VERY Cool Blog Following a Nesting Bald Eagle

Hi all,
I just wanted to let folks know about a really cool blog on blogger.com right now. A good friend of ours who works for Fish & Wildlife has a blog that is following a nesting Bald Eagle that is about to hatch a chick any moment now - or at least within the next couple of days.

Evidently, the Outdoor Channel is sponsoring a live web cam that looks down into the eagle's nest in Shepherdstown, WV. What a wonderful opportunity to see something like this live!

Steve's got a lot of folks following this live webcam, so when you click on the live cam, it may load slowly. If you can't get the live feed, you can click on the "still cam" link that updates the photo every 30 seconds or so.

Steve's blog is here at www.EagleCam.Blogspot.com - to see the live cam or the still cam, just scroll down his blog and you'll see the links in the right hand column, just above his photo.

How cool is that!

Page about Christa's Country Corner - the Famous Pineola NC Corner Store & Deli

Well, I know that we took our trip to Banner Elk, NC last May, and that it's a little late to be writing about the trip now. :) Honestly, I don't know where the time goes! I think some of it has to do that we're getting ready to sell our beloved and beautiful Randolph, NH home, and that has had us a bit preoccupied...

Anyway, better late than never! One part of our visit that truly stood out in our minds was our afternoon at Christa's Country Corner & Deli, on Route 181 in Pineola, NC (located at Mile Marker 312 off the Blue Ridge Parkway).

Christa's is a classic country store that is truly so much more than your typical tourist stop. You can see the pride that goes into everything Christa and her crew does. The store is so popular, and it doesn't take a visitor long to realize why.

We were greeted and treated so graciously (not only by Christa Poore, the owner, but also by able crew member Janine Hughes). The ambiance is perfect for a mountain gathering place. Warmly decorated, and full to the brim with unique gift and food items (as well as the more standard tourist items), the real draw for us was the FOOD! Oh wow... Southern Hospitality AND great food all in one place. Heavenly.

Rather than recount everything here in this blog, we invite you to read all about our afternoon visit here at our Fine Resort Vacation site. I think you'll soon know why we needed to write all about it. :) And, if you find yourself in Pineola, NC, we whole-heartedly recommend a visit to Christa's Country Corner!

Web Copywriting, Blogging, and Watching the Myrtle Beach World Go By

Watching the world go by also provides a never-ending supply of blog fodder, which I absolutely love sharing with others. Whether it’s motivational, inspirational, educational, or entertaining, I enjoy it all.

For example…
I was just standing on my balcony overlooking the dunes on Myrtle Beach from our 14th floor unit (where it snowed 1-2 inches the other day - see photo for proof!).

This winter (January - April 2010) is our 2nd winter down here, and I found myself thinking about last winter when we stayed in the Cherry Grove section of North Myrtle Beach.


As I stood on the balcony, overlooking the beautiful dunes (and watching the resident cats run around in the world's largest litter box), my mind travelled back to the last few months of our stay last winter. At that time, the city of North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina sent out crews to improve and protect the fragile sand dunes. (Now, stay with me, because this story weaves into an important web copywriting concept that we need to understand.)

Ok. So, I’d watch these guys work the beach for hours and hours over the course of several weeks. First they put up hundreds of small protective fences in front of the dunes up and down the beach for a stretch of at least a couple of miles.

Then, they came back and drilled tiny little holes – lots of them – into the sand behind the fences.

After that, they took tiny baby dune grass plants – probably a gajillion at least, and carefully planted them into their tiny little holes.

You couldn’t miss ‘em. Really.

Anyone walking out onto the beach from any point of entry would have to stop at the fences and marvel, “Wow! Look at all those tiny baby dune grass plants! What a lot of work must have gone into planting those! I’d better keep off these dunes!”

But just in case the newly planted dune grass somehow escaped one’s attention, the city was prepared. The crew came in yet again. This time with signs. They put signs – dozens of signs in front of the dunes, politely asking us to refrain from messing up the restoration work.

As if that weren’t enough, there are signs – big signs – at the beginning of every public beach access walkway informing people of the rules of the beach and telling them to protect the dunes (again, see photo for proof).

At this point, one would think that people would reverently avoid walking behind the protective fences to – well, help protect the dunes and respect the restoration project.

So why is it that as I stood on my balcony in Cherry Grove, I saw people in the dunes? And guess where they just plopped their beach chairs?

Right smack dab on top of all the little baby dune plants.

And get this… They were sitting RIGHT BEHIND THE SIGN. The very sign that is asking them to please protect the dunes by leaving them the heck alone. I am not joking. This was for real.

Right behind the sign that was now obscuring their otherwise lovely view of the ocean.

Sigh. I mean, c'mon - look at the photo - and if you look closely enough, you'll see lots of footprints in the sand.

So. What has this got to do with web copywriting? A lot! Consider this:
It is obvious that the signage and new plants did not get the visitors’ attention.

Let me say that again:
It is obvious that the signage and new plants did not get the visitors’ attention.

How can that be?

Well, two thoughts come to mind:
Either the people damaging the dunes just don’t care and/or can’t read (in which case it doesn’t matter how much the city of North Myrtle Beach tries to protect the dunes)…

Or…

The signs are not written or presented using proven copywriting techniques.

Getting someone to your website is one thing. Getting them to pay attention to what you have to say is something else entirely.

So. Let’s get back to our dune protection scenario. The signs look a lot like most “Do Not” signs. You know the type: Do not do this, do not do that…blah blah blah.

This particular sign reads: “Dune Protection…Please Do Not Walk On, Cut, Break, or Destroy Vegetation.”

What’s missing? Keywords! These signs contain no keywords at all.

Not a single eye-catching keyword that people care about. No sense of urgency. Nothing unique. Nothing appealing to the visitors’ emotions motivating them to respond (translate: “buy”).

The city of North Myrtle Beach evidently does not employ copywriters to write and design their signs.

Let’s analyze the situation. Do you know how many people searched the term “Do Not Walk On The Dunes Sign” that month? Four. That’s right. My keyword reverse-search tool indicated (last spring) that four people in the whole wide world searched that term. Ok. Maybe that phrase is too narrow.

So, I entered the phrase “Protect Dunes,” and ONE person searched for “How To Protect Sand Dunes” last month.

Pop in the keyword “Dune Protection.” Only eight searches.

Obviously, a sign begging people to help protect dunes just isn’t going to cut it.

So, contemplating a fitting punishment for disrespectful dune tramplers, I typed in “Let’s Go To Prison,” and behold! 345 people searched that phrase that month! (You can see that I was in a research frame of mind.)

Even the misspelled, “Lets Go To Prison” got 1,104 hits. (Ok, maybe it’s a movie title, but I knew I was on to something!)

As I watched adults (who should know better) destroy the baby dune plants, additional phrases came to mind. The thought, “Why don’t you people grow up?” was among them. Believe it or not, 4,923 people searched the term “Grow Up” that very month. Hmm.

So, instead of the current sign, I submit to you the following sign:

Please Help Our Dunes
GROW UP!
Stay Off Them or You Can
GO TO PRISON!
($1,000,000 Fine, and Please Note:
People in the Condos are Watching You!)

Whaddaya think? (Ok, maybe they won’t go to prison or get a $1,000,000 fine, but I kind of liked it…)

So, when writing web copy, 1) use terms people are looking for, and then 2) place them strategically in the text so that people actually notice them when they do see them.

Otherwise the website will not attract qualified visitors, and those who do visit won’t stay.

Oh… I had one final idea to help the City of North Myrtle Beach help protect the dunes:

How about pointing an identical sign INWARD towards the dunes? Even if people miss the sign from the outside, they can’t miss it when they plop themselves down in the chair that looks right at it.

Just a thought.

PS: What do you think of my little snow man? He lasted just a couple of hours here on the deck (see photo for proof.) :)

Review of our Trip to Banner Elk, North Carolina!

At long last, I have compiled a bunch of information (and a review) of our trip to Banner Elk, North Carolina. We had stayed at the Blue Ridge Village resort (one of the thousands of resorts available to GRN members through your membership), and had a great time.

I've posted the information at my Fine Resort Vacation website. What I have done is developed a page called "Vacation Review," and will be adding sub pages pertaining to various vacation reviews - such as the Banner Elk vacation. There will also be a sub page for Caribbean Vacations since we enjoy St. Maarten so much!

Don't forget to check out the short YouTube video I posted about the Banner Elk trip! It's on the Banner Elk, North Carolina review page at Fine Resort Vacation.

In a nutshell, here's the review: Banner Elk is wonderful! It's scenic, the people are friendly (which seems to be the norm in the South!), and if you even remotely enjoy the outdoors, it's a dream come true! A visit would be well worth your time.

Enjoy the review! :)

Interview w/ 5th Grade Class from Woodland Elementary School in Perrysburg, OH

Ok... This was the coolest thing! Folks from Woodland Elementary School in Perrysburg, Ohio found my Fine Resort Vacation site online, and contacted me about a project they are doing that incorporates several fields of study - science, math, social studies, etc.

Mr. Jason Hubbard's 5th grade class has formed an "intergalactic tourist board" to design a planet that will entice Darth Vadar to visit, relax, and shake off his evil ways.

So, they asked if I would participate in a question and answer session to help them understand what types of activities and ammenities might be good at such a resort. And since I market Global Resorts Network memberships which include access to thousands of different resorts (and since I visit them myself), I was able to add some insight based on my own experiences.

What we did was set up a video conference using Skype, and I have to say it was awesome! What a blast! The kids had great questions, and it was the most fun I've had in at least a week! :)

We also talked about the things I have seen based on my experiences in Antarctica and New Zealand. We discussed how New Zealand might be a good country to study since it is such a beautiful destination.

Anyway, I'll update this blog if I learn anything else about how the project turned out.

I'm very grateful to Woodland Elementary School for inviting me to participate, and quite humbled, as well. It was an honor to help.