1. Transportation:  Use public transportation while in the Pocono’s.  Visit http://www.gomcta.com for the local bus schedules.  If you do plan to drive make sure you rent the smallest car possible this will save the o2 as well as wallet.  While in the mountains you should make an effort to walk or ride your bike when visiting local business. 
   
2. Accommodations:  When picking a hotel or vacation home make sure you do your research.  The best way to stay green is call the hotel or property management company ahead of time and ask questions such as, do you have solar panels or low flow toilets.  If you really want low impact accommodations try camping for the weekend.  Check out http://www.poconocamping.com for a local campground. 
   
3. Green Activities:  Take the family or friends on a hiking trip for the day and have a contest rewarding the person who picks up the most trash.  If there are people there will be litter.  Make sure you bring a few plastic bags and some gloves. 
   

One of the best things about the Pocono’s is the locally grown and produced products.  While in the Pennsylvania Mountains make sure you stop at one of the many farmer markets for fresh vegetables.  There are also some great wineries, breweries and restaurants that the whole family will enjoy.  Buying products that are produced locally rather than imported will only strengthen your ties to the Pocono’s community.  The effort of spending your money locally will go a long way in protecting your favorite vacation spot. 

These projects are so big that not only will the resort properties change a great deal but so will the local roads. One of the plans to keep the locals form feeling the visitor traffic is have a exit ramp off of interstate 380 directly to the resort. Since the slots are coming I hope everyone is starting to think about how to work with the resorts to make sure the Pocono mountains keeps its small town feel.

Here is a check list for your website update.

1. Change all images to reflect the season.
2. Re due your meta tags, title tags and alt tags
3. Change your keyterms to reflect the season
4. Ask your linking partners to change your listing to reflect new offers.
5. Write new content using winter keyterms.

The main point is to learn as much as possible about the way people search for your business. There are certain terms that the majority of people when searching for information on the Pocono mountains use. If you want your site to come up when these terms are typed into major search engines like google you must make sure they are used in the content of your site.

Top 5 ways to Get Pocono Links

1. Trade links with anyone you do business with in the Pocono’s, this is called a link exchange.
2. Pay other sites to list your web site. Join the local chamber of commerce ( www.poconochamber.net, http://www.delawarewatergap.com/ )
3. Send emails to other webmasters that have Pocono web sites and tell them about your site. If they like it many will put links to it,
4. Provide useful information to your visitors. I have never seen sites will good info not have links.
5. Pay a professional to get links for you.

These sites rank first due to many factors. One is the age of the sites. Both of these domain names are old compared to other sites coving the Pocono’s mountains of Pennsylvania. Age is a major factor with many of the search engines these days.

The large amounts of backlinks these sites have also help keep them at the top of the search results. Both of these sites have over 200 backlinks. The average small business website has maybe 20 links. Building links is a great way to improve your sites ranking, make sure anyone you do business with has a link to your site.

These sites also have links on the Open Directory Project (ODP) website. Links from ODP are very powerful and cannot be purchased. If you have a website your first goal is to get listed on ODP. Make sure you follow there submission rules. For more information on how to improve your website search ranking email PoconosP@PoconosPoconos.com

Only two resorts have applied for slot licenses which will be awarded by the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board. From what I hear we will know who gets the license just before the winter holidays in December. The two Pocono resorts that are applying for a slot licenses are Mount Airy Lodge and the Pocono Manor Resort.

• What are People saying about the slots.
  • Some people think that anything that brings in the tourist is good for the Pocono mountains.
  • If the Poconos get the slots it will be another attraction in the area such as skiing that will drive business.
  • Many people think large casinos will ruin the home town feel of the Poconos.
  • Property value will go up.

Jim Thorpe is considered one of the most versatile athletes in modern sports. The town of Jim Thorpe Pennsylvania known as the “Switzwerland of America” was created to honor him. I have justed added a new page to the Poconos site with information on Him and his town.