October 5, 2004MeetingSponsored by

Atlanta Flooring Design Centers

3246 Buford Hwy770.476.8306

Atlanta Flooring Design Centersis excited to announce we will behosting the Duluth MerchantsAssociation's October 5th meet-ing at our Buford Highway loca-tion. We have a wonderful eveningplanned for you and your guestswith entertaining speakers, politi-cians and the A.F.D.C. family servingyou great food and refreshments. Asour friends and associates pleaseaccept our gracious invitation andhonor us with your attendance.Since 1985, the support of the

Duluth community and the businessmerchants has been the foundationon which Atlanta Flooring DesignCenters has continued to grow. Inreturn for that support we haveendeavored to be a service to ourneighbors by offering families,churches, schools, hospitals andother businesses beautiful floors at agreat value. And we are excited toannounce the opening of our fourthlocation at the intersection ofHighway 9 and Windward Parkway in north Alpharetta.

This year we are humbled to winthe Consumers Choice Award forbusiness excellence in Atlantafor retail floor covering sales andservice. This prestigious award recognizes not only our wonderfulselection of fashionable area rugs,carpets, ceramic, stone, wood laminates and vinyl but also ourcommitment and ability to exceed

your service expectations. We offerfree estimates and decorating advicefrom aknowledge-able experi-enced staffwith certi-fied installers and customer servicebuilt upon treating others as we wishto be treated.

Once again we are privileged topresent the Honorable BrooksColeman as our guest speaker.Brooks programs are educational,entertaining, informative and willhelp guide you through life's dailyopportunities. He also promises anew twist to his captivating presen-tation. Brooks has been a verystrong and loyal supporter of ourcommunity and we should show ourappreciation by “filling the house”October 5th. Please bring a guest.

We also are pleased to announcethat Mr. Charles Bannister will bestopping by to meet the businessmerchants of Duluth in his bid tobecome the new CommissionChairman of Gwinnett. As the windsof change affect the politics ofGwinnett I think it's important thatthe people of Duluth help turn thewindmills.

Please come visit and be inspiredwith education and entertainment.We promise to fill you up and makeyou feel at home.

Sincerely,Donny Phillipswww.atlantaflooringdesign.com

DMA GAB- RRRVolume 16 No. 10 DULUTH MERCHANTS ASSOCIATION October 2004

from the Desk of the President

Dear DMA Members,

We had a great time at theAmerican Legion. If you didn'tmake it out, you missed it. Itwas a beautiful night out andThom made some of the bestdogs and burgers I have had in awhile. We were honored by the attendance ofour own Duluth EquestrianHorses and Officers. What anasset to the department. Don'tforget to attend the AnnualDuluth Kiwanis PancakeBreakfast October the 9th- from8am - Noon at Bunten RoadPark, this breakfast supports theCOPS Program.

The American Legion has chari-table influence in the communitythat is far reaching. One of theones we need to keep in mind asthe Holiday season comes alongis the Toys for Tots program.Post 120 American Legion is anofficial site for donations. Addthis Holiday Stop to yourCalendar today.

The Foster Children'sFoundation Police andFireman Olimpix was a bigsuccess. The turnout was great,particularly for the first time outof the gate. The events weregiven a new twist. What fun!You really need to come out nextyear and watch the contests ifyou couldn't make it this time.It was a good time and for agreat cause.

We will see you October 5th atAtlanta Flooring & Design.

Donnie Phillips always shows theDuluth Merchants Association agood time. Brooks Coleman ison the agenda…you don't everywant to miss that show! We arealways accepting donations offood for the Hand of ChristMinistry. Please remember tobring door prizes; they are greatto advertise your business, keepyour name out there and to addto the meetings.

Thanks

Dana White

OFFICERS

DANA WHITEPresident

DERECK WHITESMITHVice President

ALISA WILLIAMSSecretary

JOHN MONKTreasurer

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

2004DULUTH MERCHANTS

ASSOCIATION OFFICERS& BOARD OF DIRECTORS

2

Pam Adams 770.564.0876Laura Heck 770.814.8984

Jennifer Ingalls 678.376.9700Marion Maloof 770.923.1111Albert Marquez 770.623.6069

John Martin 770.476.2775Thom Mash 770.689.2600John Monk 770.495.8900

Sunny Ramsay 404.906.4677Allan Roth 770.497.8776

Dana White 770.476.1659Dereck Whitesmith 678.957.8030

Alisa Williams 770.476.3434Mark Williams 770.441.0945

Jim Wilson 770.813.8947

The Gab-RRR is a publication of theDuluth Merchants Association

www.duluthmerchants.com.

Printed and Distributed by Accent Mail Service

678.473.4643

Photography byLaura Heck, Heck Design Group

Phone/Fax 770.814.8984HeckDesignGroup@aol.com

Layout byTerry Palmer, QuickCREATIVE

404.502.5531Terry@quickcreative.us

Edited bySunny Ramsay, Dan Cook Assoc.

404.906.4677gabrrr@duluthmerchants.com

Database byJim Wilson, ASK Staffing, Inc.

770.813.8947

Does our website

have your latest

information?

Have you added a

description of your

business yet? Please

contact Pam Adams,

our webmaster to

update your online

directory listing by

email to

webmaster@

duluthmerchants.com.

DMA-Gab-RRR October 2004

Outside the Box Music Festival

October 23 on Duluth’s Town Green

A fun-packed day of “Outside the Box”Workshops and Concerts for string players andmusic lovers.

10:00-3:00pm: Workshops: Celtic violin, Improv Secrets,Fiddling, Jazz Bass Licks, What’s New for Violas, Song writing,Mariachi violin, Sight Reading, Rock n Roll ‘cello, Play by Ear andother surprises. Workshops are free but reservations arerequired. Call 770.476.9443

10:00-3:00pm: Performances on Duluth’s Town Green

3:00-7:00pm: Concerts at the Duluth Festival Center: featuring “The Border Collies” (Celtic), “Son de la Tierra”(Mariachi) and Bluegrass Blowout with special guest, AubreyHaynie, Nashville’s award-winning fiddler.

5:00pm: Hayrides for the kids

7:30: Flicks on the Bricks presents “The Ghost and Mr.Chicken.”

Food booths hosted by high school orchestras.Bring your lawn chairs and spend the day!Sponsored by Huthmaker Violins and the City of DuluthFor information and workshop reservations, call HuthmakerViolins at 770.476.9443

AURORATHEATRE

SCHEDULEDas Barbecü

September 30 – October 24A country western version of

Wagner’s Ring Cycle! Five actorsretell the entire story of Brünnhildeand her family’s search for a ring

of gold.

Halloween Monster Mash BashOctober 29

A Halloween Cabaret

For reservations:www.auroratheatre.com

or 770.476.7926

Showtimes areThursday–Saturday at 8:00pm,and Sunday at 2:00pm unless

otherwise noted.

Prices for Thursday, Friday, Sunday:

$22 Adults$20 Seniors

$18 Students

and for Saturday:$25 Adults$23 Seniors

$21 Students

The Kiwanis Club of Duluthwill be hosting the 4thannual pancake breakfast atBunten Road Park in support ofthe Duluth Police C.O.P.S. unit.

The Mounted Patrol will be therealong with the four footed mem-

bers of the unit. Sobring the family toenjoy breakfast andmeet Tango andCash.

Cost is $5 perplate.

Tickets are availableat the door, Santi & Associates,3308 Peachtree Industrial Blvd,Duluth. 770-623-4440 x 102 orvisit www.duluthkiwanis.org.

Kiwanis and the C.O.P.S. unitthank Kroger at Pleasant Hill,

Sam's Club and other local busi-nesses for their support of thisevent.

4th ANNUAL PANCAKEBREAKFASTOctober 9 8:00 - noon Support the C.O.P.S.

3DMA-Gab-RRR October 2004

4

Donna and RichDaluga enjoying

the Festival

Joyce and JohnMell.

Mary Roberts ofthe Hands of

Christ DuluthCo-op with two

volunteers sellingwater at the

Festival.

Photo courtesy of Laura Heck Photography

Photo courtesy of Laura Heck Photography

Photo courtesy of Laura Heck Photography

DMA-Gab-RRR October 2004

AN OFFER FROM ONE OFOUR MEMBERS...

Hello…my name is Alan Wolkowand I am a Doctor ofChiropractic.

I started my practice in Duluth in1984. I became a CharterMember of the Duluth Merchant'sAssociation, and a foundingmember of the Duluth KiwanisClub.

For many years, our KiwanisClub had a food booth at theDuluth Fall Festival, and both myyoung sons and I volunteered tohelp out. All three of us hadwonderful times for many years,and I still think back fondly ofthose times. In fact, my now 22year old son still likes to go withme to the Duluth Fall Festival.

Everyone knows what theFestival does for our City ofDuluth. To give back to Duluthand to introduce you toChiropractic and my practice, Iam offering a complete initialevaluation, for a $10.00, ormore, contribution to theDuluth Fall FestivalOrganization. This will includea conference to discuss yourhealth problem, an orthopedicand neurological examination, upto 3 X-rays, if necessary, and afollow-up visit to discuss myfindings and recommendations.There are no other fees involved.If Chiropractic care is indicatedin your case, you will be giventreatment and payment planoptions, (HMO, PPO and POSplans accepted). This offer isopen to new or former patientsof mine and expires on 12-31-2004.

Chiropractic care has had greatresults with many health prob-

lems over the past 109 years. If you are tired of hurting, tiredof taking prescription after prescription, tired of hearing thatyou have to live with the pain,tired of hearing that it is all "inyour head", or just sick and tiredof being sick and tired…call me.You have nothing to lose andeverything to gain. I look forward to hearing from you,

Yours in health,

Alan Wolkow, D.C.

Dr. Wolkow's office is located at 3820 Pleasant Hill Road(opposite Joan Glancy outpatient clinic) Suite 4, Duluth, GA30096, phone number is 770-623-9291. Dr. Wolkow is a provider for most of the HMO,PPO and POS plans and acceptsinsurance assignment.

LET'S WELCOME OURNEW NEWSLETTERDESIGNERby Laura Heck

One of the great privileges ofbeing a member of the DMA isthe opportunity to become partof a continuum of service to ourcommunity. As a graphic design-er, it has given me great pleas-ure to serve our organizationthrough our newsletter. Now it'stime pass the torch to anothermember.

Please help me welcome TerryPalmer, another DMA graphicdesigner, to our newsletterstaff. Terry has already begunher new design and layout rolewith this issue, and Sunny willcontinue to shine in her role aseditor. Many thanks to Dennis &Carol Keller, who have been

printing and distributing theGabrrr for years,and who recom-mended Terry tothe Gabrrr team.Please support allof them by con-tributing to the

newsletter, and letting us allknow what's new with your busi-ness.

Terry has been a DMA memberfor about a year. She has a corporate and agency advertisingbackground, and has had herown graphic design business forabout two years. Terry special-izes in print and e-newsletters,so our humble publication isright up her alley.

Thanks to all of you for yoursupport and encouragement during my tenure with theGabrrr. I will continue to contribute photography, which is how I first became involved.The circle continues…

Laura

Terry Palmer

The Nov. 2 DMA MeetingNeeds a Host!

If you would like tobe our host for this

meeting, please contact

Albert Marquez at

770.623.6069.

5DMA-Gab-RRR October 2004

Below are a fewanswers to asome frequentlyasked questionsabout searchengine optimiza-tion. Rememberthis is just the

tip of the iceberg as search engineoptimization is an ever changingindustry and there are several facetsto consider for obtaining and main-taining a top ranking.

Q: How do search engines rankmy site? A: When you search for a topicusing a search engine, you willalmost instantly sort through themillions of pages in the engine'sdatabase and receive the ones thatbest match your search topic. Thebest match for your search will belisted first.

However, search engines don'talways get it right. Sometimes pagesthat don't relate to your search makeit through, and sometimes it maytake a little work to find what want.

Search engines follow a set of rulesto determine which pages bestmatch your search. The main rulesare related to the location and fre-quency of keywords on a specificWeb page.

Most search engines will place aheavy emphasis on the TITLE tag ofyour Web page. If you are lookingfor Hawaiian Vacations, the searchengine will first find sites with"Hawaiian Vacations" listed in theTitle Tag - there is an assumptionbeing made that those pages willbest relate to your search.

Search engines will also check to seeif your search words appear near thetop of a Web page, such as theheadline or the first few paragraphsof text. The assumption is that anyrelevant pages will mention thosewords in the beginning.

How often a keyword or key phrase appears in the Web page is anotherfactor in how search engines deter-mine relevancy. A search engineanalyzes how often keywords appearin relation to other words in a Webpage. Those pages with a higher fre-quency of keywords are often con-sidered more relevant.

Q: When will my site appear inthe engines?A: Search engines and directoriescontrol their own databases.Therefore, how soon you appear inany one particular engine or directo-ry varies with each one.

Your site may show up within 2-3weeks, but the average is 6-8weeks, with some taking 10 weeksor more. SPECIAL NOTE : SinceAugust, 2000, there has been atremendous increase in the time thatit takes search engines to list Websites in their databases. As part ofour quality control efforts, a few testsites are manually submitted eachmonth and the time that it takes toget them listed in the engines istracked. Presently, it has taken aslong as 3-4 months to get listed(with the exception of Alta Vista,which is showing in 2-4 weeks). The various search engine personnelacknowledge the delays. However,your site information will continuallybe submitted to them on a monthlybasis for a one-year subscription. Wedo not guarantee that your site willbe placed on each search engine.Acceptance rates vary based on eachindividual search engine.

Q: Is it possible to guarantee ahigh position on search engines?A: No! There are no "search enginesecrets" that will guarantee a toplisting. But, there are a number ofsmall changes you can make thatcan sometimes produce excellentresults.

These techniques include: metatags, the title tag, page layout, page

content, a page name, links, image alt tags, not using frames, or if it isalready framed - the proper usage ofthe NOFRAMES area, etc. Again,these are easy and common tech-niques to implement.

Source: Hypermart Knowledgebase.

Bits & Bytes is brought to you by our webmaster and Digital Diva,Pamela Adams, www.BizLynks.com,770-564-0876.

2004-2005 Calendar of Events

Atlanta FlooringDesign Centers

OPEN

Aurora Theatre

Gwinnett Chamberof Commerce

The SharingCenter for Women

GwinnettCommunity Bank

Foster Children’sFoundation

Tavern on theBridge

Accent Mail

The Printing TradeCompany

Duluth Fall Festival

Century 21 FindleyReal Estate

Atlanta FlooringDesign Centers

Houston &Company CPA

Aurora Theatre

Anyone interested in hosting a DMAmeeting or providing refreshments,please contact Albert Marquez at

770.623.6069.

All Meetings begin at 6:00pm on thefirst Tuesday of each month, exceptwhere otherwise indicated with a *.

Locations will vary. ** Dates are subject to change.

October 5

November 2

December 7

January 4

February 1

March 1

April 5

May 3

June 7

July 5

August 2

September 6

October 4

November 1

December 6

Search Engine Optimization: Part 1

6DMA-Gab-RRR October 2004

IS YOUR COMPANY MAKINGNEWS?If it is, we want to spotlight you in

the DMA Gab-RRR. If youhave any significantnews about your busi-ness: awards, big wins,

new expansions, relocating, please e-mail

them to Sunny Ramsay at gabrrr@duluthmerchants.comor fax it to 770-813-9923. It is yournewsletter and we rely upon you.

ARE YOU NEXT?We want to showcase our DMAmembers in our meetings. If youwould like to host a meeting or ifyou have an educational 30 minute

presentation that you believe wouldbe of benefit to our members, pleasecall Albert Marquez at 770.623.6069 with your ideas.

ARE YOU USING YOUR ASSO-CIATION’S WEBSITE TO THEFULLEST?Add your web address and a business description to your entry in the online membership directory.Send an e-mail to webmaster@duluthmerchants.com with your updates

CHANGE OFADDRESS Please e-mail

address changes to Jim

Wilson at jwilson@askstaffingcomor call him at 770-813-8947.

ALL NEWSLETTER ENTRIESmust be submitted by the 12th ofeach month for the next issue.

THE NETWORK TABLE ISAVAILABLE!Yes, we want to invite all of you tobring your literature (in small quan-tities) about your products and serv-ices to our DMA meetings so fellowmembers can learn more about you.BUT, FAIR WARNING: at the end ofthe evening, you must take your literature with you, or it will bethrown away.

Duluth Merchants Association