Your Ultimate Guide to a Vacation in Macau

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The special administrative region of Macau is situated on the southeast coast of China. At just 27.5 square kilometers, Macau is a small yet exotic corner of China that’s increasingly catching the eye of Filipino holidaymakers. Macau is an area with an intriguing history and an exciting future. Once an abode for Portuguese merchants and missionaries some 500 years ago, Macau was taken back into Chinese hands before the turn of the millennium and has since reinvented its image in a big way.

In fact, the area has been revolutionized as the casino capital of Asia. Macau’s casino culture has been in existence since the middle of the 19th century, but only in the last couple of decades has this former Portuguese colony has become a serious contender to Las Vegas for the tag of the world’s casino capital, with 30 million visitors to its shores in 2016. With more than 30 casino resorts, a plethora of fine-dining eateries, exclusive bars and nightclubs, it’s little surprise that Macau has become the fourth richest territory on the planet at a per capita GDP of $91,000.

Some of Macau’s casino entertainment and nightlife has to be seen to be believed. In 2014, gaming revenues in Macau reached a peak of $45 billion, with the Cotai Strip bustling when the sun goes down thanks to a raft of big-name casinos such as the Wynn, The Venetian and MGM, which have become popular tourist attractions.

Macau’s plentiful cultural and historical sites of interest are best explored on foot. The city’s main square, Senado Square, is the most significant symbol of Macau’s Portuguese past, with elegant Portuguese and Baroque-style buildings framing this busy part of downtown Macau. Further north of downtown you’ll find the Ruins of St. Paul’s, a former screen wall of St. Paul’s Church. One of the longest-preserved forts in the city, Monte Fort is also within walking distance of St. Paul’s Church. Those wanting to better understand the history of Macau should also take in the Museum of Macau, which features three stories of exhibitions on Macau’s traditions, customs and culture.

The area is also world-renowned for one of the best street racing circuits on the planet. The Macau Grand Prix is the world’s only street circuit that plays host to both car and motorbike races and has attracted some of the all-time greats of motorsport to its shores, including the late Ayrton Senna, Michael Schumacher and David Coulthard.

What’s great about a vacation in Macau is that there is no specific low season, with muggy daytime temperatures from January to December. Tourists tend to flock all year round to the region and hotel rates are subsequently consistent throughout. As Macau is the only place in China where casinos have been legalized, it is a very popular place for the Chinese to flock, especially during the Lunar New Year and the Golden Week in early October. The most comfortable time to visit is in autumn when the days are mild, and the evenings are pleasantly cool.

A city with a fusion of cultures, Macau is a vacation destination to stir the senses. With flights from Manila to Macau operating at least twice a day, and flight times a little over two hours, it’s the ideal city break if you want to let your hair down, soak up some culture and feel alive. What are you waiting for? Get booking!

Photo by Tristan Schmurr / CC BY

5 Must Know SEO Tips for Joomla Websites to Outperform Competitors

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There are a lot of businesses and personal websites now run on Joomla, which is a highly user-friendly, secured, and easy-to-build CMS for web development. Even though there are some built-in features in Joomla to help in search engine optimization, to be on top continual optimization and SEO fine-tuning is needed to enjoy the desired results. Here, we will discuss the critical tips one should know while administering a Joomla website to ensure maximum reach and gain more organic traffic.

Why are constant SEO efforts needed?

Before getting into discussing the tips, let’s first understand why SEO is essential. Here are some points.

Marketers know by now that SEO leads do have a better close rate compared to other outbound leads through print ads, and emails.

A latest 2017 research shows that only about 29% of the website users now try to input a domain name directly into the browser address bar. More than 60 percent just access a website from the organic search engine results.

More than 80% of the search engine users (Google, Bing) don’t go past the first page of search results.

The summary of all these stories is that without a keen focus on SEO, there is no point even in having a function-rich, aesthetically pleasing, and highly informative website. Plenty of other researchers also point towards this same trend favoring SEO. Now, let's review what to do for Joomla SEO


5 SEO tips for Joomla sites

If you maintain a Joomla site or planning to build one, then one needs to understand the significance of persistent SEO fine-tuning to achieve the desired results through online.

For this:

Speed, speed, and more speed

One of the primary considerations of search engines in terms of ranking a site is its page loading speed. The modern day internet users are also not so patient to wait unendingly for your page to load. In each two second delay in page loading time, the bounce rate increase by about 20 to 30%. There are plenty of ways to speed up websites like using Joomla cache.

When a user tries to access a website, Joomla work by fetching the content of the webpage from the database and loads the page components in minimum possible time to the user. If there are many different elements, then the process may take a few seconds to execute. This process is required only for the first time, and the users need not have to wait for it later if you have used the feature of Joomla cache in your blueprint SEO strategy.

Avoid 404 Errors

The one thing which can profoundly adversely affect the performance of your Joomla site is frequent 404 errors. Google bots hate to see 404 errors as these are the significant reasons for frustration to the users. However, it may be somewhat tricky to completed eradicate 404 errors but can try to create a more pleasing and engaging 404 page, which also will help the users to locate the actual information they seek for. Joomla web-building templates have built-in 404 pages, but you can review them and customize it to add more value to your website.


Usage of SEO Plugins

The primary benefit of Joomla CMS is that you can find friendly plugins to achieve anything, and you can see many such handy plug-ins for SEO too. When you are trying to do search engine optimization of your site, these plug-ins can help you to assess your website to find the weak spots, search engine vulnerabilities which you may have missed out. With such an insightful guidance, you can quickly patch them and let the site perform better. There are plenty of options offered by these plug-ins to add SEO value to your site.


Keyword and key topics

Keyword research and keyword-centric content management are essential in terms of SEO, which has to be done for Joomla sites too. You cannot use key phrases and also synonyms of your generic keywords to add search engine value. You can get keyword hints from the SEO plug-ins as well as the web analytics tools as offered by Google keyword planner.


Hosting your site

Developing a site to be search engine-friendly is not enough, but web hosting plays a vital role in the performance of your site. So, it is essential to host your website in a fast and reliable hosting server to ensure speed and maximum up-time. There are many cheap hosting options, which don't guarantee service quality. So, do your research to identify the most appropriate hosting services which are reliable, fast, and also Joomla friendly.


Above all these, Joomla lends a lot of tips by itself in on-page SEO. Joomla can organize the content of your website into different categories and appropriate sub-categories. You also need to work on link building as well as off-page optimization techniques too to get optimum benefit of SEO on your Joomla website.

Author bio: Derek Iwasiuk is a successful entrepreneur and founded one of the significant business corporate in social media marketing named Due. He is also a business genius and used to provide blueprint SEO strategy to corporate.

The Few Rules You Must Know for Vacationing on the Andaman Islands

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The exotic islands in the tropics, Andaman and Nicobar, is a perfect getaway for thrill-seeking couples, romantic travelers and families with children wanting to engage in interesting activities. It is an archipelago of the most enthralling flora and fauna – a result of millions of years of undisturbed evolution.

Here’s what you need to know before booking your Andaman tour package and sailing off for an awesome vacation.

It is only fair that there are a few do’s and don’ts for those traveling to these islands in all seasons.

Here's a comprehensive guide to what you should do and what you should strictly avoid during your vacation on Andaman - The set of dos for all visitors booking an Andaman tour package:

Carry your passport, driving license and travel permits with you at all times.

Contact registered tourist guidance companies for travel assistance.

While riding a motorbike, always wear protective helmets. Riding without a helmet can attract a hefty fine.

Do swim in the safe areas only.

Research the islands before going. This will intimate you with the proper rules of each one of them.

Get the necessary travel and photography permits while traveling through national parks and conserved areas.

Be sensitive to other's privacy any attempt to capture photos and videos of aboriginal tribes is a punishable offense.

All tourist spots carry notices about photography and videography permits.

Before entering the sea, consult the lifeguards and concerned authorities.

Use designated dustbins and garbage dumps to dispose of rubbish. Littering in public places is a serious offense.

Only avail the services of BSAC, SSI, CMAS, PADI, and NAUI like organizations for scuba diving. Avail the services of certified instructors, preferably from these organizations.

While snorkeling near the reefs or scuba diving, be careful not to damage them. It is punishable by law.

All foreign nationals should carry their area permit at all times. Police officers check the restricted area permits whenever people are traveling through Havelock Island, Neil Island and Elephant Island.

Now, a set of don’ts for everyone booking any Andaman tour package for the first time

Do not litter and do not smoke in public areas.

Do not carry plastic (polyethylene) bags. It is a strictly punishable offense and can attract a penalty of up to 100,000 INR.

Do not hunt birds and animals. Do not try to capture natural fauna on land and sea.

Do not visit the Nicobar Islands without a special permit. Do not visit islands that are off limits to foreign nationals without a permit.

Do not light bonfire on the beaches or any open ground without a permit. Camping is a serious offense on the islands.

Do not stay longer than permitted hours on the islands. Do not camp overnight on the beaches.

Do not break or carry corals (even dead ones) during your dives.

Do not collect shells. You can only buy seashells and you must carry the proof of purchase while traveling back to the mainland.

Do not try to interact with the aboriginal tribes or take their pictures/videos.
Do not swim in an inebriated state. It is unsafe.

Do not swim in treacherous zones. Avoid swimming in certain areas during the monsoon. Local guides will be able to direct you towards the safe zones.

A few rules are almost always necessary to make the travel and the stay enjoyable for the people on an island far away from home, surrounded by exotic animals, birds, marine life and ancient tribes!