Bin Fishing is a Rhythmic Balanced Interchange company

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Hamid owner of Hotel Bin el Ouidane makes his TV debut

Hamid Oullam the charismatic owner of Hotel Bin el Ouidane launched his 2M TV debut video today and from all at Media Morocco we would like to congratulate him on some great exposure for the region and the small but growing tourism industry that is growing in the region, keep up the good work Hamid



visit Hamids web site

Luxury 2 bedroom apartment for sale in Tangier

Atlantic Magna 5 star luxury on the Kings beach Tangier

Atlantic Magna is located in the most prestigious and exclusive area of Tangier, close to Cape Spartel and the Caves of Hercules yet only 10 mins from the airport and 15 from Tangier Centre.
This large 2 bedroom 2 bathroom ground floor apartment sleeps 6 people and is finished with traditional Tadelakt walls and Travatino marble in the bathrooms. The finishing throughout is of exceptionally high qualities.
As a ground floor apartment you can walk out to the landscaped gardens and pools, yet still have magnificent views to the Atlantic.

Bathrooms are finished in wall to ceiling Travatino Marble

The apartment is available for rental short or long term from January 2009. The apartment is also offered for sale immediately.

Technical Specification:

2 bedrooms 2 Bathrooms (1 en suite)

Fitted kitchen, living room, dining area, tea room

Berber lounge - could be converted to 3rd bedroom with access to:

interior and exterior patios.

Build surface 120.60 m2

Terrace and interior patio 45.57 m2

24 hour gated security, underground parking, storage room.

Architects: Gonzales & Jacobson.

41,130 m2 site, 72 apartments of 2/3 bedrooms

Atlantic Magna is perched front line above the beach and only a pleasant stroll to the Caves of Hercules and the magnificent Mirage Hotel with a wonderful al fresco dining terrace and a colonial feel club house bar. The Mirage has 25 suites built into the cliff side and it really is a special place to enjoy a civilised lunch or sundowner or two.

Rental
The Apartment is managed by Jurgen and Farida the owners of La Tangerina Hotel in the Kasba of Tangier. La Tangerina handle all rental bookings and the day to day management of the apartment in the same profesional way they manage their excellent hotel.

The apartment will be furnished to the highest standards and available for rent from the 1st January 2009.

For bookings of less than & week a 2 night minimum applies.

Long Term Rental 2000/month min 6 month contract.

Prices in Euros

Per night/min 2 per week 2 Bed sleep 6: 220 night / 1400 week

Additional bed +20% taxes included

+20% High season (March April /July & August)

Offer: For Sale

This 2 bedroom ground floor apartment of 165 sq metres situated in the residential complex of Atlantic Magna, Tangier is due for completion in October 2008.

Price:

Reserve price range of 295,000 - 335,000+ depending on the progression from uncompleted property with private contract to furnished rental apartment with ongoing rental bookings. (Prior to completion developer guarenteed finance available up to 150k)

Please contact me through the reservations system if you are interested in purchasing the property for a price update and progress report.

Morocco
While most house buyers are initially drawn to Morocco for its cheap property prices and its low cost of living, it does not take them long for them to become enamoured by the country, which has since the Romans, charmed and fascinatedthose that land on its shores. In 1999, the new King Mohammed VI came into power vowing to modernize Morocco, strengthen civil libertiesand democratise the country. Foreigners are warmly welcomed and their are no restrictions on foreign investment.

Investment bullet points:
Tangier superport, Europe's biggest port managed by Maersk opens 2008.

The straits of Gibraltar tunnel from Tangier to Tarifa (Spain)

20 Bn USD Direct foreign investment into Tangier mainly from the Gulf countries.

Spain only 14 km and 35 minutes on the fast ferry.

Unspoilt Atlantic beach coast with glorious 300 days of sunshine

The region still in infancy.

Prices significantly cheaper than Spain.

Favourable tax regime. e.g no tax on rental income for 5 years. No IHT if passed on to a family
70% mortgage available subject to usual requirements

Only three hours flight from major UK airports

Open sky agreement signed therefore low cost airlines fly and cheaper fares

High Quality and Prices still affordable Property hot spot Fabulous Sports facilities, Golf Courses, Yachting, Tennis Clubs, Water skiing, Sailing, Scuba diving and Camel treks etc.

Luxurious life style at low cost For more information leave a comment with your email on this post and I will get back to you:

Media Morocco launch promotional video for Hotel Bin el Ouidane

Some updates to Hotel Bin el Ouidane site include a new reservation system in english and french, a great little promotional video uploaded to you tube and as a link on the site and a new 360 virtual tour of Hamids very special Berber lounge.


Thanks to Invest in Tangier

Binwidane Suite and Spa invest in Web 2.0 package

The suites and infinity pool at Binwidane Suites and Spa

Binwidane Suite and Spa - the 5 star resort due to open in March 2009 over looking the lake of Bin el Ouidane and just a couple of hours drive from Marrakesh have invested in Media Moroccos Boutique Hotel Web 2.0 internet marketing package.

The package includes a web site with virtual tour of the immpressive facilities and a selection of the suites available - the virtual tours allows you to inspect the hotel in detail prior to reserving. The facilities are truely inspirational with outdoor infinity pool set in a Thailand inspired poolside area with stunning carved water fountain depicting a herd of Elephants at their watering hole. Pool bar with amazing views out over the lake of Bin el Ouidane and the Ahansal river.
In addition Binwidane has a full Thai massage centre, spa, hamman and beautician.

Stunning infinity pool overlooking the majestic lake Bin el Ouidane

In addition to the main web site we are preparing a blog and guestbook which will feed the latest news back to the web site, in the same way the flickr photo gallery will be reguarly updated as Binwidane suite and spa prepares to open its doors to their first guests in March 2009.

Binwidane Suites and Spa offer 30 individual suites of 1 and 2 bedrooms

The first photo shoot is due for compeltion this week and the blog and Flickr photo gallery are already up and new content will be going up daily.

A man, his dog and the long tail

Joe at Lake Bin el Ouidane

Wednesday 23rd July 2008.
Hotel Morocco House, Marrakesh.
The temperature is in the low 40s and I am still aclimatizing, sweating out all the booze and junk food Ive accumulated over the last 3 months and weaning myself onto my Moroccan diet of water, fruit and herbs.

I dont feel that ive clicked into the pace here yet, im sure it will come but I am still feeling vulnerable, yesterday for example I lost 140 dhms buying a lump of cooked Henna. I always think its a good thing to start with a bad experience as it jolts me out of my Western world mind with a bang and I appreciate my own stupidity and ignorance within my new world. Proud to say I got straight back in the saddle whilst wandering around the maze like and totally amazing central plaza of Marrakesh, Jamna Fna - one of very few UNESCO "Living" World Heritage Sites.

I dont feel like extending myself too much at the moment Ive made a few phone calls and had a meeting but until I feel comfortable in my skin I think I should just hold back a little, who was it that said: "you only got 1 chance to make a first impression" - never more so in the Morrocan world.
Changing my hotel on Thursday as this one is taking me way over budget. The next one is owned by a friend of Joseph - from Bin-construction, its only 180 dhms a night as opposed to the 400 dhms im paying for this nice AC cooled place. I was hoping that I might get a web job from either of the two or atleast a chance to pitch, but both the owners are away for the summer to escape the heat - whimps.



I have a meeting tonight with Patrick Lamarie the owner of Riad Ouzoud, Mike and I did his web site for him, - it was our first web 2.0 job. I hope that Patrick can introduce me to a few Riad owners in Marrakesh, and I'm sure Ill go and stay at his place for a few days to do some web alterations, its on the way to the lake anyway. On the license subject; I spoke to the head honcho in Casablanca yesterday and he said it would be another month before possibly the public auction was released. There is nothing I can do but wait.

Mike arrives in Tangier on Thursday he has a room to do 360 photos of at the Tangerina hotel. he is going to take a trip out to my apartment and take some 360's of the place as its nearing completion. I really don't know what to do with it as I'm worried that I wont get a mortgage or if I even want a mortgage with whats going on in the banking world at present. I think I am going to put a web site up with a view to selling or renting it long term and see if I get any response. I don't think the property market in Tangier is so affected at least not on the Atlantic coast side. Location Location Location is the mantra I sung when looking for the place, now is the time to see if I chose well. By the way if anyone is interested:

THIS MESSAGE IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY FRASERADS

Atlantic Magna is located in the most prestigious and exclusive area of Tangier, close to Cape Spartel and the Caves of Hercules yet only 10 mins from the airport and 15 from Tangier Center Ville. This 2 bedroom 2 bathroom sleep 6/8 luxuriously appointed ground floor apartment has views to the Atlantic and access directly to the tropical gardens and multi level pools. Atlantic Magna is perched above the beach with spectacular views to the Atlantic and the often deserted white sands and rolling breakers.

Marble floors and tadelakt walls

Tech Spec:
2 bedrooms
2 Bathrooms (1 en suite)
kitchen, living room, dining area, tea room (Berber lounge), interior patio, exterior patio
Build surface 120.60 m2
Terrace and interior patio 45.57 m2
24 hour gated security, underground parking, storage room.
Architects: Gonzales & Jacobson.
41,130 m2 site, 72 apartments of 2/3 bedrooms



Rental:
High season: (summer months) 1000/wk euros
Mid season (spring/Autumn) 750/wk
Low season (winter) 500/wk

Long Term Rental 1750/month

Purchase:
335,000 euros ( developer finance available up to 150,000)
I hopefully will have a web site up soon and you can check my blog for more details on it. www.mediamorocco.blogspot.com


Its good to have a little time to reflect on what a great 3 months Ive had, Ive done a European tour and visited so many family and friends, thanks in the most part to the largesse of said family and friends. It started with Kenneth who's spare room I commandeered and who's web site we built, www.jhkspecialgarden.com, some much needed cash and work came my way from Paul of Garden Solutions, we gave his company our web 2.0 treatment and so far the response and increased business from the sites has been good, www.gardensolutionscostadelsol.com.

Then it was off to Scotland to see Carol and Rikki, Edhan and Eilidh. It was a great spring for me having witnessed a beautiful Atlas mountain spring time when the barren hills seem to come alive in a riot of colour, to the different joys of a Scottish spring. I think we had sun, rain, hail and snow during the 10 days I spent around Lochwinnoch, a rare chance to experience the beauty of spring on two different continents in contrast. Duncan Katie Finn and Woody flew up to join us and we celebrated Woody's second and my 40th on a fine and sunny day of barbecue and fishing and family.

I returned to Duncan's house in Poole, Dorset where spring was more advanced and spent lazy days getting to know Finn and Woody and enjoying the rhythm of Dunc's and Katies world. Duncan and I did our customary and enjoyable fishing trip which of course ended up as a fishing competition, thankfully between me and Dunc and the rest of the boat load of Noddies. We pasted them catching more fish between us than the rest of the 9 anglers combined.

Joe makes it to Paris

I returned to Malaga with few plans and seemingly even fewer options, Damien and Lillie, more of them later, gave me a much needed roof over my head and some space to let me plan my next stage. Joe had been in Morocco since October and on his own since April. I was paying a local guy to look after him at the hotel, www.hotelbinelouidane.com - another media morocco site, but getting him back to Spain had to be priority. First however make some money. Mike arrived back from his sejourn in Egypt he had been staying with a friend of ours from Marbella who moved down to the red sea resort of Hurgada to sell real estate. Mike took two PADI exams while there and is now Rescue diver, Id love to do that again.

Anyway after doing the photos at La Tangerina hotel he jumped on the ferry and got a sofa at Mike Skillmans place while working on Kenneth's and Paul's web sites.I was in Kenneths spare room again and when not working with Mike I got a few days labouring with JHK Special Garden, it was great fun and I learnt alot. Still with little idea of how to get to Morocco and pick up Joe one of those "Secret" moments happened and Mr Steve Orten came back into my life, with a plan and an invitation to travel up to Antibes and onto Paris for a little reunion. With a deadline in sight I sold my Dell XPS 2010 to Andre, more of him later too, and he Western Unioned me his deposit and I jumped on a bus Marrakesh.

The XPS after I sold it to Andre - up to his elbows in computer grease

I stopped over for an afternoon at La Tangerina and ended up going with Jurgen to buy a new computer system, got them a nice HP desktop and an external hard drive and set everything up, I think its working out for them. Then it was onto my favourite night train the 9pm sleeper to Marrakesh. I spent an interesting evening sharing a 4 berth with an Irish property developer and a Scottish ornithologist on his holidays after a 3 month sabbatical at Donnana. The Irish fellow had bread cheese dates figs and an excellent line in stories and the evening past well till it was time to crash. I was surprised to be woken around 3am as the train doesn't get into Marrakesh till 8am, apparently the line was closed and had been all week as they were laying new track, obviously just forgot to tell me that when I paid for the Marrakesh ticket.
Last stop Casablanca. I bloody hate Casablanca, from Gare to Gare and onto the 6am bone rattler bus to Beni Mellal. Moroccan public transport is noisy and smelly but its cheap, efficient and brings you up close to the real folk. Only 45 dhms for a 4 hour journey makes it all seem worthwhile.

Hamid picked me up in his new Land cruiser he got it for 100,000 Dhms thats about 9k euros so he must be doing ok from all the web exposure Ive given him and it was off to the lake. I had been on the road for 28 hours at this point and was feeling pretty spaced, mind you being with Hamid for more than 30 mins would space anyone out.

I was feeling pretty nervous about Joe, Hamid had told me that the cyst on his neck was even bigger and Joe wasn't eating well, my worst fears were confirmed when he literally staggered out and collapsed at my feet, his back legs seemingly too weak to support him. My heart was in my crocs and I felt such a rush of mixed emotions that it took me a moment to see that Joe was experiencing a similar moment and he too was coming round. Things went froom doom to a hesitant joyfulness, Joe seemed to get stronger by the moment but I got Hamid to call the local Vet who promised to come by later in the afternoon. The vet wasn't sure but he didn't think it was life threatening but to get Joe to his vets in Spain asap, I decided to head back to Tangier as quickly as possible and after just a night at Hamids I jumped a taxi to Beni Mellal and started the homeward journey.

Bringing Joe from Spain down to Morocco seemed like a blessed trip, I had taken Bus, Ferry and more buses, paying a ticket for Joe each time and no one said a thing, returning was another matter. I tried 4 different buses but none would accept a dog unless in a cage and in the baggage section. I didn't have a cage and still felt optimistic that I was just having some bad breaks, I felt appalled at the thought of stuffing Joe in the luggage hold. My reaction to this would be ground to naught over the coming weeks. I had about 300 euros and none of my plastic would accept more abuse so the transportation problem was critical. Every move counted and if I was to get back I would need some luck and alot of streetwise. I decided to take a cab from Beni Mellal to Casablanca and had negotiated a fair of 700 dhms - 60 euros thinking I could jump on the night train back to Tangier. Of course the train wouldn't accept a dog unless he was in a cage and less than 6 kg.

I remember at that moment time seemed to slow down a little and a pleasant old man in a grey suit with cane and a trilby type hat approached as I caused a fuss with customer service. I was asking to see the station manager as I wanted to plead my case, the old gentleman eased into the conversation and with a few words here and there managed to direct the lady to search for the station manager whilst drawing a taxi driver into the conversation and negotiating a price for a taxi.
When these things happen I am starting to learn to relax and open up, the natural impulse, at least for me is to push it away as Ive generally got a plan to follow and follow it I will, but slowly Im learning. The moment felt right, the taxi driver went outside to negotiate with a driver and the old man suggested I follow the driver outside to continue the negotiation. It was one of those moments when you must decide - do I leave my bags with this well dressed and amicable older gentleman in the lobby of Casablanca train station whilst I disappear out of site with some man that claims he can, or someone can, taxi me to Tangier. I walked towards the driver a few paces, then stopped and turned, the old gentleman was looking at me and I at him.

The fair negotiated to 1600 dhms and the ubiquitous Merc 230 looking in better nick than most and probably capable of a 350 km journey, I skipped back to the Gare lobby. My Gentleman was still there and as before looked calm and dignified, we chatted for a moment and exchanged some information before he placed his hand on my arm and suggested that I talk to the two American girls sitting on the bench behind. He whispered in beautifully accented English that he had overheard them talking about Tangier and advised me that they could get an immediate refund on the ticket if they cashed it in. I made to approach the girls but he stopped me saying he had to dash, we shook hands again and I thanked him for his help. He smiled and gracefully moved away before I could embarrass myself with some gesture of monetary compensation.

The 2 girls were fresh and beautiful and straight out of Princeton University, one with a job to start in 3 weeks as an investment banker for a wall street firm and the other full of radical environmental and social justice ideas with a dream to teach and educate in Asia, her parents being 1st generation US originally from Korea. The Taxi ride went quickly and Joe fell in love and was pampered all the way. We said goodbye on Tangier boulevard and they gave me their train fare money which really helped with the taxi fare.

La Tangerina Hotel is my home from home and Joe slotted in straight away, I was planning to leave the next morning but it just felt so good to be there, safe and nearly back in Spain that 1 night turned to 2. I met some great Ozzie and Kiwi girls who were just starting a trip and had a fun night on La Tangerina rooftop terrace watching the sun go down on Europe from Africa.

Friday morning saw us board the ferry to Tarifa with only minimal hassle from the boat steward for not having a cage for Joe, I was praying we could get buses on the Spanish side as I was down to about 50 euros and didn't really want to think about the coastal journey to Marbella. We blagged the free bus that runs from Tarifa to Algeciras but I could feel my force of will running out and things didnt look good from Algeciras onwards. After a very frustrating time at the bus station and 2 refusals I decided that buses were just not going to happen. In Marbella I jump on and off city buses with Joe all the time, but the coach type buses are having none of it, all animals over 6kg in a cage in the luggage compartment.

It was hot, I was way overloaded with my computer, my bag, Joe and his rucksack and a plastic bucket of dog food, a very well appointed hobo would probably describe my appearance, but I had a plan. If I could get to the motorway access road I could hitch, I didnt look like a hitch hiker but rather someone who's car had broken down, I mean it could happen to you, and if it did wouldn't you want someone to pick you up too?

I was bloody lost in Algeciras, hot and sweaty and probably looking a little desperate when I saw a little Grey haired lady unloading her car of grocery bags. I approached her and she immediately started petting Joe, she told me that she was an animal lover and that since her husbands death a few years back her dog was her light. She told me to hang on and brought water for us both from her house, I helped her finish unloading her car then she drove us to the motorway.

Refreshed and within striking distance of Kenneth's house I arranged our stall on the scorched verge of the slip road to the main A7, direction Malaga. Since 360 Mike introduced me to "the secret" some months back Ive studied it some more and watched a few videos of Ester Hicks and I am trying to exercise the techniques whenever I remember. I sat on Joes food bucket with the Dell computer bag and Nikon camera case to the fore and practiced.

What do I want? I red sports car with a leggy brunette in dire need of a web site going to Marbella?
ok lets keep it simple stupid.

A chauffeur driven air conditioned car going to Marbella.

right, now imagine already having that, how does it feel with the AC blowing across your face? as you watch the familiar countryside speed by, as you round that corner, the special corner with the windmills and the incredible view across the straights of Gibraltar, the cloud capped peaks of the Rif Atlas mountains, back where you just came from.
My visualization was broken by the crunch of tyre on gravel. A large black saloon car pulled up.

He was a chauffeur for a large construction company working just out of Algeciras, the company was building a huge natural gas something or other that was being constructed just outside of Algeciras bay but would be towed, by barge, to its final destination off the coast of Northern Italy. It was a huge job and he had been company chauffeur for 2 years, basically running company execs to and from Algeciras and Malaga airport. He was finished for the day and even though he wasn't going as far as Marbella and Kenneth's house it would be no problem to drop me at his door. I arrived just in time to join the Holland football party that was going on for the Euro Cup.

Steve and Laure arrived with Jackque driving, at 4am the following morning, having driven from the Algarve in Portugal. We spent a couple of hours catching up and draining the dregs of the football party booze before heading up to Damien's and Lilie's to drop of Joe. Damien had kindly offered to look after Joe for the week and it wasn't long before Steve, Laure and I were checked in and ready for take off. The plane sat on the runway for an hour meaning we missed our connecting flight from Luton to Nice and Geezer stood at Nice airport with a chronic hangover expecting us to arrive on the original flight. We had 3 days in Antibes before flying up to Paris with Chris from The Glamorgan and Geezer. That made 5 of us but after 2 days of Geezering it up in Antibes, an arse kicking on the Golf course and about 10 hours sleep it was a bedraggled bunch that took on Paris.



We stayed between Ghitas and Nikki's apartment and just round the corner at Andre's place in Vincennes; an area just out of Paris that I have really grown to like. It has great communication to Paris on metro and RER but the bosque and park floral make me feel like im far out in the country. We partied hard but with half full batteries and lots of money worries we didn't make the most of it. Paris is a magnificent city and just what I needed after the black hole of culture ive been living in for the last 9 months. I spent a great day wandering the Marais with Catalina and to be around architecture and fine art made me feel like a dry sponge sucking up water.



Plans started to form with lots of friends offering me their support which was just what I needed as I still had no firm plans as to what my next move would be. I jumped at Andre's offer to look after Joe, Andre's dog, Ollie is a two year old male Pekinese/terrier cross and I could see that Joe would be happy there. Joe holds a special place in Andre's heart too as we all house shared at Avenida Palmeras, for 3 years, it wasn't as good as home but as I don't have one currently, Joe has the next best thing. I headed back to Malaga feeling positive with a goal to work to - get Joe to Paris.

Damien again extended his hospitality and with Lillie away visiting family in Bella Russia we had a great week and a chance to talk and catch up like we havnt done in years. With no news from Morocco and no work on the horizon I needed to drag my feet and a safe place to crash for a while before heading to Paris. So I rang big Paul in Madrid, bought a second hand dog cage from a very nice lady that drove from Marbella to Benalmadena to drop it off, said my goodbyes to Damien and Lillie and stuffed Joe in the luggage compartment of the bus - we were off.



Madrid is another beautiful city and I walked miles through the Retiro with Joe and through my old barrio and favorite haunts. Paul retired recently and is living the classic batchelor life, his home - his old office converted, with lots of boys toys. A great pool table in the main room and we bought a new laptop and media drive onto which I copied my digital library, to give him a good start.
I took Joe round to the vet in Marbella and he had an anti inflammatory injection which had reduced the size of the cyst slightly, Monica advised another jab in Madrid and to take a biopsy. The result came back that he has an inverted saliva gland which will probably have to be opened up at some time but its reduced in size considerably and its not an urgent problem.
After 9 fun filled and slightly mad days with Paul it was time to give him back his couch. Friends showed further largess and booked Joe and I on a Madrid - Paris flight we said our goodbyes to Paul, who kindly ignored the credit crunch and extended the international debt mountain by a wee bit and we headed for Joe's new home for a while.


Ghita saved my aching back by offering me the use of her room as she was away visiting family in Denmark; What luxury a room, a bed, soft clean sheets. Joe and I settled in well and flat sharing with Nikki was great fun. Joe and Ollie didn't hit it off on the first visit to Andre's place. Two matcho A's and Joe probably not on the best of his form after so much travelling and change. Andre showed true canine training ability and in just a few days he had Joe and Ollie firmly under his command. I did my best to keep totally silent and not touch or acknowledge Joe in any way when Andre was training, that was a hard but valuable experience.

With Bastille day and a long weekend coming up Tabitha invited us down to her and Richards country pile. A beautiful little cottage in the quintessential French village of Fraze. Liz, Joe and I hopped on the Paris to Chartres train. (no cages for dogs, no charges and bloody great trains) and in no time we were corking a fine red and enjoying rillets, pate, cheese and crusty local bread in the garden. Richard is turning himself into a gourmet chef and the food we enjoyed and the memorable whiskey marketing session stand alongside Hooka Liz and fun filled scrabble.

With a call from Hamid over the weekend saying that something might happen with the fishing license I decided it was time to bite the bullet and head back to Morocco.

and so the journey continues, like a Moroccan bus's headlights that only illuminate a few feet of road in front yet can cross the country in a night, by only seeing a few feet in front, knowing their destination and having faith. I would like to express my gratitude to all my family and friends for allowing me to share in your lives and to continue my journey.
Until the next installment - enshalla.

Garden Solutions launch Spanish version of web site

A recent installation of Royal Grass

Garden solutions Costa Del Sol are the exclusive distributor for Royal Grass, the market leading artificial turf, and our 4th client to take up our Web 2.0 package, have released the Spanish version of their web site this week.

With the hot arid climate in Spain and the Mediterranean region Royal Grass makes the perfect solution for all those that want a beautiful garden but not the high cost of watering and maintaining it.

Since the new English version of the web site has been live Paul Rimmerzwaan, boss of the company has been impressed with the number of pure internet inquiries he has received and the improved placement of his company through Google and other search engine results. Paul told me today that they were close to closing the first deal that has come as a result of an internet inquiry from the new web sites.
Click on the links in the portfolio to see Garden solutions web site, blog and photo album.

Testing out the web 2.0 RSS service from RSS Hugger

I have been working hard and learning lots this week about RSS and how it can increase traffic and reach. I have registered all my blogs with feedburner and feedblitz in some cases, Ive opened a few newsletters and added adsense to my feedstream.
I discovered this great looking RSS startup site and this is how they describe themselves:

RssHugger is a weblog directory that basically combines Technorati, rss directories, and search engine optimization into one. If you own a blog, you can get your own page on rssHugger for 10 years by giving an honest review of the site on your blog. If you want to join rssHugger but do not want to review our site, you can pay a one time review fee of $20. This fee, allows the site's authors to keep out a lot of the spam/useless blogs.

The site has a top 100 list that resets every month and that should encourage consistent new users to join and the user generated content, thats me and 1000 s of other like me, witting honest accounts of the service is a really great idea and exactly what a web 2.0 startup should be promoting.

This site deserves to work and I will keep you all up to date with the traffic increases from rss hugger in the future.

Flock voted No 6 in PC Worlds top 100 products for 2008

We recently became aware that Flock was selected as one of PC World's top 100 products of 2008. This is flattering for us, and another great validation that our vision is resonating with the world. We were not only in the company of many wonderful other products and services, but we were listed as #6 on the list of 100 services.

Rather than doing some kind of chicken dance to show our jubilation for this acknowledgement, I'll simply point you to the list so that you can check out the many wonderful companies which also received this recognition.  Of course, we pay close attention to the other browsers, and we are extremely humbled to be listed as the top browser by PC World.

The pace of progress here at Flock has been steady. In November of 2007, Flock launched our first commercial release with the 1.0 version of our browser. Today, we find ourselves almost half way into 2008, and we're launching our third full commercial release with the 1.2 version of our browser.

We've got some great things planned for the remainder of 2008, and look forward to continued innovation in pursuit of delighting Flock fans worldwide.

Flock - a seriously good web browser based of Firefox 3.0 platform

Using Flock can seriously improve your Web 2.0 all the various web services lick Flickr, Facebook, Gmail and many many more are automatically integrated into the browser.
I highly reccomend this Firefox based browser.


Getting Social with the Flock 1.2 Browser



Uploading Photos with the Flock 1.2 Browser




Finding and Sharing Media with the Flock 1.2 Browser




Flock and Digg





Reading Feeds with the Flock 1.2 Browser

Proudly presenting our first 4 web sites and web 2.0 packages

Garden solutions Costa del Sol have already reported a big increase in incoming customer enquiries and confirmed jobs from the new site and 2.0 package. The google maps mashup as find a local dealer works so well and it is something that I will be mashing with again. Since completing this one I have really worked hard on the feed integration across all four of the sites and Im looking forward to seeing an influx in traffic.


JHK Special Garden are very pleased with their new site and 2.0 package. I created the User Generated Content motor that we had used successfully with Riad Ouzoud and La Tangerina in an online guestbook function, but converted it to Ask JHK a gardening question. So far no one has posted a questions but in theory the questions will be posted automatically on the blog with the reply and answer from JHK as a post comment. Integrated googlemaps to highlight the companies portfolio and linked it through to a flickr folder. Created a few zazzle products.


Our first web 2.0 job and in inself a milestone and an excellent example to show where we came from. The user generated content motor was first put to use here as the online guestbook.


Our favourite little hotel and the first time we have integrated music into the site using a last fm widget tagged to Jazz, and is so indicative of the Tangerina atmosphere, that was a Mike touch- chapeau. Again the USG content motor took the shape of the guestbook publishing to the blog and feeding back to the web page in a spring widget rss feed reader. Created a few Zazzle products.

Optimizing with adsense a good tutorial video

New promotional video application tested

Web 2.0 ... The Machine Is Us/ing Us - Video

Web 2.0 ... The Machine Is Us/ing Us - video powered by Metacafe



Dr Michael Wesch Kansas State University

Experimenting with traffic and merchandising

create & buy custom products at Zazzle


I have been looking into traffic figures over the last few days from some of my older blogs and sites, to try and get a feel for what's good and driving traffic and what's simply cluttering up my side bars.

Buy something!! and help support the wanderings of a couple of 2.0 Urchins all commissions generated from the Zazzle commission (10%) will be spent on travel - keeping media Morocco on the road and you very much in fashion.

Even though as an affiliate partner I've seen no revenue since I set my account up over 8 months ago I felt Zazzle was worth pushing further. The google organic traffic loves it and I have to say they are impressive when it comes to search.

Im also thinking that its a great way to get the guestbooks or User Generated Content motors turning. Its hard enough getting these web 2.0 jobs in the first place never mind persuading them to reprint business cards and stuff with the new sites, so apart from a possible affiliate income I think its a win situation for the client as well, in many cases its not a money problem for these small and growing companies that we seem to be representing, its not enough time. If web 2.0 can solve that problem too, then it really is looking like a 2.0 future.

JHK Special Garden celebrates mediamorocco's third web 2.0 combination

Visit JHK Special Garden new web site and 2.0 package

With the launch of JHK Special Garden's new web site, blog and flickr album there is a real feeling that we are getting somewhere with this mash up. The User Generated Content engine (UGC) which is working successfully on Riad Ouzoud and La Tangerina as an online guestbook has been retained, but morphed into Ask JHK a gardening question.

We have incorporated Google maps into this site and it is a fantastic application, I think this will become a central feature to our template much like the flickr widgets.



Flickr really does deserve its ranking as the 35th most popular site in the World (according to Alexa last week) the social side is excellent too, but for our Template, up till now its been the HTML widgets fed from flickr folders or photostream that have impressed. Until now, I was trawling the flickr API directory when I discovered a neat little application that will run a flash or java based slideshow and create HTML code for copy and pasting. I gave it a spin on our next clients new blog CLICK to have a look. I could see this little program being used in place of the Java program we are currently using, for example of what Im talking about check the product page on JHK web site.

La Tangerina web site is live!

It took a while but we went live at midnight last night with the mediamorocco English version of La Tangerina web site. If you dont arrive from that link then the landing page is currently in Spanish and still shows the old web site, simply select the English language flag and you will go to the new web site.



Just as soon as we do the translations in the other languages we will be launching the new web site in French, Spanish and German. Your feedback on the new site is always appreciated

Media Morocco launch blog on a podcast

Media Morocco launches a new rss to voice service today enabling our readers to listen to our blog posts.

This service converts any RSS feed to a high quality mp3 sound file automaticaly. This can then be listened to on site or downloaded to an iPod or other media device.

Media Morocco are specialists in Web 2.0 solutions for todays small to medium sized business, we offer bespoke tailer made web packages including virtual tours, photography, web design, copy writing and as a small and efficient team are prepared to travel to exotic or far flung locations.

If you think Media Morocco can help your business reach its audience through the internet better, faster and more efficiently why not contact us for a no obligation discussion about your business needs.

The future is widgets the future is web 2.0

A good example of a web 2.0 logo - click the image to see how to make it

According to panelists at the Web 2.0 Summit startups that fight to be the next "It" platform probably won't survive the Web 2.0 era. Startups that fight to be a part of the platform have a far better chance.



Check out Steve Ballmer doing his warm up routine at another conference if this man thinks the future of the internet is in widgets them Im not going to argue with him - and niether should you....

Steve Ballmer , chief executive officer of Microsoft , kicked off day two of the summit. He discussed Microsoft's latest developer strategy called Popfly. Popfly was designed for non-coders to easily write components of applications into their Web services.

Additionally, Microsoft is on the hunt to acquire and host as many Web 2.0 applications as possible following its recent investment in Facebook .

"E-mail me at Microsoft.com if you think you've got something worth buying," Ballmer said, inviting the room full of entrepreneurs to attempt a dowry out of Microsoft.

To many at the conference, this said that Microsoft may have learned that it is not the be-all and end-all of the Web and has to learn to appreciate the programmable Web.

"In the earlier years of the PC, Microsoft created this huge developer ecosystem," said CMP Media. "As they reached the limits of growth, they started to say, 'Sorry, we have to kill you.'"

But proprietary software is no longer the way of the Web. These days, those who play nicely get to play longer, as Facebook has so quintessentially shown. As the Web evolves, no one player or Web site fits all needs.

"In the early days of the Web, it was about feeding content and syndicating content," said Jeff Huber, vice president of engineering for Google. "Now, instead of applications being stuck in a single URL or in your desktop, they live in a cloud, are portable and embeddable. People are actually taking this a step further, which is the dis-aggregation and re-aggregation of applications in new ways. Putting things on top of each other, inside each other, etc. Given this, there are many roles you can play in this new ecosystem."

This is one of the reasons that widgets are so important. Users can now receive information on a need-to-know basis in spoonfuls from various sources, which forces the sources to think collectively.

"The general idea is that you're going to take your page and break it into parts and syndicated it over various places for people to interact with it," said Niall Kennedy, a consultant with Hat Trick Media and organizer of the Widget Summit. "A big change is coming with the latest version of Apple's operating system, we'll see the use of Web clips. This will create a penalty for those of us who don't create widgets because the user will do it themselves."

Read the full article here

Media Morocco launch You Tube video for La Tangerina

To celebrate the launch of the new Web 2.0 package for La Tangerina hotel in the Kasbah Tangier we have produced a little video showcasing a few of the still images that didnt make the final cut for the web site.
The MediaMorocco hotel web 2.0 package comprises: copy writing in English, still photos and virtual tours, web design, online blog set up and 10 published posts, online photo album from Flickr with your first 50 images uploaded tagged and linked.

If you have a boutique Hotel or special product that you think would benefit from out Web 2.0 touch then we would love to hear from you - we travel continuously and are available for special projects at exotic locations.

Media Morocco Portfolio available on Google Maps

Media Morocco launch the portfolio of work on Google map - check it out!


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Media Morocco - 1 stop solution for online marketing

Welcome to our 360 Virtual Tour showcase for Morocco.

Click on any of the 360 Virtual Tour images to view the tour

All our 360 products are hosted and managed on 360 Factory´s servers, clients receive monthly traffic reports by email showing the number of visitors, where they came from and how long they spent plus much more useful data that can help you target and market too your potential on line client base.



Media Morocco and 360 Factory are experts in their field, so if you like what you see and believe your products or services can be better presented using our photo and web techniques, just drop us an email. We speak your language and we will make it happen for you in an easy to understand and economic way.




The 360 tours are delivered in the form of a single web page where the URL is: www.360factory.com/ma/yourcompanyname.
The webpage is indexed on google, yahoo and other major search engines.

Several of our Moroccan clients wanted to upgrade their websites and therefore some of the jobs in Morocco became X-large and we delivered complete websites.

Click on any of the 3 examples below to view the web sites:

Welcome to the world of Internet V2.0

Its great to have a good looking and well presented web site but media morocco take this a step further with full web 2.0 integration. Web 2.0 basically means a better way to communicate with potential clients via the internet and we work with Blogs and online photo albums, to name just two of the many solutions that we use to help drive traffic to your web site and filter and qualify visitors.




Design and production; 360 Factory by Michael Johansson and text and web 2.0 integration from Fraser Cairns at media morocco.

Please enjoy your virtual visits and if you would like more information on our tours, web sites or web 2.0 and internet marketing services just comment on the end of this post,. leaving your email and we will be in touch.

Enjoying a family break in Scotland and England.

I'm having a little time off to celebrate my 40th birthday and catch up with family.




My fast growing nieces and nephews just seem to grow up so quickly, I've had a fantastic 11 days at my sisters place in Renfrewshire, Scotland.



I have just flown via Ryan Air - the wankers of the cheap flight crowd in my opinion and the only company to give me a hard time about my computer as hand luggage, ok it is a big computer (Dell XPS 2010) but they make it all so difficult, how do you expect people to travel and work with no baggage? sort it out and be more like Easy Jet i.e no weight restrictions on hand luggage.


Anyway I arrived in Bournemouth where Im now enjoying a little more predictable weather and the hospitality of my brother and family.

I will be back in Southern Spain and Morocco by mid May so if anyone would like to speak about web sites, web 2.0 or anything else, I need the work so please drop me an email: fraser.cairns@gmail.com

Garden Solutions look to Web 2.0 to reduce adwords costs

check out their web site for new 360 images

Garden Solutions Costa del Sol - official sales agents for Royal Grass and Tech wood products have invested in a Web 2.0 package and new web site from mediamorocco.

Check out their new blog for our latest news and contacts

Paul Rimmelzwaan the forward thinking Dirctor of Garden Solutions decided that a new approach to internet marketing was needed

Check out teir photo galler for images of the latest royal grass and tech wood jobs

" each month a large part of our advertising budget is being spend with Google adwords and whilst it is effective in the short term it is also costly - we want to generate quality traffic from our products and build a growing and interested community around our excellent and ecological product range - blogging is a new approach for our company and we all look forward to working with Fraser and Mike"



MediaMorocco will be putting together a 3 web page site incorporating a blog which will give Garden Solutions a platform to discuss their product range and also to publish photos and details of comleted jobs. An online photo gallery and a new web site incorporating widgets, 360 photos and still images.

Virtual Tour of the Fez medina

360 Virtual Tour of the Fez Medina

Media Morocco launched a 360 virtual tour of the Fez Medina today. We are a little lacking on the text so if our good friends and fellow bloggers at the View from Fez can help out or circulate it to the many great bloggers that seem to be concentrated round the Imperial city then we would be most happy.

Making the tour was a heap of fun. We primed ourself the night before and made a small list and benchmark prices for the stuff we wanted to buy. The following morning armed with our best haggling heads and a 100 Dipoints make prizes system geared to haggling we were off.

The challenge: to complete our shopping list with the most discount and make some sort of coherent tour of the wonderful Medina as we staggered round.
The day weaved its Moroccan magic and we ended up back at our great little hostel with only half the items, yet over budget - but some great memories and a nice little tour.

I have all the store owners emails and gsm's so if anyone out there in Fez fancies doing a Medina guide please feel free to use the tour just drop me an email :-)

Roof terrace at La Tangerina check out their new blog and guestbook

I'm off to a great little hotel in Tangier for the next few days building them a new web site and 2.0 package. Really looking forward to staying at Jurgen and Farida's place again and
exploring Tangiers a little more. I always seem to be either coming or going when I'm in Tangier, this time Im actually staying for a little while.writing some tight copy for them, its a great place with superb people and hopefully we will do it justice.

Mike is in Norway and then Egypt then back in Morocco the second week in May we are taking bookings for web 2.0 jobs from then.