What is Google Wave?

Google wave is a new web application conceived by Google.  This new application is meant to work together and communicate with other people. In other words it can be said to be an application in which the email, instant messenger, Wikipedia, and social networking are rolled together in real time. It starts with a blip where a single message triggers a new topic. The process can be equated to sending an electronic mail to a group of people, but all can see it in a common box and not individual in-boxes.

With the help of this application you can converse with others, share files and photos, work with them on files and documents, organize and re-organize your information, post to blogs and perform a host of other equally useful and attractive features. In the world of web it is the latest platform for creating live communication documents which can be edited by the users. Some innovative features that make up Google waves are:

1. Embeddability: Waves can be added on any website or blog.
2. Real-time: when you log on to it you clearly get to see what someone else is typing, letter per letter
3. Create Applications: If you wish you can create your own application within waves.
4. Open source: The wave has an open source code. This would help to adopt and innovate.
5. Easy files sharing: Here you do not require any attachment. All you need is drag your file and drop it inside Google Wave. Once done everyone can access it.
6. Self- Correction: Equipped with an auto-correct you can always have miss-spellings highlighted and corrected. Interestingly it can also auto-translate on-the-run.
7. Playback: if required you can rewind to any part of the wave to see what was said.

Marketing Strategies with Google Wave

To devise business strategies you need to host in person business meeting. With Google Wave this has become absolutely easy. You do not require all of them to assemble at a particular place. You create a wave containing the information. Your employees butt in with their thoughts to the document. With the input of all the suggestions, a completely new document is created. This can be plan of action ready to be used. All of these valuable inputs can be obtained at no cost to the employer, no long meetings, no conference room requirements etc. So Google Wave helps you devise strategies and at the same time save on money.

The basic approach of this software is to collaborate. Interaction with the help of Google Wave, promotes solidarity and teamwork at the same time. And all this can be done when your employee is are working in different continents.

Building Links Makes For A Successful SEO Campaign

Link is like reference. When I write “Business Cards” I express my trust to www.iprinttoday.com. Search engines interpret this reference as a vote to www.iprinttoday.com from my site.

This is the basis of link building. More links your site has from other websites more powerful you are in the eyes of search engines. And webmasters took no time to make use of this system. Several ways of link building were invented. Let’s classify links in a broad way:

• 1-way Links: My website gets link from your website.
• 2-way Links: My website gets a link from your website and I reciprocate you with a link from my site. Scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours!
• 3-way Links: I have two websites – A and B. You link to A and I will reciprocate you from B.

As webmasters started exploiting search engine algorithm, search engines refined their strategy and introduced new concept; links from relevant sites were assigned more credit than links from irrelevant sites.

For example, if you have a site about apparels then 1000 links from automobile sites won’t help you much; 100 links from other apparel sites would be really useful.

Hence, to make your website more powerful in the eyes of search engines you have to get links from relevant websites. You may ask how it is possible; the best way is to create such a usable and authentic that webmasters and bloggers link to you naturally. Become the leader in your niche.

In earlier days, webmasters used to send link exchange emails to others. This method is not going to help you any more. To succeed in this highly competitive market you have to figure out creative ways of getting links. As mentioned above, developing a useful website with authentic content is one way to get some good links. Now, use your imagination, creativity and marketing skills to invent more such ways. Happy link building!

The "Triple Crown" of SEO – Google, Yahoo & Bing

I was asked recently by a company I am doing SEO work for if it is possible to achieve Google Yahoo and Bing first page search results at the same time. my first thought was that it would be difficult to achieve such a task. The problem is, Google, Yahoo and Bing all use different search engine algorithms. Yahoo and several other providers will be incorporating Bing’s search engine technology. Although, Yahoo will still have unique characteristics built within its search algorithm.

Achieving front page search engine results for Google, Yahoo, and Bing could be considered as the Triple Crown of SEO.  Similar to the Triple Crown a thorough bred racing which consists of the Kentucky Derby, Preakness stakes, and Belmont stakes could be compared to Google, Yahoo and Bing. each search is the race in its own and is very difficult to win. A significant amount of training should go into your SEO campaign and achievable goals should be set within.

These goals can be tracked through programs such as Google’s Webmaster tools which is free and should be utilized by every webmaster. There are other paid services that exist that can be even more helpful. Google’s Webmaster tools tends to be the most popular but only provides information from a googlebot standpoint.

Each search engine will require a different criteria to achieve first page search engine results. for instance, Yahoo pays attention to keyword meta-tag descriptions whereas Google does not. The content within your webpage will become the overall factor in where your are placed within the search engine. However, title tags and descriptions play an important role. Other factors include number of links into your site, speed of site, how long your website has been owned and if you have a delicate balance between links content and optimized images.

Place Google AdsSense ads on your website

When you place contextual advertising on your website you are among one of the fastest and easiest methods to monetizing your website traffic. Google ad sense is currently the marketing leader in contextual advertising. They let you display relevant advertisements on your website. These ads are created from a slew of different Google ad words advertisers. Each time a visitor comes to your site clicks an ad sense ads, you earn a percentage of the money paid to Google from that click. Even though, one click will only produce anywhere from several sense to several dollars, thousands of clicks can lead to a substantial income.

Google AdSense ads are relatively easy to place, yet savvy enough that relevant ads will appear within minutes. Google analyzes the content of your website and produces ads that are similar. This is an excellent way to monetize your website. If you have an account with blogger, monetizing your blog is as simple as ever. There is a tab that says monetize, click that, if you have an account through AdSense already enter in your account, if not you can go ahead and sign up right through that portal.

Getting familiar with Google’s terms of service is very important. For instance, you may only place three ads per page. In some instances, if you try to put too many ads on one page you will notice that they won’t even come up because there is more than three. Any type of trickery relating to persuasion of clicking on your ads is a complete no-no. Websites that contained content related to adult material are also not accepted into the program. You cannot promote illegal activity, violence, or racism.

Google also offers a PPA ad network which will pose serious competition to other related affiliate marketing networks such as Commission Junction, LinkShare, and Clicksor.

SEO should not be the "end all be all" of your web site

Your search engine optimization campaign should not be the end all be all of your website. Becoming obsessed with one technique any one method can cut you off from other sources of traffic. SEO is one portion of marketing for your website, other areas include social media optimization and paid advertising. Each one can play integral part in your website. Therefore, search engine optimization is just one aspect albeit very important. As we have stated before more than 80% of first visits for an average site derives from search engines. 75% of those come from within Google’s properties worldwide. 84% of searches on Google never make it past the second page of results in only 35% click on paid or sponsored results.

Spreading your efforts over several different SEO, SMO, and paid tactics will increase your web traffic and success.

Here are several different tips that can help:

1. Unique content – the reason this was placed number one, is the sheer fact that content is king. If you have unique content, search engines will index you, searchers will find you, and more than likely if it is well written will bookmark your site and come back consistently.
2. Building blocks – where your site is hosted has become increasingly more important due to Google’s Caffeine integration. As important as where your web site is hosted is the domain name, structure of your directory and speed of site.
3. Longevity – Over night success typically does not happen. Try to be in it for the long-haul. If you can outlast your competition, they will simply come and go and you can remain on top. New comers will have to battle their way to the top where as you can consistently stay up there.

Indexing a Web site | SEO Tip #69

One of the most common questions web owners have is how long does it take for my website to be indexed? Of course, this is a valid question since you must have your website found on search engines to generate traffic. If you go the route of submitting your URL to Google you can expect anywhere from two weeks to two months before being indexed. If you have used Google’s Webmaster tools you can submit your site map and become indexed anywhere from 24 hours to two weeks which can cut your wait time severely.

When you said that your site to directories or search engines it can take anywhere from a couple of weeks to several months depending on the size of the directory you are sending to and if your website is complete. If, your website is not complete you run the risk of your website being declined and having to resubmit once your website is completed. Make sure, but your website is 100% complete before you submit to search engines or any directory whatsoever.

For several different types of directories. For instance, you have your page and your free directories which he could for themselves. They directories can cost anywhere from nine dollars a listing $299 for Yahoo’s submit, which doesn’t guarantee your inclusion. I would suggest going to differ directories that have a high page rank with a free service without reciprocal links where you can type in your URL, keywords and site description. A unique site description can benefit your website more so than you know. Repetitive descriptions tend not to get as much authority as unique site descriptions. Therefore, you should come up with as many different site descriptions as possible that best describes your website.

Remember, most websites are human edited and take time since there are thousands of websites and blogs being submitted daily. Please be patient and do not submit your website to several different categories. If your website does go ahead and fit within several different categories you must change the site description and keywords to fit within that category. For instance, http://www.DMOZ.org Will allow you to submit to several categories, but will not include your site if it does not accurately describe the content within your website. Typically, your description will be changed by one of their editors which is not the most accurate we described paragraph. It is imperative that you come up with unique content for your description.

Trouble with Keywords? | SEO Tip #68

Are you having trouble with keywords? If so it might be caused by the competition of that particular keyword. Competition varies upon different keywords. For instance, will take the print company http://www.iPrintToday.com. They sell business cards, postcards, greeting cards, brochures, flyers, and much more. The keyword business cards is searched for over 30 million times locally and approximately 45,000,000 times globally per month. That means, whomever is on the first page for that particular keyword is generating huge amounts of traffic. Business cards, besides printing is the biggest key word for the printing industry. If you were on the first page for business cards you will receive large volumes of clicks.

I print today.com has a very easy to navigate website and it is optimized for the word business cards. Although, it is very difficult for them to achieve first page rankings because they are fairly new and the competition is one of the stiffest among any industry for particular keyword. Let’s take a another keyword example. Business card printing has approximately 50,000 searches locally per month and approximately 100,000 globally per month. It is feasible to get to the top of Google from that particular keyword, because the competition isn’t as stiff as the general term business cards. The downfall to this is 150,000 searches compared to 75 million searches, as you can see there really isn’t any comparison. You must look at it like this though, if you can’t get to the top of Google for a particular keyword because of the competition then start by dominating less competitive keywords.

For most web owners, choosing less competitive keywords isn’t going to cut it. These web owners will certainly be fighting an uphill battle it will take longer time to achieve success trying to accomplish your goals this way. Again, 75 million searches compared to 150,000 searches isn’t even a comparison but, if you can’t get on the top or the 75 million then you should consider a long tail keyword and establish your website this way.
There are several keyword generation and analyzing tools that are free of charge, one of the best ones is Google’s ad words tool. This tool will show you the competition and return the search results both locally and globally per month. We suggest you utilizing this tool as it will help your keyword suggestion and generation because it will not only analyze any websites you type in but also to use synonyms for keywords.

SEO Management | SEO Tip #67

SEO Management | SEO Tip #67

As a web owner, SEO management can become increasingly hectic and overwhelming. With so many different aspects to handle such as, social media, basic website structure, advanced website structure, and content on the website one may not know where to start.

There are pros and cons outsourcing your SEO management. Some of the pros are, the ability to prove a track record, the ability to change companies, and typically an outline process of their work. Some of the cons may be you don’t have as much control as in-house and potential unethical business practices.

Most SEO experts will tell you there is no guarantee to become indexed let alone guarantee front-page success for any particular keyword. There is however software that is available that can provide the tools and information you need to get to the top of Google or other search engines. Most of the basic tools are free, but to get the fully functional software you most likely will have to purchase and spend a few hundred dollars. This investment will be one of the best purchases you will make for your website.

When it comes to SEO, research and development are as important as building the website itself. Search engine algorithms update constantly and put a higher significance on different criteria such as title tag, meta-description, and content. Other factors including speed of server, URL name, and website history are important factors as well. Not all factors are created equal, some factors such as meta-keywords do not play a role in Google’s search algorithm. Although, they do play a role in Yahoo and  Bing’s search algorithms.

SEO Black Hat | SEO Tip #66

Think of the hare vs. the tortoise in relation to black hat SEO vs. white hat SEO. While the rabbit cuts corners and achieves success quickly, he loses the overall race because the tortoise researched the course and took a steady ethical approach to the race. The race is not a sprint, yet more like a marathon. Cutting corners will eventually get you punished and may even banned. There are ways to achieve to ranking success through proper channels.

SEO Black Hat – Black Hat search engine optimization is customarily defined as techniques that are used to get higher search rankings in an unethical manner. There are plenty of “Grey Hat SEO” tactics which are iffy to say the least. Although Grey Hat SEO aren’t banned practices they typically are unethical. The black hat SEO techniques usually include one or more of the following characteristics:

• Keyword Stuffing: This contains creating long lists of keywords and nothing else onto your site. Do so will get you penalized eventually by search engines.
• Invisible Text: There are two different ways to do this. You can make the text the same color as the background and keyword stuff or make the text extremely small. Again, not a good way to boost your organic searches.
• Doorway Pages: A doorway page is a “fake” page that users will never see. It is purely for search engine spiders and attempts to trick them into indexing the site higher through high keywords and fake content.

SEO Secrets | Compete.com | SEO TIP #65

SEO Secrets | Compete.com | SEO TIP #65

Study the competition, learn their ways, and do what they do. To know the competition and what their ways are to be invaluable. You might ask yourself where can I get this information? There are several websites out there that are available that can provide you the information in regards to your competition and how much search engine traffic from both pay per click and organic searches.

Compete.com provides such information for free but only allows a certain number of queries. This powerful research tool offers a popular keyword research with Word tracker and keyword discovery do not provide.

Compete.com is unique in the essence that uses a popular keyword research and suggestion tools. It does not gather dirt data directly from search engines. Compete.com gathers information through a toolbar which users have installed. This information is used by studying the behavior of each visitor after they have finished searching. This includes, at the time a user spends on the site, what percentage of the traps sites traffic comes from, individual keywords, and an estimation of cost per click daily budget.