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Friday, April 28  

Feeling Low? Depressed? A Bit Down?

Feeling Low? Depressed? A Bit Down?

Check out this: Jason's Story - 2 min 28 sec video.

Have a good weekend.

Brendon
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Nigel The Gnome Avoids The Chop

Nigel The Gnome Avoids The Chop

Over the past few months I've become increasingly concerned at the performance, or lack thereof, of Nigel - our Doorman.

Nigel hasn't been pulling his weight. In fact he doesn't even pull the door open. He's lazy. Real lazy. He just stands there most of the day with a dopey expression on his face.

But Nigel Has Come Good

But Nigel has come good. You see, today I got this email from a guy called Dan:

I'm currently putting together the launch of my new business and came across your site quite by accident. (I was actually searching for a competitor whose car signage I'd seen earlier in the day!) I felt the gnome may have been the tipping point.

So Nigel has gone from being a simple Doorman to being a point of difference, a choice influencer - he's the guy that brings in the clients.

It's funny how different things affect different people. Many people might see this post (and Nigel) as silly and childish.

Others might see it as fun and creative (we are a creative business after all).

Don't Over Analyse It

Others, like Dan the writer of this email, might decide to contact us because he sees the use of Nigel in a positive way. But then again there might be others that don't contact us because they see Nigel as silly.

I guess the important thing is to not over analyse stuff. Take actions being aware that there are consequences, but don't stress about every tiny detail.

You have to be different to stand out - here's one of my favourite posts about the issue.

Cheers

Brendon

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Thursday, April 27  

Online Search A Powerful Driver Of Offline Sales

Online Search A Powerful Driver Of Offline Sales

Anecdotally, I've always known that our web clients generate a lot of their sales from people who originally found them through their web site. Often on a web site there will be multiple ways to contact the business to buy:
  • direct online sale
  • phone number
  • email address
  • email form
Now quite often only the direct online sales - where the buyer uses an online form and their credit card to buy - is counted as a web site sale.

Almost Impossible To Quantify

But depending on the industry the sales generated by the web site that are completed offline would be as much as 50% in my experience. But because that's almost impossible to quantify (client's don't often measure the source of customers) it's difficult to make any certain statements.

Our eczema and psoriasis treatment web site gets 11% of total sales via fax orders. And another 3% via telephone orders.

And I know that some resort web sites we manage get as many bookings via the phone originating from the web site as they do via the online booking form.
Study Finds The Majority Of Searchers Purchase Offline

According to an article from Internetretailer.com of 83 million Americans tracked by comScore who searched at one of the 24 top search engines in November and December, 25% purchased an item relating to their query, and of that number, the majority Â? 63% -- completed that purchase offline.

And something relevant for my holiday resort clients: "56% of consumers' online holiday buying actually occurred in subsequent Internet sessions, not the session in which a search originated."

Search engine marketing works and it works well. And going by this sort of data it works even better than I've always known.

Cheers

Brendon
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When Things Go Wrong

When Things Go Wrong

Sometimes things go wrong. It's a fact of life. No matter how hard we all try and do the right thing, things can go astray.

Jacob Kovco, a Private in the Australian Army, was killed in Iraq last week in a terrible accident whilst cleaning his own gun.

Wrong Body Sent To Widow

Private Kovco's body was due to arrive here in Australia this morning. A coffin did arrive. But it was the wrong body.

Click here for story

Australian Defence Minister Brendan Nelson expressed his regret that Private Jacob Kovco's body failed to arrive in Melbourne this morning as scheduled, but stopped short of apologising for the bungle.

From the media reports:

"He refused to apologise on behalf of the Government until an investigation identified who was to blame." Source: news.com

Give me a break!

Of course he is to blame. As is the Prime Minister. They're the one's ultimately responsible. Sure, the error will have been made along the way somewhere, but as the leaders of their 'organisation' they're the one's who haven't the right processes or people in place to do things right.

So it's their fault.

I assume they're not taking the blame to reduce any legal liability should the widow decide to sue for the distress caused to her and her family.

When things go wrong then your course of action is pretty simple:

1. Say sorry.
2. Fix the problem.

There is really nothing else you can do.

From A Public Relations Position

And from a public relations perspective, most Australian's will read what Dr. Nelson has said and think "Idiot" and take a bit of a set against him. I have no doubt that this one incident will forever be a black mark on his career and will count very strongly against him in future elections.

Saying sorry is the right thing to do. Not because it would be politically smart but because it's simply the right thing to do.

Regards

Brendon
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Wednesday, April 26  

Top 3 Search Engine Tips

Top 3 Search Engine Tips

1. Find the best keywords for your site - that is, what do people search for when trying to find a site like yours. Identify the best words for your to be found for. Surprisingly, it may not be the most searched for term.

For example, if I was selling a Google AdWords advice book (and I kind of do as an affiliate of Perry Marshall's "The Definitive Guide To Google AdWords") I'd much rather be found for:

"adwords book" than
"free adwords book"

2. Use your keywords in the title tag, the headings and sub-headings, and the body copy. Don't overdo it. Write as naturally as possible and don't add your keyword to the page just to get it in there - it's much better to have a natural sounding page.

3. Get lots of other sites linking to your web site - one way links from quality sites are best, reciprocal links (you link to me and I link to you) are okay. If you can, have the other site link to your page using the keyword you are targeting - i.e. on a page you have developed for "adwords book" it's better if other sites link to you with the words "adwords book".
Top 3 Ways To Get One-Way Links
  • Online PR - check out PR News
  • Directory listings - such as Yahoo!
  • Article distribution - you write fresh articles and submit them to other sites
(The absolute best way to get 1 way links to your web site is to have fantastic content on your web site that people like to link to.)

For more information on search engine marketing check out these articles:

http://www.tailored.com.au/google-ranks-us-number-one-web-developers.htm
http://www.tailored.com.au/web-site-marketing.htm
http://www.tailored.com.au/free-web-site-promotion-article.htm
http://www.tailored.com.au/on-page-ranking-factors.htm
http://www.tailored.com.au/link-factors-for-web-sites.htm

Hope that helps.

Brendon
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Tuesday, April 25  

5,822,881 .com Domain Names Registered In 1 Week

5,822,881 .com Domain Names Registered In 1 Week

Go Daddy owner Bob Parsons has a blog over at BobParsons.com. He recently wrote a post where he mentions this amazing statistic:

During the week of March 27 — April 2, 2006, 5,822,881 .COM names were registered.

Wow. Bob's blog went on to mention that of those only 455,918 .COM names were actually retained after the grace period expired (some Domain Registrars apparently use a 5 day grace period to register a name, pop up a web site with Pay Per Click ads, have the web site up for the 5 days, make a little money from people landing on those domains, then drop the domain after the 5 days).

Anyway, 455,918 .com domains registered per week is still a huge number.

Brendon
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An Example Of Silly Design

An Example Of Silly Design

It's a holiday here in Australia to celebrate ANZAC Day.

I'm in the office putting together a proposal for a client and part of that is reviewing competitor sites. As regular readers know I'm a strong advocate on making your web site as simple as possible.

I've just found a web site that would be almost impossible to use for a lot of people looking at it. I'm looking at it on a 19 inch monitor with a screen resolution of 1280 x 1024 (which is big) and here's what I see:

There Is No Easy Navigation

As you might see there, there is no simple navigation. It's way, way down the bottom (where no one would expect it or look for it). There is a type of navigation at the top of the page but I'd guess 50% of people wouldn't even realise that is a navigation aid.

It's crazy, fancy design that simple stops the visitor from buying from this company. And don't even get me started on the useless 'splash' page this site has.

Make your site quick to load, easy to easy and simple to find things. And make it informative, entertaining and ever-changing.

That's the way to web site success.

Cheers

Brendon
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Monday, April 24  

Our First Video Podcast

Our First Video Podcast

We have a regular podcast over at TailoredPodcast.com. On Friday we did a video of us (Tina and I) doing the show - it's means the podcast is unedited.

Judging a Book By Its Cover

  • Did you know that tall people are seen as more successful than short people?
  • Or that men who wear short sleeve shirts to work are seen as losers?
  • Or that good looking people get promoted more?

We talk about how appearances affect peoples’ perceptions, and why your appearance is important - check it out here.

Hope you enjoy it.

Cheers

Brendon
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Friday, April 21  

Here's Some Great Feedback

Here's Some Great Feedback

I get a lot of feedback because of my book, here's one I received this morning.

=========
Your information and guidelines to run a web development business have helped me to grow my business in 6 months from just me to 3 developers, a project manager, 2 person marketing team and 3 salesmen.

I currently have more work than I can handle and more is stacking up.

I started from my home moved to a small office and am now looking for a bigger office to accommodate the staff.

I'm proud to say that your book was totally responsible for this.

=========
Fantastic. I'll be interviewing the writer of that shortly for a special video podcast (and maybe put it on Tailored Podcast as well) shortly.

Have a good weekend.

Cheers

Brendon
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Thursday, April 20  

It's Like When You Buy A Pink VW

It's Like When You Buy A Pink VW

All of a sudden you'll start to notice all the other pink cars on the road.

It's the same for me with online video and Pay Per Click advertising.

We're doing lots of online video and Pay Per Click advertising at present and all I seem to be reading is stats t support both of these.

There are now close on 100 million Americans with Broadband access. That's great for online video as people are far more likely to view video if they're on Broadband.

31% Increase In Pay Per Click Displays

According to new Nielsen/NetRatings AdRelevance tracking data, marketers bought 185 billion display ad impressions in the month of March. That is 31% more than February's 141 billion.

Here an image from the latest e-marketer newsletter (click here or the image for the full article):























Cheers

Brendon
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Wednesday, April 19  

Friends, Romans, Countrymen, Lend Me Your Ears

Friends, Romans, Countrymen, Lend Me Your Ears

Firstly, apologies to William Shakespeare for stealing that line.

I have a Google Analytics account and I'm testing it out on this site. It's looking good so far.

Part of the reports is a graphical overlay of where people are looking at this site from. As you can see from the image below, my visitors mostly come from the USA, Europe, India, China and the east coast of Australia.

Hello Roma!

One of the cities I get quite a few visitors from is Rome. So a big shout out to my visitors from Rome.

My wife and I visited a few weeks back and had the time of our lives - what a city!

What great people! What amazing food. What beautiful women!

Here's a pic of me by the River Tiber.

We stayed in the perfectly positioned Albergo Lunetta (the first room shown - with the double bed and the single you can just see - was ours) - just metres from Campo de' Fiori.

The Albergo Lunetta is built on the ruins of
Pompeo's theatre - that's where Julius Caesar was killed.

Perfect position, friendly staff, nice rooms, good price - stay there if you want to experience Rome.


And you thought this was a marketing/business web site!

Cheers

Brendon

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Tuesday, April 18  

It's A Bloody Big Ad - But A Bloody Big Waste Of Money Too?

It's A Bloody Big Ad - But A Bloody Big Waste Of Money Too?

Here in Australia one of the local beer makers released an ad a few months back. It's known as the Big Ad - it reputedly cost in excess of $1 million to make and features armies of colourfully robed men running across a huge field in the shape of a person and a glass of beer.

Despite the ad, Carlton Draught's share of the $1.4 billion New South Wales beer market has remained the same since the ad's launch last July.

The Executive Creator Director of the agency who created the ad said ".....I'd be surprised by those figures....."

Ad A Strong Contender To Win Prestigious Award

And the Big Ad is considered a strong chance to win a major award at the prestigious Cannes Lions advertising festival coming up in July.

And that's what's so crazy about the ad industry. You create a hopeless ad that doesn't meet the objective of selling the stuff it is supposed to. And then you win a major ad award.

But the ad agency will make it all right.......I get the feeling that right about now the client would be hearing these words any day now:

"But our research shows a strong increase in brand awareness."

Which is Ad-Speak for "No-one bought any beer."

Cheers

Brendon

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The Wrong Jon Stewart

The Wrong Jon Stewart

I've just read this - where a school in the US booked the wrong Jon Stewart for their annual gala. It's made headlines around the world - a bit embarrassing for the school involved.

(Jon's the guy who hosted this year's Oscars.)

What I would be doing if I was Jon Stewart's agent is, if it is at all possible, getting him to be the surprise special guest at the gala. That would save some face for them!

Imagine the positive publicity that gesture would make. It would be worth $1 million to the Jon Stewart 'brand' at least.

Marketing isn't always about getting top dollar for an appearance. It can be about providing incredible value to build a long-term and hugely valuable brand.

Cheers

Brendon
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Google Launches Online Calendar

Google Launches Online Calendar

Google launched its online calendar late last week and I've given it a test spin. It looks good and has the basic functionality you need.

It's a beta release, so they still have a good way to go to make the calendar the best it can be.

It's all part of Google's efforts to make themselves the one stop shop for everything you need online. I'm not sure that'll work.

Right now I'm thinking Google has so much data about me and my ad buying habits, my search engine habits, my online habits that it's getting almost to the "I don't want them having any more information about me stage."

Google have been a fantastic company for so many on the web that it sounds a little ungrateful of me I think.

I'm going to have to think about this one before I start putting all of my appointments and details into the calendar.

Cheers

Brendon

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Thursday, April 13  

Online Video Production Tips

Online Video Production Tips

After my interview on Andrew Johnson's Web Publishing Blog.com (and subsequently mentioned on a number of other blogs) I've had a few people email me for tips for people starting out shooting video for online use.

Here they are: Top Tips For Shooting Video Footage For Online Use.

It is a 6 page pdf file with Example Production Schedule and Example Script included. Hope they are of some use.

Cheers

Brendon

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What's In My Web Design Business Kit? Check Out The Video For Full Details

What's In My Web Design Business Kit? Check Out The Video For Full Details (Press the play button to start - the video goes for 2 mins 51 secs)







The Web Design Business Kit won the 2004 Award for Best Book On Web Design by the Web Design Library and has had well in excess of $1 million in sales.

Brendon


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Online Video Works At Increasing Sales - Proof

Adding Video Works At Increasing Sales - Proof

Because we produce online video for clients I'm very passionate about the benefits. But I'm passionate because online video works at increasing sales.

Keeping in mind that these stats are early data, we inserted video onto a client's Home Page on Day 4. Check out the results over the next week:


Yep, online video helps your web site in a whole range of ways. Tripling this site's sales over the previous 3 days on day 1 of video use! Incredible.

Like I said, our data is fairly early, but video is looking tremendously positive.

Our own affiliate web site at www.seobookreview.com was the basis of this article on Andrew Johnson's WebPublishingBlog.com site.

Aaron Wall, the author of SEO Book, saw the interview and added these comments to his own site:

"Affiliate marketing via video content. As the end merchant who's product is being sold I can tell you that Brendon converts amazingly well."

Cheers

Brendon

2 comments       |       Permalink      

 
 

The Blogs I Read

The Blogs I Read

I read a lot online and after my recent Bloglines post a few people have asked me to publish what I read. I've just figured out how to do that (I'm a bit slow) - here are the sites I read regularly:

http://www.bloglines.com/public/brendonsinclair

Cheers

Brendon
3 comments       |       Permalink      

 
 

Wednesday, April 12  

I'm Interviewed By Andrew Johnson

I'm Interviewed By Andrew Johnson

Andrew Johnson, respected blogger with Web Publishing Blog.com, has just interviewed me and published the interview on his blog.

I love reading Andrew's blog - he's a guy with his finger on the pulse and gets some really interesting and top notch people interviewed for his blog.

Thanks Andrew.

Brendon

1 comments       |       Permalink      

 
 

How Experienced Internet Users Search

How Experienced Internet Users Search

The good folk at Harvest Digital have just put out an interesting report on the "Attitudes to search amongst experienced Internet users."

Many users use multiple search engines with only 5% ever using single word searches. 40% of users normally enter in three word search terms (two word search terms come in second at 27%).

And the most important factor for selecting what result to click on?
  • That it appears on the first page.
Check out Harvest Digital for the full report (you'll see the download link in the bottom right hand corner - I've circled it in red in the image below).


The message is clear. If you want top results from your web site you need a page 1 position in the search engine results.

Cheers

Brendon

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Even Error Messages Can Help Your Brand

Even Error Messages Can Help Your Brand

Even when things go wrong, which they sometimes will, a simple message keeping your visitors/customers/clients informed is all it takes to:

a) not damage your brand
b) help build your brand.

A web service I use frequently crashed just recently. Here's the message I received when I went to the site:Cheers

Brendon
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Tuesday, April 11  

Online Video Performing Strongly

Online Video Performing Strongly

Our online video division is going great guns with some fantastic measurable results for clients (initial early increases for one client were to the degree of a 300% sales increase!).

Tina directing the latest Tailored blockbuster!

We have video on these sites of our own - www.seobookreview.com and www.googleadwordsreview.com - and the results have been very, very positive (i.e. conversion rates 3x normal).

Tina, who produces our videos, organises everything from the concept, to writing, to shooting, to editing, to converting, to uploading. It's a very simple process as Tina takes away all the pain of production through her extensive experience and expertise.

I'm seeing more and more video online. Video Podcasts, such as the hugely popular Rocketboom which featured on an episode of CSI, are making daily online video viewing a part of many people's lives.

Here's a Burleigh Heads resort site we put video on. I love how it really gives the resort review authenticity. Speaking of resorts, check out Baronnet Apartments for a nice simple site with lots of information (the way a site should be).

And for a site that is really quick and easy - Gold Coast holiday blog.

Cheers

Brendon

1 comments       |       Permalink      

 
 

Yahoo! Set To Change Pay Per Click Model

Yahoo! Set To Change Pay Per Click Model

Yahoo! has released a test version of its new search model in Scandinavia and will expand the rollout to the U.K. in July.

Yahoo'?s new model will be similar to that of Google, which ranks search-engine ads by both the amount advertisers pay for keywords and the relevance of the ad.

The Google-like algorithm should result in higher click-through rates than its current model that ranks ads by the bid amount.

It's a huge step forward for Yahoo! and at least puts them on a level playing field so that people like me who take pay per click ads can now compare apples to apples.

Cheers

Brendon

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Monday, April 10  

Reasons Why Print Ads Can't Compete

Reasons Why Print Ads Can't Compete

On Saturday one of our clients took a display ad in a regional newspaper. This client is a holiday resort who generate quite a bit from their web site but decided to give this newspaper a try.
  • The ad didn't generate 1 enquiry.
  • The ad didn't generate 1 booking.
The question to ask there is this: "Was the ad terrible? Was the offer terrible? Was the target market the wrong one?"

Nope on all 3. I've run similar ads with similar markets with similar offers and gotten terrific responses previously.

To Top It Off

To top off the bad experience this is what happened next (remembering that the newspaper dealt with me every step of the way and never had any contact whatsoever with the client).

The newspaper rep rang up my client direct (got his number from the ad) and approached him to take more advertising. Cutting me out of the loop (and out of my livelihood).

These morons are kidding themselves aren't they?

Comparative Analysis

If my client had of allocated the same amount of money to pay per click he would have received approximately 1,000 visitors to his site and made close on 80 sales. Avergae sale is $700.

Newspapers struggle because they're not accountable. What gets measured (or can be measured) gets attention.

Cheers

Brendon
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Friday, April 7  

Not My Wife - Here's My Wife

Not My Wife - Here's My Wife

And no, the blond in the pic in the post below (the one at the computer) isn't my wife.

Here's my favourite picture of my gorgeous wife Mel - this was taken in a little restaurant near Piazza San Marco in Venice a few weeks back. Mel's just finished her main course, she's relaxed with a wine (or 2) and she's dreaming of what to have for dessert!

Loving eyes at her husband or she's just spotted
the dessert menu?


Cheers

Brendon
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It Ain't Rocket Science - Keep It Simple

It Ain't Rocket Science - Keep It Simple

I've just shown my wife some online video we've added to one of our client's site. She loved the easy way it showed the client's product.

Mel (my wife) has been looking for houses for her brother, who lives 5,000 km away, to buy as an investment. She has almost stopped looking on the web because she just finds it too hard.

Whilst people who are familiar with how Virtual Tours work think they're easy, for the vast majority of people who don't spend a lot of time online they're terrible. Too clumsy, difficult navigation and just plain hard.

Keep it simple as possible and you'll get your web site viewed and used by more people.

Cheers

Brendon

0 comments       |       Permalink      

 
 

What My Hairdresser Taught Me About E-Commerce

What My Hairdresser Taught Me About E-Commerce

I had a haircut yesterday and got talking to my hairdresser about buying stuff online.

She told me doesn't buy online because she's scared people will steal her credit card.

I explained how safe it is buying online (it's safer than buying things at the local shop I believe) and that she had nothing to fear.

I don't think she believed me.

But it's a good reminder. The # 1 reason people don't buy from web sites is because they don't trust the site.

Top 4 Tips For Increasing The Trustworthiness Of A Web Site
  1. Personalise the site (start a blog, introduce your staff, add staff video)
  2. Clearly display security 'badges' - like the Verisign logo
  3. Educate your prospect on what happens with their credit card once the purchase is made
  4. Have a quality design
Cheers

Brendon

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Thursday, April 6  

Quilton Loves Your Bum!

Quilton Loves Your Bum!

My 13 yo son came running out excitedly to me yesterday and said "Dad, dad! The toilet paper says it loves your bum!"

Before I sent him to his room for being cheeky he showed me the inside of the toilet roll. And sure enough there it was: "Quilton Loves Your Bum".

The inside of the toilet roll

Brilliant branding. Quirky, cheeky (pardon the pun) and positions that product as a little different. And would the fact that the brand is quirky and doesn't take itself too seriously be enough of a difference for people to buy this toilet paper?

Probably. I know my 13yo son would.

Cheers

Brendon
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Wednesday, April 5  

Why Good Ideas Don't Work

Why Good Ideas Don't Work

I've just revisited a site a client abandoned a year or 2 ago. The site has, without question, the most potential of almost any site we ever developed. Almost everything was perfect:
  • great concept
  • brilliant domain name
  • huge potential audience
  • huge viral marketing potential
  • huge advertising potential
  • huge e-commerce potential
We developed the site in close consultation with the client. And then the client's daughter, who was going to manage the site, lost interest. The client was then approached by a 'Business Manager' to run the site.

He agreed.

The Business Manager developed a 101 cashflows, budgets, detailed analysis, plan, flow charts, etc, etc. He was the sort of guy that talked in very formal business language but had no understanding on the web as a business model.

Big plans and big profits were talked about. How to add value to the business was talked about. But never the visitor experience.

The site stalled and died. It still struggles along today., doing almost nothing.

Someone Has To be Driving The Bus
  • At the early stage in the site's development the site needed a leader. Not an analyst.
  • It needed someone to make bold decisions and implement them. Not talk about what might be done, spend a month reviewing the smallest of details, prepare a report on it and then send it for further discussion.
  • The site needed someone to drive the business (we call that person the Bus Driver....'cause they're driving the bus(iness)). Someone to say "This is what we're going to do. You do this and that, I'll do XYZ. Let's get on with it."
I Got The Blame

I remember that I got the blame for the site not doing much. And why that happens, all you people who use consultants (!), is because the consultant has to blame someone and it ain't going to be themselves.

The consultant has to make someone look bad to justify their role (not that I would ever do that!).

It's Not About The Idea

It's not about the idea. Sure it helps to have a good idea, but it's more about the implementation of the idea. The skills of the people implementing, their contacts, their strengths, their drive, their funding, their market nous.

Cheers.

Brendon
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Tuesday, April 4  

Online Advertising Overtaking Print In The UK

Online Advertising Overtaking Print In The UK

According to data released by the UK Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB), total online advertising expenditure in the UK totaled £1.4 billion ($3.4 billion AUD) in 2005 -– a huge 65.6% increase on 2004.

The UK figures almost mirror the Australian industry which shows that online advertising will overtake the amount spent on print and radio advertising by the end of the year. The only real glimmer of hope for newspapers is the increase in online spending on newspaper websites.

Regards

Brendon
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Top 5 To Do's At A Business Lunch

Top 5 To Do's At A Business Lunch

I went to a business lunch on Friday (we took a table).

Here's my top 5 To Do's:
  1. Stay sober - no one likes the drunk guy/gal
  2. Introduce yourself around the table - get up and walk around and do it
  3. Buy raffle tickets - no one likes a cheapskate
  4. Use your manners - your mum taught you them for a reason
  5. Relax and enjoy yourself
Our table was a lot of fun. A bunch of nice people having a relaxing time. We spent a fortune on raffle tickets and, thankfully, won a few prizes. Everyone at the table graciously laughed at my jokes. All good.

The lunch was for the Gold Coast Media Club and was, for the first time, held at Sofitel Gold Coast. The food was divine (it's always hard to get the meal right when you're serving 150+ people, but it was superb).

Cheers

Brendon
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Monday, April 3  

Web Sites For Small, Non-Profit Organisations

Web Sites For Small, Non-Profit Organisations
I'm the Vice President of the Gold Coast Media And Corporate Club Inc - a small group dedicated to raising funds for local charities. We do this via having 4 lunches per year, sell raffle tickets, etc.

It's a highly regarded group here in Queensland and we have what you'd say is an enthusiastic bunch on the committee (I would use the word 'rowdy' but that makes it sound just too crazy!). Anyway, they're a fun group of industry professionals and we hope to raise a ton of money this year.

The Free Web Site

As the web developer of the group I developed a web site. Like a lot of non-profits we wanted something easy to update and simple to operate.

www.themediaclub.com.au

The Media Club.com.au is a WordPress template web site. It's a tremendously easy to use web site that can be updated by any of the committee from any computer they are using (they simply login).

3 Main Characteristics
  • It's free
  • It takes just an hour or 2 to set up
  • It looks great
It's One Of The Best Web Sites You Can Get

I use WordPress a fair bit for client sites who want a simple and easy (and cheap solution). But here's the thing.........

I very strongly believe that a WordPress type site - it's a blog that you update when you want - is often the absolute best solution for many people needing web sites, whether they are small non-profits or businesses.

But because WordPress is free, some client don't believe it can be any good!

Take my word for it, a blog web site can be a fantastic asset to your business (this Home Page of my web site, and the archives, is a blog). We use WordPress for our podcast site at TailoredPodcast.com. (For this site we use Blogger.)

Check Out WordPress

So check out WordPress designs - there are literally hundreds of designs to choose from. And if you'd like us to configure the web site and get it working (and provide a document on how to best use it), please give us a call on 07 5598 4898 or email us at sites@tailored.com.au.

Cost would be about $500 + GST.

Cheers

Brendon
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