What are you doing on Halloween?

Here's the latest info on Briers North Halloween.

Updates:  Parking WILL be available at Crossroads Church of Dunwoody (formerly North Peachtree Baptist) at the intersection of Tilly Mill and Peeler.  Please contribute a donation for the opportunity, they're raising funds for their Academy.

UPDATE:  A sign appeared yesterday on the parking lot indicating they are open for Briers North parking and they are charging $3 per car.  Still a pretty huge bargain!  Pay it forward with a 5-spot.

While on the subject of parking, some residents near Briers North set out barriers or traffic cones.  Please respect them and don't park there if they ask you not to.  With that said, get your space early.  Some of our visitors start scoping out spaces as early as 3 PM.

If you enjoy the festivities, donations will be gratefully accepted by the halloween organizers.  These donations do NOT go to the homeowners:  they are designated specifically for the cost of Dunwoody PD officers and safety equipment (lights, signage, etc) for the entrance.

If you REALLY like what you see, keep in mind this community is around 364 other days of the year.  There will be one home coming on the market soon so keep your eyes peeled and jump at the chance.  Another house is under contract right now and homes don't become available very frequently.

Finally, be prepared to meet some regional neighbors you don't see every day.  These last words I posted a couple of years ago but they've become fresh as I come off the costume parade at Coralwood last week:

With Halloween upon us, please keep in mind, a lot of little people will be visiting your home.

Be accepting. 

The child who is grabbing more than one piece of candy may have poor fine motor skills. 

 The child who takes forever to pick out one piece of candy may have motor planning issues. 

 The child who does not say "trick-or-treat" or "thank you" may be non-verbal. 

 The child who looks disappointed when they see your bowl may have an allergy. 

 The child who isn't wearing a costume at all might have a sensory issue (SPD) or autism.

Be nice. Be patient. It's EVERYONE'S Halloween.

Welcome, Business Radio X Listeners!

Hi everyone and I hope you enjoyed the show this morning.  Don't forget to visit SDOC's main website at www.sdocpublishing.com.

If you weren't able to listen live, you can hear the recap any time here.

I talked a lot about the best practices in creating and using your business website and the Dunwoody Chamber website.

Dunwoody Chamber Members:  your first step in leveraging your Chamber membership to your advantage is to complete your member profile so customers can find you in the business directory.  The directory and the rest of the website are optimized for the best search engine results possible, so the more information you have, the better your search ranking, and the more likely you are to have customers come visit you!

You can create a detailed "about" section (think of this as your "elevator pitch"), link to your social media and website, generate a Google map to your business and post directions, and even add photos or video.

Chamber Member Login  or hit the red "open lock" icon on the front page at www.dunwoodycommerce.org.

Don't forget, the Dunwoody Chamber website is mobile and makes a great smartphone/tablet app if you're searching for Dunwoody services on the go!
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I also got a lot of questions from friends and followers on social media about Search Engine Optimization.

Google, Yahoo, and Bing will not tell you the details of their algorithms.  Those are trade secrets.  But they will tell you how to make the most of their search engine standards so your website will get as much visibility as possible.

First things first:  Google's Official SEO Best Practices Guide (PDF)  The principles here apply to all search engines, great and small, so settle in and build your foundation here.  This guide includes some of the most fundamental basics of SEO - meta tags in the header of your pages, "alt" tags that embed text with your images, and descriptive titles for each page.

Next, remember to get your business listed in local search engine-based directories.  Search engines try to customize search results that are physically close to the visitor.  Your website is more likely to appear if it is categorized as a local or regional resource.

Google Local (requires free creation of a Google+ page, also helpful for search engine rankings)

Yahoo Small Business for local listings.  (Customizing your listing for search engine rankings is free, but a paid directory submission service is available.)

Bing Places for Business (Same idea as Google and Yahoo but owned by Microsoft.  Requires a free Microsoft account)

Finally, MOBILE MATTERS!  Your website has to be comfortable to read on even smaller smartphones.  Websites that are not easily usable on smartphones or tablets will be penalized in their search engine rankings.  Talk with your webmaster about the best way to accomplish this for your website.

If you are using an open source content management system, there are some add-on functions that can help guide you in your optimization

WordPress - Yoast SEO

Joomla - iJoomla SEO

Drupal - MetaTag, Drupal SEO Checklist

Many thanks to everyone at Business Radio X for having me as a guest.  I hope the information I gave helped my fellow Dunwoody and regional business owners out there.

SDOC is on the air at Business Radio X

Listen in online tomorrow, Monday, October 13 at 10 AM EST.  I'll be a guest on the Dunwoody Chamber Special Edition of High Velocity Radio on Business Radio X.

Listen live here at 10 AM on October 13.