation Package has produced great value for Greg’s business in a short period of time. Greg is also ranking for a number of keywords that he has targeted. If you’d like more information on how Sixth City Marketing can help you or your company, contact us through our online form or at 440-821-1425.

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Despite it being only April, 2012 has brought many exciting things for both Sixth City Marketing and our clients. We’d like to share with you some recent successes that we’ve had. The first is with a company out of Cleveland called Summers Rubber. We reviewed their website in late 2011 and showed them the potential to attract more traffic and leads through the Internet.

Goals of the SEO Campaign

We worked with Summers Rubber to re-evaluate their website goals. The goal of their recent website redesign was to display their catalog of products online. Our first step was to establish a new set of goals. For this campaign, we met with them to identify their most profitable segments. We did research on what the highest volume keyword terms were and then proceeded to create optimized content for the site to target these keyword terms.

Results

We started the campaign in January of 2012 and have had some amazing results since then. You can see from the graphics below that traffic in the last 30 days, compared to the month of November 2011, shows the great progress that we’ve made with the site in a very short period of time. Overall traffic has increased by 65% and traffic from search engines has increased by 39%.

Summers Rubber Overall Traffic Improvements

Summers Rubber Overall Search Engine Traffic Improvements

We’ve also helped Summers Rubber by adding a few small elements on the website that help show a “call to action.”  This call to action, along with a few other small adjustments, has helped increase relevant online leads. These website leads are coming from all over the globe. What’s amazing is that we are only halfway through the campaign!

Curious about how we can help increase leads to your company and traffic to your website?  Contact us online today or at 440-821-1425.

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It feels like it took forever, but it’s finally baseball season, and the start of America’s pastime has us thinking about social media. The Cleveland Indians are one of the most progressive teams in all of baseball when it comes to social media, having debuted their Social Media Suite in 2011, a section of seats reserved for fans interacting with others via social media channels.

Now, in 2012, the Indians have made it their mission to expand their presence on a number of social media networks. The team has already been active on the big networks like Facebook and Twitter, but this year, the organization has taken it a step further.

Here’s a rundown of what the Indians are introducing this season:

• A “TribeVibe” WordPress blog
• A “Step into the Home” Tumblr blog
• Presences on Google+ and Pinterest

The team will use these platforms as an opportunity to give fans a behind-the-scenes look at the organization, while also providing exclusive ticket offers and the opportunity to meet Indians alumni and members of the front office.

These moves are keeping the Indians at the forefront of social media strategies in baseball, but what can your business learn from these particular social media practices?

Using social media for business works the same way. In today’s society, your customers want immediate access to your brand across all social media channels. By maintaining a social media presence, you are not only remaining transparent, but proving to your customers that your company is cutting edge, innovative, and dedicated to developing new strategies for success.

Start a blog for your company’s website. Post pictures of your office, outings, or employees on Instagram. Pin your favorite business advice on Pinterest. Be as creative as you want – the use of social media in business is rewarded by innovative ideas. Each form of social media serves a certain purpose, but all contribute to developing your brand and building a legion of loyal followers.

By now, most people understand the importance of keeping a business active on Facebook and Twitter. But the popularity and influence of other social media channels cannot be overlooked, and they are now essential aspects to a successful social media campaign.

Take a page out of the Cleveland Indians’ social media playbook. Invest the time in expanding your company’s social media practices and be at the forefront of the social media movement in your industry.

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SEO case study: Bruening Glass Works

I’ve worked with many clients over the course of my career in Internet marketing, and the story of Bruening Glass Works is my favorite one to share.

Marc Konys of Bruening Glass
repairing a crystal piece

Using SEO and WordPress strategies, Sixth City Marketing transformed Bruening Glass Works from a small business that primarily serviced Cleveland, Ohio into an international glass repair shop. In a horrible economy, the company experienced incredible growth due to our recommended strategies and tactics. Because of the Internet, people all across the world now know of and ship their broken pieces to Bruening Glass.

Initial situation

We started working with Marc Konys of Bruening Glass Works in the fall of 2008. At that time the economy, along with business inquiries, had crashed. Marc approached Sixth City Marketing seeking a solution to simply be able to maintain his website on his own. However, after having a discussion about his business, we knew that there was much more we could offer.

At the time, Bruening Glass had a very simple five-page website with information about the business along with a page that showed before and after repair shots. The website averaged about 200-300 visits per month and the business typically got only 6-8 jobs per year outside of Cleveland. Marc had primarily focused his marketing efforts around the city and his primary means of advertising was through the yellow pages or trade publications.

What we did

By researching search engine terms, we determined that there was significant demand for Bruening’s services internationally.. We proposed that Marc emphasize his ability to repair pieces that could be shipped to him. Marc was excited to “think bigger and broader” about what he could do. Here are some highlights of the things Sixth City Marketing did as a result of this new strategy:

• Focused on making Bruening Glass Works an international repair shop via the internet
• Reviewed website and did search engine optimization research.
• Redesigned site using WordPress
• Overall design strategy was to keep site simple but also have a call-to-action
• Presented Marc with SEO strategy
• Provided training on SEO and WordPress
• Implemented Google Analytics goals
• Started blog about repair projects
• Set up a sister website called WaterFordCrystalRepair.com (#2 targeted keyword)
• Created a YouTube video to demonstrate Marc’s capabilities and personality

Results

• 1,528% increase in traffic (283 in October 2008 to 4,601 in Jan 2012)
• 8-16 leads from the Internet per day outside of the Cleveland area
• 90% of Internet leads turn into business
• Ranks #1 for Crystal Repair, his number-one targeted term
• Ranks #1 for Waterford Crystal Repair via WaterFordCrystalRepair.com (512 visits to that site in Jan 2012)
• Crystal repair is now the main focus of the business
• Gets business from all over the globe
• Now internationally known and recommended for crystal repair
• The YouTube video has been viewed more than 7,000 times and is often the reason why customers contact Marc

The results of the campaign (just over three years in place) have been incredible. Marc’s traffic and business have increased at least 33% every year as he posts about new and exciting repair projects.

If you would like to see how Sixth City Marketing can help your business through search engine optimization, WordPress or other online marketing strategies, contact us today!

We are happy to announce our latest website launch for Doida Law, LLC based out of Denver, Colorado. Stan Doida wanted a simple and clean website for his brand new law practice. Stan is now able to edit and update his website anytime that he wants.

Click here to see the site.