Tours by Locals

April 19, 2010 | Posted by eric in website | 1 Comment »
This is a website I came across that I would love to share with everyone.

Toursbylocals is a website with a great concept, that is if you’re a traveler.

Simply put, you get a local to assist you as your travel guide.  Just like the founders Paul Melhus and Dave Vincent we have all experienced a poorly managed tour with one thing in mind, “What can we sell to them?”  Well, sometime it’s not difficult to say no, but when you have a group of kids or elderly women looking at you with those eyes crying, “Please, please, just one….” you can’t help it to reach out and purchase something.  And in a split second, you have vendors swarming around you like ants on a piece of candy.

Here in Thailand, it’s not much different.  On top of your regular travel agency, you have tuk-tuk drivers and taxi drivers taking you to their local restaurants or gift shop that they will be receiving some kick-back or commission.  So do we have to completely avoid these people?  Not necessarily.

In the midst of the business minded industry, I’ve experienced many wonderful tour guides in the past.  They are very informative and some are genuinely trying to promote their local highlights.  But nothing beats being guided by a local.

My honeymoon was in Nepal and of course being it our first visit there, we had no idea but to rely on our lonely planet, which soon became our bible.  Going around Kathmandu and visiting the ancient temples was very straightforward following the bible.  But there were a couple occasions where we went off the guidebook, roaming the streets looking for a place to rest and get something to eat.  At that time, it was a local Yogi who saw our puzzled faces and assisted in ordering some food and giving us some insight to Nepal and the local people.

Whether it be in a guest house, a local shop, a vendor or even a by-passer, locals will give us a chance to look deeper than the books or manuals which we can get off the internet or travel guides.  It’s this connection we make during our trip that helps us realize that, “no matter what country you live in and even if you don’t speak the same language, we are all a common being living together in this world.”

So the next time you see someone in trouble or with a puzzled face in your hometown, approach them and give them a hand.  They maybe from another town, a city or a country just looking for something to do. Be proud of where you live and take that extra step to share your hometown to a foreigner.  Who knows, their hometown may just be as interesting for you to visit in the future.
Again on your next trip, consider toursbylocals to experience that missing insight you can get only from the locals.

toursbylocals

Screen Shot from toursbylocals.com

Also, if you’re visiting Thailand, everyone is more than welcome to ask us of our highlight here.  We’ll make sure you’ll enjoy your stay!

why your’s web site to less people click? Although, you’re to make, design,create for beautiful. Someone pays a lot of money for make website but, nobody click! Come to see the reason of nobody click your website

  1. Don’t know your website.
    Your audience doesn’t know your website, They can’t to reach. So, must to promote your website for others more is known and remember to your website’s name such as SEO, Viral mail, Banner in other website or new media.
  2. Don’t remember the name.
    Website’s name too long or difficult to remember, cause of the problems for visitors to find your website. So, you should  to create your website’s name for easy for remember, short and outstanding.
  3. Content without interest.
    Some restaurants are famous but don’t delicious, so doesn’t patron. You should update the website for interesting and the content should diresct for target groups. Try to design yor content for outstanding always!
  4. Not updated.
    If the restaurant have a tradition menu always. Nothing to recommend a new for customers. Your customer would routinely bored with them. You should to update your information for often . To attract customers to use frequently. Another way, build webboard for discuss between you and coustomer. It’s make to help update your website always.
  5. Competitor more interesting.
    You should study strength, weaknesses in him and you. In order to improve your website more interesting your website’s competitors. Find a spot that has attracted target groups. And back to Article 1 again!

Try to these methods to improve your website. However, you must to improve your website regularly.

HTML5 and SEO

April 12, 2010 | Posted by LUV in Search Engine Optimization | No Comments »

ไง ครับใกล้สงกรานต์แล้วมีแผนไปเที่ยวไหนกันบ้างครับ จะไปเที่ยวไหนก็ติดตามข่าวสารกันด้วยนะครับ อย่างบริเวณย่านถนนข้าวสารนี่ก็ได้ข่าวว่าปีนี้งด ส่วนผมก็ว่าจะเที่ยวอยู่ในกรุงเทพฯ นี่แหละครับ หาหนังสนุกๆ ดู ยังไงก็ขอให้เที่ยวกันให้สนุกนะครับ วันนี้ว่าจะมาพูดถึงเรื่อง HTML5 ซักหน่อย เพราะถือว่าเป็นเรื่องใหม่ ซึ่ง Web Developer อย่างเราก็คงจะต้องติดตามกันล่ะครับ แล้วก็อาจจะรวมถึงพวกที่ทำ SEO ด้วยเพราะว่าถ้าหาก HTML5 ถูกใช้อย่างแพร่หลายและกลายเป็นมาตรฐานในการทำ Web ในอนาคต ย่อมจะมีผลกระทบต่อการจัดอันดับของ Search Engine ต่างๆ อย่างแน่นอน

พูดกันง่ายๆ HTML5 ก็คือ Version ล่าสุดของภาษา HTML ซึ่งเป็นภาษาที่แต่ก่อนเราใช้ในการเขียน Web นั่นเอง แม้ว่าในสมัยนี้จะมีภาษาอื่นๆ ให้เราใช้ในการเขียน Web อย่างเช่น ที่เราเห็นกันเยอะๆ ก็ php กับ asp / aspx แต่ HTML ก็ยังใช้กันเยอะอยู่ในปัจจุบันนี้ โดยส่วนตัวแล้วผมยังไม่เคยได้ลองใช้ HTML5 ในการทำ Web นะครับ แต่เท่าที่อ่านดู สิ่งที่พิเศษที่ผมอยากจะพูดเกี่ยวกับ HTML5 ก็น่าจะเป็นเรื่อง Tag ใหม่ๆ ที่เพิ่มเข้ามาใน Version นี้นะครับ ซึ่ง Tag ใหม่ๆ เหล่านี้แหละจะมีผลต่อการทำ SEO และ การจัดอันดับของ Website ต่างๆ ของ Search Engine

ผมจะขอยกตัวอย่าง Tag ใหม่ๆ บาง Tag ที่เพิ่มเข้ามาใน HTML5 หน่อยนะครับ
- <article> ซึ่งเป็น Tag ที่จะบอกว่า Content ที่อยู่ใน Tag นี้เป็นเนื้อความของบทความ
- <nav> บอกว่า Content ในส่วนนี้เป็นส่วนของ Navigation อย่าง เช่น Menu
- <header> และ <footer> บ่องบอกว่า Content ใน Tag นี้เป็นส่วน หัว และ ส่วน ล่าง ของหน้า Web
- <audio> และ <video> บอกเกี่ยวกับ Content ที่เป็น ในส่วนของ เสียง และ Video

ครับจาก Tag ใหม่ๆ เหล่านี้จะเห็นได้ว่า Tag เหล่านี้ถูกเพิ่มขึ้นมาเพื่อให้ Search Engine นั้นสามารถรู้จัก เนื้อหาในหน้า Web ได้ดียิ่งขึ้นจากแต่ก่อน อาจจะรู้จักแค่ว่า ส่วนที่เป็น Code, Link และ เนื้อหา แต่ใน HTML5 นั้น Search Engine จะสามารถจำแนกได้อีกว่าเนื้อหาในหน้า Web นั้น มีลักษณะเป็นอย่างไร เช่น เป็นส่วนของ Navigation, เป็นส่วนของ article, เป็นส่วนของ File เสียงและ Video ฯลฯ ซึ่งสิ่งนี้ก็จะทำให้ Search Engine จัดการกับความเกี่ยวข้องของ หน้า Web กับ Keyword ต่างๆ ได้ดียิ่งขึ้นนะครับ

วันนี้เรามีวีดีโอเกี่ยวกับการโฆษณาที่เปลี่ยนแปลงตามพฤติกรรมผู้บริโภค ในปัจจุบันมาให้ชมก่อนจะหยุดยาวช่วงวันสงกรานต์ค่ะ เนื้อหาวีดีโอเป็นการเล่าเรื่องของการทำโฆษณาตั้งแต่สมัยก่อนจนถึงยุค อินเตอร์เน็ตว่ามันเติบโตขึ้นแบบไหน ดูง่ายทำความเข้าใจได้ทันที วีดีโอมีชื่อว่า “How the Internet Changed Advertising” ทำโดย Epipheo บริษัทผู้ผลิตวีดีโอสไตล์ Social Network ในประเทศสหรัฐอเมริกา สุดท้ายขออวยพรให้มีความสุขกับวันสงกรานต์ กับวันขึ้นปีใหม่ไทย เดินทางปลอดภัยนะคะ

Email marketing is still widely used by many businesses as we can see that we or at least I get a lot of advertising emails sending to my mailbox daily. Also, in many websites you will see the boxes asking you to fill your emails in order to periodically receive newsletters from them. Email Marketing is quite working well especially with people or your customers who choose to receive your emails or subscribe your newsletter. Therefore, you should not just send your emails to anyone or your emails can annoy people. Today, I will introduce you to one free email blast management tool named PHPlist so if anyone is planing to so email marketing or newsletter, they may use this tool.

You can download this tool from http://www.phplist.com/download, which is free and the latest version is 2.10.10.

In order to install, first of all, you have to extract the zipped file. After that, you have to config the file ‘config.php’ in the directory ‘config’ under the directory ‘lists’. The main thing you have to config is your database info. Then, you have to upload the directory ‘lists’ to your server so your PHPlist will be located at http://www.yourdomain.com/lists/. The rest of the process will be done via the browser so you have to go to http://www.yourdomain.com/lists/admin/. The default username and password are admin and phplist relatively and of course you can change later. After signing in, you will go to the main admin page. You may configure something else like the welcome message when people choose to subscribe your newsletter. But here I will tell you how to send the email.

To send the email, you must have the list of people who will receive your email so the first thing is to create the list. To do so, you have to click the menu ‘lists’ and then ‘add a list’. Next, you have to fill the list name and check the box labeled ‘Check this box to make this list active (listed)’. The rest of fields are optional. After this, you have to add the email addresses of the people that you will send the newsletter to. If your newsletter is HTML one, don’t forget to check the box labeled ‘I prefer to receive emails in HTML format’.

OK you have got the list of people who want to receive your newsletter. It is time to send to them. Click the ‘send a message’ menu. On the content tab, fill the information you want to show in email. However, in the message editor, if you prepare your newsletter as a webpage you can add the tag [URL:http://www.yourdomain.com/yournewsletterpage.html]. With this tag, the system will fetch the contents of your newsletter and add into the email. On the format tab, you have to choose the format of your newsletter (HTML / Text). On the lists tab, you can select which lists you want to send your newsletter to. Once everything is ready, you just press the button ‘Send the message to the selected mailing lists’.

In my opinion, I think this one is quite good for the free one but if you guys know any better ones, please share here …..

How to make a safe password!

April 7, 2010 | Posted by LUV in Miscellaneous | No Comments »

Now, Password is important for use in website. The most people like to use easy things ex.  pet’s name, phone number, nickname… for make a password, It’s easy for remember! But, that easy password doesn’t safe!

Good Password is…

  • Capital Letter
  • Doesn’t has symbol
  • Has a number at least 1 word
  • And have letter at least 5 word
  • Change your password every 3 months

We have examples of bad password. please change in now,if your password be similar!

WordPress is one of CMSs widely used currently since we can see that many big websites are developed by WordPress. Moreover, more and more widgets and plugins created for WordPress are launched periodically. In addition, right now, most of the websites I have developed are WordPress ones. Then, today I will you how to export and import any posts and pages made in WordPress since some developers may like to prepare their WordPress sites in their PCs or laptops before uploading to the servers so once they are done with their sites in their PCs or laptops,  what they have to do is exporting the pages and posts and set up WordPress on the server. Then, they just have to import it to the system. Let see how we can do that.

In order to export
- Log in to WordPress Admin
-  Under menu ‘tools’ click ‘Export’
- Then click ‘Download Export File’ and you will get the XML file.

In order to import
- Under menu ‘tools’ click ‘Import’
- Then click the menu ‘WordPress’
- After that you will be asked to upload the file so select the exported file then click ‘upload file and import’
- You may be asked to map the authors or admin with any exist users or you can create the new ones.

And that’s it. I think this way is easier than export and importing the SQL files.

Does anybody use Twitter?  Actually, Twitter is very useful and you may use it as one of your online  marketing tools. For instance, you can use Twitter to draw more traffic to your website. Moreover, you may use it for CRM like updating any news or events to your existing customers. Therefore, today I would like to recommend some tools that can be used to measure your Twitter performance.

twInfluence : With this tool, you can track the number of your Twitter followers who are really listening to your messages since it helps you to track the rate at which your campiagn is growing among various metrics. In order to use it, you have to connect this application to your Twitter account. You can view more information at www.twinfluence.com.

Twitalyzer : One of this tool’s advantages is that you can integrated it with your Google Analytics. Once this is done, you can track any information about traffic like clicks, goals referred from Twitter. Therefore, you can evaluate your Twitter performance probably in terms of marketing or you may track ROI since you can see the goals driven from your Twitter. You can view more information at www.twitalyzer.com.

TweetEffect : This is the last tool for today. It can help you see how people interact with your Twitter. Do they follow or leave you? For example, this tool tells you the number of your followers, the number of your lost and new followers. You can view more information at http://tweeteffect.com.

Due to its global target audience, the Internet provides a unique revenue generation platform with search engines. Below, we will talk about the most effective search engine marketing.

Some search engines account for the major avenues where people come whereas others are practically not visited by many people.

Cutting to the run after, your search engine marketing must concentrate on Google, Yahoo and Bing. These three search engines control the huge majority of traffic on the Internet. Not merely do lots of people use these engines to find things, the major three provide search results to several other search engines also. For example, Google supplies ads and search results for AOL. Dogpile compiles the several search results from the major three in its listings. Alta Vista uses Yahoo search results. This situation is so expansive that the major three search engines control 90 to 95 percent of all search traffic on the internet. This indicates you must focus on them and exclude others.

The most effective search engine marketing comes in two forms – pay-per-click advertising and search engine optimization. Let’s take a more detailed look at the big two.

Pay-per-click advertising (ppc) is platform where you pay for placement on a search engine. The three major ppc platforms are Google Adwords, Yahoo Search Marketing and MSN Adcenter. Google Adwords places ads on Google and AOL search results and many of its partners sites. Yahoo Search Marketing places ads on the Yahoo and Adcenter on Bing search engines.

The advantage of PPC advertising is you acquire immediate traffic for your site. You can use the traffic to test out the content on the site and whether visitors convert into paying buyers. The drawback is you are paying for traffic, which means you should pay close attention to your return on investment. On the whole, PPC advertising should be used at the start of a search engine marketing campaign while you wait for optimized pages to get organic rankings.

Search engine optimization (seo) is certainly the most effective search engine marketing. As soon as you get top rankings for a keyword, you receive much more traffic than you might from pay per click and it is all free! This does wonders for your profitability. Your advertising cost for the site will be zero. Which will greatly improve your profit margins.

The drawback to seo is it takes a great deal of time and work. You can expect to wait up to a year for top Google ranks, however Yahoo and Bing rankings appear much sooner. During this waiting period, PPC advertising is a must at the start of a search engine marketing campaign.

Search engine marketing is a pretty simple game. The most effective search engine marketing platforms are PPC and seo. Stick to these two and you should see good final results.

Has anyone ever used rss2html to try to display Feedburner feeds on websites and found some errors? Normally, I use rss2html to display RSS feeds into several of my websites but I never try to use it to display any Feedburner feeds. In this morning, I got a chance to try to display some Reuter’s feeds on one website so I decide to use rss2html as normally. However, I got some errors shown below.

$errorCode = 7
xml_error_string() = mismatched tag
xml_get_current_line_number() = 13
xml_get_current_column_number() = 2
xml_get_current_byte_index() = 783

Then, I started searching the solutions from all over the place but I could find only some postings saying that rss2html currently does not support Feedburner feeds. So I guessed I have to try to find the solution by myself. What I did is

- Go to Reuters website, http://www.reuters.com
- Search for their feeds located at http://www.reuters.com/tools/rss
- Pick one of them such as Business News, http://feeds.reuters.com/reuters/businessNews
- Click ‘View Feed XML’ in ‘Subscribe Now’ box
- place the URL like http://feeds.reuters.com/reuters/businessNews?format=xml into the file ‘rss2html.php’

$XMLfilename = “http://feeds.reuters.com/reuters/businessNews?format=xml”;

Then it worked.