I've noticed other companies/people are trading on the Mid-Atlantic SEO mark.  We are the original Mid-Atlantic SEO.  We've been in business (and using the mark nationally and publicly) since 2007; significantly before the "copy-cat" Mid-Atlantic SEOs. 

Please be aware this is the original Mid-Atlantic SEO and that other companies may want to take this as notice that we will begin protecting this mark as we continue to grow.  I'm sure you guys provide great SEO services too (we are ranked top 5% by elance.com) but please use a novel and original trademark.   


Best Regards,

Cliff Mark

New Phone Number for Mid-Atlantic SEO: 855-771-0430

We've set up a new phone system and with that a new number: 855-771-0430.

SEO Glossary

I'm finding that there is quite a bit of mystery, a blackbox effect, around SEO and Search Marketing and it's power to convey important messages to the right people.  The fact is most corporations do not have adequate SEO in-house resources and many lack the ability to evaluate Search Marketers.  Even the unique terminology presents hurdles.  I've presented a list below, and will try to keep it up-to date.


SEO: Search Engine Optimization can also be used to refer to a person (noun) Search Engine Optimizer

PPC: Pay Per Click, e.g. pay for each visit.

SEM: Search Engine Marketing, the combination of two distinct disciplines SEO and PPC.

Organic SEO: SEO that is driven through innovation and enthusiastic public reception.  Smart PR can drive Organic SEO.

Organic Results: Search results not including paid qualifiers or perhaps more specifically to some without location weight boost.

SEMM: Search Engine Market Management (what we provide) is an advanced form of SEM, where the goal is not specific traffic targets but revenue and ROI targets.  One service we offer actually projects ROI to a high-confidence interval in advanced of campaign execution.  Current & Former start-up CEOs, or those with strong marketing backgrounds, understanding of consumer behavior and optimization, intimate knowledge of business and technical SEO skill are required to execute such campaigns.  SEMM and Organic SEO are premium services but they will likely return more than inexpensive outsourced SEO.

KW: Keyword

Location Boost: Search results tailored to specific ip regions with a high degree of localization weight.

RFID: Radio Frequency Identification Chip, Search giant Google currently employs NFC capability in Android, and Apple is also planning support for RFIDs. The amount information that can be gathered about a user and their spending habits will increase a great deal for each company. I'm unsure of how it will apply now but RFIDs may have an impact on Contextual Ad-serving and organic search results.

Performance Marketing: A way to pay for marketing retroactively based on actions

SERPS or SERPs: Search Engine Results Position, or Search Engine Result Page

PR: PageRank as explained in the original patent application

Y: Yahoo not really important anymore as they utilize Bing Results

RFID Software: This is what actually powers the "magic" of RFIDs. RFID Software can refer to simplistic software on intelligent RFID Readers, RFID Operating Systems, RFID Middleware, and etc.

BL: backlink

TPR: Topical PageRank as described here: http://www2002.org/presentations/haveliwala-rp17.pdf

OBL: outbound link

Social Media RFID: This is a cutting edge RFID Application the practice of utilizing RFID technology to automate social media and consumer applications, e.g. automatically checking into a Chipotle or a ski slope and keeping track of your runs, etc.

IBL: inbound link


CPM: Cost per Mille (1000) impressions, a measurement of impression cost

QR Code: Think of a barcode that can be scanned and pre-populates contact information or launches actions on your phone, such as opening a web page. QR Codes overlap slightly with RFID's but RFIDs are much more powerful in terms of the information they can track and they don't require line of sight (LOS) to actuate.

CTR: Click Thru Rate

NFC: Near Field Communication - a type of RFID implementation with limited range.

ILQ: Inbound link quality

Trust Rank: This is an informal name for trust algorithms deployed by every major search engine.  Yahoo did file a patent under the describing a "Trust Rank" Technology (I'll search USPTO for it)

Topology: A description of linking to topical hubs.  Imagine the most important pages on subjects like mountains.

PPA: Pay Per Action, you pay each time a consumer signs up, buys something, or executes a specific transaction.  A fixed or proportional rate may be applied for compensation, e.g. $10 per signup or 10% of a sale.   Commission Junction and other companies work on this model. Similar to Performance Marketing, however Performance Marketing usually denotes a higher quality campaigns for larger companies utilizing advanced predictors to establish a predicted ROI from SEM activities. 

White Hat: SEO done by the letter of google webmaster code.  This is exactly how google wants you to promote, and nothing more.

Grey Hat: SEO that may not be what google likes but its not illegal and they can't penalize you for it.  Because other people could do it to competitors to destroy their rankings.

Black Hat SEO: This is against google conduct, much more severe than grey hat.  These items will get you punished, you have to bring this on yourself.  Sometimes these activities are actually illegal.

Autocomplete Optimization

We are proud to annouce that we can provide Autocomplete Optimization.  Its not a cheap or easy process.  The minimum campaign is $50,000.00 to execute (or $10,000.00 to plan) which varies based on competition.  Serious inquirers please ask about examples.

This is a very intriguing emerging area, and I believe Mid-Atlantic SEO is the first service to offer Autocomplete Optimization.  Autocomplete Optimization includes introducing terms of your specification into the search results as a "suggested" search phrase.  A smart marketing campaign will combine this with other marketing disciplines and medium to improve effectiveness.

This can be a smart way for a well funded startup to build brand awareness; or a PR firm to outsource to help control negative messaging (more difficult, $100,000 minimum).

Online Marketing Consulting: When to Hire an Outsourced SEO Services Provider

There are many times where it makes more sense to tap an online marketing consultant.  If your site is not yet optimized a small business seo consultant can establish baseline numbers on organic visitors without "betting the farm" on training or hiring talent, perhaps of questionable expertise. 

If you already have a marketing team but are lacking an SEO guy; a top shelf search engine optimizer with executive vision can come in and provide a very compelling integrated cross-discipline search engine marketing plan that seamlessly integrates with the existing marketing plan. 

Finally, on larger projects and for larger companies, an outsourced SEO services provider can help facilitate in-house talent on projects directly relating to the on page optimization of the parent URL and/or be very effective at executing off page campaigns. 

Having a few different SEO's can, espescially ones that challenge and drive eachother, deliver outstanding results by combining and refining theory, knowledge, and practice. 

Other duties especially well suited for an outsourced SEO marketing firm are SEO audits, link building, and ensuring best SEO practices are met and trends addressed. 

In regards to areas of emerging SEO import, it can also make sense for Government entities and Venture Capital firms to rely on trusted SEO Consulting to help convey messaging cost effectively and evaluate value, respectively.

Health Care Reform in a Nutshell

Find out what Small Business Owners Need to Know about Health Reform  in this Health Care Reform Bill Summary! Read an informative brochure on how Health Care reform affects your business. Courtesy of the Small Business Council of America

Jobfox isn't a Scam: Some thoughts on Brand Management re Google Autocomplete

I've been doing a lot of research on reputation management and SEO, particularly for companies struggling with inappropriate or anonymous bad comments online. This can be detrimental for a businesses who operates solely on the internet. One such case that I've been researching revolves around the keyword JobFox scam. JobFox is an online job site that works really hard to match candidates with jobs that seems to be a perfect fit. Unfortunately, it seems to have fallen victim to attacks that seem very similar to political attack ads - anonymous people using scare tactics to spread a negative message.

If you google 'JobFox Scam', you'll find a number of anonymous websites and anonymous blogs with people seemingly making up a number of false allegations about the company. I have a strong suspicion that these comments are actually from competitors and others with a specific interest in spreading a negative, scam type message about JobFox. Either way, what they do is create blog posts and comments with scary 'true stories' and attacks on the company to scare potential users away.

JobFox isn't isolated, either; they are just the company I decided to really look into. In fact, if you google any company name and add the word 'scam' or 'fake' or 'fraud' to the end of it, you're very likely to see similar results. Its scary, and for a company that cares about its image and public record, its a huge waste of time, effort, and resources to clean up the mess. They really have to focus on SEO and reputation management to make sure they can clear their name. If this trend continues, I can see a lot of companies hiring SEO firms for exactly this type of work - to get unfair and anonymous attacks on their business out of Google's index.

From everything I've researched, JobFox is a fair and honest company that is approaching the job search market from a unique angle. It will be interesting to see how this is handled going forward.

Scalable SEO is Driven by Innovative Content

In running a start-up, I've been exposed to a trial by fire education of SEO. I have come away with a view that SEO is essential for any company, but goals must be defined and realistic expectations need to be used. The first of these expectations is content, does you're content deserve to be listed on Google or etc? For most people and real companies the answer in some form or another is yes, and you should help Google find you and point out to their crawler what your site is really about. Google wants users to find good content and not hold up existing institutions, although they want to promote trustworthy content, with that in mind the basis for an SEO campaign should be to help crystallize and direct new and great content rather than to optimize. A good way to think of great SEO is as Content Optimization.

So what does that mean? I suggest something quite radical: you should not judge an SEO expert in their ability to artificially promote pages. Rather look at their past content, what were they able to create, to help clarify, to crystallize, and/or help develop. Why should you look for this? For one reason, search engines at their heart are democratic in nature, if you provide something useful, funny, informative, and new then optimize it its likely you'll get some solid and stable rankings. If you just go out and optimize the "crap" out of crap it won't last, and it can hurt your company in the long run.

Want to make quick money? Maybe blackhat techniques are for you?

Want to promote a company to a highly scalable SEM campaign? Create great content that people want, then optimize it.