Alan Rabinowitz, CEO SEO Image

Tell me something about yourself and your position in the company. What were you doing before starting SEO Image? What are some of the other milestones in your life?

I am not only the CEO of SEO Image, LLC, but also the lead SEO.  I have my hands in every aspect of my company from SEO tasks to advertising and marketing.  Before taking on a career as an SEO, I had been a freelance illustrator for Science Fiction & Fantasy Books, Games and Magazines.

The most important milestone in my life, aside from my business, is my family and fatherhood. Its amazing how this effects ones direction in life and ones goals and determination.

Please provide us a brief history of your company?

Since it’s conception in May 2003, SEO Image (which is a fairly small company) has been growing tremendously, we are expected to double in size within the year.  We are very proud to have the clientele that we do, with high profile clients including: Black Star, Gallery®, New York Diamond Exchange, Soffront, and many others.


What is the core focus of SEO Image?

SEO Image is focused on Search Engine Optimization, Internet marketing, Online Advertising and web design services and offers complete services including Dynamic Site Optimization.

What makes SEO Image different from other companies in the search engine marketing industry?

SEO Image does not put our clients in touch with Campaign Managers that have little knowledge of the industry and how results are achieved. Rather, all of our clients deal directly with the SEOs, including myself. We are up-close and personal with our clients. We focus directly on their business needs and make sure they understand the scope of their campaign. As we sometimes need to learn their business, we keep them well informed and make them a part of the entire process. At SEO Image, we believe that our clients know their business better than anyone, so we want and need their input.

Tell us a bit about your relationship with your customers.  How do you teach them on the marketing techniques? What is most important in the marketing expert – client interaction?

Our clients start learning the moment they call us and inquire about our services. A well-informed buyer is our favorite client. We teach them what people see, how they perceive a website in the first few seconds of visiting a website and how this can be changed or fine-tuned to offer a greater conversion for them. They are involved in the process from the get-go. We send keyword research reports and review them with our clients. After we adjust their “On-Page” Optimization, we let them review the changes for accuracy and explain how the changes will affect the site and their campaigns.

How do you develop your skills in the continuously changing iMarketing environment?

We look at every site we work on during any marketing, algorithm or structural change and we make decisions on what we analyze from their current placement and current returns, we then use that information to make any adjustments for the client that may be necessary.

If you can summarize the 5 most important rules for search engine optimization, what will be they?

1. Good spam-free content that interacts with the reader.
2. A simple and effective message so marketing points are clear.
3. Limiting the scope of the site’s home page to core products and services rather than trying to explain everything at the same time.
4. Target your links, do not blindly build any reciprocal link and pray, that it works. If it works for your competitors, then it will work for you.
5. Never stop! Never give up! Never be satisfied! Keep working hard until you get results, then work harder to get even better results!

Tell me more about your services.

SEO Image offers several different services and in some cases combines them into one.

1) Search Engine Optimization: We get our clients ranking and keep working till they are in the top positions.
2) Internet Marketing: We target visitors and create “STOP” methods (techniques that make the visitor STOP, and look at the site). This keeps them from leaving the site before they are told “We have what you’re looking for!” It also creates a feeling, if you will, that the visitor feels comfortable, believes the company is trustworthy, and lets them want to read more.

What is the future of search engine optimization? Where will be the challenges in developing of the online SE presence in near future?

There are challenges all the time. The SEs are changing the way they see websites and that changes the way marketers approach their campaigns.
I believe that the future will be very ad based by offering multiple ways to find the site, and niche portals will become more important for visitors to find results.

How do you see the challenge of increasingly growing the number of search engine optimization companies? 

We love the challenge – it keeps us up-to-date, sharp and on our toes!

Tell us more about SEO Image’s success story?

SEO Image started as a one-man operation and has grown 300% in the last year and now has offices on 57th Street in Manhattan. 

What is the recent event in the SEO industry that makes you most proud of being a part of the development of this comparatively new industry niche?

I enjoyed the SES Conference in NYC, I was able to meet many marketers that have similar aims and all tend to be more helpful than anything else. They are an amazing bunch of people.

How do you see the future of advertising for your company?

I see it being more targeted and focused on topics. I believe that SEO Image will stay on top of what is effective and what works for SEO Image, works for its clients.

Where do you see the SEO Image’s role in the industry in 10 years?

I believe SEO Image will be one of the forerunners of the industry, and will network itself within the industry to form strategic alliances with other effective companies that seek to create mutually beneficial partnerships.

What is the most popular myth in search engine optimization that you can’t agree with?

To single out one would be that The Google Toolbar matters more than anything. I do not believe that PageRank is more important than real rankings. I have developed PR 5 websites that outrank PR 8 websites. Numbers are for mathematicians, not marketers.

What are the most important skills in the leadership and how do you optimize your time management?

Making sure that my marketers know how to plan each campaign, what to target and how to track effectiveness. Keeping on top of each client and designating days of the week for one client, and other days for other clients. It sometimes becomes time consuming to manage and schedule the campaigns, but in the end it all works out.


And finally, what was the most recent book you read?

I actually tend to read several books at a time whenever I have a moment.

I guess it would be “Horton Hears A Who!” by Dr. Seuss - this one, of course, is for my oldest daughter.

For myself the last two books were Jeffrey Gitomer’s “Little Red Book of Selling” (knowledge is power - we all have to learn as a constant), and “Blink” by Malcom Gladwell.