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	<title>The Marion Group - Houston Interactive Agency &#187; seo</title>
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	<link>http://marion.com/blog</link>
	<description>The Marion Group - Interactive Marketing</description>
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		<title>First You Strategize</title>
		<link>http://marion.com/blog/index.php/2011/06/17/first-you-strategize/</link>
		<comments>http://marion.com/blog/index.php/2011/06/17/first-you-strategize/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 17 Jun 2011 22:01:22 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Sheryl Sargent</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Brand Building]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Internet Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mobile Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Search Engine Optimization]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Social Media Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Social Networking]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Web Design]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Brand Building Services]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[brand strategy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Business Strategy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Custom Web Design]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Internet Marketing Houston]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Marketing Strategy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sales Strategy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[seo]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://marion.com/blog/?p=1763</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Everything you do for your business should have an end-goal in mind. For most of us for-profit companies, that goal is to make money.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img class="alignleft" src="http://blog.selinks.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/SEO-strategy2.jpg" alt="" width="308" height="219" />Everything you do for your business should have an end-goal in mind. For most of us for-profit companies, that goal is to make money. If you’re not seeing the $$$ you’d expect, then it’s time to revamp your strategy.  It’s kind of a “Duh” moment, yes. However, despite being an integral component to your business, strategy can be neglected when you’re trying to maintain sales, staff, accounting and cat naps at your desk to keep your business in operation, especially when it comes to the small details that can make a big difference.</p>
<p>Take a look at Marion’s quick and dirty bird’s eye view of what strategies you need to consider going forward.</p>
<p><strong>Business Strategy </strong></p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.marion.com/images/brand-building-process-marion.pdf" target="_blank">Branding Strategy </a>
<ul>
<li>Market Research
<ul>
<li>Customer Definition &amp; Understanding</li>
<li>Customer Benefits</li>
<li>Competitor Understanding</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Market Plan</li>
<li>Creating Brand Experience
<ul>
<li>Integrated Marketing Mix</li>
<li>Brand Identity</li>
<li>Company</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Goals</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Sales Strategy</li>
<li>Marketing Strategy
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.marion.com/houston-search-engine-optimization-seo.php">SEO</a>/ <a href="http://www.marion.com/houston-internet-marketing-services-web-site-marketing.php">Internet Marketing Strategy </a>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.marion.com/houston-graphic-design-advertising-outbound-marketing.php" target="_blank">Company Website </a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.marion.com/mobile-web-design.php">Mobile Website </a></li>
<li>Google</li>
<li>Bing/Yahoo</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><a href="http://www.marion.com/houston-social-media-marketing.php">Social Media Marketing Strategy </a>
<ul>
<li>Facebook</li>
<li>Twitter</li>
<li>LinkedIn</li>
<li>Blogging</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><a href="http://www.marion.com/public_relations_firm_houston.php">Public Relations Strategy </a></li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
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		<slash:comments>3</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>A Coastal Collaboration: Custom Web Design for Coastal Spray</title>
		<link>http://marion.com/blog/index.php/2010/12/15/custom-web-design-for-coastal-spray/</link>
		<comments>http://marion.com/blog/index.php/2010/12/15/custom-web-design-for-coastal-spray/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 15 Dec 2010 15:10:10 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Sheryl Sargent</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Logo Design]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Search Engine Optimization]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Traffic/ Conversion Generators]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Web Design]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Custom Web Design]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Graphic Design]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[seo]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Web Design Houston]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://marion.com/blog/?p=1442</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Marion developed a custom web designfor Coastal Spray, an industrial grounds maintenance company. The project included logo redesign, content development and search engine optimization.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://www.marion.com/"><img class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-1444" src="http://marion.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/coastalspray-website-300x272.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="272" /></a>As we thumbed through our November portfolio, we noticed a piece we felt warranted some spotlight.</p>
<p>Marion developed a <a href="http://www.marion.com/houston-web-design-site-designer.php" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">custom web design</span> </a>for Coastal Spray, an industrial grounds maintenance company. The project included <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="http://www.marion.com/houston-logo-design.php" target="_blank">logo redesign</a></span>, <a href="http://www.marion.com/writing_services_houston.php" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">content development</span> </a>and <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="http://www.marion.com/houston-search-engine-optimization-seo.php" target="_blank">search engine optimization</a></span>.</p>
<p>The most effective websites are those that strategically blend aesthetics, fluid language and technical components. Marion’s fully integrated services allow us to provide our clients with more than just attractive graphics, but  also the most relevant content and coding to produce traffic and &#8211; most importantly &#8211; conversions.</p>
<p><strong>About the Site </strong></p>
<p>Coastal Spray’s aquatic-inspired site features a background with various hues of blue and green. Both the content and graphics are well organized to facilitate a more user-friendly experience. Accordingly, the lack of “clutter” also allows ease of navigation.</p>
<p>You can visit the <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="http://www.coastalspray.com/" target="_blank">Coastal Spray website</a>,</span> or scroll through our <a href="http://www.marion.com/portfolio.php" target="_blank">portfolio</a> to view more of our past projects.</p>
<p>If you are interested in collaborating with Marion to update your existing site or design a brand new one, please <a href="http://www.marion.com/contact.php" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">contact us</span> </a>today.</p>
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		<item>
		<title>Why Your Site Doesn’t Show Up on Search Engines</title>
		<link>http://marion.com/blog/index.php/2010/12/06/why-your-site-does-not-show-up-on-search-engines/</link>
		<comments>http://marion.com/blog/index.php/2010/12/06/why-your-site-does-not-show-up-on-search-engines/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 06 Dec 2010 16:59:01 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Sheryl Sargent</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Internet Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Search Engine Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Search Engine Optimization]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Internet Marketing Houston]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[seo]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://marion.com/blog/?p=1416</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[There’s the SAT, ACT, R-E-S-P-E-C-T…take care of TCB, O! Sock it to me. Sock it to me. Sock it to me… (Ahem) While those standardized tests helped qualify you to become the business owner you are today, they didn’t teach you the “ins and outs” of search engine optimization. If you have a website, Marion, [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>There’s the SAT, ACT, R-E-S-P-E-C-T…take care of TCB, O! Sock it to me. Sock it to me. Sock it to me… (Ahem)</p>
<p>While those standardized tests helped qualify you to become the business owner you are today, they didn’t teach you the “ins and outs” of search engine optimization. If you have a website, Marion, in conjunction with our FREE <span style="text-decoration: underline"><a href="http://marion.com/seo-checker.php" target="_blank">SEO Check-up</a>,</span> can fill in the gaps. And it’s not timed, so no pressure.  </p>
<p><a href="http://marion.com/"><img class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-1420" src="http://marion.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/SEO-Checker-214x300.jpg" alt="" width="214" height="300" /></a>SEO Check-Up assesses how search engines “view” your web pages by checking back-end codes for the most essential elements search engine bots look for to determine organic ranking. The tool can help you fill in any holes in your optimized (or non-optimized) code.   </p>
<p>While you may have a great site aesthetically, users may never get a chance to experience it because your organic ranking is low. If Google or any other search engine can’t find you, then the rest of the world can’t either. The likelihood of your site ranking the top 30 results (first three pages) increases when your pages include proper meta tags (which our SEO Check-Up looks for) along with appropriate keywords relevant to your site.</p>
<p>The <em>test</em> is simple. You’re only required to enter your email address and the URL to receive your results instantly. Short and sweet explanations of your score are available, but feel free to <a href="http://marion.com/contact.php" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration: underline">contact us</span> </a>for more in-depth information.</p>
<p>Your page is assessed on a scale of zero to ten. Keep in mind, whether you score high or low, there is always room for improvement. While a low score means that your page lacks the necessary coding to get you highly ranked, a high score does not mean you’re receiving the conversions you’d expect. Ask yourself if people are buying your product or services, or filling out an inquiry form, etc. If not, it just may be that your site is optimized for keywords that are irrelevant or not as targeted as they need to be. (e.g. You provide interior design services, but everyone visiting your site is interested DIY tips to decorating their home.) Marion can help you optimize your site to achieve the conversion goal that you desire.</p>
<p>If you wish to begin optimizing your site right now, check out our <span style="text-decoration: underline"><a href="http://marion.com/houston-search-engine-optimization-seo.php" target="_blank">SEO services</a></span> to start the process.</p>
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		<item>
		<title>Help Visitors &amp; Search Engines Discover Your Web Content by using Dynamic Site Maps</title>
		<link>http://marion.com/blog/index.php/2010/08/31/help-visitors-search-engines-discover-all-the-content-on-your-site/</link>
		<comments>http://marion.com/blog/index.php/2010/08/31/help-visitors-search-engines-discover-all-the-content-on-your-site/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 31 Aug 2010 19:57:22 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Sheryl Sargent</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Internet Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Search Engine Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Search Engine Optimization]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Site Map]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[seo]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sit map]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[user-friendly]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://marion.com/blog/?p=947</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[A site map helps both human visitors to your site and search engines bots (or crawlers) sent out by Google, Yahoo, Bing and all the others to index your site. There are three types of site maps. User-Friendly Site Map: Located on your website, it’s accessible to all human and bot visitors to make navigation [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>A site map helps both human visitors to your site and search engines bots (or crawlers) sent out by Google, Yahoo, Bing and all the others to index your site.</p>
<p>There are three types of site maps.</p>
<ol>
<li><strong>User-Friendly Site Map:</strong> Located on your website, it’s accessible to all human and bot visitors to make navigation simpler.</li>
<li><strong>Xml:</strong> This one is standardized specifically for search engines, making your website searchable to web crawlers from Bing, Yahoo, Google, etc. This site map can be submitted directly to search engines and. must be updated manually.</li>
<li><strong>The Marion Dynamic Site Map: </strong>Developed uniquely by Marion, this site map helps the SEO process, consequently impacting your ranking among search engines. It’s called <em>dynamic</em> because it updates automatically as you add or delete pages from your website. While xml site maps only provide search engines with the URL, the Dynamic Map contains URLs, clickable page titles with keywords in them, description tag text, and h-tag text. This allows SEO analyst to view all important SEO elements all at once.</li>
</ol>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">Additionally, you will be able to quickly identify SEO weaknesses for continuous improvement on your site.</p>
<p><strong> </strong>View our own <a title="Dynamic Sitemap" href="http://www.marion.com/dsitemap.php" target="_blank">Dynamic Sitemap</a> aiding us in search engine optimization.</p>
<p>To further optimize your website and increase your online traffic, view Marion’s <a title="SEO Services" href="http://www.marion.com/houston-search-engine-optimization-seo.php" target="_blank">SEO Services</a><a href="http://marion.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Site-Maps.jpg" target="_blank"><img class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-948" title="Site Maps" src="http://marion.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Site-Maps-300x273.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="273" /></a>.</p>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>How a New Website Design can Promote Dealer Sales and Service</title>
		<link>http://marion.com/blog/index.php/2010/03/15/kobelco-cranes-north-america-new-website/</link>
		<comments>http://marion.com/blog/index.php/2010/03/15/kobelco-cranes-north-america-new-website/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 15 Mar 2010 14:35:33 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Web Design]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[b2b]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Search Engine Optimization]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[seo]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Web Design Houston]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://marion.com/blog/?p=594</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Marion recently completed the design, search engine optimization and programming for Kobelco Cranes North America, Inc.’s new website at kobelcocranesnorthamerica.com]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a title="Use Marion for custom business web design" href="http://www.kobelcocranesnorthamerica.com/Xdefault.asp" target="_blank"><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-597" title="Kobelco Cranes North America Website" src="http://marion.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/Kobelco-Cranes-North-America.bmp" alt="Kobelco Cranes North America Website" width="400" height="225" /></a>Marion recently completed the design, <a title="Houston Search Engine Optimization" href="http://marion.com/houston-search-engine-optimization-seo.php" target="_blank">search engine optimization</a> and programming for Kobelco Cranes North America, Inc.’s new website at <a title="Kobelco Website Design" href="http://kobelcocranesnorthamerica.com" target="_blank">kobelcocranesnorthamerica.com</a>, which was presented at the AED show this past January.</p>
<p>Kobelco specializes in selling Lattice-Boom Crawler Cranes; however, all sales are handled by dealers. The goal of the new website was to improve the way dealer information was presented and drive traffic to the dealers. Since dealers are determined by counties, Marion developed an interactive county-based map that allows users to click on the appropriate county and review contact information for that dealer. The dealer locator application is intuitive and simple to use.</p>
<p>Additionally, Marion repositioned the homepage message to reflect Kobelco’s main differentiator, a lower cost of ownership. The site was also flattened to allow an easier understanding of the benefits Kobelco has to offer. The crane models and images can be viewed directly from the homepage with a quick guide of the product differentiators. Users can easily click to crane product pages and find complete, detailed information about each lattice-boom crawler crane’s features and transportation plans.</p>
<p>The site has become a valuable resource for customers and dealers, especially with the addition of crane training videos.</p>
<p>Since the site has been so successful for the U.S market, Kobelco wanted to make it available as a resource to the Latin American market. Marion just launched the Spanish and Portuguese versions of their site at kobelcocranesnorthamerica.com.</p>
<p>Future updates include adding a Ground Bearing Pressure Calculator, which will help determine safety requirements for crane placement.</p>
<p>From the Kobelco North America team:</p>
<p>“Thank you and congrats guys!  The new website is incredible.  We have had several calls coming from dealers this morning about the site and it is rave reviews!  Also our service guys have already been sending people in the field to the videos section of the site and they were happy to get on and look at specific information they needed.  That was quick.  We&#8217;ve made them happy. Very impressed.  You guys made us look good!!</p>
<p>I want to thank you for all the hard work that has been put into this; seeing the end result, it has been well worth it!</p>
<p>I know we still have some pieces to work on, and a few big ones for the future, but it has been a real joy working with all of you and I look forward to continuing……</p>
<p>Thanks again for everything!”</p>
<p>To view this website, go to <a href="http://www.kobelcocranesnorthamerica.com/Xdefault.asp">http://www.kobelcocranesnorthamerica.com/Xdefault.asp</a></p>
<p>More web designs by Marion can be viewed at <a title="Marion Group Web Design Portfolio" href="http://marion.com/portfolio.php" target="_blank">marion.com/portfolio.php.</a></p>
<p><strong>For your own  <a title="Houston Custom Web Design" href="http://www.marion.com/houston-web-design-site-designer.php" target="_blank">custom web design</a>, contact <a title="Houston Advetising Agency, Marketing &amp; Graphic Design Firm" href="http://www.marion.com/" target="_blank">The Marion Group </a>at 713.623.6444 or email us at <a title="Contact Houston Advertising Agency, Marketing &amp; Graphic Design Firm" href="mailto:info2@marion.com" target="_blank">info2@marion.com</a>. </strong></p>
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