Information Technology Professionals Opens Its Doors in Madison

Down Economy does not Effect Local IT Company in Growth Mode

March 1, 2010: Founded in 2003, Information Technology Professionals expands again, growing 40% over the past year. Paul Hager, the CEO and 2009 In Business Top 40 under 40 manages and supports the growing list of Madison clients using ITP’s services. Within 12 months Information Technology Professionals has grown within the Madison area and now moved to a new, larger office. Information Technology Professionals is a full service IT Company providing IT Support, networking, line of business applications, software development, web development and web marketing. ITP is known for its delivery of service first, returning honesty and integrity in its process of managing both simple and complex IT services. ITP attributes its growth to strong customer support of its 2 pillar product lines:

• Managed Services – All IT costs are made into a flat rate, networks are monitored 24 x 7 and help desk is available on a 24 x 7 basis as well. On site dispatch of senior network engineers is provided to reduce downtime while simultaneously reducing the risk of unexpected IT costs. With monitoring, antivirus, spam protection, online backup and support services included in one price, companies are able to get more out of their existing technology at a consistent, predictable, and affordable price.

• Online Marketing – ITP stands as a leader in custom web marketing plans for small to large enterprises. ITP can deliver measurable results to businesses that enhance their bottom line with a comprehensive online marketing strategy delivered locally or nationally. With an emphasis on organic and social media marketing, ITP creates a platform that lasts for businesses online presence.

ITP is located just off the beltline at 2800 Royal Ave. Contact Paul Hager, 608-628-0104 for more information or for interview.

www.itprosusa.com | http://www.linkedin.com/in/paulhagerwebmarketingseo | http://twitter.com/itprosusa | blog.itprosusa.com ITP serves companies of all sizes in the state of Wisconsin and nationally.

http://blogs.adobe.com/acrolaw/2006/09/acrobat_8_new_f.html

1. It looks like a really neat device
2. I am excited by Apple’s choice to make a high powered device in the sub $500.
3. Takes multitouch to a new space
4. ereader + web

The not so positive:

1. iphone OS instead of full OS X
2. no multitasking
3. no flash support
4. no camera would have been a great start to video phones

Apple has knocked their laptops and iphone out of the park will the ipad live up to its brothers?  Time will tell.  The real question is, would you buy one?

Amazon kindle ereader for 250 or this for 500?

Netbook for 500 vs ipad for 500?

Domain Name – admittedly using a keyword or a combination of keywords in your domain name is not often an option, however, doing so on landing sites IS almost always an option.  More about this in a later post.  Suffice it to say for now that this can make a huge difference in how search engines rank your site.

Metatags – “Meta” information is simply user-defined data that is added to your site specifically for the search engines.  It is, for the most part, unseen by visitors to your site and should be crafted using keywords.  It’s important to mention, however, that not all search engines even use metatags in their ranking algorithms.  So it’s still valuable to include your keywords in your metatags, just know that certain search engines – Google especially – will ignore the data.

Site Title – This is the name that appears in top of your browser.  Often you’ll see website titles like “home” or “welcome” or some other name that lacks keywords.  Including a keyword or multiple keywords in your site title can make a big difference in your site rankings.

Anchor text of Links – For sake of simplicity, let’s divide the links on your website into 3 parts: the name of the link, the string of characters that says where the text goes, and the tool tip for the link (the anchor text).  The tool tip is text that shows up when you hover your mouse pointer over the link.   Make sure your anchor text includes your keywords

H1 & H2 Headers – These are the titles of your articles and or sub-articles.  Resist the urge to title the different articles on your site with catchy or nifty titles – unless they include your keywords.

Content – I talked about how keywords should be used in your content in a few of my previous posts, but for the most part using your keywords 2 to 3 times within the first 150 words is a good starting point.  Additionally, keeping your keyword usage within 2% to 5% of your total word count generally works out best.

Text HAITI to 90999 to donate 10$ to American Red Cross

• Google Search Based Keyword Tool (http://www.google.com/sktool/#) – This tool is free and provides some basic information about keywords that could be valuable to you.  It is at the very least insightful and, used correctly, can be invaluable.  Let’s take a look at how it works…  

You can type a domain name in the “domain name” field for suggestions specific to a domain name or you can simply type in some keywords to get “general” information as I did below.

What you’ll find is how often your keywords are used in searches along with some other similar search terms (below).  You’ll also find an estimated dollar amount next to each term.  These dollar amounts are the average prices other businesses are bidding on these terms in their pay-per-click/adwords campaign.  I’ll go more into Google Adwords, pay-per-click campaigns, and writing ads for Google and other search engines in future posts.  For now, however, you can see how this information can be invaluable in your efforts to find the best keywords for your business. 

• Another popular tool is Word Tracker (http://www.wordtracker.com/) which has a few more advanced tools to help you make decisions on your keywords. 

Ultimately, you need to have a good idea what keywords potential prospects are using to look for your products or services.  Once you have a good grasp of the keywords you want to target, you’ll be able to utilize them throughout your search engine optimization efforts.  Next time, we’ll talk about how to use the keywords you’ve targeted.

In the simplest terms, keywords are words that people will use when searching for your products or services.  For example, a business in the Chicago area looking for accounting services may type the following phrase into a search engine: “Best Chicago Accounting Firm.” Each word in the phrase, “Best Chicago Accounting Firm” is a keyword.  Now clearly, if you’re our hypothetical Chicago Accounting Firm you wouldn’t use any of those keywords by themselves because it wouldn’t make sense.  No one is going to do a search using only one of those terms – at least not anyone looking for an accounting firm in the Chicago area.   So we use terms “Long-tail keyword” or “Short-tail keyword” to describe the type of keyword “phrase” we’re talking about.  True to the description of each term, Long-tail keywords are longer search phrases and Short-tail keywords are shorter phrases.  Each type of keyword traditionally provides different benefits, results, and traffic, but I’ll post more about keywords and how they directly relate to search engine optimization in my next post.  Stay tuned.

• Keyword in your domain name – whether it’s your main site or a landing page having the proper keyword(s) in your domain name is critical.
• Age of domain – not much you can do about this, but it’s important to note that there’s value in the duration of time you’ve owned your domain name.
• Title of Web page – Pretty self explanatory here.
• H1 & H2 tags – Header tags, especially your H1 and H2 tags, should be properly worded and, ideally, specific to the keywords your targeting.
• Competition of the keywords – know your keywords and compete them intelligently.
• Keyword density – Articles you write, blog entries, pretty much all content can benefit from good keyword density.  In general, using a keyword 2 to 5 times in first 250 words of any content is a good rule to follow.
• Unique content – Content is king.  Nothing replaces quality, unique content.
• Frequency of updating – Search engines like change.  Keep it fresh and make them happy.
• Internal link structure – I’ll be posting more about the dynamics of website links in the future, but for now, ensure you have a logical link structure for your site.  And be careful not to create a link structure too deep.  No more than 3 layers deep if you can.

Next time, more about keywords – how to find them and what to do with them when you do.  Stay tuned.

• First beware of the “To” address – it will be incorrect and you most likely won’t recognize any of the domain name(s).
• Secondly, if it’s not from your local IT administrator, you should immediately be wary.  Because honestly, when is the last time you had an “administrator” send you anything valid that wasn’t as simple as “server reboot tomorrow” or “turn your system off tonight”?

3. Messages that play on our fears – these are emails that feed off of current events or high profile media events a good example would be the (H1N1 virus ) Swine flu, etc.  Don’t panic, just don’t click on it.
4. Cancellation of an account Emails - these may show up even if you don’t have an account with them!  These messages are usually chocked full of spelling/grammar errors and are often sent from another country.
5. Fake “Holiday Cards”- these cards are usually very generic, rather than saying that they are from a specific person’s name they say it is from “a friend”. Be careful, because when you open them, you could be putting your computer at risk without every being aware of it! To be on the safe side, only open Holiday Cards from friends, or better yet just don’t open them at all.
6. Notice of the “Mysterious” package message – these are e-mails saying that you have an UPS, FedEx or perhaps DHL package that was undeliverable due to incorrect/incomplete address information with an attached form that they need you to complete in order to get the package to you. Just as you may suspect, there really isn’t a package at all! They want you to open the attachment so they can infect your computer with a virus. Because some people may be aware of this kind of scam, they will try and infect your computer by sending you an email with a link to a Web page to open instead.
7. Government “Threat” Emails – these can be sent to you to notify you that either the FBI or Homeland Security has been notified of your alleged involvement in terrorist activities or money laundering. Just as you may suspect from a hoax like this… they have an offer for you to avoid prosecution, which could be a payment of a few hundreds made to the Economic Financial Crimes Commission Chairman. If it would be an official threat, they would contact you in person, without asking for a payoff to buy your way out.
8. Fake “Census Survey” email – here again they will use the Federal Government to get you to respond to their emails. The Federal government does require you by law to fill out a census survey every 10 years, and yes, they may send you an online request for your participation in a census surveys, but they don’t ask for your personal information unlike email scams.
9. Abuse of “Trust” in software and hardware manufacturers – these e-mails are basically fake security warnings with a “quick fix” attachment, dubbed to look like it was sent from Microsoft or another familiar company. These “quick fixes” are really malware to fake special offers to payment requests which require you to download and install a transaction inspector module if you want to decline to have payment charged to you credit card.
10. The “Fake” You-are-a-Winner E-mail – You just won a prize, how awesome is that?  Well, the only problem is you didn’t enter into any contest to win the prize. These e-mails want you to fill out a form to claim your prize, complete with your social security number so “the value of your prize can be reported to the IRS.” Remember to check out the legitimacy of any email notification. If you need to send any sensitive information, remember to email it encrypted if you don’t have an alternative method in which to submit it.

Keep in mind, if you’re unsure just don’t open it.  It’s just that simple.  Instead, call your helpdesk, administrator, or IT manager and let them figure out whether it’s valid or not.  Trust me, they’d rather you call them than open it.