Archive for September, 2007
« Previous EntriesSometimes Several States Have the Same City Names
Saturday, September 29th, 2007This article is more about keywords then design of a chiropractic homepage, but I was having a conversation the other day with someone having questions about doing locally related searches, and I decided to write about our discussion here.
The individual I was speaking to manages a chiropractic office in a city located in Southern California. [...]
Idaho and Similar States
Saturday, September 29th, 2007Some of the larger states, such as California or Florida, have a number of chiropractic volunteers working on getting resources regarding colleges, local organizations, recent graduates that are opening their first offices, and other information that is getting plugged into various databases we’ve been working on. As a result, directory databases for those states are [...]
What about frontpage websites?
Friday, September 28th, 2007So you had your website built in 1998 and it was created in Frontpage. You know you are long overdue for cleaning up some areas of the site (comic sans font has to go) and having some optimization done in hopes of getting the site to rank better.
You may have been wondering whether you need [...]
Providing Links in the Press
Thursday, September 27th, 2007by Michael Dorausch, DC
I came across a web site today with blog post by an Internet marketing specialist that was recently interviewed for an article that appeared in the Guardian newspaper. The guy that was interviewed, named Andy Beard, didn’t get a link to his web site in the online version of the newspaper article, [...]
Thimerosal Vaccine Study Looks at Safety
Thursday, September 27th, 2007by Michael Dorausch, DC
A large number of news reports appeared in nationwide news today, with reports on research released Wednesday, with findings that Thimerosal is not a neurological trigger in children that have been vaccinated. The study did not address a relationship of vaccines and autism.
Vaccine news has been on the rise since Jenny McCarthy appeared last Tuesday on the Oprah Winfrey show, talking about vaccines her child received and the autism that developed soon afterwards. The nation is gearing up for massive flu vaccination programs, beginning as soon as this weekend. Earlier this week there were news reports regarding research suggesting little science to back up claims that flu shots are effective for the elderly. As a result, nationwide vaccine campaigns will likely be geared towards injecting the largest population of children possible.
The most recent news regarding the mercury compound additive thimerosal gives pro-vaccine groups an opportunity to push forward on this falls large-scale vaccination efforts. Rather than rehash what others have already authored, here are five varying viewpoints on topics related to this week’s most recent vaccine news. I specifically sought out articles appearing on nontraditional media sites, since major media sites tend to typically show boilerplate press release style content, when it comes to polarizing topics such as vaccine safety and effectiveness.
The first article comes from a fairly new web site called the daily green which is operated by Hearst digital media. The article is titled Vaccines Don’t Cause Brain Damage. But What About Autism?
Another article comes from “America’s Best Political Newsletter”, CounterPunch. This vaccine article, titled Same Old Story, Same Old Song and Dance, is authored by Anne Dachel, and it provides a look into how drug industry influence is affecting advertising and reporting of topics such as this one.
Arthur Allen from the Huffington post has an article on the popular blog today titled: Thimerosal Vindicated in Another Study, Yet … the Show Must Go On
Also from the Huffington post comes an article by author David Kirby which was posted yesterday. The blog post is titled: CDC: Mercury in Vaccines Damaged Your Child. Or Not.
I love Wired News, so when I noticed that Brandon Keim posted a Thimerosal related article to the Wired News blog, I had to add it to this list. Again, the post is authored by Brandon Keim and it is titled: Another Look at the CDC’s Thimerosal Study.
Regardless of what your thoughts may be on this issue, it’s interesting to see the number of people beginning to speak up and take a stand. It was only a few years ago, that moms wanting to participate in open discussion about their children’s health and vaccine safety, were made to look like raving lunatics hell-bent on risking the lives of others, and disrupting the scientific medical establishment. That’s not to say that some don’t still refer to parents questing current medical policy as cultists and crackpots, but it’s getting easier to spot those blatantly pushing big Pharma objectives.
Buzz People Noticed Yoga Was Popular Too
Thursday, September 27th, 2007by Michael Dorausch
I just noticed today someone from Yahoo! found Yoga Topics were growing in popularity.
I blogged about naked yoga last week after I did some keyword research and found a number of funky yoga and massage terms appearing in SERPs. That research was a result of extended searching I was doing related to 1895 [...]
Blue Balls on the Beach
Thursday, September 27th, 2007by Michael Dorausch
I just had to tell you about my blue balls (and a Big Red one too)!
I’ve spoken, blogged, written, about running on the beach in Marina del Rey more times than I could find links for. We had the first big rain of the season over the weekend and it’s common that all [...]
Online Local Search Phone Directory Being Sold
Wednesday, September 26th, 2007by Michael Dorausch, DC
InfoSpace has announced that they will be selling their online phone directory service, Switchboard.com to Dallas company Idearc, for $225 million in cash.
InfoSpace, the Seattle-based provider of online search and directory services, made the announcement last Monday, that they had agreed to sell the switchboard.com directory to Idearc, who owns superpages.com and publishes the Verizon Yellow Pages.
InfoSpace owns a number of online directory properties such as DogPile.com, WebCrawler.com, and MetaCrawler.com. All of the sites currently have an impressive Google page rank of 8. Switchboard.com primarily promotes itself online as a yellow pages, white pages, and maps directory, although the web site provides other services. The web site’s home page currently focuses on helping consumers locate local businesses, a market space that’s been showing significant growth over the past year.
Visiting the web site, a quick search for “Lawyer in Chicago” brings up directory listings of attorneys in the Illinois Metro area. The web site currently features several sources of advertising, including sponsored ads that are appearing at the top of general directory search results, which switchboard refers to as “Featured Sites.” Traditional banner advertising was also appearing down the right sidebar, for businesses such as Discover Card, when I performed the attorney search.
From a search engine optimization perspective, the deal could be a great one for Idearc, owner of Superpages. I performed a Google search for Chicago lawyers which presented a superpages yellow page directory listing in the first organic nonpaid position. Great work by the SEO team for superpages. That success could easily be duplicated for the switchboard web site, which holds a number of popular natural listings for many local business terms, hundreds being locally based chiropractor business terms.
The sale will provide a significant amount of cash to the Seattle-based InfoSpace, with the company getting to unload a valuable asset at a high premium. InfoSpace had acquired switchboard.com in 2004 for the sum of $160 million. The companies expected to focus on its other search sites and mobile services businesses, including cell phone services such as ring tones, games and mobile phone search applications.
The local search industry is more vast than most people may realize. As consumers, we often focus only on those industries we are accustomed to, such as chiropractic. But local search is popular for a mind-boggling number of services ranging from local dog boarding services to in-house medical services. Depending on their needs, consumers are searching for terms related to services for their pets, such as Las Vegas Dog Grooming, San Diego Boarding Services, Santa Monica Cat Kennels, to search terms related to the elderly, such as Cleveland Adult Home Care, Dallas Nursing Homes, Boise Assisted-Living, and Massapequa Senior Housing.
What do you search for locally?
September Birthday Board Ideas
Tuesday, September 25th, 2007by Michael Dorausch, DC
I’m categorizing this post in the marketing section even though it could go in a “nice things to do” section. I had an experience earlier this week after creating a birthday card for someone who’s been influential in my life, which reminded me of a number of things related to birthdays and [...]
Brad Pizza Georgia Council of Chiropractic and CCE
Tuesday, September 25th, 2007United States Department of Education Transcripts
The following is part of our 2007 Chiropractic History Month coverage. This content comes from transcripts, provided by the World Chiropractic Association (WCA), regarding June 6, 2006 proceedings that took place in Arlington, Virginia. Chiropractor, Brad Pizza, speaks regarding the Council on Chiropractic education.
Chairperson D’amico: Thank you very much. Mr. Pizza, President, Georgia Council of Chiropractic–Chiropractic something.
Dr. Pizza: Yes. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you for allowing us this opportunity as a profession to come to the United States Department of Education as a body that can help to perhaps shed some light on some issues that are going on in our profession today. I’m an alumni of Life College, a 1983 graduate. I have two active practices in Atlanta, Georgia, and I represent three to 400 doctors of chiropractic as the president of our State association. I have been very, very involved with the activities at Life University from its onset in 1983 when I became a graduate.
We have found that when the students were told that their accreditation had been voided, the entire State of Georgia was devastated as far as the chiropractic profession was concerned. This is a committee that’s out of control, ladies and gentlemen. They policed the chiropractic profession as if it’s a German Nazi investigation of people and lives. The Georgia chiropractors want this board to know the things that happened at Life University in 2002 were deplorable. There was one reason for the largest chiropractic college in the world to have its accreditation revoked. The devastating effect that it had on the community of Atlanta, on the State of Georgia and the students that were at that college, it’s unbelievable how far the reach that may go today. I would like to just read a few principal points. The revocation of the accreditation of Life University was devastating to the faculty and the students and the community. Dr. Brimhall was the chairman of the CCE, COA at the time, and is responsible to guide the commission, not destroy a college that we took so long to build. The decision resulted in two lawsuits. The decision was overturned at the Federal level. Lawsuits are now settled and the accreditation is restored and now Brimhall is the President of the CCE.
The CCE needs to be reformed, ladies and gentlemen. The one thing I’d like you to leave with this afternoon is to let you know that Life University produced the most chiropractic students in the country, they got an excellent education, and they were able to go to every State and pass every licensure that was asked of them, and they did it wonderfully. The educational institute of Life University bar none was magnificent. We graduated students that went on to become very successful doctors and took care of thousands and thousands of patients, and one organization decided that that institution didn’t have to be. Was it professional jealousy? Was it motivated by money? I ask this board. I’m not a politician, nor am I someone in the educational field. There are many people in this room that have more expertise than I do, but I’d like to let you know, ladies and gentlemen, That the education at Life University that those students were receiving at that time had absolutely nothing to do with the loss of that accreditation, and I would like someone in this room to investigate that further. The CCE has manipulated the system and I think it’s time they need an adjustment. Thank you for your time.
Event History: Tuesday, June 6, 2006
Hilton Arlington Hotel Arlington, Virginia 22203
United States Department of Education Office of Postsecondary Education
National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality And Integrity
The Council on Chiropractic Education, Commission on Accreditation
Action for Consideration: Petition for Renewal of Recognition
Transcripts of Proceedings*
Complete transcripts have been made available via the WCA JVSR CCE Transcripts
PDF Complete 36 Page Document: PDF CCE 2007 Transcripts