September 22, 2007 by admin.

Since becoming a “webmaster” (actually I haven’t mastered it at all or even come close to it) and developing our own website, I’ve had to learn a lot about h1, h2, h3 headings, Meta tags, Page titles, and most importantly about Search Engine Optimization (SEO). I was under the impression initially that you just created your website, threw it up (and I intended that hurling reference) onto the Internet and there it was for all to see. True to a certain extent, but I didn’t realize how complicated it was to actually get your website to show up in search engine results, especially in a field as competitive as tourism in Beijing and China. What I have noticed by using Google and Yahoo’s webmaster tools is that some of the other tourism companies in Beijing have posted links to their website on blogs and forums that are completely unrelated to anything that has to do with Beijing, China or tourism. I don’t know if this is a conscious choice that those companies have made or maybe a company that they hired to increase their ranking on the search engine results, but I’ve found myself facing a dilemma on whether to do the same thing or not. I have decided not to do it, because I have ethical problems with posting our link somewhere just to increase our search engine ranking, and I just think that it reflects badly on the integrity of a company to have a link to their website randomly inserted into blogs and forums where it is not appropriate. It usually looks something like “Beijing tours, beijing travel, beijing trip, beijing hotel…” and then something in Chinese. (That, by the way, is a link to our Beijing Discovery Tours website - it’s my blog so why not?)

One of the great things about starting your own business is that you are the one in charge and you can do things the way that you want. By choosing to not post our link randomly on blogs and forums, we may lose out on search engine rankings and potential customers, but at least I’ll know that the hits that we get will come legitimately.

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September 19, 2007 by admin.

Some people have asked me and I’m sure most people that know me wonder why a guy from Oklahoma with a law degree and an MBA degree wants to live in China and run a tourism services company. I often ask myself the same question, but the short answer is that China is such an interesting place to live and I wanted to do something that could help people from other countries experience what a fun place it can be to travel here. I’ve been fortunate enough to have been able to travel to many different places in China since I came here in 2000, and if you don’t expect 5-star accommodations, immaculate conditions and Western food everywhere you go, traveling inside China is great fun. As in any country, of course you have to be careful about petty thievery and people trying to rip you off on prices because you are a foreigner, but overall China is a very safe country in which to travel and the people are very friendly, for the most part. If you have a friendly attitude, 90% of the time people will treat you with kindness, and that’s a pretty good ratio for any country but especially for a developing country such as China. Some of the smaller villages that I have stayed in in Henan Province had never had a foreigner visit there before, and people actually stopped in the street and stared, but if I smiled at them they would usually smile back. I supposed that I had the same type of feeling as the way a movie or music star feels when they go out in public, except that I had done nothing to deserve the attention other than coming to visit from another country.

I guess the purpose of this particular writing today is to encourage anyone that should ever read this that they should certainly visit the big cities of China such as Beijing and Shanghai, but they should also spend a day or two in smaller cities or villages off of the beaten path. I’m hoping to offer tours through Beijing Discovery Tours that will help people to experience places that most tourists never see, although travelers to these destinations will need to be a little more open-minded and flexible when it comes to sanitary conditions and lodging. Those things can be a bit “dodgy” to borrow a term from my British buddies when traveling outside of the major cities in China, but it just adds to the adventure and provides a source of great stories to tell to your friends when you return back home.

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September 18, 2007 by admin.

I spent probably over 30 hours on Saturday and Sunday working on the Beijing Discovery Tours website, and it look slightly better, but the program that I have been using, NetObjects Fusion 10.0 seems to have so many bugs that I spent most of my time trying to get the software to do what it is supposed to do rather than actually improving the site. It’s hard enough to get things done without malfunctioning software so it was a very frustrating experience.

Outside of that, on a personal level, I’ve been back in Beijing for 1 week now and the refrigerator has been broken the entire time. A repairmen has been here 3 times already, each time asking for more money for a different part, and it still doesn’t work. The landlord is supposedly going to buy a new one for the apartment now, but he is increasing the rent by 20% in addition to the increase that I’ve seen due to the appreciation of the Chinese Yuan against the US dollar. That, along with the website software problems and the usual “acclimatization” process that has to occur after I’ve stayed for an extended period in the U.S. made for a fairly miserable weekend. Plus I don’t think I’ve seen the sun here in the week that I’ve been back, it has been foggy, cloudy or rainy every day. The good thing is that last night (Monday) we got some heavy rain in Beijing, which is something that this desperately dry region of China really needs, and the rain is continuing into today (Tuesday).

I also received my Cbiz.cn China business newsletter this morning via email and it had a very insightful article into the mindset of the Chinese people regarding government, you can see it at http://www.cbiz.cn/news/showarticle.asp?id=2487. I need to look into whether I could add the Cbiz.cn newsfeed to our website somewhere because they have some great articles regarding business in China that are very helpful to understanding what a complex country this is. Even after 7 1/2 years of living in Beijing, I feel that I’m only beginning to understand a little of what it is that is driving China forward at such a rapid pace. One thing is for certain, it is a fascinating but not always an easy place to live.

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September 14, 2007 by admin.

I managed to get registered yesterday with the local police as all foreigners are required to do, which makes you feel somewhat like a criminal even though you’re following the law. Some interesting news out of Beijing yesterday with a first look at the nearly completed Terminal 3 at the Beijing Capital Airport. I had seen it as our plane taxied to the gate Tuesday night but wasn’t sure what it was. Apparently the extra terminal was desperately needed although I had never felt like it was too crowded or noticed any problems during any of my other flights out of China. I’m sure the demand for flights to China is increasing though - there are so many more foreigners here now than when I first came to live in China in February 2000. Hopefully this will also lead to increased business for Beijing Discovery Tours - surely more people will need tourism services that they can trust, and not just during the Beijing Olympics next year. Here’s a link to the story: http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/travel/2007-09-12-beijing-airport_N.htm I need to figure out how to use that RSS on my website too…..

It says a lot about the incredible growth of China that they are already talking about building a new airport in 2010 before this huge new Terminal 3 has even opened………….

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September 13, 2007 by admin.

I never thought that I would start a blog - I think that they are ridiculous, I mean, who wants to read what someone they don’t even know has to say about anything? But in the interest of promoting Beijing Discovery Tours and using another of the options that comes with our 1and1 web hosting package, I’ve decided to give it a try. Certainly, as an American living in Beijing, China and starting a new tourism business, there is no shortage of ideas or things to write about while living in such a dynamic and interesting part of the world. Whether I will actually consistently write in this blog or not remains to be seen though….regardless, if you have somehow stumbled upon this blog in one way or another, I hope that you find something here that will interest you - it is a work in progress. Thanks for visiting.

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