What is SEO?

SEO stands for search engine optimization, which is the science behind making websites rank higher on the main search engines for certain keywords.  The goal of SEO is to attract more highly-targeted traffic to a given website in order to increase sales and overall revenue.

How long does it take to rank?

This is an extremely difficult question to answer, mainly because every industry and niche is different.  The competitiveness of a given industry is going to play a huge role in how quickly we can get you ranking, as well as the age and quality of your own website.  At Northbound Digital, we have found that it usually takes 3-4 months for rankings to dramatically improve, but again, this can vary quite a bit.

My business is very small (under 10 employees). Can you still help me out?

Definitely! In fact, we feel that search engine marketing is the only way for a small business to really stand out nowadays. Radio and print ads have just gotten too expensive for the little guy.

We have multiple solutions for small businesses, from simple packages all the way up to the whole nine yards. Local SEO is extremely exciting to Northbound Digital. We love helping small businesses succeed. Improving your business’ bottom line is a win for us.

The methods we use mean your business is getting more revenue not only today, but years from now. You don’t see that with print ads now, do you?

Do you really not require contracts at Northbound Digital?

Yes, we absolutely do not use contracts.

We know that if we aren’t getting your company results, you won’t stay with us. So, we are certain that the only way to keep you as our client is by delivering what we promise, and that is better search engine rankings and increased traffic to your website.

You are free to leave at any time, no questions asked.

What kind of reports do we get?

We provide all clients with either weekly or monthly (you choose!) ranking and traffic reports so that you can easily evaluate the growth in traffic and ranking for your business website over that time-frame.  We also provide you with competitive reports on your closest competitors so that you can keep a close eye on them as well.

My business is located outside of Illinois, can Northbound Digital still provide SEO services for us?

Definitely.  Our methods are not unique to one location, they will work for any business anywhere in the world! Whether you are looking for SEO work in Chicago or Bora Bora, Northbound Digital can help you achieve your search marketing goals.

How do I request a free SEO quote for my business?

There a couple ways to do this.

1) In the right sidebar, fill out your name, email, website, and phone number.  We will then get back to you as soon as possible with your free SEO quote.

2) Send an email to brian(at)northbounddigital(dot)com.  Provide your website information and name and we will get back to you shortly.

Do I need a blog on my website in order to rank well?

While blogs can definitely help rank for certain keywords, you absolutely do not need to have a blog to rank for search terms.

Blogs do have many advantages, however; they make it incredibly easy to add fresh, unique content to your site. Search engines seem to like websites that are updated frequently. At Northbound Digital, we often, but not always, recommend blogging as a way of reaching potential customers.I read that Northbound Digital uses web analytics to track visitor behavior. Can you explain more about this?

Sure. Web analytics programs like Google Analytics tell us so much valuable information about visitor behavior. It helps keep track of how many visitors are coming to a website and how long they are staying. It lets us know whether the visitor came directly to our site or if they came from a certain search engine (and what keyword they used to find the site).

In short, analytics tracking is one of the most important components of an SEO campaign. It tells us important data that lets us know where to focus our resources. To learn more about analytics tracking at Northbound Digital, check out this page.

If you don’t already have an analytics package for your website, we can walk you through how to set one up or even do it for you.

I heard that Google hates SEO. Is this true?!

No, this is definitely not true. Google hates SEO’s who try to game the system. I’m talking about the ones who engage in comment spam, forum spam, massive blogrolls, and similar “blackhat” tactics.

At Northbound Digital, we get the search engines working for you. We create evergreen content for your website that will hopefully build natural links for years to come. We also identify high-quality guest posting opportunities on sites related to your industry. Simply put, we do not condone trying to cheat the system for quick gains; a long-term view playing by the rules will yield the best results.