Check out photos of Xena she is very cute and only has little legs so I can see me carrying her towards the end…but who will carry me lol

Anyway please sponsor me – give what you can, it’s to raise money for the Dogs Trust – a very worthy cause.

The walk will take place on 3rd October 2010 at Wynyard Woodland Park and this is my first sponsored “anything”. I will be sure to post some photos up here after the event but please visit my sponsor page at the Just Giving website

As those who have read my blog before realise this is sometimes a place to vent my spleen regarding truly appalling customer service received. As a savvy consumer I believe in passing these experiences on to people who maybe considering using the same services to give them the full picture of what to expect, as I would expect someone to let me know if a company was not recommended for such a reason.

However – in February 2009 my now husband and I attended the Yorkshire wedding show – as we had set the date for our big day for September 2009 we needed to get cracking with the organisation. Now the Yorkshire Wedding show holds some stature in that we believed that anyone exhibiting there would be reputable and reliable (as I am sure most are) but I have changed my opinion dramatically after dealing with a Gift List company based in Leeds called The Gift Box (thegiftbox.co.uk). Who promised us a £50 “gift” if we booked an appointment with them at the show, so we did.

We arranged a meeting with the owner; Julia for early March to discuss our gift list so we drove to Leeds (over an hours journey) Julia was late, so we had to wait outside the shop (which was shared with another company so it wasn’t even her premisses)

Once she arrived we went through our gifts, created the list and collected some cards to distribute with the invites so people knew where we were registered.

The wedding came and it was AMAZING! simply perfect. After we returned from honeymoon 2 weeks after the wedding I supplied Julia with the agreed list of what we wanted – Julia explained it may take 12 weeks for delivery – this meant by early New Year 2010 we would have our pressies! Thank you cards had already gone out to the generous guests who bought us gifts from the service.

Anyway January came and went, still no gifts! After calling Julia nearly every other day and emailing we received nothing but automated responses saying she was expecting a baby but still providing an incredible level of service to her customers. Well if that is the case why was this the first we herd of her “absence”? Why was nobody looking after her business or her customers??

We even contacted the shop she part rents in order to get in touch – still no luck apart from the spurious email now and again “the gifts are on their way”, “they have been delayed over Christmas or due to snow”

It was only in APRIL (YES 7 MONTHS LATER) after threats of legal action and contacting Trading Standards that we actually received our items; very curious this happened within a week of us sending our strongly worded letter to Julia who did not tell us about having a baby or arrange cover to take over and serve her oh so important customers!

No apology for the hassle and some people had gave money as gifts (which were meant to be honeymoon experiences) which we had to wait 7 months for and then after providing my bank details to Julia I had to contact her in late April to say the money had not gone into my account – to which I finally got a reply that she had the wrong bank details for me?! Well that’s funny as I forwarded the previous email which I copied and pasted the details from my on-line banking so SHE had either made a mistake inputting it or not bothered at all, I am leaning to the latter!

This is money that had been paid to The Gift Box seven months prior just gaining interest in The Gift Box’s bank account ( with a £2.50 charge for delivery- for cash?!  at the cost of our guests) Still waiting for the money to clear into my bank account. Wonder if the £50 “gift” will be added…probably not. Simply shocking.

So basically The Gift Box could not care less about its customers and should be avoided at all costs!

My husband believed The Gift Box were cowboys from day one – I should have listened to him! This is not an isolated incident check out the reviews! The Gift Box, Leeds AVOID THIS CON ARTIST Read Reviews @Review_Centre http://bit.ly/a8Cg0i

I believe this could be a very good move as it seems this industry often exploits peoples lack of knowledge. When providing a service to a business they may not want to know how everything works but I believe it a positive to offer them the tools carry out their own on line marketing strategy and best of all not be baffled by science!

Why shouldn’t SEOs be open and forthcoming with techniques – yes I know people want to work out the best strategies and stay ahead of the competition but by offering the everyman (or woman) the comprehension of what needs to be done and more importantly why and the potential affect on their business! Isn’t this above and beyond what most agencies offer?

I know this overt approach is definitely something I have not experienced working within agencies. Most SEO Managers will be reading this thinking “surely this approach makes us obsolete?” — no I don’t think so. Open and honest advice is the name of the game here so it can only excel our reputations. To long we have been tarred with the same brush as the cowboys out there (and there’s a lot of them with a copy of Dreamweaver thinking they can do SEO) I say lets take a different approach and embrace Search Marketing Consultancy’s ethos and values.

It seems too many online marketing and SEO agencies are out to take hard working peoples money and relish in the fact that not everyone understands search engines which is a shame – surely we can share this knowledge with them and help enhance their marketing from all sides.

I think this is a refreshing approach to SEO and Search Engine Marketing Consultancy.

What is a Subdomain?
A subdomain is just as it sounds, a sub or second-level of a domain. A standard domain looks as follows: www.mydomain.com. A sub domain would be http://prefix.mydomain.com. Subdomains do not take on the “WWW”.

Subdomains will rank as well as regular domains however Search Engines will treat each subdomain as a new, individual site. This will mean new work on building PR and links.

It is a good idea to adopt subdomains if site is large and convoluted although there is alot of extra work involved in terms of SEO in order to get that subdomain ranked well.

Each subdomain should reflect a section of the site (used as an alternative to folders) but If the site is easy to navigate folders will be a better option as any back links, page rank optimisation can be inherited from the main domain without having to start again.

An advantage of subdomains is that If you were to submit to directories (i.e. Dmoz) you could submit each subdomain as its own individual category and not get penalized.

However it is worth noting that If a subdomain becomes banned will it will affect the main domain
• Don’t create pages with malicious behaviour, such as phishing or installing viruses, trojans, or other badware.
• Avoid “doorway” pages created just for search engines or other “cookie cutter” approaches such as affiliate programs with little or no original content.
• If your site participates in an affiliate program, make sure that your site adds value. Provide unique and relevant content that gives users a reason to visit your site first.
If you determine that your site doesn’t meet these guidelines, you can modify your site so that it does and then submit your site for reconsideration.

I have also read various “guides” on writing meta and all seem to suggest that the keywords meta tag is now of little importance and not reviewed by some search engines. So that leaves the title tag and description. I can understand that the description tag is important as I have seen it used as the excerpt on SERPs so this needs to be thought about.

So here are a few of my thoughts on writing meta tags – hopefully it is helpful

Title Meta Tag
Include the keyword or phrase the page is trying to be optimised for as the primary keyword followed by any secondary keywords which will reinforce it i.e.

Primary Keyword – Secondary Keywords | Brand
Or
Brand | Primary Keyword and Secondary Keywords

If you are trying to rank for a very competitive term, I have found that it is best to include the keyword at the beginning of the title tag. If you are competing for a less competitive term and branding can help make a difference in click through rates, it is best to put the brand name first.

Description Meta Tag
Acknowledged by all search engines so this is important and needs to be included on all pages and be unique per page.
Summarise the page as best you can using the pre-defined primary and secondary keywords and limit it to 170 characters or 200 characters.
This requires using the most creative juices and you need to ensure it is coherent.

Keywords Meta Tag
This is more important for Yahoo then Google or Bing – try and limit to no more than 10-15 keywords to a page.
Include the keyword of phrase the page is trying to be optimised for first.

Keywords
More important for Yahoo then Google or Bing – no more than 10-15 keywords to a page
To include the keyword of phrase the page is trying to be optimised for first:

What is Page Rank?

Page Rank is an analysis of links which is used by Google to establish a numerical weight of the page of your website based on the volume and relevancy of links to your site from other sites of a similar genre and good page rank.

As my own page rank has lapsed a little in recent months I decided that I needed to take on more research into this subject and optimise my page rank and that of my clients.

My research and professional opinion is that link building is an important part of any SEO strategy.

Why is link building Important?

Well in order for a site to gain creditability and maximum exposure you need to look at getting back links from other websites linking to you.

Think of back links as a “vote” for your site. So a “vote” from a high page ranking site is a very credible “vote” and a high page ranking site will be a site that will be crawled often so you link will be picked up.

Now this sounds easy but it takes quiet a strategic approach as it is not productive to target just any websites for you back links.

The websites page rank is important and its relevancy in relation to your website. So this means taking the time to indentify websites with high page ranks who are themed around the same subjects or products as your own website.

Where to start…

Well a good place is look at submitting to Dmoz (Page Rank 8 ) and other directory sites (basic stuff). Dmoz is great as it is a high page rank and gets crawled by Google regularly so there is a good chance your site will be picked up and associated with the category you have submitted to. Also to submit to Dmoz is free! Just make sure you submit as specifically as possible i.e. drill down you category as far as possible rather than trying to get submitted to the highest level of category. Dmoz is edited by real people and a more narrow category may mean that your submission gets revised quicker.

Another place to look at getting back links is simply use web searches for subjects you want your site associated with – then approach them for a link to your site. Not all sites will offer you a link for free or at all so be warned you may need to pay for links – the question to ask yourself at this point is whether the back link from this site is worth the money.

You can purchase software which will analyse your website and find sites associated with the same subjects/products that may be looked at for potential back links – however my experience of this software is that it still need a human touch to filter out competitors (who aren’t going to give you a back link) or sites that are just of no value.

Another area is to submit well written optimised articles to various websites and contain a back link to your site. These sites are usually reputable with a high Page Rank and categorised so you will find a relevant category to post your article. Just three sites I have found are www.HubPages.com/ www.ezinearticles.com/ and http://www.articlesbase.com/

Another area to explore is social networking site but I feel this is a subject in itself so I will post separately about this.

You can also opt for link exchanges (sometimes called reciprocal links) although I believe this is to be avoided where possible to avoid search engines seeing a straight forward link from a site, to another site and back again.

In some circumstances this needs to be adopted to take advantage of a sites relevancy and page rank although this need to be kept to a minimum and only considered from sites that will enhance relevancy and page rank.

Another common technique is commenting on blogs relevant to your site – this is fine but check for no follow links and ensure your comments are constructive and relevant to the post not a blatant attempt at shoe horning you url in as this will be seen as spamming and removed.

So what have I learnt from my recent link building 101? Well it is certainly organic process and takes time. It needs to be a natural progression and well strategized . There are lots to consider and it really involves thinking outside the box. You are also in the laps of the gods as to when your link will be picked up as it depends on the webmasters of the website you are linking from and how often they submit sitemaps, and how often Google visits.

As I submerge deeper into link building I will do my best to share my experiences with you. Watch this space!

Andy & Karen Theresa Lewis 09/09/2009

For those who follow my blog (which I would be surprised has reached double figures) you will be aware of the trials and tribulations in the build up the wedding with crappy bridal shops and poor customer service but I would gladly suffer all that again if it could guarantee the fantastic day we ended up having! For those who have been married or are planning a wedding I am sure my previous entries have tickled you and struck a familiar chord as well as acting as a vent for my stress levels lol.

Andy and I were married on 9^th September 2009 at Aldwark Manor in York at 12 noon. Yes the date was deliberate for 2 reasons; one – so Andy couldn’t forget the date lol and two – it was a Wednesday therefore cheaper!

The day overall went unbelievably well, the sun even came out and stayed out all day making our photographs truly incredible. – A special thanks to Stephen and Steve our Wedding Photographers.

On the morning, in accordance with tradition I was getting ready with the bridesmaid in another part of the hotel so we had hair and make-up artists giving us the pamper treatment from about 10am and my 4 bridesmaids and I all looked hot to trot. – Thanks to Kuki skin and beauty in York for their fab  hair and makeup skills!

The wedding photographer arrived at 11am and snapped a few shots of Andy getting ready and “acting very calm” so people were reporting back to me. It was at this point I thought there was just me who was pensive and rigid with nerves! Even the photographer had to remind me to smile lol

Once I was in my dress I felt a million dollars although I was still “bricking it” lol my dad arrived to collect me and the registrar ran through what would be done in the ceremony and to this day I really don’t recall what she said to me lol

Walking down the stairs was an issue in the dress as I don’t think it was designed with practicality in mind – but I managed on my dad’s arm.

We reached the door to the room where the ceremony was taking place and a few deep breaths and the music started (Secret Garden by Bruce Springsteen played on a string quartet) and we were walking.

I caught sight of Andy from the back with his arms folded and staring forward, he looked far from calm. When I reached him and he turned to look at me I saw tears in his eyes and thought to myself “well at least I am not as nervous as him!”

He looked at me and told me I looked beautiful and all my nerves disappeared, I held his hand tight while the registrar conducted the ceremony and watched Andy well up again when his sister Sarah did her reading.

With a few giggles along the way from Andy and myself when I managed to put his wedding ring on the wrong finger! We were officially married! It was amazing and I felt so happy. We turned to walk down the aisle and Andy practically ran – last bought of nerves I think – however it did mean we were out of the room within the first four bars of Heaven by Bryan Adams played (beautifully I presume) by the string quartet.

But then we were outside greeting everyone and it was just magical.

The rest of the day went so quickly with photos and gathering people for more photos but the sun was shining and everyone was as smiley as I was.

The wedding breakfast (which I now know is what they call the meal after the ceremony – not actually “breakfast” which I thought we had to buy everyone on top of their meal!!) we were announced as Mr & Mrs Lewis and entered the room to a round of applause from family and friends which was weird but fun!

My dad made a very lovely speech regaling tales of my childhood and there wasn’t a dry eye in the house lol

Andy’s best man Shaun made a speech which got some laughs and then we tucked into our food which was simply delicious and everyone commented on how lovely it was.

After the meal we had more photos but Andy and I managed to steal 5 minutes on our own to absorb what was going on and have a kiss and a cuddle.

For our first dance we chose Run by Leona Lewis (no relation lol) and Andy managed to actually dance!!! Well it looked more like he was shifting furniture but he did his best bless him.

After that it was all about the dance floor and doing the rounds to say hello to friends and family.

Everyone had a great time and a few comical moments occurred when dancing to the typical wedding songs such as Come on Eileen and The Cha Cha Slide to which people started doing some kind of dance off competition – very funny.

All in all I could not have asked for a more perfect day, it was incredible and it was such a shame it had to end.

All our family and friends have been amazing and I am over the moon I could have shared our special day with them – I truly had the time of my life!!!

A big thank you to all our guests, the amazing staff at Aldwark Manor (simply AMAZING!) and Stephen Quinn and Steve – our photographers who were incredible as the photos prove!

Check our our amazing wedding photos in my Gallery!

]]> http://www.karen-heslop.co.uk/2009/09/our-fantastic-wedding-day-andy-and-karen-09092009/feed/ 0 http://www.karen-heslop.co.uk/2009/05/xena-our-new-puppy/ http://www.karen-heslop.co.uk/2009/05/xena-our-new-puppy/#comments Wed, 13 May 2009 08:07:19 +0000 Karen http://www.karen-heslop.co.uk/?p=152 After the sad and sudden departure of Buffy our beloved house rabbit we have adopted a new addition to the family. Xena is an 8 week old Chorkie puppy! A Chorkie is not a purebred dog. It is a cross between the Chihuahua and the Yorkshire Terrier so as you can imagine she is very tiny and very very cute.

This doesn’t mean that she isn’t a monster and has a diva style strop when she isn’t the centre of attention. All of which seems to be forgotten very quickly with one flash of her big brown eyes!

Technically she is a “designer breed” but I loath that term, makes her sound like some kind of genetically modified Frankenstein experiment. She is the happy product of a mummy Yorkie and a daddy Chihuahua.

However Chorkies are a robust breed with a life expectancy of 15 years but due to their appeal we have decided to get her micro chipped and insured as believe it or not people actually try to steal them!

She is very comical and loves to fight with toilet roll holders…random!!

Bradders, our other house rabbit, is a little unsure as he knows he is a lot bigger and more powerful then the puppy so he tends to keep out of her way for now. She is very bouncy and playful so he doesn’t really know what to make of her yet, he will never have as much of a bond with Xena as he did with Buffy but we are hoping they learn to get along once Xena has settled down.

I can sense another “Marley and Me” type book with anecdotes of her hilarious antics!

Check out the photos of Xena in my gallery.

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]]> http://www.karen-heslop.co.uk/2009/05/xena-our-new-puppy/feed/ 0 http://www.karen-heslop.co.uk/2009/05/goodbye-buffy/ http://www.karen-heslop.co.uk/2009/05/goodbye-buffy/#comments Fri, 08 May 2009 08:36:08 +0000 Karen http://www.karen-heslop.co.uk/?p=144 As those who know me from this site you will know I am very proud of my 2 house rabbits Buffy and Bradders who are the best of friends and partners in crime.

Sadly we had to say goodbye to our girl house bunny Buffy on Monday 4th May.

Rather suddenly and very unexpected she was struck with Encephalitozoon cuniculi infection.

At just shy of 3 years old we were obviously shocked and upset at this dramatic turn of events. She woke up on Monday morning (bank holiday) unable to bend her back legs. We took her to the emergency vet before 9am (as it was bank holiday our usual vets were closed) and she was diagnosed with Pneumonia, given a steroid injection, a painkiller and some sort of tonic solution to keep her strength up.

As the day progressed however she got worse, her front legs would no longer bend and she was shaking and falling over with a sever head tilt. Immediately I thought it was more then Pneumonia and something neurological such as floppy rabbit syndrome.

We called the vets again who told us to bring her back down.

Just as we were at the front door of the vets when Buffy had a massive seizure – the vet diagnosed her with Encephalitozoon cuniculi infection which affects the nervous system. Although there was treatment available it would require hospital treatment which would traumatise her further and her chances were 50/50 at best.

We were told this disease is prevalent in house rabbits and when it strikes it strikes fast and is extremely debilitating, often fatal.

It was based on this evidence my fiancé and I had the soul destroying, heart rendering decision to put Buffy to sleep. We stayed with her until she gently drifted, giving her cuddles and telling her we love her and she gently slipped away at 2:05pm 4th May.

We are still very sad and our other bunny Bradders is still a little bamboozled at the absence of his soul mate. In fact he sometimes trots about unexplored areas of our house in the hope of finding her hiding and its all just a game. Very upsetting but he is getting better.

So hopefully Buffy is now sleeping peacefully and we will always miss her!

What is E.cuniculi?

E.cuniculi is a tiny single celled organism called a protozoon, which has to live inside a host cell to survive (an obligate intracellular parasite). It belongs to the phylum Microspora. These are spore-forming parasites with a wide host distribution. Recent research has indicated that they may be more closely related to fungi than to protozoa, which means that novel antifungal drugs may be of use in treating this disease. Microsporidia contain a unique internal structure called the polar filament, which plays an important role in infection of the host cell.

E.cuniculi primarily infects rabbits and is a significant cause of disease. Infection has been diagnosed in rabbits in Europe, Africa, America and Australia. In the United Kingdom this parasite is frequently encountered in laboratory rabbits, but is thought to be rare in the wild rabbit population. It has been diagnosed in pet rabbits and a recent study has shown a 52% incidence of exposure in normal healthy domestic rabbits.

- Source:

The British Rabbit Council

http://www.thebrc.org/health.htm

Buffy
August 2006 – 4th May 2009
x x x x

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See photos of Buffy in my Gallery

I AM NOT THE ONLY ONE – CHECK OUT THESE REVIEWS. This is not an isolated incident check out the reviews! AVOID THIS SHOP AND THEIR CRAP STAFF
http://www.reviewcentre.com/reviews128322.html

LOL I know it seems all I ever write about is things that have ticked me off but this one is a belter!

The experience of my visit to Pronuptia store in Leeds was not a positive one, in fact they were downright disgusting and rude! and I am obviously not the only one who thinks so.

Basically on the 14th March (my birthday!) I had arranged an appointment with Pronuptia Leeds. When I arrived for my appointment at 10:45am I was asked to fill in a card with my name, address etc on. When I handed this back to the sales assistant, she looked disgusted and said me to “oh, your not from Leeds” to which I replied “no” to which she said “well there is absolutely no point ordering a dress from here”. I understand her point, about returning for fittings etc but it was quiet an assumption to make, how did she know I didn’t work in Leeds and the level of contempt which she used to speak to me made it perfectly clear from this stage she was disinterested in serving me from this point on as this would not result in a sale. People will travel far and wide for their wedding dress but she was just rude!

The reason we were coming to Leeds was due to the 2 bridesmaids with me where from different areas (Brighton and Huddersfield) so Leeds was a convenient place to meet and they stocked the Mark Lesley dress I liked for the bridesmaids to try and be measured.

However I tired to put this rudeness behind me as I browsed the dresses waiting for the girls to arrive. I saw one and asked to try it on. I was very much left to my own devices as the sales staff has completely lost interest and where not even asking me what I preferred or what I was looking for.

The sales assistant let me try the dress on. How very magnanimous of her! Once in the dress I asked if it was ok for me to keep it on for a few minutes so when the girls arrived they would be able to see me in it and give an opinion, it was obvious that this displeased them but I had made this appointment and travelled to Leeds.

Anyway the girls arrived and ohh-ed and ahh-ed over the dress but when my Chief Bridesmaid suggested a try a few more styles to see what suited me best she was taken by the arm to one side by the sales assistant and very loudly told “She is not buying her dress from this store…we are not in the entertainment industry!” I was appalled and the fact she actually physically moved my bridesmaid to one side was unacceptable! This was assault

I was disgusted and upset by this point. When we came to leave, having not been offered a drink or having the bridesmaids measured, I walked out the shop saying “I don’t see why I should spend money here when the customer service was so appalling”

We were then chased down the street by one of the sales assistants who we thought had come to apologise, however she said “I didn’t appreciate your comment about poor customer service, you have just wasted 3 and half hours of our time!” (Actually we were there about 1 hour 40 mins – I am not gluten for punishment) How unbelievably rude! How dare she! I made an appointment and the customer service was disgusting! It beggars belief.

We went to another bridal shop (not a Pronupia store) where we were treated amazingly; we were given a drink, made to feel welcome. If I was looking to spend a few thousand pounds on a car and was treated like that I would certainly choose another showroom and I don’t think you can blame me.

While we were in the other bridal store there a couple of girls who walked in and we got chatting (as you do). They had been to Pronutpia Leeds that morning too, but not made an appointment. The woman on reception had told them “we can’t possibly accommodate you today – you will have to leave”

I can assure you the shop was empty. So basically Pronuptia Leeds are in the habit of being rude, chasing people out of their shops and straight into another bridal shop. Not the best sales technique. The credit crunch must not have hit them very hard if they can afford to turn away business like that.

Remember I had people travel from Brighton for my day and it was ruined, added to that it was actually my birthday that day as well which just added insult to injury.

I am not tarring all Pronuptia stores with the same brush however the Pronuptia in Leeds are doing your reputation of the Pronuptia brand no good at all. I have visited the Pronuptia in Middlesbrough and they were nothing but polite and accommodating. I am sure I am not the only person who has suffered this kind of appalling behaviour from the staff at Pronuptia Leeds as our coincidental run in with the girls in the 2nd bridal store highlights.

This was supposed to be a highlight leading up to my special day – once in a lifetime thing – I feel cheated and terribly angry, my advice: AVOID PRONUPTIA LEEDS LIKE THE PLAGUE!

update added 13th May 2009:
And guess what! it’s 2 months later and after letters to Pronuptia Leeds Bridal Shop I have been completely ignored, not even an apology! Oh well it seems I will just have to contact their trading authority. Before visiting ask yourself, do you really want to trust these people with an important part of the happiest day of your life?!

I AM NOT THE ONLY ONE – CHECK OUT THESE REVIEWS. This is not an isolated incident check out the reviews! AVOID THIS SHOP AND THEIR CRAP STAFF
http://www.reviewcentre.com/reviews128322.html