Outsourcing SEO: More Service for Your Buck

It is not a question anymore of “Do I need SEO?” Most companies have seen their competitors gain leads, more customers, more sales, etc. from SEO services. The present question companies are asking themselves, is “Should I outsource SEO?” This article outlines the benefits of outsourcing SEO services, as opposed to hiring an SEO Specialist in-house. You would be amazed as to how many benefits there truly are to outsourcing SEO. Of this long list of benefits, we are going to focus on the single benefit of getting more service for your buck. Let’s explore:One must first think of the specialization they will get from either aspect – either outsourcing SEO or hiring in-house. The ultimate goal is to always get the most product for your buck; and in this case, the most SEO service for your money invested.When a company hires an outsourced SEO consultant, they are actually getting a team of SEO consultants in most cases. There are individuals on that team that focus on keyword research, monthly reporting, valuable content, back linking to your website, etc. There are also SEO Specialists on the team that bring it all together, analyzing the search engine algorithms and creating a plan just for you and your niche. So when you outsource SEO to a consultant, you are actually hiring a team of experts!When hiring in-house for your SEO needs, you get the overall expertise of one individual. Now, that individual may have a fantastic SEO background, and many bountiful years of experience; but without the rest of a team, they are a slow moving operation. Results that you may expect to see in a matter of months, by outsourcing SEO, you may see, MAYBE, by the end of the year. So your wisely invested money has now taken over double the time to return results.Additional costs are another angle in which to consider when questioning whether to outsource SEO, or to hire in-house. When a company outsources an SEO consultant, SEO Company or SEO specialist, there are several additional costs that are washed away. When outsourcing SEO, one does not have to pay for employee benefits, paid sick days, vacation time, etc. They also do not need to worry about another employee taking up space, a desk, a computer, office supplies, etc. All of these costs can add up over time, and after considering their overall cost, your company will pay almost double to have somebody working in-house on your search engine optimization.Hiring and firing costs are often times one of a company’s highest expenses. If an in-house SEO specialist doesn’t work out after a few weeks, what do you do? Do you fire them, and invest even more money in advertising, interviewing, etc? Most SEO outsource companies have short contracts; some of which can be only thirty days notice before cancellation. So, if you don’t mesh well within a few weeks with your outsourced SEO company, you can try another one. No need to clean out a desk, pay unemployment costs and waste your company’s valuable time and energy.Outsourcing SEO is definitely the way to go when contemplating return on investment, and overall service for your buck. In gaining a team of SEO specialists, for less than half the price of one single in-house SEO specialist, what more is there really to think through?

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How to Increase Link Popularity of Your Website

There are many ways to increase link popularity. But to rank well in search engines, you need quality inbound links to your site. Quality inbound links are those links that are coming from authority resources and highly relevant to your Website. Getting inbound links is very easy. But, getting quality inbound links is difficult. So, before you build your linking strategy, remember that links are like votes given by someone. And if this vote is honest, you will get higher ranking in search engines. So, first create your Website more valuable to visitors, search engines will give more value to your site increasing its ranking.There are no “best practices” to link popularity. But, there is credibility and labor. Create your Website keeping visitors in mind and not search engines. Once you build your Website for your visitors, you may employ following ways to increase link popularity.Submit your site to popular internet directories, submit articles to articles directories. Find blogs, forums on your topic and post comments there. Remember that you do not have to just advertise your site there but you need to provide some valuable information and only then visitors on that blog / forum will visit your site to find more about topic. Send emails to Webmasters to link back to your site and if you have really great content, they are more likely to accept your request. Find link popularity of your competitors which are in Top 10 results of Google and employ the same techniques to get higher ranking. There are many free link building tools available on the internet that will help you increase link popularity of your site.Conclusion:Remember that links are the votes given by other Websites. Links reflect value of your Website on internet. So, first try to optimize your Website with quality content and then plan link building strategy accordingly.

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Technology Transfer Case Study – Pathfinders for Independent Living, Inc.

Pathfinders for Independent Living, Inc., a nonprofit organization, was founded after the passing of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA.) Pathfinders provides information and assistance to elderly and disabled individuals and their caregivers on how to live as independently as possible. Its core value is to Promote Self-Reliance. The culture within Pathfinders is one of friendly support. Pathfinders’ IT leadership proposed a project to design and build a network infrastructure that would provide security for sensitive data, data storage, Internet access, email access, updated applications and hardware, and user training. Changing the environment would affect the organizational structure and culture of Pathfinders. This paper discusses the organizational changes that occurred due a change in technology.Technology TransferTechnology transfer describes activities that have the aim of establishing measurable process improvement through the adoption of new practices. Assistive technology reduces the gap experienced by disabled and elderly individuals in accomplishing daily activities. Some of these technologies are text telephones, Braille computer monitors, infrared pointing devices, artificial limbs, and assistive software. Introducing and encouraging the use of these technologies and many others to Pathfinders’ consumers, is a responsibility of the independent living specialists.The independent living specialists assist the consumers in identifying the assistive technologies needed, applying for funding to purchase the technologies, and educating the public on the various technologies available. However to provide its services to its consumers, Pathfinders had to adapt to current information technologies.A Strategy for Technology TransferRecognizing the relationship between technology transfer and process improvement is fundamental to Pathfinders’ approach to change. Technology cannot be changed without some impact on the process or personnel that use the technology, be it an increase in productivity, a reduction in cost, or a fundamental change in method. A number of key issues had to be addressed for the technology to be successfully transferred. These are divided into several categories; technology issues, process changes, and changes in culture.Technology IssuesPathfinders would join the Information Age by installing, new computers, file servers, network printers, a local area network (LAN), and Internet access. The installation process required preparing the PCs before delivering them to Pathfinders, then a visit to the office site to build the network and deploy the equipment. The PCs were standardized on Microsoft applications. Following the installation of the network, etc., training on the use of the software was provided. With the installation of the infrastructure complete, each independent living specialist and the executive director had a personal computer, email, and Internet access.Designing and building a training center provided the opportunity for anyone to come in and learn more about computers and office application software. Pathfinders provided some basic training courses. Additionally, computer books were available for use with the computers to learn how to use the programs. Access to the Internet was provided. Funding was allocated through federal funds to support the changes in technology.Process ChangesBefore the technology changes, there were only two stand-alone PCs available for use by the staff, these PCs were very old, running DOS applications. Employees were forced to share the PCs or use typewriters to complete correspondence. Data was maintained on floppy disks and hardcopy. Access to the Internet for research was accomplished by going to the local library, which consumed valuable resources of time and personnel. Deploying the new infrastructure significantly changed the way the employees worked. The changes in infrastructure gave real-time access to the Internet, consumer data, and improved data security.Changes in CulturePrior to the deployment of technology, the employees were equal in their knowledge of using the available tools at Pathfinders. With the delivery of their network, a fundamental change occurred within the employee dynamics. An atmosphere of resentment developed due to an imbalance of knowledge and workload. Some of the employees went out of their way to grasp the advancement in technology thereby, improving themselves and their work processes. They pursued the educational opportunities offered to them by Pathfinders and enhanced their knowledge of computer applications. Productivity for these individuals increased, causing an increase in satisfaction by Pathfinders’ consumers.Conversely, there was a minority of employees, who took a stance in not excepting these changes. These individuals spent much of their time complaining that they could not do the work using the tools provided, or repeatedly requested help from the employees that understood the technology. Defense mechanisms were employed to justify their reactions to the new technology. These employees viewed the technology change as a threat and wanted nothing to do with improving their computing skills or their work environment. However, as training and practice in using the improvements to the technology progressed, acceptance began to increase and resistance began to decrease. Change is difficult in all organizations but to stay in business Pathfinders was forced to change with the times.Pathfinders operations depend heavily on federal grant money. Each year Pathfinders must forecast how that money will be spent and report that the goals of the previous year have been met. The Federal reporting system began as a hardcopy report that evolved to an online reporting system. Without the changes in technology, Pathfinders would find it difficult to apply for Federal grant money or report its disbursement.ConclusionCareful consideration was employed to determine if a change in IT infrastructure was warranted within the Pathfinders organization. Potential obstacles were identified and anticipated. One of those obstacles was the affect that a change in technology would have on the organizational culture of Pathfinders verses the improvement in customer service. Pathfinders identified that resistance to change and fear played a role in the effectiveness of the change. Additionally, Pathfinders identified that as the staff moved along the learning curve, acceptance of the technology increased and fear of the technology decreased.

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