Milk

There is a Levi's factory outlet near Sukhumvit Soi 101, near On Nut BTS. Just keep going towards Soi 101 and you'll see a sign for it on the left side. ANd a Jim Thompson outlet on Soi 93. All in the same area.

Hey Cowboy,

I PM'd you some time back for your handy guy's contact and you never replied! Anyway, I eventually found a great family run company that does it all and got it all sorted. Thought I'd share it with you all.

//removed URL - lopburi3//

If you are still looking for a reliable handyman or contractrors, try Bangkok Home Services.

I myself was looking for a reliable handyman sometime back and it's hopeless. You see, the problem is that no company is interested in doing a "small job." ANd the reason why those companies decided not to take your job after quoting you is that even your 80,000 bht job is way too small for them to bother. Unless you are willing to spend at least 100,000 up you can count on contractors NOT showing up even after agreeing to take up the job. I had a guesthouse in Phuket some time back and it was exactly the same situation there! They either can't do it, don't wanna do it or say they will do it but never showed up!

So, you can imagine my gratitude when I finally found a company that actually focuses on small to medium size jobs. Run by a British and Singaporean, BHS claims to be a one stop home improvement service centre that does it all and they do, so I just use them all the time now. I think they'd even come to your house to screw in a light bulb if you wanted! What I like best about them is that they give discounts to single parent families. As a former single parent, I really appreciate that.

Why don't you just buy skype credit and use it to call landlines anywhere in the world, including the UK? I'm thinking of doing that as the rates are reasonable and at least I know Skype is proven and tested.

Oh and one more thing I wanna ask: Does inserting robot text really help with page rankings? What are they exactly and how does it work? I found a robots page generator which basically gives you a robots.txt file based on info you type in on your site. I placed the file in my root directory but do I also have to add meta tags like this on my index page too?:

<META NAME="robots" CONTENT="index, follow">

<META NAME="revisit-after" CONTENT="30days">

<META NAME="distribution" CONTENT="Global">

Being a member of Bambi, I agree does have heaps of ads for maids and nannies but these are also the most expensive nannies in THailand. Some of them want more than a fresh grad.'s salary, and they are probably worth every penny but not all of us can afford to pay that kind of money. So, what you can do is find a maid who is in your price range and who loves kids, and send her to a nanny school. Try www.bangkoknannycenter.com - I sent my maid there for a 6 day course for 6 hours everyday and it cost me about 2500 bht and it was well worth every penny.

A maid will cost you between 5000 - 7000 bht a month. A nanny will cost you between 7000 - 12,000. That's what they charge these days anyway.

I'm sorry i mislead you to the wrong UrlS! Those were just examples because I cannot reveal the actual domain concern as the business has yet to launch.

M

Dont apologise for smart thinking!

Also, dont forget the FIRST rule of SEO, your top keywords should be in the URL.

In your case,"Bangkok" and "Bakery" are going to be very near to the top of the list of best keywords. If the URL's that you have regisitered dont have good keywords in them it might be a good idea to register www.bangkokbakery.com for 2 reasons:

1: to point at your site and then submit this url to search engines.

2. To stop any competition having it

THat's what I thought too! Ya see, my actual domain name does not contain the very best keywords BUT I have registered another domain with with the best keywords and pointed it to my actual URL. Get what I mean? example, my bakery's name is "Mom's recipe" so my actualy URL is www.momsrecipe.com. Now say I registered another domain called www.bangkokbakery.com and pointed it to www.momsrecipe.com so that whenever people search for "bangkok bakery" hopefully one or the other domain will show up on top of the list. But so far, it has not really worked. Is domain pointing considered black hat seo? Afterall, it should work right? logically.

If anyone is interested, I found this pretty interesting site www.fromshawn.com who basically gives out quite a few pretty good seo softwares. There is even one that goes out and gets links for your site while submitting your site to other link partners with just one click.

And John, I know what you are saying and you are probably right but I'll just wait a few more days before I reveal the site. Might as well prolong the suspense now that you've mentioned it!

Watch my space....

PS. It's a business alright.

Oh, if that is the case then all my pages have been indexed cos they all show up when I type "site:domainname.com" - I only have 10 pages anyway. I guess I just have to wait for other search engines and directories to add me before anyone can find me based on my company's name or related keywords. There are only 3 other companies in Bangkok doing what I do or are at least on the web, so if I dun get a listing in 2 months, I know my site is truly &lt;deleted&gt;! haha.

BTW Thaipwriter, that webceo software is awesome!

I am so glad to hear that! Yeah, Khun Somchai is a rare find and I thank my colleague everyday for recommending the guy. Most of the printers I contacted before him either tried to charge me ridicules prices for really poor quality work or they took forever to send me a quote. THose at MBK are the worst! Their quality is crap and their service even worse!

Thank god for Somchai

I am so glad to hear that! Yeah, Khun Somchai is a rare find and I thank my colleague everyday for recommending the guy. Most of the printers I contacted before him either tried to charge me ridicules prices for really poor quality work or they took forever to send me a quote. THose at MBK are the worst! Their quality is crap and their service even worse!

Thank god for Somchai

Search Engine Optimisation is an extremely complex and time consuming exercise.

Two of my favourite resources are:

1. Web CEO at http://www.webceo.com/ this is an absolutley magnificent peice of free software. I checked loads of these packages and this one kicks a55

2. http://www.bruceclay.com/ This company are giving away far too much valuable free information and secrets about SEO. Essential reading.

What bothers me most about your post is that you say you have "finished" your site. It is not published and the URL you quoted is still for sale. It seems as though you need to get this issue nailed down immediatley before a speculating cybersquatter crashes your project.

Hey, those 2 sites are great. Thanks! and again, I'm sorry i mislead you to the wrong UrlS! Those were just examples because I cannot reveal the actual domain concern as the business has yet to launch. I have registered the domains concerned and all pages are completed and published. That was what I meant. THanks anyway for the advice.

M

1. Did you search for your exact domain name?

2. Did you search for pages from your site using "site:domainname.com"?

3. In your domain statistics, do you see Googlebot visiting at all?

4. Did you try copying a full paragraph from your site and search for it with quotation marks (or to use the EXACT feature in Google's advanced search)?

Until you answer those questions we cannot know if your site is indexed or not.

I guess my pages have not been fully indexed by most search engines because the only time it appears on google and msn search is when I type "site:domainname.com" Apart from that - nada.

I do see googlebot visiting in the stats, yes.

Nothing showed up when I did copied a full paragraph from your site and search for it with quotation marks.

I have been reading up on all the sites/links suggested by all you guys and have done everything from submitting my site to many search engines and directories, creating sitemap (still can't submit to google tho' cos for some reason the "submit" button is greyed out!), robots text files etc. Hope something works!

Hey guys,

Don't get me wrong. I'm not expecting instant top ranking. I may not know much but I know I'd be a fool to think it was THAT easy to be ranked at the top in a couple of weeks or even months. My problem is that when I search for the actual name of my company, which also shares the name of my URL, it doesn't show up. That becomes a worry when 1) there really isn't another company sharing the same name 2) Mine's probably one of the very few companies in Bangkok doing what we do and 3) "Bangkok" itself should be a valued keyword when typed with the other keywords associated with my business since there aren't many other similar service providers in my field in Bangkok! Or at least, they aren't on the web as far as I know.

Also, I can't seem to add my sitemap on google. I have an account and have verified it etc. But when I get to the add sitemap part after entering my sitemap URL etc, the button to "add web sitemap" remains grey. I can't press it to go onto the next step. Can anyone figure why this might be so?

M

First of all, a big "Thanks!" for all your replies. Very interesting indeed and I'nm sorry if my initial post misled all of you to unregistered domains. www.bakerybangkok.com was just an example I used and not the actual domain concerned.

As the website is about a company that has yet to be launched, I have been asked not to reveal the actual URL for now. Sorry! I just really want to know why when I actually type in the name of my company, my URL which shares the same name, does not show up on google at all! Another example - say my company is a renovation and remodelling company and my company name is "renovation bangkok." SO I type in "renovation bangkok" on google, but it doesn't show up. Instead, I get a list of other URLs that don't really have much to do with renovation in bangkok. Know what I mean?

THanks again guys for the invaluable info. you've already given me.

M

Hi,

I recently completed my business website and am really puzzled why it just doesn't show up on any search engines. OK I know it's not easy getting listed these days, but what puzzles me is this - For example my domain name is www.bakerybangkok.com and I have even gone as far as to register related domain names e.g. www.cakebangkok.com and www.breadbangkok.com and set domain pointers to the main URL www.bakerybangkok.com. Now here's what I don't get. When I actually search for "Bakery Bangkok", my website does NOT show up. Now I might understand if there were many other similar URLs with the same keywords but thing is, wthe search result gives me irrelevant pages that has either "bangkok" or "bakery" but not both! If my URL is the only one that is actually called "bakerybangkok.com" why is it then that when I search for those words, it doesn't show up on the search list???

I manually submitted my site to google 3 weeks ago, is there any chance that they have yet to spider my site? 3 weeks seem a really long time for a site that doesn't have much competition keywords wise.

Would appreciate any advice from an seo expert. Help!

M

Hey guys! I found a printer who is really efficient and very reasonable. He was recommended to me by one of my colleagues. SO if you need a good printer, call Somchai or email him at [email protected]

He comes to collect the artwork and then delivers everything else to you. I managed to get 10,000 tri-coloured brochures printed on 120g paper at less than 1.5 bht per piece! Now that is a bargain, and it's pretty good quality too.

Hope this helps!

THat's sad...but can u also tell me how much Hi-Res charged you for the tri-fold brochures u had printed recently - 4 colours? I just need a rough estimate, if u don't mind.

Hi,

Can anyone recommend a good and reasonable printer here in BKK? I need at least 5000 tri-fold brochures printed, 4 colours. I am told that it is cheaper and better quality getting it printed at a factory. Can anyone recommend one?

Would be most grateful for your help.

M

Hi,

Anyone know where I can contact a handyman who can put up some ceiling fans and do some electrical wiring around the house? And also clean my aircon units?

Is there some sort of directory online (or offline) for agents to contact all the Thai hotels that are listed? Something like hotelexchange.com

I am sure there is a more efficient way than scouring the net and yellow pages to find the contact office of every hotel in Thailand.

Thanks for that. I just visited the TAT website but it has no info. on how to go about applying for such a license. Where should I start? Go to their HQ and get a form or something?

Hi,

I have read all the threads regarding setting up a travel agency. What if I only do domestic hotels booking online? And maybe tour bookings ( I don't organise the tours. I just sub-contract out). will I still need a TAT license?

Also, do I need a TAT license in order to obtain a ATTA license? If I am not a ATTA member, will hotels still deal with me and give me an agent's rate? What if I just be a PATA member? WIll that be enough for hotels here to deal with me? I am not so much thinking of setting up a typical travel agency but more package vacations and location wedding planning.

Any kind of advice would be great or even interested partner (prefably with some experience in tourism) PM me and I can tell you more about my plans. I work in the media and have some pretty useful connections but at the same time, I am also aware that you only find out how useful your connections really are once you are in business!

BNOW together with mobyelite are organising a Speed Networking fundraiser tomorrow. CHeck out http://www.mobyelite.com/Networking/ for more info or email [email protected] to register. Event will be held at the Hu’u (restaurant section). See below for more details.

Who

· Business professionals/extroverts who want to meet new people.

What

· Expand network and contacts

· Meet 12-20 potential business contacts for about 5 min. Exchange ideas, brainstorm, give and get advice.

Why

· A fundraiser for Soi Dog Rescue www.soidogrescue.org

When

· Event Date: 30-March-06

Where:

Venue: Hu’u (restaurant section)

1st and 2nd fl, The Ascott 187 S. Sathorn Rd.

Yannawa Bangkok 10120

T: 02 676 6676

F: 02 676 6671

How

· THB700 entry fee per each participant and collected at the door. This includes canapés, sponsored drinks, lucky draw prizes and making lots of contacts.

Why Speed Networking?

Traditional networking events can sometimes be very unproductive. Many people tend to gravitate towards those they may already know, never getting the opportunity to meet others who could be great business contacts. In this structured environment you will interact with many individuals that you may have never otherwise had the chance to network with. Even if someone you meet does not directly relate to your business, you may know someone who would be a great contact for them, or vice versa. Since each face to face speed networking session lasts only several minutes, you will not get stuck in an unwanted long conversation trying to figure out how to end a conversation.

How the events work:

Individuals attending the events will come from various lines of business. You will have 12-20 face to face networking sessions during the event, each one lasting about 4 minutes. During each session, each person will share information about themselves, looking for synergies, offering contacts, providing ideas, and exchanging business cards. Do you know someone that this person should talk to? Do they know someone that would be a great business contact for you?

The organizer will signal the end of the round and half of the attendees will rotate to the next. The process continues until you have had 12-20 networking sessions. Following the event, each participant will be provided with a list of event attendees and contact information. This will also give you the opportunity to reach out to someone you may not have had the chance to meet at the event.

What you need to for the event:

Business cards.

Know your business, and know it well

Be able to describe what you do in a few clear sentences

Know what you want and need from networking

Understand how networking works; it's a relationship that you build over time.

Act as an ambassador of goodwill whenever you attend an event or meeting. Circulate.

Meet everyone you possibly can, and involve yourself in conversation.

Think Give, not Get.

Listen actively to other people.

Follow up with contacts promptly by telephone or letter.

Stay in touch.

Asia Travel is anything but low. I find their rates rather high compared atsiam and asia rooms.

Yeah Carl, where is your friend's friend's company and where were you when I was booking my songkran holiday!