One problem with google searches is that you don't know how accurate the information you come up with is going to be. You're inevitably going to get a mixed bag of commercial sites offering information skewed to generate profit for themselves, sites and blogs of self-professed experts who aren't nearly as knowledgeable as they think they are, highly opinionated diatribes that only offer one point of view, technical sites that go way over the heads of gardening newbies, and yes, some sites that are complete, accurate, and helpful. While these sites are easy to tell apart if you already know what you're doing, it's easy to forget that a less experienced gardener isn't always going to be able to tell which information is accurate and which isn't. Even an extension office website isn't always what it's cracked up to be; the articles are only as impartial as the gardener who wrote them, and I have seen articles on these sites that were very opinionated (for example, I saw one recently that went on at length about the superiority of hybrid tomatoes, and suggested that attempting OP or heirloom varieties was never worth the effort). In a forum like this one, however, inaccurate information will rarely go uncorrected by other posters. Biased opinions are almost always going to be balanced with other points of view. If an answer is too technical, one can ask for, and will usually receive, clarification. Personally, when I have a question the first thing I do is search the forum archives to see if it's been asked before. Usually, I find the subject has been covered before, and I highly recommend that people take this approach. If it hasn't been, I go ahead and ask. I do google things sometimes, but I consider the forums -the- best, fairest, and most accurate source of information, not Google. Denna

ilima The most important thing to make sure you turn up on google, after making sure your homepage has the right search words in the opening text, is to get your site address referenced on as many other webpages as possible - directory listings, private webpages etc. Often its a case of contacting the site webmasters and proposing an exchange of links. To get a google spider to visit and catalogue your website click on 'about google' on their homepage then add URL. You only ever need do this once.

There are a few ways to make a web page appear on google. The basic way is to just wait.. google has "spider apps" that go out "crawling" the web adding new sites to their ranks. Defining "key words" allows you to designate the specifi information you want to be associated with your page/blog. You can also POST your blog or page to google... basically you send a request to be added to the google ranks rather than waiting days or a week or so for a google spider to find you. You can also PAY to increase your ranks-- I definitely wouldn't go that direction. SEO, Search engine optimization is a science-- and for businesses it can get tricky and complicated. For a blogger, I would just be mindful of the keywords used. Another thing is that you "retrigger" the google spider and "freshen" your listing by adding/editing pages. A more active blog will be more frequently updated. I wish your son much luck and much fun with his new project! I'd encourage him to do some of this research too. I know it isnt as creative and fun as the graphics and videos will be but it is all part of the project. It's also invaluable knowledge in this information age!

Okay, so it's a bit different. But pick up in-store sometimes means "Buy online, pick up in store". And many retailers seem to follow a practice where "online" prices are different (usually lower) than in-store prices, even if for in-store pickup. Doesn't sound like that was the case for you. Stores have hundreds/thousands/tens of thousands of items for sale and pricing mistakes, display mistakes, etc., are bound to happen. I'm not suggesting you did anything at all wrong or different from what anyone else would do in that situation, but I've seen some people carrying-on, often impolitely (having happened upon a pricing mistake) as if they had won the lottery and it was their right to have just as many at the wrong price as they desired. Sometimes store personnel are courteous about it, sometimes not, but it's easy to understand why someone could lose their patience. If you're unhappy with them, the best way to show is to not buy anything else from them. My own recent experience with Best Buy, who I myself have stopped dealing with because of cumulative dissatisfaction, went like this: I was looking for a certain product. It was available at Best Buy for $30 - a middle of the road price, and higher than at the place where I would normally go. But where I normally would go is in another area and that day I didn't want to take the time to make the drive. So I went to Best Buy and bought it. It was a product of a type that it gets paid for at a department counter, not the main registers. The clerk tried to record the sale but the equipment didn't want to process my credit card charge. The clerk called over a department manager. After about 10 minutes of repeated trying (and my standing there patiently), the charge went through. I had the bank app open at their request because of therepeated failures to process. I told them I saw the charge come through. The manager said "Okay, I'm going to do something else, see if your account shows another transaction". I kept reloading and watched, and in about 60 seconds, a credit came through reversing the charge. I said "Oops, you just reversed the charge". He said "Yes, I did that intentionally, you've waited patiently for a problem on our side, not yours. Take the product with our compliments, see you next time". They will see me another time, I thought it was a classy gesture. Good luck to you.