SEO Strategies

I'm looking out the window at another storm passing through California. The worrying about water, reservoirs and flows for rafting is disappearing as quickly as the dry grounds of the foothills. Looks like an awesome river rafting season for 2008.

I just got off the phone with a colleague that I have worked with for the last 5 years. We were discussing internet marketing strategies and the new landscape on the net. We both agreed that links are still important, but not the same linking strategy as before. No more, "Give me a link, and I'll link you" stuff. It's dead. I think we both agreed on that.

We also agreed that old strategies are out the window, too. Both of us had attended a conference discussing internet marketing. We both laughed at one presenter, not because of mis-information, but because of how old the strategies were. Marketing on the net changes extremely quickly. So quickly, that by the time a public speaker is addressing it, it's already old.

We optimize using alogorithms, logs, analysis and intuitive reasoning. We both belong to many SEO forums and groups. We both read everything and subscribe to all the heavy hitters including Matt Cutts' blog. It's almost my bible.

But it's the intuitive reasoning that is the most difficult. It's the art in SEO. Our team struggles everyday with this issue. Each RSS feed alert that comes into the desktop provides another method of SEO or internet marketing technique. Most we dismiss, and others we bookmark and send to each other.

Blogs are big. We know that. But when we started, we didn't know anything. We just journaled and blogged because it felt right. So we guessed, and we were right. Now, we are guessing again. And we are taking major gambles in doing so. If we succeed, it will be great for all of us; our white water rafting industry, our network partners and the consumer. If not, we go back to square one and try something else.

Meanwhile, I am forming a business relationship/partnership with a long-time colleague. He is one that I respect in this awful landscape of black hats, grey hats and every color in between. We both work to death and he is probably one of the few people that I can even discuss these issues without a blank face staring back at me.

The future is here and we at this domain RAFTWET.com are riding a wave like we've never rode before. We are psyched over here and crossing our fingers.

New Year Website Hangover

It's a plot. A diabolical plot designed to create havoc here with our seo team. We are "fixin'" the website... and the blue screen appears. ARRGH! Yeh, the blue screen of death. Hmm, did we upload those changes? Did the blue screen appear before or after the lastest changes? WTF!!!

Anyway, we have a dead computer. And the IT dude is gone on vacation, so none of us have the password to the external drives. And there lies our dilemma. Do we just do a download of the entire site from the host side? or do we wile away the hours by taking off again to go snowboarding. Hehehehe...

Ok. We are back again. Clean install and some more new computers... love it when we can start over again. Fresh. Clean. Ready to roll. But, the slopes are beckoning again. Can we get away with not working this week? I mean, it's almost the weekend anyway... (what? it's only Tues) the W.E.T. crew got to go river rafting today... we didn't get invited... I suppose it's because none of us woke up today until after 2:00 pm.

The partying last night did give me a bit of a headache... oh, yeh... Happy New Year.

Virtual Reality crosses into Real Life

Second Life is a project that we are involved with so that our whitewater rafting industry is not forgotten in the virtual world. Our rafting avatar has been learning Linden script, building and security measures for the lands that we own. We haven't published our location yet, though it seems every avatar knows where we are. We have already set up several landmark givers and links to the river land already.

Raftwet Jewell took apart most of the old waterfalls and streams recently. The task of a second life builder is to create the best project with the least amount of prims. This way, the property owner has a reserve of prims for future projects or for current vendors on the land. Prim count is extremely important in any build.

With water scripts, the lag can be enormous. So decreasing each scripted prim is essential to the sim. I asked our avatar how she was doing in the goal. She told me that the last two nights, she was able to recover approximately 150 prims. I'm not sure exactly how she did it, but when I saw the results, I was blown away.

The water looks so real and the waterfalls are awesome. We will be publishing the location of the builder's land. It is a place where our company avatars practice building and scripting. They have essentially taken over the project completely. Those of us in the real world are having difficulty understanding exactly how they do this. All I know is that the place looks incredible and visitors have increased 10-fold.

We'll keep you posted as the land gets done. Now if we can only get the avatars to stop going to all these parties... they might get done quicker. Meanwhile, visit us in real world on the web for all your California rafting trips!

Website Updates

The new home page for W.E.T. River Trips was loaded recently using a 3-column template. It was hard to look at the new pages without missing the old one. So we put a link to the old page for people who might need the comfort of the old one.

The new format is divided into seasons; spring, summer, fall and winter. Yes, even winter. We find that many of our loyal client base loves to take a stab at winter boating. It's not for everyone definitely. It's cold and usually raining. But the river is deserted and spectacularly beautiful after a storm. Wildlife is usually roaming before the real cold sets in, so beavers and hawks and turtles roam the river corridor.

The seasons are unique in that each season specific rivers will run. Early spring, you have the incredible northern rivers running from spring melt and rainstorms. This is prime whitewater rafting season. Then in summer, dammed rivers kick in with controlled releases and great whitewater for the majority of the public. And fall, with most crowds tucked away, a time for wilderness rafting trips on multiple day excursions. Winter? Just for the whitewater paddling enthusiast... the junky of the paddling sport.

Drop us off a note if you have suggestions for the site. Trying to make this dinosaur of the oldest white water rafting site on the net has been quite a nightmare. We figured if we make changes and modifications to each of the old pages, we may be done by August 2008. Ha!

Raftwet Jewell Second Life Rafting Avatar

Hi all... as I usually say when I walk into a club to dance after building all day. The past few months have been an incredible journey of learning how to build, learning the Linden script and socializing with an international group of people, businesses and groups. I am officially a builder here. It's time to let you in the real world know a little more about W.E.T. River Trips focus here in Second Life.

Many of you who read the W.E.T. River Trips blogs, especially the California Whitewater Rafting Blog are usually reading about rivers, rafting, guides and California whitewater. The company started to write about lifestyles since extreme sports and whitewater rafting usually attracted certain types of people and markets. We in the SL world are focusing on promoting whitewater rafting.

The sims that have extreme sports are usually reflected in the groups that you might join here. There are skiing, snowboarding, sky diving, scuba diving, surfing, kite surfing, skateboarding, mountain biking, paddling, and on and on. Are they there to sell the activity? Probably not. All of us who own sims and land do this because we love the sports we love.

Second Life is just that. A secondary reality that usually reflects hopes, dreams and light and dark visions that a RL (real life) person may visualize. SL is not the answer for a lot of people. There are rites of passage while navigating this place. And some are not so nice.

I love being here. The support from this community has been unparalleled in any place I've ever been. I love my friends and especially those who love extreme sports. We thrive on living on the edge. Those who laugh and poke fun at us avis... they don't understand. And we don't expect them to understand.

My best friend here is a tech head in RL. He is also a builder and scripter in SL. Here is what he has said about the critics: "Great Spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds." (quote by Albert Einstein) And I can't argue with that.

Posted by Second Life Avatar: RAFTWET Jewell
Groups: rafting, whitewater, W.E.T. River Trips - join our groups in Second Life!

2008 Website Revamps

Back to work... it's that time again for all the rafting outfitters to evaluate their websites and figure out the latest SEO for their site rankings. With social networking being derigeur, the whole SEO ballgame goes out the window (or so they say...). Page views are no longer as important as they were before. With Ajax, stickiness becomes more difficult to measure. Is it the time the consumer spends? Or is it the ROI?

I'm a nuts and bolts kind of person. I want to see numerical results. So, when I see profit margins shrinking because of PPC and other strategies, I have to re-evaluate, even when the internet marketer is telling me otherwise. It's the bottom line that has the tendency to gather all my attention... especially after speaking with the accountant... ha!

For this year, we have decided to try, once again, to ratchet back the number of paddlers we accommodate in a given season. Last year, we pulled all marketing internet traffic around the beginning of August in a half-ass attempt to slow the sales down. By the first of August, we were sold out for the entire season. But, that left us with hardly anything to offer for the rest of the season.

Our staff, for an entire month, stayed busy by invention. Each time the phone rang, the entire staff just cringed. The phone was an enemy in which we only said, "... sorry, we're sold out this weekend..." Then the consumers were hitting the store online and showing up without reservations on the day of the trip. (Yes... we have a gazillion disclaimers on the store site... people still showed up on the day of the trip anyway...)

Our biggest concern for this upcoming season is how to control the internet traffic in such a way as to not overwhelm our small staff, and to have this traffic in a more reasonable flow... yeh, right... if we can do this, we will have accomplished a miracle.

Rafee and Beau

My name is Raftwet Jewell, and I am the avatar in Second Life. When I first arrived, I was struck by the beauty of this world. A place where people build their own virtual worlds from fantasies deep within their psyche. I am having fun here; meeting new people from all over the world, dancing in clubs and ballrooms, listening to live music, going to art galleries and visiting incredible, magical places. The people have mostly been very kind and helpful. There are those who seem to live with the need to hurt others. Just like in the real world. And those social aspects don't change much even in this utopia.

My building skills have improved as other friends here have helped me with techniques and tips. The builders are generous people... showing off skills in the sandbox and always helping when asked. I've been practicing with the sculpty textures. The colors and surface are much improved. And it's been fun learning as I go... though I should go to more classes here.

A friend recently placed an object for me on our Builder's lands. It was his first build project. I was so touched by the gift that I created an abstract object using his theme. I placed the object right next to the river. One of my neighbors is an old (2002) avatar who has peppered his property with many fantastic objects. Everyone seems to be practicing with the sculptys... I love my builder friends... they are the best friends...

I met someone who has been a wonderful person to me. He has so many good qualities that it was natural that I would like him. It's funny how a virtual world could introduce us two in this way. We are enjoying ourselves. Really! You will see us together, dancing, walking on the beach and looking deep into each others eyes. As in the real world, there will be bumps in the road. Cross your fingers! I hope we can make a go of this... I just adore him... Rafee in SL