Sorry, no “Welcome to my home page,” ZZZZZZZ, oops, just fell asleep writing that. Who on earth wants to read that for the gazillionth time? One thing is certain, the wow! factor of having a personal blog has long since vanished in a puff of ordinariness and now it is more a question of actually finding something worth reading or seeing on some one's blog.
This is my personal blog and as such I usually use it for personal ramblings, although I am mercenary enough to take advantage of it's occasional authority for strange search engine terms that send traffic arising from me rambling on about whatever it is I feel like today. If you came in search of hiring me professionally, please visit my internet marketing site, or contact me here - mark knowles.
If you just stopped by for a read, have fun, and if you wanted to express your annoyance at me for some of my personal opinions on religion, politics or professional sports - feel free to leave me a comment. No matter how offensive it may be, I probably won't delete it if it is witty.
I’m not trying to sell anything, but I have written a novel and am looking for an agent. Please look at the Books page if you are a Massively Successful New York Agent looking for The Next Big Thing in Popular Fiction. Or if you’re a New Agent Starting Out and Need The First Client, ditto.
If you run a self-publishing company, please go away, I’m not interested, I have much better things to waste my money on, like a new pair of ear muffs for the beach. Although I do find it entertaining how many of the Google Ads I see on the 'net are for self publishing companies. Anyone would think they make a lot of money out of desperate authors.
These are a few of my favorite things.
Me
My wife, Margaret
I love other people’s kids, but couldn’t eat a whole one.
And a large plate of interesting food. (Those Italians really know how to eat.) Incidentally, said plate of food was a freebie for buying two $4 glasses of wine. Welcome to Italia.
About me
Professionally
I am a professional blogger and search engine optimizer. Past clients include the Luxury Property blog and I count this amongst one of my many successes - having taken the luxury property blog to a 3-month Alexa ranking of around 73k in under a year in what I consider to be one of the most competitive niches on the internet.
Personally
Born on a dark and stormy night, august 30th 1961. Actually, I don’t remember the weather, but you could ask my mum, she probably does, she wasn’t doing much at the time. I was the first of three, and the only reason there were three is because none of us were girls; she really wanted a girl. If at first you don’t succeed....
I currently live and play on the French Riviera. Say what you like about the French, they make a damn good cup of coffee. Perhaps not quite as good as the Italians, but the bread makes up for it. Current interests include poker, sitting on the beach and trying to find a literary agent. “Good luck with that” I hear somebody mutter in the distance.
As a pro-blogger and SEO specialist, I have become intimately familiar with the WordPress publishing platform. One of the many great features of WordPress is that you can just keep writing and all that happens is the page gets longer. So I will continue to update and add to this page as time goes on.
Likes:
Good strong coffee, Apple computers, heated arguments in a pub, short skirts, fast results, writing, the smell of fresh bread, watching the sun go down, sharp cheddar, Marmite, lemon blossoms, strange photographs, getting up late, good quality pens, freshly laundered sheets, playing pool, poker, thunder storms, English beer, German beer, French beer, in fact, all beer, forgetting what day it is, birthday parties, cycling, driving a fast car slightly too fast, a good movie, complaining, the feel of satin on my lips, fizzy bottled water, French bread, the smell of Rosemary on my fingertips, Basil, red wine, Ducati motorcycles, Spaghetti Carbonara, Blues music, particularly Stevie Ray Vaughn, lemon marmalade, old fashioned cooking recipes, silly photos, Omega watches, WordPress, reading a good book, Jamie Oliver, French Toast (American French Toast - in France is is just called "Toast") .........to be added to
Dislikes:
Listening to rotten rap music played by someone else's cheap phone, ice tea, mushrooms, pork, politicians, large corporations who answer the phone with a recorded voice and a menu, Sprint, Windows software, Japanese speakers(and by speakers, I mean the things on the end of a HiFi system, not someone speaking), getting a job offer that turns out to be an attempt to get free web content for a "soon to be the most popular site on the internet and a great resume builder," did I mention rap music?, noisy neighbours, spinach, cauliflower cheese, nuts, mushrooms, overcooked green beans, breast implants, nightmares, Algerian, cheap cigars, losing, noisy neighbours, evangelical christians, ......to be added to.
Hello Mark,
I enjoy your posts in Luxuryproperty.com. My specialty is real estate investment and development in the United Arab Emirates. I think you will enjoy taking a look at my blog, UAE Mega Projects, which covers all the Mega Projects of The Gulf:
http://uaemegaprojects.blogspot.com
Let me know what you think.
Sincerely,
Brett Siegel
Aloha Mark, I just saw a picture of a hippo standing behind a rock wall with a funny sign in front saying “Splatter Zone” the credit for the pic was your site.
I’m curious, was that picture taken at a small private zoo near Taxco, Mexico? because I was at that zoo & the wall & hippo look familiar.
Thanks, Jerry
Hey Jerry.
Unfortunately that was not taken by me. I found it in my internet wanderings and am not sure who it belongs to
Hello,
In my class we are studying businesses that are “best in class”. The Marriott was one that was of interest to me. I recently read your blog on the a project the Marriott was doing. I was hoping if you or if you could give me the names and/or emails of other bloggers who may know of some recent improvement projects that the Marriott may be pursuing. Thanks in advance.
Hi Brente -
Sorry, I have no idea
Hello Dan,
Well I am a little new to this but I am interested in hooking your link to my blog, and I would be thrilled if you put a link to our blog.
We are a small group, but we are growing fast.
Of brokers throughout Mexico from different cities.
We all are coming together to write posts regarding investment opps. And the real estate markets in all of these various regions in Mexico.
I joined technorati, and started looking for interesting blogs with similar industries.
That is how I found your blog.
Any tips would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Thomas
MEXICO REAL ESTATE
Hi Mark, I couldn’t find an RSS button on your site – is there a subscription option?
The French Riviera sounds good!
I happened upon one of your blogs by accident; don’t remember what on earth I was searching for, then realized I had been reading your stuff for months on Hubpages (being a hubber myself), and on Luxury Properties (because I plan to move to Monaco). I didn’t want to mess with the universe, so I thought I had better leave a comment here.
hi. living in south italy and have started a blog to supplement my income as an artist cause i want to be able to stay here. you make it sound possible. thanks
I would give anything to have a nightmare man. I haven’t remembered a single dream for over a decade.
Stop drinking alcohol LOL
Hello
Best wishes and warmest thoughts to you!May your New Year be filled with special moment, warmth, peace and happiness,be happy everyday and everything goes better and better in the future!
I am a chinese,and your loyal supporter,you were,you are and will always the best!I believe in you and I will enjoy looking around and following you ups, downs, highs and lows!I hope to get your signature, thank you very much!
My Address:
Wanglei
Baishi road 44-4#
Zhifu district 264000 Yantai
Shandong
China
Get some Faith