The well-known and well praised local division of the franchise TheBestOf.co.uk have written on behalf of my dad two promotional pieces for online ad’s on the bestofcirencester.co.uk (their franchisee site). I have built up a fairly good idea of promotional writting through various courses and practise and now feel confident I know a fair bit about what grabs peoples attention and what simply bores them.

I was reading over the two pieces and noticed some things which I would change in a way that I feel would benifit the whole article. However I was quickly told that the use of the same word 5 or more times was benifical to the search listings as it means google and other search engines will pick it up.

As I do web development myself I have a basic idea of SEO and I though search engines will generally get keywords from meta tags and the first (few) paragraph(s) of a site and using the same word actually lowers your listing for spam based reasons.

Who is correct?

Thanks.

Google cites tech glitch for China search problems
Google Inc said many users in China were blocked from using its search service on Tuesday by a technical glitch that made their search queries appear to be associated with Radio Free Asia, which is blocked by Chinese authorities.

Read more on Reuters via Yahoo! News

thanks to break.com

Broadway star turned fashion entrepreneur CHAD KIMBALL performs ‘Giants in the Sky’ at UPRIGHT CABARET in Palm Springs. Chosen as Entertainment Weekly’s “It Boy” for his breakout role as Milky White in Broadway’s INTO THE WOODS, Kimball exposes the tears and jeers of stardom. Upright Cabaret is produced/hosted by Chris Isaacson and Shane Scheel, and joining Chad on the keys is legendary Music Director Gerald Sternbach. For more information about Upright Cabaret, please visit: www.uprightcabaret.com or www.myspace.com/uprightcabaret www.obvious-clothing.com www.viceroypalmsprings.com

Where can I find a New York based marketing firm that specializes in search engine optimization and pay per click advertising?

I want to run a campaign for my jewelry store based in Manhattan and hope to find an seo expert that has the skills to deliver local search results, as well as take my online store to another level with marketing online.

PS- I am looking for someone that is google adwords certified, or a company that is certified.

Thanks!

In other words, if I search for “local fast food restaurants” in google search, and the first listing I see is “Wendy’s Value Menu” (the link) and beneath that is the description, “chicken sandwich, all-white meat chicken” etc. what is that called?

With the popularity of online video sharing and the very low cost of video media storage, how about sharing footage of your favorite drives? Here are some tips on leveraging Google’s tres cool Maps and YouTube applications to get your in-car videos out of your camcorder and onto the net.

Did you know you can use Google Maps to map out routes? A map route is displayed on Google Maps by creating a polyline which is simply the path that is created by interconnecting several coordinates or dots on a map.

Part 1: Creating Your Route for Google Map

One application you can use is Google’s Interactive Polyline Encoder Utility. You set the map to the location that you want to map. Then you start clicking on points of the map to create your trip route. You keep adding points until you’ve completed your path as the utility stores your route.

Your route can be one way or a loop and can be as long or short as you like. The points that are created correspond to longitude and latitude pairs that are stored within the Google Maps application. Don’t worry, you don’t need to know anything about the actual value or any GPS coordinate – you simply just click on a road and build your path.

You should also record the LatLon (short for Latitude/Longitude) coordinate for the start of your route as this can be used later to position a marker for your trip. This information will be displayed in the righthand side of the utility when you click on the map to add the first point of your route.

After you’re done tracing your route, the Google Utility creates an encoded polyline and an encoded level for the route. The encoded polyline is simply a compressed version of the entire path so that the Google Maps application can quickly draw the route while the encoded level contains information about how much detail is presented for the route as you zoom in/out on the map itself.

The encoded polyline and encoded level appear in window fields below the map you’re using. You should copy and paste information from each of these fields in a simple text document (e.g., Word or NotePad). This information will be used when you want to display the route on an embedded map.

Part 2: Uploading Video of Your Route onto YouTube

For this mashup, you should upload your in-car video to YouTube. You can then associate the in-car video for your trip with the trip route you’ve just created for Google Maps. By creating an map marker, you can have your in-car video play when the marker is clicked on.

This requires that you copy and paste the YouTube link for your in-car trip video after it has been uploaded. An example url would be http://www.youtube.com/v/bzM7KJMReN4&hl=en&fs=1

Part 3: Displaying Your Favorite Trip and In-car Video Online

While you could create your own Google Map, marker, and embedded video object, a free online site exists for storing and displaying your trip at http://www.azimotion.com/myTripShotMaps.html. An upload form is provided for you to provide the following information:

A Title for the Trip The Encoded Polyline (that you copied from the Google Interactive Polyline Encoder Utility in Part 1) The LatLon coordinate to be used for the marker (which you also copied from Part 1 above) The URL to your YouTube in-car video

If you upload this information, your trip route will be added to the database where it will be displayed on the embedded Google Map. Your route will be highlighted by a marker and if you click it, you will see the embedded YouTube video that is associated with your trip. That’s it!

Note: your route and video may require up to 48 hours to appear on the map.

You can share the URL with your friends and you can view the page source to see how the Google Map – YouTube mashup was created.

Use it to capture and share roadtrips and Spring Break with your buddies. Use it to share a gorgeous coastal highway drive or a month of beautiful sunsets of your ride home from work. Or share your most recent road course laps.

Copyright 2009, AziMotion, LLC

Broadway star turned fashion entrepreneur CHAD KIMBALL performs ‘Memphis Lives In Me’ at Upright Cabaret’s 2nd annual New Year’s Eve Blowout at Mark’s Restaurant. Kimball shared the stage with Adam Lambert (Wicked, American Idol and Leslie Odom (Rent, CSI) with Music Direction by Gerald Sternbach. Chosen as Entertainment Weekly’s “It Boy” for his breakout role as Milky White in Broadway’s INTO THE WOODS, Kimball exposes the tears and jeers of stardom. Upright Cabaret is produced/hosted by Chris Isaacson and Shane Scheel, and joining Chad on the keys is legendary Music Director Gerald Sternbach. More info about Upright Cabaret: www.uprightcabaret.com, www.myspace.com/uprightcabaret, www.obvious-clothing.com