From the category archives:

Client Review

I Like Challenges

by Sozo Firm Staff on March 3, 2010

Challenges are fun, right? Well, I enjoy most challenges that clients place in my inbox. We recently took on a project different from our typical sort. A former co-owner of one of our current clients recently purchased a college search website. Like most college lead generation websites, it’s affiliate based with colleges regularly opting in and out of the lead payment program.

Running an initial analysis of the website, we noticed the following issues:

  • The site featured hundreds of outbound affiliate links primarily pointing to the same domain name
  • The site consisted largely of duplicate content featured on many other similar genre websites
  • The site lacked proper link flow from top pages to deep internal pages

We’ve formulated a strategic plan of action and are addressing these issues through:

  • Adding nofollow tags to the outbound affiliate links. The links need to remain in order for the site to generate income; however, there’s no need for our client to pass linkjuice on and strengthen the parent affiliate through his creative work and web marketing investment. By nofollowing the outbound affiliate links, the site will be gradually recognized less as an affiliate linking site and become more of a resource website (which is our goal).
  • Applying textual differentiation to the duplicate content on the site. This second plan is underway presently. Instead of taking all the content and hiring a copywriter to completely write fresh content (which would be the goal but it’s also an expensive route to take), we’re applying differentiation theory to alter existing content and make it somewhat different so it becomes apparently unique. If the differentiation fails to cause the content pages to “stick” better in organic search, then we’ll up the ante and further differentiate the content or go with original content.
  • The third issue has created a myriad of headaches and isn’t completely solved yet. The site (excluding the college search blog which is WordPress) is based on a lesser known and not too often used open source content management system called Symphony. It’s been difficult find a reasonably priced and experienced Symphony developer to make major changes on the site. We’ve jumped into the Symphony code and have been able to make many desired changes ourselves, but developing a reliable fix for full site navigation is beyond our coding knowledge.

Along with the above, we’ll be rejuvenating the blog and doing offsite marketing. We’re excited about what will take place as traffic to the website gradually begins to pick up in response to converting the site from being merely a copycat affiliate site and becoming an information rich resource site (while still generating income for the owner).

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Industrial Wire Basket Manufacturing in York, PA

by Sozo Firm Staff on November 28, 2008

One of our local clients is Three M Tool & Die Corp located at 1038 Elm Street in the manufacturing district of York, Pennsylvania.  Austin Hunt is the president/owner of Three M Tool and, through consolidation of a couple other companies, he has pushed Three M Tool forward into successfully meeting the demand for custom engineered wire racks & baskets.  Using SolidWorks 3D CAD design software, Austin’s engineers can craft a metal/wire container as diversified as a canister for cleaning small medical parts via a vapor degreasing process to crane baskets with chain slings for dipping parts in tanks.

Three M Tool has served an impressive array of companies including Boeing Aircraft, Anheiser Busch, Pepsi Cola, American Airlines, Caterpillar, Michelin, Lexmark International, Eastman Kodak, Carl Zeiss Vision, Sultan Healthcare, Proctor & Gamble, and many more.

Some of the industries which purchase custom crafted industrial wire containers from Three M Tool include Aerospace, Commercial Food Service, DOD Manufacturing, Electronics, Heavy Manufacturing, Industrial Supply, Pharmaceutical, Optical Manufacturing, and Precision Manufacturing.

As is our company’s preferred policy, I like to visit each client on location. Austin & his staff are very personable and committed to ensuring each client is fully pleased with their order. Recently, Austin began a simple ecommerce site with the purpose of offering “design-it-yourself” services for clients interested in basic round or rectangular wire baskets. With a few clicks of the mouse, you can choose the size, wire mesh type, handle type, and whether you want carbon steel or 304 stainless steel composition.

For clients ordering more complex baskets/racks from ThreeMTool, they offer a full range of material composition including carbon steel, 304 stainless steel, 316 stainless steel, 330 stainless steel as well as other options. A prospective customer can also choose from several options for lining the basket: welded wire mesh, woven wire mesh, perforated metal, and expanded metal (standard & flattened).  The full scope of mesh sizes is offered (ranging from 1 x .105 all the way to 40 x .010) along with a wide variety on surface finishes (natural, electropolished, plastisol, and numerous powder coating options).

Austin & his team offer quality, precision USA made products coupled with caring customer service. When it comes time to finding the right manufacturer of commercial use wire baskets & racks, don’t forget to pay Three M Tool a visit first. It will be the best decision you make.

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Promotional Flash Drives by CFgear

August 15, 2008

Occasionally, I take the time to do a brief overview of a client. Today’s featured client will be none other than the family run, South Dakota flash drive company, CFgear.com. Sozo Firm has now provided services to CFgear since June of 2007, and we haven’t regretted any moment of it. When I choose to partner [...]

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