SEO and the Internet are part of our life's

These days, we do everything from communication to shopping, from gathering information to providing information about our business. As a figure of speech; “if you are not online you might as well not exist”. This trend has given way to a whole new venue where businesses can grow and operate.


There are millions of people and businesses who are running their day to day operations through the internet and are earning great profits from it. You must be wondering, why some websites are so popular, while a large number of websites stay in obscurity? Why do some websites pop up in the first few search engine results while others come are not to be found for pages and pages?


The answer to this question is SEO or Search Engine Optimization. New SEO means optimization of the content of your website in a way that its ranking in search engines rises. Search Engine Optimization involves using the right number of keywords and keywords that are in the right place in the content and most importantly keywords that are relevant to what you are selling/provding. This ensures that when those particular keywords are searched by potential customers, your website is shown in the first few search results.


Naturally, the higher your website is shown in the search engine results list, the more traffic you will get. After all this is the main reason why some websites get more traffic and bigger profits than others.

For example, suppose you run a travel website about tourism in Amsterdam. Just writing good content won’t be enough to get good traffic to it. You will have to make sure that the people who are trying to gather information about tourist activities in Amsterdam get to see your website.

For this to happen, you will have to use the right keywords and key phrases in the content of your website. This is what we call New SEO.


Search Engine Optimization can be a tricky thing because you must know exactly the right keywords and phrases and put them in the right places. You must also know which keywords are searched most and which keywords will be beneficial for your website. For that reason you consult with SEO professionals that are knowledgeable and ethical on the SEO front. In New SEO, there is not a one size fits all rule. Each website is different (and needs to be in order to stand out from the other millions and millions of websites) and its optimization should be according to the specifics of you website. That’s why you must hire a professional SEO service to optimize your website.

Oscar Bos

New Wave SEO

Black Hat versus White Hat Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Across the internet, professionals of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) can choose to either be conventional or unconventional with their methods. To take the lead in the ever-changing race for page ranks means to play by the rules, or to join the dark side. Such is the dichotomy now known as White Hat SEO and Black Hat SEO. Judging from the colors, it’s fairly easy to determine which side is which.

Why White Hat versus Black Hat SEO?

The use of the word “hat” was derived from classic western TV shows and movies, where good and bad cowboys were set apart by the color of their headgear. Back then, TV sets didn’t have colors, so viewers were used to identifying the heroes and villains by these attributes. Besides being two extreme ends of the color spectrum, black and white have been common examples to illustrate the difference between good and evil.
In the same light, there are search engine optimizers and web professionals who differ in the methods they use. Because winning the top most spot in Google takes a lot of time and effort, there are those who choose to find unethical means of deceiving search engine bots and web users. This is where we stand apart from our competition as we chose to strictly use White Hat SEO practices for both our client sites as our own sites.

Black Hat Search Engine Optimization Techniques.

Initially, a good page rank might be achieved when one goes by Black Hat SEO, but chances are it will not be sustained for long.
Here are some common naughty tricks that Black Hat optimizers use on their websites:

Keyword stuffing – Major search engines like Yahoo and Google usually allow a keyword density of less than 5%. Content writers who go Black Hat create text that is chock full of keywords, with little or no relevance to the reader at all.

Hidden text – If they don’t want the highly dense keywords to be seen by readers, then they can hide them behind images, or blend the font color with the background. Only spiders or bots can detect these hidden texts.

Link farming – Because bots and spiders use links on pages to go to the next one to be indexed, it is understood that more links means a better chance of getting noticed by search engines. However, the quality of links is also vital. Link farms are sites that contain nothing but links, often with no relation to each other, only as a means of directing spiders to pages where Black Hat tricksters want them to go.

Gateway pages – There are certain sites among the top 10 in Google, that when the link is clicked, the browser points to a different page. The traffic is purposely driven to a site that is not of interest or use to the web surfer.

Why You Should Say “No” to Black Hat SEO !!!!

Black Hat SEO professionals often walk on thin ice. It is only a matter of time until Google, Yahoo, Bing, Ask and other major search engines discover ways to beat them. Currently they (Google, Yahoo, Bing etc..) have programs and tools on their sites that can detect Black Hat techniques.

If you want to keep your website to be productive and in good standing with all search engines, forget about short cuts and Black Hat tricks. You’ll be glad you stuck with the guidelines. Contact New Wave SEO today for a free business analysis

As you now understand the basics of White Hat against Black Hat SEO, one can debunk that age-old saying “nice guys finish last.” This simply doesn’t apply to the SEO game. It’s better to play by the rules and stay ahead longer, than to cheat your way to the top only to fall even harder.

Oscar Bos
http://www.newwaveseo.net
oscar@newwaveseo.net

SEO 101

SEO 101: Why Are Links and Link Building Important?
Driving increased traffic to a website is one of the main goals of search engine optimization (New SEO). In order to garner a generally high level of traffic to your web site, your site must be easily discovered by prospective clients and web visitors.

Traditional advertising methods help, like printing your URL on print ads, business cards, letterhead and brochures; however an estimated 81% of Internet users say they use search engines to target and find information they deem useful, making search engines the best place you should focus your efforts in attaining enhanced visibility for your site.


1) Search Engines Now Employ New Search Methods

unfortunately, over the years; this has become an increasingly tricky proposition. When search engines like Yahoo and Google first came into existence, they freely wandered on the web, crawling sites and publishing links. But, as the number of web pages continued to grow to astronomical proportions, it became necessary for the search engines to create a method by which they would prioritize what they would display.

At the start, most search engines focused mainly on the invisible Meta tags that accompany each web page. Experienced website owners knew too well that loading their keywords into these tags would quickly ramp it up the search engine listings. Sadly however, it also was very easy for unethical businesses to manipulate these tags, usually thru spamming, and as a result lure Web users to sites that didn’t have anything related to the information they were seeking.

2) Links Are Like Footnotes in Books

during the development and evolution of the Internet, it has become routine for site owners to give credit to other sites for the material or content they publish. Website owners do this by putting a link on their site to the web page of the other site. One could consider links to act like a footnote in a research paper, as a way to reference the work of someone else. Before, there used to be a time when links didn't matter, though at least not like they do today.

A few of the search engines looked at back links for a portion of their algorithms, but it didn't carry the same weight as it does today. Now, in order to be competitive in nearly any online industry, back links are essential. Back links do not only give the search engines a barometer of a site’s popularity, they also aid in determining the topic, and relevance of a site in relation to its targeted keywords. Though the art of New SEO is, and will always be very important, gathering relevant back links is steadily increasing in importance.

3) Where To Start Building Links

A lot of individuals would generally ask, what would be a nice spot to start building links? An appropriate venue would be directories. Directories are great way to beef up your inbound links. There are a lot of directories on the web, and it may be tough to find a starting point. As the importance of link density continues to grow, it’s important not to forget about traditional New SEO.

New SEO techniques will always play a part in Search Engine Rankings. As the major players like Google focus more on links, they will always have a part of their algorithm that relies on traditional SEO factors. By having a comprehensive New SEO campaign, you could increase your visibility to prospective customers.

Internet Marketing 101

Internet Marketing 101:

Email is old, you say? Email is proven; say the experts. Here are the top five trends for 2010.

1) Email will continue to be an anchor for multimedia and internet marketing. All indications are that email will continue to grow into 2010. Email is recognized as the highest ROI form of internet marketing and it's measurable. Even though email is the 'grandfather', it really is the cornerstone and will remain.

2) I also expect to see more integration between email and social ad platforms. As part of the social mix, online marketers will continue to integrate social media with email marketing to ensure that brands, projects and products are cross-marketed and connecting with consumers.

3) More than just social integration, though, I expect to see integration of most other online ad formats and email through 2010. But in 2010 you're going to see more progress toward truly achieving integrated marketing. Any marketer not using integrated tool sets is doing a disservice to the brand. Entire organizations will be working with social applications to connect with the consumer base.

4) And forget about online analytics. In 2010 the trend will be to move away from when or where consumers are clicking ads and move toward optimizing programs to keep consumers engaged for longer periods of time. [Marketers] will begin to know marketing analytics and not just web/online analytics. They will know what happens after the click, how the consumer becomes engaged / disengaged and how they interact with the website as a whole.

5) Finally, mobile will be a big trend. It's been 'the year of mobile' for several years but in 2009 we finally saw a mind shift begin. That shift in mindset that mobile was the away-from-office computer will help marketers connect with consumers in a new and different way. [This will] drive mobile campaigns and push mobile-accessible websites.

Overall, I expect 2010 to be slightly simpler for marketers as integrated tool suites launch and become more familiar. These suites will make it simpler for a singular campaign message to be heard from email through social and into video and mobile. You have mobile driven by newer devices (see Nexus One by Google, launched less than 4 hours ago) and you've got the tools ready to be used. You have social marketing coming into its own and the analytics tools that are simpler to understand.

So I'm looking forward to taking advantage of the convergence of all these trends in 2010, Are you……?

SEO Dallas

New Wave Seo

A new year

First I want to wish everyone a great 2010. As you will read in my still to be posted blog for this evening the numbers don't lie. This will be the year that you either swim or sink. The internet has never been as active and the growth is staggering. Sitting on the site line is not an option unless your ready to turn in your home keys for RV keys and start traveling cross country/world wide.

This evening I will show you the numbers from the past in comparison with today and the estimates for the very near future.

seo dallas

new seo

Oscar Bos

The reality of social media ROI

One of the first question I'm asked by a potential client is always, "What's the Return on Investment for using social media?" Translation: When will I make money from being on social media sites. That probably sounds a little harsh, but the fact is many businesses only want to get on social media if they think it's a sure bet that they will get clients and make money as a result of being on social media sites. The problem with that mentality is that it treats all the people on different social media sites as numbers, which is absolutely the last impression you want to give people if you want them do business with you.

The reality of Return on Investment is that before you can get a return on it, you have to be willing to invest in it. And that means investing resources, but it also means investing in relationships with the people you want to do business with. Businesses that are only concerned with getting a return on investment for using social media fail to understand that social media isn't where the sales occurs. Social media is where the networking and marketing occur, where the relationship building happens.

The sales process can only occur once you've built enough rapport in your relationship to earn the trust and recognition of the person you would do business with. It takes time to establish value, and with social media it can take even more time because many of your interactions are done in a virtual space. When the sales process does occur it will happen as a result of building your relationship with the person to the point that s/he will be ready to do business with you.

I see so many businesses treat the sales process as some kind of mysterious flirting game with a potential buyer. But sales isn't a mysterious flirting game. It also isn't social media, at least not directly. Instead social media is part of the relationship building process you engage in, in order to stay visible to other people, establish your reputation, and share information. And the value people find all of those activities is what ultimately helps them decide if they will do business with you. The recognition they have that you can solve a problem for them is what will motivate them to do business with you. And that realization won't occur automatically. It will occur because you've spent enough time getting to know them that they understand and recognize the value that you offer.

The best strategy for social media is the strategy the recognizes the limitations of the medium that social media occurs in. All of social media occurs in a virtual space, mostly in text. There's a lot of context that's missing as a result. Consequently the conversation that's engaged in needs to be done as transparently as possible, without a hidden agenda. There's also value in learning the social media behaviors that are successful and help you connect with people. Those behaviors take time to learn, just as it takes time to develop a comprehensive strategy that enables you to maximize how you use social media in your business.

Businesses want return on investment, and want sales as a way of justifying using social media. But they must first realize that in order to get all of that they need to learn what social media can help them do and what it can't do. It can help them provide better customer service, better marketing visibility, and better networking. What social media can't do is automatically line people up to do business with you. That only occurs if you are willing to invest time in building relationships with those people, and social media is integral to building those relationships will become more integral as it becomes more integrated into our lives. Business must also realize that integrating social media takes time. You can't wave a magic wand and have it all put together over night. Developing a strategy and learning the behaviors that are accepted on social media sites takes time, but once the strategy is in place and the business understands the best practices of social media behavior, the return on investment will start to occur. And hopefully in the process, you'll also build some genuine relationships.

5 simple rules

Today I was reminded about the simple steps any site can take when they are first launching on the internet to help them get off on the right foot for the most basic of search optimization steps. I found myself thinking, "if only" when I saw this new site that was launched. I discussed how this site missed out on just some simple things that could have gone along with the launch with New Wave SEO and he politely nudged me.

#1 Don't Re-Use Your Title Tag On Every Page
Many times your website designer doesn't even realize this is being done. Your creative team is more concerned with the visual presentation than to worry about something they consider more of a minor 'nuisance".

Most of the time, your website has been created from a template, which ensures that everything looks the same -design wise- from one page to another. This is perfect to get the site off the ground and out there. To get your website off on the right foot, change each page's title tag to reflect what the page is about. You'll be surprised at the good this can do for each of your web site's pages.


#2 Keyword Research
It would be wise to do at least a little keyword research before your launch your website. New Wave SEO makes sure you have a thorough understanding of how your audience searches. It is the most beneficial thing you can do for your website. Doing even the slightest amount of research can clue you into small idiosyncrasies that could be "gold mines" in disguise.

Keyword research can also let you know how to target the content on your page, how to word each page's title tag and whether people really are searching on your business name. It's well worth the time spent to discover exactly what you need to target to have a successful website.

#3 Don't Use Keywords In Images
Your designer might yell at you, question your judgment, or complain that it will ruin the aesthetics of the design, but let me put it to you this way; "What good is a great design if no one can find it?"

If your keywords are embedded in images, the search engines have no clue that keyword is related to your page. They cannot "see" your images. So if the term "camel rides" is important to your business, make sure it's actual text somewhere within your content, not part of an image.

#4 Check Your Robots.txt File
Check, double check and go back and recheck that Robots.txt file. Make sure it's in the root folder of your domain. Ensure all the folders and files you want to be found by the search engines are allowed. Any development folders, JavaScript folders, css folders or private folders, you do not want to end up in a search engine results should be disallowed.

#5 Provide An HTML Version of Your Sitemap
Providing an HTML Version that lists the links to the pages of your site can guide the search engine spiders to all of the pages of your site. If your navigation is currently in flash or JavaScript, this is a great alternative way of making sure the spiders find the site's pages. Make sure that your link to your sitemap is a simple "a href" tag, not a link formed with JavaScript or flash as the spiders will not be able to follow that type of link.

The five simple rules can launch your website off on the right foot. Keep in mind that these are just simple steps, there's a lot more that goes into optimization of a website. This list is just meant as a guide to start you off, and these should assist you in your efforts until you have a full search marketing strategy mapped out for your website. Contact New Wave SEO for a free consultation.

Oscar Bos