Power Of Help

It’s rare that I don’t see that or a similar question in a forum post of someone asking “so what’s the best way to get customers to my webpage” or “how can I get traffic to my website“. What I find amusing (and you might want to take note if you’ve ever done this) is that the replies are usually something  along the lines of:

“Setup a PPC ad campaign, buy ezine advertising, start a blog, buy a heap of links back to your site.”

Vague and pretty pointless replies! Especially since most of those who are just starting out don’t really understand HOW and WHY those (and other) traffic techniques works. And you can tell from their replies. You can tell that they are confused or flat out CLUELESS as to what all of these opinion based broad-stroke replies mean.

So they continue to ask everyone else “how can I get visitors to my website”. What about YOU? Which group do you belong to? Are you part of the vast majority who is still eagerly, and sometimes desperately, searching for answers on how to get more visitors to a webpage? Or are you the one who doesn’t take the time to properly explain what the strategy is, how it works, why it works and how someone can take action steps to see results with it?

Think about that for a minute…

And now consider the solution that Jon Leger has released. Your success depends on visitors to your website and to get this you have to be listed in the top 5 of the search engines. A large component of this is having many backlinks to your site and with 3way links by Jonathan Leger, it is a cinch.

It’s important to take the precautions to protect you and your products from information theft these days, because it’s getting easier and easier for people to share digital products. Information theft is a type of computer security risk and it’s defined as stealing an individual’s personal or confidential information.

When this is stolen this can cause as much damage, or possibly more then hardware or software theft. Business or home users are both at risk of information theft.

One example is a malicious individual stealing credit cards so they can make unauthorized purchases on another person’s account. If information is transmitted over a network then it has a very high chance for malicious users to intercept the information.

Every computer in the path of your data can see what you send, and they can also see what you send. A lot of companies try to stop information from being stolen by applying some user identification and authentication controls.

These constraints are best for protecting computers along a company’s premise. However, to protect information on the Internet and on networks, companies use a handful of encryption methods.

Encryption refers to the process of converting data into an unreadable form. One type of encryption software is Obfuscated code which is a programming language that is extremely hard to read.

Encrypted data is like any other data because you can send it through a lot of options, but to read it you must decrypt or decipher it into a more readable form. Throughout the encryption process, the unencrypted data or input is known as plaintext and the encrypted data, or output is known as ciphertext.

To encrypt information, the programmer converts the plaintext into ciphertext using some type of encryption key. An encryption key is the programmed formula that the person who receives the data uses to decrypt the ciphertext.

There are a variety of encryption or algorithm methods. However, with an encryption key formula, you will be using more then one of these techniques. Some business use available software, while others develop their own.

When an individual send information online such as through an email for example, they will never know who might intercept it, or to whom it could possibly be forwarded to. That’s why it’s not such a good idea to send confidential information online.

However, an individual can help protect themselves by encrypting the information, or signing it digitally. Some very popular email encryption software is known as Pretty Good Piracy (PGP) and Centurion Soft Secure Protection.

Pretty Good Piracy is known as freeware, which means that individuals can use it for their personal needs but not for commercial purposes. You can download this for no cost.

A digital signature is a type of encrypted code that a individual, website, or company pastes to an electronic document to make sure that the individual is who they claim to be. The code will most likely consist of the user name and a hash of usually part of the message.

A hash is a type of mathematical formula that generates content from a specific message, so it is different from a message. The recipient will have to generate a new hash from the received message and compares it from the one with the digital signature to make sure that they match appropriately.

The main purpose behind using digital signatures is to make sure that it’s not a deceiver participating in the transaction. So, digital signatures help narrow down e-mail scams. A digital signature can also make sure that contents of a message have not been changed.

A lot of web browsers use encryption that is regarded as 40 bit encryption, and this is a very low level. A variety of browsers also offer 128 bit encryption which has a higher level of protection because the encryption key is longer.

Some important places that require extremely hire security like banks, and online retailers needs at least 128-bit encryption. A website that successfully uses encryption methods to secure information is known as a secure site.

A secure site uses digital certificate with security protocol. The two most popular security protocols are secure sockets layer, and secure HTTP.

A digital certificate is a notice that verifies that a user or a website is for real or not a scam. A lot of ecommerce websites will usually have digital certificates.

A certificate authority (CA) is an authorized company or individual for that matter that has the ability to issue and verify digital certificates. There are several of websites that offer a digital certificate.

Some popular ones are Verisign, Godaddy, Digicert, and Thawte.

The digital certificate will usually contain information such as the username and the serial number of the certificate. By the way, the information in the digital certificate is also encrypted.

Next, the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) provides encryption of every detail that passes between a server and a client. SSL also requires the client to have a digital certificate, so the web browser can communicate securely with the client.

The web pages that use SSL will usually begin with https as opposed to http. SSL is available in 40 and 128-bit encryption. Secured HTTP (S-HTTP) allows individuals to choose encryption for data that pass through a client and a server.

When using S-HTTP, the client and the server must have a digital certificate. This makes S-HTTP more difficult to use then SSL, but on the other hand, it is more secured.

Companies that have to use verify a client such as online banking companies use S-HTTP. Also, mobile users can also access computer networks through a virtual private network.

When mobile users successfully logon to a main office using some type of standard Internet connection, a virtual private network (VPN) allows the mobile user to secure the connection. VPNs encrypt data as it passes from a notebook computer or any other mobile device so it won’t be intercepted.

Regardless of your security method, I will highly recommend using the most powerfulness safeguard which is a backup. It prevents data loss from several of sources such as system failure for one. A backup is simply a backup of a file, program, or desk that can be used in place of the original if its loss, destroyed, or corrupted. If the files are destroyed, then you can replace them by restoring it, which copies the backed up files into their original position in the computer.

Check out http://masbatx.com for information about online banking security like Wachovia Online Banking

Advanced obedience is to a dog what putting down the toilet seat is to a man – it takes patience in constant reeducation but it is possible. Dog obedience training is one of the most rewarding experiences between a dog and his pet owner. You are not only doing your own self a favor; you are also giving your pet a more complete and happy life. Obedient canines are well-adjusted, self-assured and more intelligent. You can be confident in his behavior even if you leave him alone with strangers.

The most important thing to keep in mind in trying to teach your animal is to establish your role as the head in your relationship. When he ‘gets’ that you are the top dog, so to speak, it is easier to [train|teach} him the commands you expect him to obey. Confusing the animal in this aspect can be dangerous; he will be aggressive and strive to control you himself. Don’t overcompensate and be excessively mean to show you’re the master; be firm, keep your ground and correct this critical trait as soon as you see it rearing its ugly head.

Make your authority known by employing a strong and sure tone in your speaking. When you give the command to “Sit!” gently push him down in the desired position firmly. Each command will take several tries, especially in the beginning. Development from basic to more advanced obedience training is relatively simpler once your dog understands the patterns you’ve set in your training classes.

Operant Conditioning is rewarding your dog with doggie treats or accolades for correctly accomplishing the command. It is the single most useful way to train your pet; it’s what he comprehends. Applaud your pet every time he does what you say correctly. At times, this is easy to overlook but take care not to. Dogs get confused easily and distinguishing good behavior every time will make certain that he remembers what is right.

Conversely, chastise the animal whenever he commits a mistake. Do it during the mistake and not after so the dog will see the error of his ways. Scolding him will also highlight the difference between what is right from what is [wrong|bad}. For example, if he starts finding the unidentified dirt on his path fascinating enough to ingest, scold him as soon as he does it. Then put dog food before him to eat. When he starts eating his own set meal, be profuse in your praise.

To be able to see growth in dog obedience training, keep sessions short and as often as possible. Be repetitive in what you teach. Don’t restrict teaching your dog during “school time” or set time blocks. Otherwise, he won’t feel like studying during summer vacation, so to speak.

Dogs in movies awe you with the complexity of the stunts required of them. However, do remember that they all started with sit. Begin with the basics and progress to the more complicated commands from there. With patience and consistency your pet will advance to more challenging commands like growl, leave it, fetch and attack. Use the same principles in how you trained him before and you will find sweet success in the more advanced levels.

There, now that you’ve got the professional’s secrets in advanced obedience training for dogs, it’s about time to roll up your sleeves, get Fido and commence training!

Scotland And Its People

All work and no vacation is not good, even in a recession. I’ve been doing some research into saving money while still having a nice trip. There are a bunch of major travel websites offering nice travel deals to a lot of destinations.

When you select from among the various online travel companies, you are looking for the best price for car rental, hotel rooms and airline tickets, and also a trip without logistical problems.  I can look for the best prices on airfare and hotel rooms, but if I find a travel destination where I can drive my own car, it might save me even more. I should point out that Southern California might be a great choice.

You’ll find a bunch of information and advice related to Southern California at the SoCal Vacation Guru website.  At the present time, the site places particular emphasis on Orange County and Los Angeles County, with the stated goal of expanding its attention to San Diego County, San Bernardino County and Riverside County. You will find a lot of information and tips at the SoCal Vacation Guru related to the beaches, Universal Studios, Disneyland, shopping, Knott’s Berry Farm and other attractions.

Did you know that there are actually seven world-class theme parks in the area, those being Disneyland, Knott’s Berry Farm, Six Flags, Universal Studios Hollywood, Legoland, SeaWorld and Disney’s California Adventure. If you were really energetic you could fit all of those parks into a very busy vacation, but it would not be an inexpensive trip. Also, you might save on airfare and hotel reservations as it looks like the economy has a lot of hotels really wanting our business, unfortunately.

You might also get better deals now for tickets to theme parks, museums and other activities. The price of gasoline has increased and fluctuated a lot, but for many people in the U.S. a driving trip to Southern California could save money compared with flying to other vacation destinations.

Kohler is a name that immediately comes to mind for many folks when speaking of unsurpassed quality and value at reasonable prices. For more than 80 years, Kohler kitchen faucets and the brand of Kohler have been an industry institution.

Kohler’s business is literally ‘in-the-toilet,’ you could say. In reality, their business is not only in the toilet but also in top-quality lavatory faucets, kitchen faucets, bathroom accessories, showerheads, and all kinds of sinks. The refined, premium quality products of Kohler are produced under a variety of names including Hytec, Sterling, and of course, Kohler. In addition, Kohler also manufactures furniture under such brand names as McGuire and Baker, as well as Ann Sacks for stone, ceramic and mosaic tile.

Sales are mostly driven by demand from construction, telecommunications, electrical distribution and hardware retailing for Kohler’s manufacturing of kitchen faucets, lavatory and sink faucets, among a host of other plumbing supplies.

Kohler’s ability in being profitable is largely attributed to their efficient use of inventory management and their ability and skill in merchandising. Small operators, according to Hoovers.com, are able to compete in Kohler’s space through their efforts in stocking specialty products, delivering top-level service or by ensuring they stock all the inventory required by their customers. A highly-automated industry, the avvnual average revenue per employee averages around $450,000.

Lesser known activities such as Kohler’s development of generators, small engines and power supplies ffor both consumer and industrial applications are part of Kohler’s product line development. Kohler also invests in real estate operations, including a Wisconsin resort called ‘Destination Kohler, and the ‘Old Course Hotel Golf Resort and Spa located in Scotland.

Discover more composite kitchen sink products at http://www.castironkitchensinks.org today.

The discount houses got their name because they discount bills of exchange: they buy them at a discount to their face value. To see how this market works we need to examine the mechanism more closely.

Bills of exchange are a form of short-term IOU widely used to finance trade and provide credit, the work like this Company A sells Lim worth of goods to Company B. It ‘draws’ a bill of exchange for Lim which it sends to Company B. This bill is an acknowledgement by Company B that it owes the Lim, and Company B signs it to show that it accepts the debt. The bill may state that the money is not payable until some date in the future: perhaps in three months. The bill returns to Company A.

Company A then has a choice. It can hold on to the bill, in which case Company B will pay it the Lim in three months. Or, if it needs the cash sooner, it can sell the bill to somebody else. Whoever holds the bill when the three months are up gets the £lm from Company.

Bills of exchange do not pay interest. But if Company A sells the bill before it is due for payment, it will receive less than face value. In other words, it sells at a discount. So if the bill is due for payment in, say, three months, the buyer might pay only £97.50 for every £100 of face value. The buyer is thus getting a profit of £2.50 per £100 when the bill is repaid at face value, which is equivalent to receiving interest: the discount is usually expressed as an annual rate of interest. When the Bank of England is said to have bought bills at 10/4 per cent, it means that the Bank bought them at a discount to their face value. Thus if interest rates generally come down, the prices of bills will rise. This is why discount houses may be reluctant to sell them when they think interest rates should come down.

The bill described above is a trade bill, issued by one company to another. But a bill may be accepted by a bank, in which case it becomes a bank bill. By putting its name on the bill, the bank agrees it will pay the amount of the bill on maturity, even if the company which acknowledged the debt should default: it is therefore a form of guarantee. Accepting bills in this way was an important part of the business of the merchant banks in the past, hence the term accepting houses which used to be used for the top-tier merchant banks. A bill accepted by a bank, because of the security it offers, sells at the very lowest interest rates. Any monetary sector institution can accept bills, but the Bank of England only buys or lends against bills accepted by eligible banks, hence the term eligible bills. The Bank maintains a published list of eligible banks; in general these are banks which have a substantial and broadly-based sterling acceptance business.

Bank bills also provide a substitute for overdrafts in big company financing. A company arranges an acceptance credit with a bank, which allows it to issue bills up to an agreed limit. Each bill is accepted by the bank in return for a fee and can be sold at a discount to raise cash for the company. The effective rate of interest may be lower than on other forms of borrowing.

Mike McCaffery is a really great writer and he constantly uses rubric writing. He is an expert on rubric writing.

As a matter of fact, purchasing room furniture for your childrens nurseries and bedrooms is a matter of choice. With the multiplicity of alternatives obtainable – plastic or wood, natural or painted, mass manufactured or hand made, moulded or free-flowing – you will be hard pressed to choose what is suitable for your kids.

Although, the best selections usually come down to wooden furniture. This is certainly true for kids table and chairs, which your kids will be using both for play and for study. Everybody needs a work area – even kids, or rather, especially kids and a Childrens Desk and Chair Set is the ideal workspace. They need a place where they can write, complete puzzles and crafts, answer an activity book. This is their world, because it’s only by playing that they can grow up.

A childrens table and chair set will be an ideal setting for your children to carry out their work and practice their modules. With a fine table and chair set to tally their size, children can study their books with simplicity and can paint with relaxation.

Children should feel joyful and peaceful with their table and chair set, such as children’s rocking chairs, recliners, and beanbags! When choosing the children’s chairs, pay attention to the workmanship and make sure they are firm and durable and don’t tilt over easily. You can even go for a chair to which you can add a kid-size table. This will provide the kid his or her own space to eat, write or paint, make crafts or read books. These are available in formal wooden table and chairs as well as in less formal designs such as picnic tables or painted in kids colours.

Introduction We’ve all seen the media frenzy over the banking fiasco, the so named “credit crunch” and redundancies as companies panic. In talking with clients and customers it’s becoming quite clear that there is a need for business as usual. Products still need to be made, distributed and sold and services commissioned.

The car industry has seen a massive down turn in sales but just watch any commercial TV station, have the ads disappeared, no, has your favourite newspaper or magazine disappeared from the shelves, the answer is probably no.

In our experience there is plenty of business out there and buyers want to deal with positive and enthusiastic people. Cutting back on marketing budgets is not good for your business and the wider economy. Keeping your organisation in the public eye is paramount. Adopting hermit strategies and falling back on old campaigns and images only dates your identity and makes you less visible. Just take a look near Christmas time, at a certain men’s aftershave featuring a man and the ocean. It’s been recycled for the last ten years as I can remember.

Ask you self this question; “Who would you rather do business with, a positive, enthusiastic company that seeks the opportunities or one with its head buried in the sand crying credit crunch?”

Recycling is the buzz word of this decade but not when it comes to marketing communications , your brand image or customer communications, these need to stay fresh and up to date. The same applies internally with your employees, keeping them motivated with a positive outlook reflects in how they deal with customers. People buy from people and they come back to happy helpful people.

So before you all reach for the sick bucket or discard this as pure puff, remember it’s about being realistic but on the optimistic side of the fence.

The Detail behind It So lets take a few of the points raised in the introduction and look at these in more detail.

Media Frenzy We see this so often over something that could be described as trivial. Just look at the pandemic swine flu story, breaking it back to the real world, a girl went on holiday and came back with a bit of a runny nose!

Within a matter of hours of media interest in a story you can be the biggest thing from Boston to Budapest, all caught high def, colour corrected, computer enhanced. But what many articles lack, is depth and realism, it’s easy to whip up a panic or over reaction to an event, it’s harder to take a balanced view and report the facts, why, because that takes time, creativity, but is less interesting and doesn’t sell newspapers or generate viewer ratings and we site page views.

The press can be your friend or you foe – it all depends on if it’s a slow news day and what side of bed they got out of!

Take the banking fiasco as already mentioned, if this had been reported more neutrally then less banks, local authorities, businesses and home owners would have lost out . Fewer jobs would have been lost as less panic and knee jerk reactions created as companies laid off thousands of staff amid a banking freeze on loans and credit. All of which were perfectly acceptable the day before!

The media has a great influence upon an organisation’s marketing communications and that can affect share prices and stock values as well as the wider economy. As they say in the City “buy on fact sell on rumour!”

Layoffs and Panic Leading to Motivated Staff?

Well that would be great wouldn’t it? Well taking into account what has been said so far, lets take a look at two scenarios , the panic company and the realistic company.

The Panic Company

Watches the news and lays off all un-required staff – well un-required in their opinion, so they remove the temps, operations and marketing all seen as an unnecessary balance sheet item. Sounds good to a Financial Director. Wrong. Now you have no market presence, no new campaigns and no new customers and because you sacked operations, no one to do the work!

The Realistic Company

This company looks at its sales, balance sheet and order book. Gathers its staff and makes a statement – no layoffs if we can maintain our current position. What the directors say no growth, what about my bonus! Well they are just that, bonuses not guarantees. This is where maintaining a market presence and sales in a recession should be considered as growth! Alien concept – no it shouldn’t be because your company is not going backwards like everyone else’s. With them cutting back and you maintaining presence and sales you gain market share – just by doing the same thing you did last week with the same team of people.

This company then talks to its employees and motivates them to look for opportunities, the ways to maintain sales, retain customers and to seek the sales and to deliver the service. Other companies will not, because they are panicking, laying off staff and failing to deliver on service. Their staff will be distracted, worrying about redundancy and are unfocused on the job, that or they just will not care.

Strategy

Hermit strategies leading to budget cut backs again are based on knee jerk reactions to a change in market conditions. Companies need to start being led by marketing and market conditions, not by accountants that only have historic information to base decisions upon. Sets of management accounts don’t show market opportunities and don’t motivate staff to go that bit further to look after an existing customer.

Now is the time to make use of the panic and cut backs your competitors are making and to raise your presence in the market place. Crawling under a rock and hoping it’ll get better just means people won’t remember you. Your competitors are concentrating on something else, now is the time to make a move. There is also another key opportunity, a market full of skilled people looking for work – you could gain some key assets, a time to change out some dull pennies and gain a shiny new 5p!

Marketing

A company loosing it market visibility is a real problem, we look at how this happens. Being a marketing consultant means that this can be summed up in two ways, less Marketing and PR and less customer communication.

People still read newspapers and magazines; it’s one of the last cut backs they make, their favourite read. This is where a well thought out PR strategy can work and it’s cheaper than display advertising and if you can do it in house – it’s essentially free.

People still visit websites – so keep them up to date with fresh content and images. Find information that your customers would need or be interested in.

Direct Mail has for a long time fallen from favour , due to the low response rates. How does 98% wastage sound when you try and justify the cost? Well targeted small campaigns can give 12 – 20% response in my experience. Some of this has transferred online but as the public have got fed up with Junk Mail, so too have they started to shy away from an over full Inbox. Opt-in newsletters are one way to build both customer and prospective customer awareness of your organisation.

There are of course other methods like sponsorship but measuring the response and attributing it to direct sales becomes more difficult. Exhibitions and trade shows used to do well, but with more sellers selling to you and less footfall from the buyers, picking the right event is mandatory.

Internal Communications

Internal communications is in some companies far from the agenda of the board room table; in others it is fully integrated into the organisation and embellished with the drive and determination of top management so that it succeeds. Good internal communications strategy and implementation motivates work forces and generates clear, useful communication to drive the company forward and ensures all employees take ownership of the positive side of honest communication of both opportunities for improvement and praise of fellow workers. Workers need to know what direction an organisation is heading in, where their individual and team roles fit in and what they have to do in order to achieve the goals set. People will put every effort into advancing the business if they can communicate their ideas.

So what do Internal Communications strategies look to deliver, well with many organisations it is the desire to further the quality standards needed in the business environment and to transpose that need internally towards its employees. With others, it is driven by the speed at which the business environment is changing and hence the need for the organisation to change. In this case good internal communication is delivered through a company vision and a change in focus toward face to face or more personal communication.

In order to achieve this, a firm must understand several aspects to the organisation. It is necessary to understand the environment of the employees and what likely influences there are. These factors that influence employees include line management, immediate workers and any subordinates. As well as their own set of values, but also, those of their colleagues that surround them in the working environment. The important points of influence are, and always have been, our own co-workers. Peers influence more than managers influence subordinates. Added to this are the issues of culture and the sub culture of the company. Politics play a part as does the management style. In all a complex set of variables are at play.

The communication environment is conceptualised via the modification of the concept of communication taken from the Chartered Institute of Marketing. The author has added to this concept to include the environment of the employee.

If the organisation understands the environment of the employee then it can use the best methods to get information to each person.

The second aspect the firm needs to understand are the perceptions of the employees concerning the information they receive. If the organisation understands this aspect as well, then it will know what information is best received. Hence an appreciation of these two aspects will indicate whether or not an Internal Communications strategy is working. Management is then in a position to either continue or change its strategy.

The importance of this article is to bring to the fore the need for company to appreciate these two key aspects of the organisation and then to plan an Internal Communications strategy that works.

Author : Peter G Davey MA DipM

HUD or the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs is your best bet for locating government foreclosure properties. Homes that are already foreclosed on a FHA-backed mortgage loan are acquired by HUD while the VA acquires properties that are foreclosed on VA backed home mortgage loans.

HUD And VA Specialize In Government Foreclosure Homes

You can own a government owned home to live in or lease out or sell for quick cash, and government foreclosures such as those of HUD and VA are offered to citizens by professional real estate companies that specialize in government foreclosure homes. Besides VA and HUD, there are various other government foreclosure sales sources like the FDIC or Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the IRS or Internal Revenue Service, GSA or U.S. General Services Administration and Freddie Mac, and many other government agencies. Homeowners seem to have enough money to gift a Razor Kiddie Kick Scooter but not their home or taxes.

True, there may be many reasons for properties to be placed on government foreclosure listings, and these could include overdue payments, mortgage, Federal, state and local taxes, assessments, mechanics liens, homeowner association fees as well as utility bills.

The government foreclosures is dominated by HUD foreclosures as well as VA foreclosures. Fannie Mae as well as Fannie Mae gives insurance to banks and lenders to enable people interested in buying real estate to pay lower interest rates as well as make lower down payments. Again, the Razor Kiddie Kick in the yard. In the event of a borrowing homeowner defaulting, the lending organizations go to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for the payment, and in such an instance, the property is placed in custody of the government.

If a homeowner doesn’t pay taxes or violates the law, then the IRS, U.S. Customs as well as other federal and local government departments are able to seize the property. The government agency gets the title to the property, and interested buyers may participate in auctions conducted by individual government agencies to buy up the government foreclosure property.

The agent gets six percent commission on the sales of government foreclosure properties, paid by HUD, and this commission is added to the price of the property. The highly popular HUD sales are made through special real estate agents, and the buyer should work with the help of a licensed real estate agent in order to take part in the bidding.

To get information regarding government foreclosures, one can go to the county real estate office and peruse title records of the homes that interests one, and is also possible to obtain publicly available information through various government agencies. Nevertheless, it is real estate agents that will be able to provide you with quicker information, and it may also be wiser to let the real estate agent do the job on your behalf.

Stick a pin in a globe through the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, and it emerges almost exactly through the Cocos in Costa Rica.

Discovered in 1609, these islands were settled and owned by a single family from 1827 until the Australian Government forcibly acquired them in 1978 for a payment of over $6 million.

Lying 2,770 km (1,732 ml) northwest of Perth, the 27 coral islands are formed into two large, heavily vegetated atolls. Not only are they the only atolls that Darwin ever visited, but the coral ecosystem remains intact and you can still see in their pristine condition exactly why they played such an important part in his theory of evolution.

North Keeling, set apart from the other islands, isn’t even inhabited; but you can see extreme rarities like the Cocos buff-banded rail, robber land crabs, and both green and hawksbill turtles among other wonders, under its protection as Pulu Keeling National Park, covering both North Keeling and its surrounding waters.

The 600 or so Cocos (Keeling) islanders live on Home and West Islands, both given over to copra and coconut plantations that only add to their tropical glamour. There is no tourist industry at all. Instead, there are facilities for visitors, sponsored by islanders who take an almost personal interest in everyone who comes.

If you happen to be there, you’re genuinely welcome to participate in the school fete, sports day, or concert night; and you’d be unwise not to join in quiz night at the Cocos Club, or not to watch the annual Ardmona Cup Aussie Rules football match. The tradition of hospitality is both Australian and Malay, representing the origins of the tight-knit community.

The islanders, as much as the islands themselves, have retained a form of unpolluted innocence, and share a mutual respect that visitors immediately respond to. These islands are a dreamscape worthy of Gauguin.

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