WorldCabFares Blog

Google mentions add to traffic - test

2009-05-31T04:37:00.004Z

Following on from my SEO challenges....

James Kirby reports that by mentioning Google 10 times in an article your Google ranking will increase measurably.

http://business.theage.com.au/business/heres-hoping-microsoft-can-free-the-internet-20090530-br2o.html

This naturally leads me to the question as to whether my blog should be on my worldcabfares.net site or on Google's great Blogsite site where it is right now.

If you use this '10 times Google' technique will it drive people Blogspot or worldcabfares.net?.

Others suggest that your keyword density needs to be between 3 and 5% for Google to lift up your ranking. But how do you do this when you're offering a database driven product like ours?

Also, does anyone know if Google can search MySql databases? I'm sure my great search results were on pages that are auto created when someone searches the worldcabfares database.

7 Googles down, 3 to go.

Hmmm, does "Googles" count as a "Google" count. I think maybe not. And does it work against you if you mention Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn. Dear Mr Google please don't punish me.

Mark

cabsworld.net

2009-05-31T01:09:00.002Z

Why is it that cabsworld.net, one of my other domains, gets better Google listing than the site I've promoted, worldcabfares.net?

Yet the cabsworld.net site is simply pointed to the main worldcabfares.net site!

I'm no SEO expert but its really hard to understand how to get listed in the major search engines.

I was also surprised the other day that some of my pages were ranked number 1 in Google. I can't recall which search was listed, maybe Oman cab fares or somewhere else obscure.

SEO is all a black art I think.

'bin a while

2009-05-30T00:16:00.003Z

I know its been a while but I've been on leave helping my girlfriend bring her old 1975 family motorbike down from Mackay to Canberra.

Halfway down we turned right and headed out through the outback to Broken Hill, the River Murray, Adelaide, Melbourne and up the coast into Canberra.

Yep, 5000km round trip.

I've had a heap of cab fare updates since then. I reckon the database is about 60% populated and am getting some great hints from people around the world.

I realised I didn't ask people for their email on their submission (so I couldn't thank them) so I've since updated the form to get this if they wish to notify me.

Canberra is cold at the moment but the taxi queues at the airport aren't getting any shorter. A friend in New Zealand tells me that she'll be attending the Brass Monkeys motorbike rally this weekend. Snow is predicted in New Zealand down to sea level. And I thought I was cold.

At least I get to escape to Europe in a few weeks. More cab fares to collect.

Stay well all
Mark

Site beta released!

2009-04-17T22:28:00.004Z

Well, I've finally released the first beta of our free web info service World Cab Fares.

The world's first knowledge base of up-to-date taxi and cab fares for travelers.

I'd love your comments of course so please blog, mail, Tweet me, etc.

There's a little over 550 international airports listed and a few more taxi destinations from those airports.

There are 2 methods to find your fare. Either choose the country you're flying into or use the free text search. Free text search can utilise the IATA Airport Codes (eg LAX), the official airport or destination name, some of the unofficial airport names, or just a snippet of those (eg 'MEL' will deliver Melbourne, Australia; Melville Hall in Domenica and Milan Melpensa in Italy.

Typical cab fares and travel times are listed as either Business Hours (bh) or After Hours (ah) and I'd love to get lots of UPDATES from you all.

To send us your update please use Twitter, the Blog, the site update page http://www.worldcabfares.net/update.htm or send us an SMS to +61 406 700 493. Global free SMS numbers don't seem to be available yet and I hazard a guess that they are prohibitively expensive for a free service like World Cab Fares

Its amazing really seeing the numbers of people that either get ripped off or worried about taxi rides when they arrive in a foreign country. Of course I'm sure the vast majority of travellers have a fully satisfying experience but for 30 seconds effort you can arm yourself with the latest knowledge.

So please support this initiative and your fellow travelers and shoot through your updates as often as you like.

cheers
Mark

Database populated

2009-04-15T08:23:00.004Z

Well the new database has been installed and about 1500 records uploaded. Not being a PHP or MYSQL developer I'm still relying on the tech, Mark (also), to help me with the changes.

I've scrubbed the database and it looks OK. Most of the formatting has been done but that just means the easy stuff. Its the fiddly bits that can be very time consuming, as I'm finding out.

I had the weekend off and went camping and have to go interstate again in coming weeks.

Hopefully we'll be live shortly.

Stay tuned

Off to the Techs

2009-03-11T00:05:00.005Z

This week we've managed to co-op a local Uni student into creating the database that will drive the worldcabfares.net site.

It'll be great to be delivering at least some knowledge to travelers soon.

The more I talk about taxi fares with frequent travelers the more I get horror stories. The ones from Mumbai and St Petersburg I heard yesterday are pretty typical.

Are you a frequent traveler? Please send us your taxi fare experiences to add to the database. We're looking for contributors from every country in the world. 3-4 updates a year is all that's really needed. www.worldcabfares.net/update.htm

Update features on Website

2009-03-05T21:31:00.003Z

We've managed to get a data submission form working on our website so you can send us the latest cab fares you've paid when taking a taxi from an international airport.

Am looking at SMS options now too.

Taxis in NYC blog

2009-03-04T22:43:00.001Z

http://taxicabnyc.blogspot.com/

Getting setup

2009-03-03T08:10:00.003Z

So in the past few days I've signed up a few domain names, located our website at a 'green' hosting company, got an initial page up and got our Twitter and FaceBook sites started.

The hosting company is really good - they power all their electricty use from hydro power stations, use electric cars and even give their staff an allowance to buy a bicycle to get to work.

I've even started getting some taxi and cab fare updates from around the world - the Africans are leading strangely with Chad, Mali and Ethiopia fares already received.

I hope to get a example on the website in the next few days so you all can see what information will be initially available.

Welcome All

2009-03-01T07:11:00.003Z

Welcome all.

After travelling to around 70 countires I'm painfully aware of some of the difficulties that can await you when you arrive in a foreign country.

So I've decided to do something to help other world travellers and create a simple resource of the price of taxi fares from all the world's national airports to the capital's main hotel and business districts.

It'll be a free resource so I'll be asking for contributions from peope all around the world.

For short updates you can also follow us here as well as at FaceBook and twitter.com/worldcabfares

Welcome

2009-02-28T07:14:00.001Z

Welcome to all frequent travellers who are sick of arriving at a foreign airport and getting ripped off by overpriced cab fares. Now you can check beforehand just what the proper taxi fare should be. Enjoy