Monday, March 19, 2012
Look at all the juicy new links
Mostly from local directory submissions, of course. If you're a human reading this, you're gonna be bored. This is really just for spiders :-)
YellowBot, on Facebook, and how about CrunchBase :-). There's a Yelp profile too for Visual Itineraries (prize goes to the first person who reviews us!). UBL has a page for our cool travel website too. Never heard of Directory Central, but our travel site is there too.
LinkedIn of course has a page for Visual Itineraries as well as my own profile page with a mention on it. And Jacob's got a visual itineraries sample page on his Classic Ridge Design site too.
Google+ (of course) has Visual Itineraries. StumbleUpon...and Lookup Book...and Best of the Web Local too. And since I'm a board member of SEMpdx, there's a page for me there with a link too. And AboutUs.org, where I've written a series of articles on SEO.
And there's also Virtual Itineraries, which I created simply because people were typing that instead of "visual".
YellowBot, on Facebook, and how about CrunchBase :-). There's a Yelp profile too for Visual Itineraries (prize goes to the first person who reviews us!). UBL has a page for our cool travel website too. Never heard of Directory Central, but our travel site is there too.
LinkedIn of course has a page for Visual Itineraries as well as my own profile page with a mention on it. And Jacob's got a visual itineraries sample page on his Classic Ridge Design site too.
Google+ (of course) has Visual Itineraries. StumbleUpon...and Lookup Book...and Best of the Web Local too. And since I'm a board member of SEMpdx, there's a page for me there with a link too. And AboutUs.org, where I've written a series of articles on SEO.
And there's also Virtual Itineraries, which I created simply because people were typing that instead of "visual".
Monday, March 12, 2012
Sunday, March 04, 2012
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
CenturyLink Paid Me $1971 To Stop Being A Customer
So here's the story. About 3 years ago, I signed up for a DSL + DirecTV bundle through Qwest (which has changed its name to CenturyLink). Somehow Qwest screwed up the account setup, and had my DirecTV account in their system tied to someone else's bill. DirecTV, not getting any money for my account from Qwest, started billing me on my credit card each month as well (I guess I must have given the installer my credit card for installation, or something like that).
This I discovered this past August, when I got a call from DirecTV asking for my updated credit card info. Hmmm...I thought...I'm pretty sure I pay for that through Qwest/CenturyLink. "Oh no, we've been billing your credit card for this every month." I'd never noticed it on my bill before, but then, I just scan my credit card bill each month really just looking for companies I don't know.
5 hours of calls to both companies later, talking to supervisors on both ends, CenturyLink finally agreed to credit me back for the double-billing. The customer service supervisor at CenturyLink, Becky, tried to get her company to send me a check, but apparently that's not their policy. CenturyLink expected me to essentially "work it off", i.e. leave it as a credit on my account until it went back to zero.
Becky says to me, "really, the only way they'll send you a check is if you close your account."
I'm really not in a position to offer interest-free loans to one of the largest corporations in Oregon. That, and I really don't feel like it in this case. So I switched my internet to Comcast (which is WAY faster, and less than half the cost).
6 months later (well, actually only 2 months later...it took the first 4 months to get to where they credited my account), I received (and quickly cashed!) the check you see before you.
Clearly, it's not good business for CenturyLink to behave this way. If you think of the discounts and promotions they offer to GET a new customer, you'd think they'd make this problem go away quickly and try to keep me. It seems to me that this is a classic case of middle management not having the authority to make a small decision to do the right thing for their business (and the customer).
DirecTV, in my opinion, didn't come out smelling like roses either. After all, charging my credit card for the monthly bill without my authorization is probably credit card fraud. And they refused to give me the "new customer" promotional rate when I re-signed up with them. If it wasn't that I hate the Comcast DVR functionality, and DISH only has 720p HD TV, I'd have switched there too.
If you want to help spread the word, there are posts for this on Digg and Reddit. :-)
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Friday, February 17, 2012
Local influence on Organic SERPs
Just published an article on local-influenced organic search results on SEOmoz's main blog today.
Cheetah Conservation Fund trip
Teresa at Mango African Safaris and Jason at Azumano Travel are putting together a trip to Namibia to visit the Cheetah Conservation Fund headquarters--and I've done a Visual Itinerary for the trip.
In addition to a visit to the CCF headquarters, travelers will be staying at Olive Grove, Ongava Tented Camp, and Otjibamba Lodge. The executive director of CCF, Laurie Marker, will be escorting the trip at Ongava Game Reserve as well as the tour of the CCF facility.
Guests have the option to add on various other stops (since they're flying so far...why not?), including Babson House, Kulala Desert Lodge, Victoria Falls, Chobe National Park, and Capetown.
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Skills Mismatch in Today's Economy
This is a really terrific summary of how the raw unemployment % doesn't tell the whole story. Courtesy Crisp 360:
Crisp360 Career Development
Crisp360 Career Development
Friday, January 13, 2012
A worldwide guide to using your turn signals
Just put this guide to using your turn signals up on my Visual Itineraries blog :-)
Friday, January 06, 2012
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Friday, December 09, 2011
Press Release - Macadam Vision Clinic
Just issued this press release about emPower electronic bifocals for my client, Macadam Vision Clinic:
Release headline: Macadam Vision Clinic First on the West Coast Offers the World's First Electronic Bifocal
Release headline: Macadam Vision Clinic First on the West Coast Offers the World's First Electronic Bifocal
- 24-7 Press Release
- Biotechnology News Today
- Healthcare Industry Today
- World News Report
- EIN Presswire
- Consumer News Today
- News Blaze
- Fashion Design News Articles
- Lifestyle News Articles
- Lifestyle PR News
- Healthcare News Articles
- Industry News Articles
- Industry PR News
- Consumer Electronics PR News
- Electronics News Articles
- Hitech News Articles
- Hitech PR News
- Technology News Articles
- Technology PR News
- Healthcare PR News
- Fitness News Articles
- Health and Fitness News Articles
- Health and Fitness PR News
- Health PR News
- Gadget News Articles
- Gadget PR News
- Biotechnology News Articles
- Biotechnology PR News
- Fitness PR News
- Health News Articles
- Medical News Articles
- Medical PR News
- Medical Products News Articles
- Medical Products PR News
- Eyecare News Articles
- Eyecare PR News
- San Francisco Chronicle
- Houston Chronicle
- Chicago Daily Herald
- The Miami Herald
- NewsOK Oaklahoma News
- UPI.com News
- BioMedReports
- Columbus Dispatch
- Newsday
- SignOnSanDiego
Sunday, December 04, 2011
Monday, November 28, 2011
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
American Comedy Co., San Diego
A new San Diego comedy club opening in spring 2012--some of their first comedians include Kevin Nealon, Christopher Titus, Tom Arnold, Tom Green, and Bobby Lee. I'm in the midst of an SEO project that involves both natural and local search optimization.
HTG Inc.
Another client of mine--HTG does large-scale technology rollouts, system integration, asset management, asset retirement, distribution & logistics, and IT outsourcing. They're based in Vancouver, WA.
Mango African Safaris
Mango African Safaris has been a client for some time--mostly doing SEO work, and also some Google Maps integration coming up soon, but also sharing content for the properties they represent with my Visual Itineraries company.
Chubb Collector Car Insurance
Just completed an SEO project for Chubb Collector Car insurance, involving a wide range of changes throughout their website, including a major revamping of their photo galleries (with the help of Jacob Miller of Classic Ridge Web Design in Santa Cruz) to optimize the images for search.
Monday, November 21, 2011
Trios Studio: press release
Just sent out a press release this morning announcing Trios Studio's new online jewelry catalog, done in conjunction with Columbia Gem House...and it's got pretty good pickup so far:
Release headline: Trios Studio Launches New Online Jewelry Catalog
Release date: November 21, 2011
Release headline: Trios Studio Launches New Online Jewelry Catalog
Release date: November 21, 2011
- 24-7 Press Release
- Media Industry Today
- Gold Industry Today
- World News Report
- EIN Presswire
- Consumer News Today
- News Blaze
- Industry News Articles
- Industry PR News
- Retail PR News
- Apparel News Articles
- Apparel PR News
- Home and Family News Articles
- Home and Family PR News
- Fashion News Articles
- Fashion PR News
- Fashion Design PR News
- Business News Articles
- Business PR News
- Retail News Articles
- Ecommerce News Articles
- Ecommerce PR News
- Internet News Articles
- Internet PR News
- Online Shopping News Articles
- Online Shopping PR News
- Jewelry News Articles
- Jewelry PR News
- Wedding News Articles
- Wedding PR News
- Womens News Articles
- Womens PR News
- San Francisco Chronicle
- Houston Chronicle
- Chicago Daily Herald
- The Miami Herald
- NewsOK Oaklahoma News
- UPI.com News
- Columbus Dispatch
- Newsday
- SignOnSanDiego
- Social Picks
Sunday, November 13, 2011
New sample Visual Itineraries
We've just finished putting together a set of amazing visual itineraries for different parts of the world.
Check out this virtual tour of Italy...Ben wants to go simply because they make great noodles.
This African safari itinerary covers mostly where Melinda and I went in Kenya.
Of course, we have to have a tour of the Seychelles in the mix too...
A virtual visit to Fiji is next...Ben and I went there about 2 years ago, and loved it!
I had a fantastic trip to Thailand back in the late 1990's, but didn't manage to visit as many places as in this visual itinerary, nor did I stay anyplace anywhere NEAR as nice :-)
I put together a magical Maui adventure as well--I think Maui is often overlooked as people tend to know about just Kaanapali, Lahaina and Wailea, but there's a ton more cool outdoors stuff to see and do if you know where to go.
And someday I want to go the land down under--maybe time it to catch the Australia MotoGP races at Philip Island if I'm lucky!
Check out this virtual tour of Italy...Ben wants to go simply because they make great noodles.
This African safari itinerary covers mostly where Melinda and I went in Kenya.
Of course, we have to have a tour of the Seychelles in the mix too...
A virtual visit to Fiji is next...Ben and I went there about 2 years ago, and loved it!
I had a fantastic trip to Thailand back in the late 1990's, but didn't manage to visit as many places as in this visual itinerary, nor did I stay anyplace anywhere NEAR as nice :-)
I put together a magical Maui adventure as well--I think Maui is often overlooked as people tend to know about just Kaanapali, Lahaina and Wailea, but there's a ton more cool outdoors stuff to see and do if you know where to go.
And someday I want to go the land down under--maybe time it to catch the Australia MotoGP races at Philip Island if I'm lucky!
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
The Cottam Family Vine
From Ben to his great-great-great-great-great grandpa. My dad made this for the hallway:
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Trios Studio: new online jewelry catalog live!
We've finally launched our new online jewelry catalog for Trios Studio of Lake Oswego, featuring some amazing custom jewelry design work by Trios' designers.
Monday, September 26, 2011
My eyes! My eyes!
Had my annual vision checkup last week with the best eye doctor in Portland, Dr. Greg Schober, at Macadam Vision Clinic :-). He did my pre & post Lasik consultations and I'm very happy now to be seeing 20/10!
Below are my eyes, pics taken with Macadam Vision Clinic's digital retinal photography machine, which eliminates having to have your eyes dilated (and being useless for the rest of the day!) as well as giving a much better picture of what's going on in there.
Below are my eyes, pics taken with Macadam Vision Clinic's digital retinal photography machine, which eliminates having to have your eyes dilated (and being useless for the rest of the day!) as well as giving a much better picture of what's going on in there.
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Friday, September 09, 2011
Need replacement windows?
One of my clients is All Season Windows, and guess what...they do replacement windows :-). Super guys...read the testimonials on their website!
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Friday, August 19, 2011
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Tuesday, July 05, 2011
What's Tashmarine?
From Xinjiang province in China comes the gem tashmarine. The deposit is at at an 8,000-foot elevation and can only be mined a few months of the year due to the cold. Photo courtesy TriGem Designs (a client of mine).
Sunday, June 05, 2011
Thursday, June 02, 2011
Monday, May 30, 2011
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Friday, May 27, 2011
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
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