Content Takes Priority Over Everything Else!

Why Content Is So Important For SEO Now?

Are you about to lose your traffic to Google’s Panda update?

Can your business handle a 50% drop in organic visits from Google? That’s what might be coming your way courtesy of Google’s Panda algorithm update.

Luckily, if you got your SEO (search engine optimization) or SEM (search engine marketing) from Tag Grafx, we didn’t take risks and shortcuts like some of our competitors.  We foresaw that Google was going to crack down on these methods and that day has come.  So hopefully you didn’t waste your time on short term results the easy way, because your about to get hit hard and your going to have to spend even more time now just to get back to square one.

What was happening before were 2 things:

1-    Fake Jump Pages, people where using any random content like jabber/fake text and filling it with tons of keywords so they would rank high on Google.  When you clicked the site link, you would automatically be re-directed to their actual site that may or may not be related to what you were really searching for.  You would never even see this page with the fake text and, unless you looked very closely, you would never even know what happened.

Example: Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet Chicago Graphic Design, consectetur adipiscing elits ut auctor et Chicago Web Design, feugiat sed nisl. Nunc laoreet aliquet sapien, fermentum interdum sapien ultrices ut. Etiam molestie orci ac mi mollis in posuere mauris elementum. Graphic and Web Designer Chicago magna. Sed vestibulum, nisl quis volutpat sollicitudin, neque nulla lobortis nibh, nec sollicitudin velit Website Design and SEO Chicago Donec augue nisi, posuere in posuere et, pea.  Dodales iaculis vitae, Chicago Ecommerce Site Design.

2-    Article Marketing, it’s when you use outside sources to drive traffic directly to your site through short articles.  These article would usually contain keywords and phrases that are currently on your website, but posted on someone else’s directory site. Some people would trick visitors to click on the ad thinking they’re going to find what they are searching for, but end up somewhere completely different.  Others down falls would be that your article would be mixed in with thousands of unrelated topics making it hard to find specific things.

These were good ways to build up your inbound links in the past, but now might dither away.  Google has been competing with upcoming competitor search engines like Bing, as well as, social networks like Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube.  They want their territory back and they believe quality content searches are the key.  These SEO & SEM methods will still be used, but will have more barriers.  If Google finds out your using fake jump pages, they will band your web domain until the problem is fixed.  For article marketing, brands will be given first priority and you will have to get ahead of them by displaying superior content and site structure.

Now, do to the Google Panda update, you will find yourself getting penalized for not using well written content on your website that relates to your meta tags (title, description, keywords).  Quality content will be the biggest change and the internet search world will be a better place from it, because you will be able to find what your looking for quicker.  No matter what you do or how much your budget is, be the power on your niche and aim for long-term results, not short-term.  Make your site domain the primary content target, not your Facebook profile or YouTube channel.  Those networks are there to bring traffic to your website, not for your site to bring traffic to them.

Google is constantly changing along with our fast paced world, we need to keep up with it and foresee future problems or become a thing of the past.  Diversify and never commit to just one method of marketing.

Now, how do you diversify and what other methods of marketing are out there to stay ahead of the game?  Contact Tag Grafx TODAY to find out, we have marketing ideas for all your niches and budgets!

Hello Chicago Tag Grafx Web Design World?

Here at Tag Grafx, we have designed all kinds of websites for small businesses throughout Chicago IL and the Chicagoland suburbs. We have designed Ecommerce sites, CMS (content management system) websites, Flash animated websites, HTML and CSS web sites.

Our family owned Chicago Graphic and Web Design team can create Flash animated web sites, but would NOT recommend an entire site be done with one big SWF movie. I have 4 major reasons why:

One, Google and other search engines don’t have much content to crawl through so it will make it extremely difficult to get ranked/picked up. This means your visitor traffic will be very low, especially if you don’t already have a strong following. The more competitive your market, the more SEM (search engine marketing) you’ll need. Also, the more pricey your SEO (search engine optimization) will be, because you are not naturally getting picked up by web crawlers like you would with a HTML or CMS site.

Two, if your targeted audience doesn’t keep updated with the latest software down loads, your entire web site will come up blank/not viewable. This means if your viewers missed even one updated version of a SWF reader, they can’t view your web site and will probably hit the back button and choose another site from the search engine list. Especially now a days with smart phone technology, I know I personally don’t have a Flash 9 player on my phone so they would loose me as a potential client/customer.

Three, if you update your web site on a daily or weekly basis, it will get pretty costly to constantly maintain your site. Also, if you need to change elements of your website it can become pretty difficult for the web designer and expensive for the business owner.

The fourth reason why, depending on the file size your load time will take a hit and that’s just another way to lose future business. After about 3-5 seconds of waiting for a site to load, most people would rather try another website out than wait. Chicago audience specifically, 3-5 seconds in this fast paced society, is very valuable. It doesn’t matter if you have the best designed website out there, if your audience can’t view your site and see it fast, you’ve lost them and most times forever.

Good web design is very important to the success of your Chicago Company and keeping your targeted audience coming back for more. Great web designers are very important for the future maintenance and vision of your business’s web site. Our Tag Grafx Chicago based Graphic and Web Design Company have designed all kinds of successful websites for all different industries. We have constructed sites from conception to finished product to SEO and SEM. Doesn’t matter if you’re in the dental industry or a lawyer, running a day care or a construction company, selling desserts or custom gifts, we do it all and in your best interest.

An Expert Design And Brand Strategist Predicts What Will Affect Creative Pros In The Next 10 Yrs

By Ruth Hagopian from PaperSpecs.com.

Let’s say you’re at a clothing store. You’ve finally found a pair of jeans to replace your favorite old pair — not too dark and not too tight. But before you put it in your cart, you scan the tag with your iPhone, and it connects you to a virtual world in 3D.

Like shopping with the best sales staff answering your every question, this tag activates a video presenting the product’s different styles, sizes, laundry care and carbon footprint, all animated in a clever and entertaining way.

The Future Is Here:
It’s called Augmented Reality and Alfredo Muccino predicts it will soon influence the way we shop and buy. Muccino is chief creative officer at Liquid Agency, and his expertise as a design and brand strategist makes him the go-to guy for predicting future design trends.

Muccino recently spoke in San Francisco at the annual Visual Media Alliance conference formerly known as PINC — the Printing Industries of Northern California. He explained that one problem with predictions is that today’s newest trends didn’t even exist 10 years ago.

As a designer who grew up producing brochures, logos and publications, Muccino says the new social media, such as Facebook, YouTube, Kindle, Wii and Twitter have totally changed the way he works. “If I didn’t figure out a way to adapt, I wouldn’t be around,” he said.

When he meets with a new client, they always want the latest and greatest thing and ask, “What are we going to do that’s going to break through the noise, connect with people and leverage technology?” Here are five design trends Muccino has named to lead us into the next decade:

Technoaddiction:
The Technoaddict has the compulsive need to use the latest technology in order to connect with people who consume information in constantly more digital ways.

Augmented Reality (AR) is the newest technology being used commercially, which allows a more interesting connection between the print and the digital worlds. Like the tag on those jeans, Adidas has an AR campaign using a printed tag embedded in the tongue of its shoe. When scanned, it shows an explosion of Adidas’ footwear styles.

There’s no Website. The tag is read through the iPhone or webcam connected to the computer, and it takes you right to that particular experience. “From a designer’s perspective,” Muccino said, “it’s an opportunity to play with a combination of design issues, motion graphic issues, spatial design issues, interaction and set design.”

You can mail it to yourself, mail it to a friend or launch a video without having to have the tech or equipment there. AR is here, but we don’t yet know the many ways it will grow or shape our experience.

Authenticraving:
Authenticraving is an allergic reaction to the creation of design using digital tools and techniques. A desire to celebrate tangibles opposed to virtual artifacts.

The result of too much tech is an entirely new generation of people much more interested in doing things by hand. “From a social perspective, it’s a craving for authenticity — something that has meaning, that’s real, is built and exists,” he said. And it takes time.

“I’ve been watching a [TV] show called ‘Mad Men’ and I find it hilarious,” he said. The show is based on the world of 1960s Madison Avenue with its four-martini lunch. “Then [the ad men] go to the briefing, shake hands and say, ‘Great, we’ll have a presentation for you in three months.’ In three months, my client will be out of business!”

One anti-tech example from the New York design firm WSDIA (We Should Do It All) shows how they built sets and created handmade sculptural lettering just for a promotional ad. “Photoshop can do a million things, and in the process, there’s been a degradation of the craft of what we do as designers,” Muccino said. Authenticraving recognizes the need to take time and actually think things that are more tangible.

E-motionitists:
This is the tendency to think that static imagery is less engaging than video motion graphics. The generation that was raised on TV and sat passively in front of the tube wants to be the next Spielberg.

Now our camera is turned on ourselves. People want to become the stars of their own lives, and they’re using motion graphics and video as a means to do that.

“I’ve done a gazillion logos in my life,” Muccino said. “Today, it’s got to be much smaller than it used to be. [The logo] is going to be living online and it’s got to be animated. And the same thing goes with presentations every time we launch a brand.”

Instead of creating a traditional training manual or data sheet for a tech company, Liquid Agency designed a storyboard for a video set up like a celebrity interview. It imparted the same information, but was more engaging and was produced by company employees.

The idea is to move things. “By training ourselves to think about e-motion to move things physically, then we move the viewer emotionally,” Muccino said.

Individual Expressionism:
The era of mass production is giving away to the future of one-of-a-kind. Everyone wants to be a designer and have custom-made objects that fit their individual tastes (or lack of).

Major brands, such as Nike, Adidas and Levis have all created clothing options that allow consumers to choose the cut, style and fit of a product that’s custom made for them. “It’s frightening to some people in the design business to think that everybody’s going to be a designer. But we need to embrace that and figure out how to make it possible,” he said.

More and more designers will see platforms that allow recipients of consumer products, Web sites and marketing materials to participate in the way they’re manufactured and delivered.

EcoCentricity:
Muccino’s last trend is a compulsion towards anything that makes one look like they care about natural resources. This condition used to be associated with kraft paper and is now exemplified by the overuse of the color green.

Companies are embracing the idea of environmentalism in a big way, but Muccino asks, “Where’s the differentiation? It’s definitely a part of our culture and something we need to address as designers, but there must be ways to do this other than just making something green.”

Pepsi is doing something different. With money originally intended for commercials broadcast during the Super Bowl, they invited people to submit ideas about helping society and gave them the money to invest in those communities.

Muccino challenges designers to communicate eco awareness in a way that is more compelling and more real whether it’s print, social media or motion graphics. A new world of possibilities is beyond our current expectations and, as the software developer Alan Kay said, “The best way to predict the future is to invent it.”

Will Search Become a Public Utility?

By Abby Johnson | Staff Writer at WebProNews

When you think of public utilities, you think of things such as water, electricity, and telecommunications, right?

Well, what if search were added to that list? How would you feel about that?

It’s an interesting thought and one that, according to Kevin Ryan of Motivity Marketing, is not too far out in left field. He did not mince words when he told WebProNews, “Search is going to be seen as a public utility.”

If you look at various definitions of the term “public utility,” you can see that they often explain it as a monopoly on the services it provides. Since Google is clearly the leader in search, with comScore’s most recent report showing that the search company occupies 63.7 percent of the market, is it a monopoly?

Although many rumors have indicated as much, no one has ever challenged the idea until last week. The New York Times reports that France did, in fact, call the search giant a monopoly in regards to advertising in online searches.

Not only is Google a leader in search and advertising, but it is also quickly gaining ground in the mobile industry. It has and is continuing to receive its fair share of antitrust concerns from both the U.S. and abroad in all these areas.

Incidentally, Ryan also points out in the above video that Google obtained a license to buy and sell electricity earlier this year.

Based upon this information, the idea of search as a public utility doesn’t really seem too far off after all.

“It’s going to get really, really interesting really fast,” said Ryan.

How do you see this playing out?

Print Design in Chicago, Working Hard or Hardly Working?

Say you are out with some of your friends, in downtown Chicago, at a social event and you meet some great people.  You start with small talk like where are you from and what do you do for a living, which in tail, leads to an in depth conversation about your career and how it can totally help out your new friend, as well as yourself/company.

Good job, you just got your foot in the door with some good networking.  People will generally always go with a familiar face before some blank face in a suit.

But now what do you do?  I will tell you what entrepreneurs and business people have been doing for decades.  You give them your well-designed business card (thanks to your talented Chicago Print Designer) containing your logo and your contact information.  You do this, because you know you will push your new friend away by trying to sell him on the spot and ruin both of your days by talking business.  Not to mention, everyone else will be hiding from you for now on, because they do not want to be bothered in their leisure time with more pushy sales.

Logo design is a key component to your corporate identity, business cards are a great way to show off your company and to get people in touch with you, and printing them in bulk is a fairly inexpensive way to market and network yourself or company.

This is just one example of how print design will still go a long way in Chicago.  A few more examples include, but are not limited to:

Pamphlet and Brochure Design, can get lots of information out quickly and neatly to specific audiences throughout the fast past Chicago area.

Chicago Menu and Catalog Design, whether in house or to goes, list your products for sale while highlighting your specialties or special offers.

All in all, Chicago Print Design is alive and kicking, because you actually are giving a hard copy of some sort to the person and cutting out the searching event.  You have the option of handing out your print materials, mailing your printed documents, or putting your prints in a stack for the taking.

Why You Need A Professionally Designed Website?

Most business revenue is derived from online transactions or from offline transactions that are the result of online marketing efforts. Examples of these efforts are websites, web ads, email blasts, etc.

There are over 29 million customers/clients online. If you can imagine it, someone will figure out how to sell or market it online.

Your products or services may lend itself to EASY online sales.

Consumers now search for information online prior to making a purchase at a brick-and-mortar store.

Customers/clients, potential employees, business partners and investors can find out about your business and the products or services you have to offer 24/7, 365 days a year.

A professional website may be the first impression on a potential buyer. A poorly designed web site will drive customers/clients away.

Level the playing field. Compete with the big boys, a well-designed site, projects the image and professionalism of a much larger company.

Size does not matter. Whether you are a one-man show or a corporate giant; if you do not have a website, you are losing business to competitors that do.

Many websites are badly designed, hard to navigate, completely lack professionalism and credibility. Bad sites drive customers/clients away.