A couple of people have asked me for the downside of a SitePoint contest for getting a web site designed - that's easy.
I'm running a contest there at the moment and am getting some brilliant designs.
The worst bit about it is rejecting great designs and feeling guilty because these guys and gals have put so much effort in.
Cheers
Brendon
P.S: The biggest hassle I've had with a contest was where someone used a copyrighted image in the design and the owner came after us for payment for use of the image. That was a pain.
I'll give you some hard figures below, but before I do that I'll explain a bit.
I saw a client today for whom we're looking at redesigning his existing site. We did the current site about 3 years ago.
The current site is his biggest driver of business
The current site generates sales that are x4 times more profitable than sales from other sources
It's Not About The Design
Web design is only a small part of getting an operational web site.
Basically how it works is:
we plan the site out with the client's goals in mind (this is done with the client)
we plan the structure of the site to ensure it's logical and workable
we have a site designed
once the site has been approved we then 'code' the site - that is, make it into a html page
we have the site checked in various browsers, screen resolutions, etc to make sure it works fine
That's just the design.
Of course there is plenty of backwards and forwards with the client to get the right balance between looking good and being functional. It's Not About The Design (cont)
But, like I said, it's not about the design.
You can have the most beautiful site in the world but if it doesn't get found by the target market, then it's a waste of money. We get sites found.
Aside from search engine rankings, there are numerous ways a site can be found:
Your site needs to be developed with these aspects in mind. Convert Visitors To Buyers
Once the site is found you want to be sure that the site converts visitors to buyers - that's where quality copy writing comes in.
Good copy writing is a time-intensive art. Prepare to pay good money for a quality copywriter.
What I'm Saying Is This
What I'm saying is this: anyone can design a web site. But to get a professional, well coded web site that works, well, that costs a little more.
What A Web Design Costs
Monster Template - a site where you find a site design you like and buy it for about $60 US. The sites are sometimes quite nice.
Remember, you need to get the site coded (they do come coded, but the code isn't usually very good), pages replicated, content added, optimised for search engines, etc.
SitePoint Contests - another place to get a nice design, with the added bonus that you'll have a number of designers competing for your work.
You give the brief and the guys and gals do some great work.
It will cost about $500 for an uncoded site and about $1,000 for a coded site.
A Design Firm
The huge advantage about using a design firm is that the designer will get your brief and provide a tremendous amount of added value to it.
Instead of, like with Monster Template and SitePoint, having to provide the full brief - even if you really don't know what you're talking about - when you engage a design pro, you get the advantage of having the opportunity to provide goals, needs, wants and then have a chat about the range of aspects that influence the design.
You'll pay $2,000 for a quality coded site.
(Sure, you'll find someone to do a full site for $200, but it will lack lots of the essential ingredients to make it successful.)
But remember, that's just the design.
Then you still have all that other stuff to consider. Depending on what you want and need, the price, naturally enough, goes up.
1. The festival was started by award-winning director Toni Powell. 2. The festival is hugely popular.
But here are 2 other things you might like to know:
1. Toni's award-winning short film was the first film she ever made. 2. The festival is only in its 2nd year. It's run by Toni and her husband Philip, and an army of fantastic volunteers.
Last year they knew nothing about running a film festival. This year they know a little more.
Sometimes you don't know you're good at something until you give it a go.
Click here for a wonderful story (a TV show) about Toni and her festival.
Google has apparently just tweaked the way they rank blogs (like this one) - devaluing many blogs in the process.
The assumption (Google never says) is that it's Google's way of reducing the value of links from sites that sell links.
It's one way for Google to try and reduce the number of link sellers - a practice they don't like as web owners use buying links as a way to get (by deception in Google's eyes) higher search engine rankings.
Google's been warning web masters for many weeks that it is going to do something about sites that buy or sell links - and now they have.
And it's hurting a ton of sites who took the risk - as Matt Cutts (in the video below) from Google says, "It's your site. You can do whatever you want."
This site hasn't been affected because we neither buy or sell links.
But at least that makes the site real. And believable. And easier to write!
Because I see a ton of web development businesses that are shrouded in corporate speak. I think it's better to say something that gets people to think, rather than saying nothing at all.
Why Me Making More Money Is Better For You, My Client
We host quite a number of client web sites.
How hosting works is that we buy a big chunk of hosting from a hosting company and onsell the storage and bandwidth at more than we paid.
Our hosting prices have varied from $100 to $500 pa a site, based on a variety of factors.
What we're about to do is have a flat price for all of our hosting clients, regardless (within reason of course) of the size of the web site. That price is $242 pa.
The reason we're doing this is:
to make it fairer for all our clients
to be more profitable
Why Charging More Is Good For Our Client's Business You'd think that us being more profitable is bad for our clients.
But it's not. It's better for our clients. Let me explain.
Our clients don't buy hosting.
The buy a solution.
That solution is their web site up and running well and their emails working.
As soon as those things don't work then there are problems.
And we get called.
Charge Too Little - Can't Afford To Provide More Staff
If we charge too little then we're not able to allocate the time and effort required to ensure a fast solution gets found. This is why budget-priced hosts very rarely answer the phone (or even have a phone number)and take days to respond to an email.
If at all.
If we ensure our hosting operation is profitable, then we can answer the calls from our clients and allocate the time to ensure the best solution.
Because remember, the client isn't buying hosting, the client is buying a solution.
Cheers
Brendon
P.S: If you're a client reading this, your hosting cost may go up.....or it may even come down!
An enormous part of having a successful web site is gaining the trust of your audience.
Gaining trust is all about credibility. Years ago (2002) I read a comprehensive report from Stanford University titled "How Do People Evaluate A Web Site's Credibility?"
I've just stumbled upon, on Grokdotcom, this report cut down to a slide show.
Lindsay, Britney & Paris - Hire James Blunt's Manager
A few weeks ago I gave you a bit of James Blunt to start your day.
Well, here he is again - singing about.................................. triangles. Absolutely brilliant marketing.
Good Career Management
This is called "Good career management, getting your brand in front of a new audience in a positive way."
I'm pretty sure this is a far better way to ensure your career longevity that snorting cocaine off toilet seats, losing your kids and making sex tapes.
In it, Seth talks about why quitting can be the best thing you do. Essentially it then frees you up to do the things you're good at.
Or it takes you away from things you're not so good at.
My Daughter Quit Just The Other Day
You may remember last week I spoke on marketing to my daughter's Business Week class.
The Business Week pits 15 teams of 10 against each other in a business competition. Over the course of the week the students undertake a whole range of activities:
develop products
write business plans
write company reports
do a trade show
etc
The winner is announced at a Gala Business Dinner they have at a local hotel.
Anyhoo, Laura's team won the grand prize - Business Team of the Week. And Laura won the Businessperson of the Week Award.
Because the team won, they moved onto regional finals. It's a fair bit more work, and the students miss a few days of school.
Then Laura Quit
That's when Laura quit. She didn't want to do regionals.
My immediate thought was that quitting is a bad thing.
But then Laura explained why she quit.
She didn't want to miss 2 days of schooling, which she saw as very important.
Laura thought she wouldn't learn anything new from repeating the process.
She didn't see a benefit.
Quitting can be a good thing.
For Laura it meant focusing in and working towards what she sees as more important goals that will give her very significant value down the track.
Don't let your ego get in the way - quitting can make you a success.
How Little Miss Grumpy Pants Damages The Dell Brand
I purchased a new Dell computer the other day. I received a phone call the next day to confirm all of the details prior to being charged. Once that was done the Dell rep then tried to sell me an extension of the warranty.
The woman on the phone was very friendly up until the time I said "No thanks" to the warranty extension.
Then she was very grumpy and short. Little Miss Grumpy Pants.
Which Experience Would You Remember?
Everything about the purchase was a positive experience until the very last thing. Guess which experience I remember?
Sure, try and upsell products and services if they're of genuine value to the customer.
But don't get angry with the customer when they say "No".
I'm not saying people are celebrity obsessed or anything - :o) - but this is nuts.
In case you're wondering, the person in such demand in the video below is Lindsay Lohan - a D Grade actress of chick flicks.
But as a marketer or businessperson, we all have to know how markets think. There's a huge market for pictures of this woman. The market isn't always rational.
I do a few speeches each year to Rotary Club groups.
One of my most enjoyable ones was tonight to the Ashmore Rotary Club here on the Gold Coast.
A friendlier and more welcoming group you'd be hard pressed to find - and they doing some fantastic work for their local community.
The night was held at the Trinity Lutheran College and the catering was done by the hospitality students.
The food was absolutely first class and the company even better (that means they laughed at my jokes!).
I even managed to say "No thanks" to a second dessert that was offered!
The school has an Interact group, which is like a youth Rotary - the Interact members fundraise throughout the year and do a lot of great community work.
What a terrific group of youngsters.
When You Help, You Often Get A Great Benefit Yourself
I mentioned in my speech that when you contribute to your local community, you often receive wonderful benefits beyond the feeling of having helped.
Through some charity things I've done I've met some fantastic people - it's no great surprise, I guess, to find that people who volunteer to help others have wonderful hearts.
"After receiving an award earlier in the night, Charles Woolley appeared to have had one-too-many glasses of celebratory chardonnay before getting up to present a prize."
"I Wasn't Drunk".....Hic Charles came out today and denied being drunk.
His actual words were:
"The truth is, there was nothing to drink. My table was dry because I have some taste. There was a casino sauvignon blanc and a Five Mile Creek merlot so I just didn't drink."
You can just see the poor marketing manager of Greatstone Wines right now going "Aaaaaaaaargh."
An Opportunity Presents
But what a fantastic opportunity for Greatstone Wines to get some recognition.
Step 1 - Send Charles a case or 2 and ask him to have a try and tell them what he really thinks! Step 2 - Have someone else say the wines on the night were fabulous Step 3 - Ask people to judge for themselves (in ads and a PR campaign) Step 4 - Run a competition on the best response to send to Wooley
The poor guys at Greatstone probably take great pride in delivering a nice wine.
A simple comment like Charles' can really hurt or, if they're smart about it, could present an excellent opportunity.
Cheers
Brendon
P.S: I'll try and find a bottle and let you know what it's like.
Being the avid Japanese language student that she is she wanted to install the Japanese IME (so she can write in Japanese characters).
She did what her Japanese teacher told her to do - go to MSN and search on "Japanese IME".
She downloaded the software and tried to install.
She kept getting the error message "You don't have Office XP" message.
Dad To The Rescue
After a few tries (30 minutes of trying) she asked her Dad (that's me).
I did a Google search, found Declan's Guide as the first result and had the Microsoft program working within 30 seconds. It seems crazy to me that I had to get away from the Microsoft site to get the right information on how to install a Microsoft product successfully.
It seems a fundamental exercise - the correct instructions for getting Microsoft products to work should be best accessed via Microsoft. Not via Google.
That's the heading I used in our latest Tailored newsletter. Check it out here - sign up for it on the side bar on the left of the screen if it takes your fancy.
Yesterday, my family and I entered a fun run - The Golden Door Salt Village race, which is part of The Golden Door Fun Run Series, wonderfully well organised by the guys and gals at Corporate Challenge.
My wife Mel ran the 5 km (3.1 miles) race with our daughter Laura (16 yo) and son Jack (15 yo).
I ran the 10 km (6.2 miles) race, as did our son Harry (13 yo).
Anyhow, here's how we went.
Laura won the 16-19 yo category for the 5 km
Harry came 2nd in the 16-19 yo category 10 km race (he was too young for any other category)
Jack came 3rd in the 13-15 yo category for the 5 km
Mel ran great and achieved her goal of finishing the race and running all the way (it was her first ever running race - at the age of 42!).
I ran slow (like an old 40 yo should), but managed to beat Harry.
Laura Is In Training
Laura was running the race as part of her training to do the run leg of the Noosa Triathlon on November 4 (I'm doing the swim leg and Jack is doing the bike leg).
Laura also made the district team in cross country running this year.
Sounds Like Bragging......Errrr, Nope
The above probably sounds like the ramblings of a proud father. But it's not really.
You see, I've just told you that my daughter Laura:
won her age category in the 5 km fun run yesterday
made the district cross-country running finals
is training to run the 10 km run leg of one of the world's biggest triathlons
So you're probably thinking "Man, that Laura must be athletic. She must really be a terrific runner!"
Here are some other facts you might want to know:
Laura was the only 16-19 yo girl in the race yesterday- she could have taken a day to finish and she would have still won
Laura made the district cross country finals by finishing 8th in her school cross-country race - of the 100 girls in the race, only 8 actually ran
Laura has never run 10 kms before (I think yesterday was her longest run ever) and her goal at the Noosa Triathlon is simply to finish
Take Action, Stuff Happens
When you take action, stuff happens. Laura isn't a great athlete by any stretch of the imagination. But she has a go.
And even if having a go doesn't result in winning a medal, she benefits so much by keeping fit, keeping healthy, having some fun, being disciplined, setting and achieving goals, and gaining a respect for what she does.
Having said all that you would not be able to prise the winner's medallion away from her with a crow bar!
# 1: Fire the committee. No great website in history has been conceived of by more than three people. Not one. This is a dealbreaker.
# 8: If you hire a professional: hire a great one. The best one. Let her do her job. 10 mediocre website consultants working in perfect harmony can’t do the work of one rock star.
Our 2 Most Successful Website Clients
Our 2 most successful web site clients are those who said:
How much for you to do the best job you can? Get it done please. Now tell me what I should do.
Then they did what we told them.
Both clients have life changing web sites. Life-changing as in toss in their hated jobs and run their web site very successfully from home as their full time job.
Media Relations At Griffith University - Brendon Sinclair Hottest In Class of 2007!!
Tomorrow I'm doing a talk to the Media Relations class at Griffith University - Gold Coast Campus - about using the web as a communication tool. The Media Relations class is apparently made up of Public Relations and Journalism students.
One of the more obvious things I'll (that's me on the right) be doing tomorrow with this class at Griffith University is to try and demonstrate, via this blog post about "Media Relations at Griffith University", that you can influence the information people find about a person, product or service.
We've been providing a little web editing and web marketing work help to an event organisation that is holding their event later this month.
The event has it's own terrific site that has tons of information.
We've also set up a MySpace page for the event and as I was adding in content it got me thinking.
After we've made a decent page on MySpace, wouldn't our time be better spent improving the actual event web site?
Spending 4 hours on the MySpace page is 4 hours we haven't spent on the actual event web site.
I see MySpace as an integral part of many people's social marketing strategies. But sometimes there is a bigger benefit directing your energy to your own site rather than your MySpace page.
I assume it's because it might cost them seats at the next election in key areas.
Local business leaders/organisations are starting to take a proactive role in applying pressure to the politicians.
Local business breakfast organiser John Hurd has a daylight savings poll on his web site (on the right).
"The Curtains Will Fade....."
My favourite ever answer when someone was asked why they objected to the clocks being put forward an hour was "The extra hour of sunlight we get will fade the curtains!"
A few people (5!) have emailed me to see how the speech went this morning.
In a word: Terrible.
If you want 2 words: Bloody terrible.
It was really hot in the room and then when I was on stage speaking I had a couple of bright lots on me and I was sweltering to say the least.
Got through the speech with about as much energy as a sedated person fast asleep.
Would have been probably the worst speech I've given I think. Which was a tad disappointing.
Anyhow, no one died. That's the main thing.
Cheers
Brendon
P.S: A disaster like this one is always a good time to reflect on what you/I can do better. Here's 7 tips for successful public speaking I've written before.
Speaking of speeches (see post below), one of the most useful tools I have is a timing tool called a Pacesetter Time Manager.
This small timer helps me keep in control during the speech and ensures I stick to my timing. I haven't used if the past few speeches because I lost the instructions and couldn't remember how to program the timer.
The web site is a little out of date (by 3 years) and, going by their "How to buy" page, I'm not sure you can get the timer outside the US (I can't remember where I got mine from).
But if you're a speaker looking for an excellent tool to help you with your timing, the Pacesetter is terrific.
Tomorrow, at 9.45 am Tuesday October 9, 2007 Laura will be sitting with her friends and about 150 others in a lecture hall to hear a 45 minute speech from a guy.
It's Business Week at the High School and this guy will be talking about marketing.
That guy will be the centre of attention.
That guy will have a microphone.
That guy is me. Laura's dad.
Laura Is A Nervous Girl
Laura is rather nervous.
She has threatened me with physical violence if I:
mention her,
allude to her,
point her out, or
in any way, shape or form, indicate to anyone at all that we might even be remotely related or even know each other.
If I don't blog on October 10 then you'll know I went too far.
2 Rules For Dads & Daughters
But here are the rules for Dads and daughters.
Rule # 1: They are beautiful. They will always be beautiful.
Rule # 2: Don't embarrass your daughter in front of 150 others. Embarrassing her in front of 1 or 2 of her friends is okay.
I do quite a few speeches (I have 3 speeches this week) and never, ever get nervous. I'm a little anxious about this one though because I want to impress my daughter.
My mate Phil Spratt has had terrific success with his web site Sprattiart.com, so much so that he's just released an Australian version of his caricatures site.
It's pretty much a replica of the .com site, so we'll be working on the site to change the content around to avoid any search engine duplication issues.
Because if a search engine sees a web site simply replicated they don't tend to like it.
I guessed the lost revenue at $100. It was actually $300.
If you're looking for automatic garage door repairs on the Gold Coast then contact Geoff at Apex Door Systems (Ph: 5522 7803).
He said he'd be there at 12 midday to assess. He did.
He said he'd come back the next day at 9 am to fix the garage door. He did.
Geoff did a terrific job and all is good.
Garage Door Repairs - Let Geoff Know How You Found Him
If you happen to be searching for a garage door repairer on the Gold Coast and find this post and contact Geoff, please do me a favour and let him know how you heard of him.
The Greatest Search Engine Optimizer in The World Or......
.......just a luck bloke?
We took on a new client on Tuesday afternoon for some search engine work on his site.
Since signing up with us his stats over the past 2 days have been at their highest level ever - the visitor numbers are up 40%.
Man are we good! ;o)
Actually, what happened was that in our initial review we pull apart his web site statistics to get a feel for his site.
Our review found that the site had Google Analytics stats on every page except for his Home Page.
Home Page Visitors Not Counted
That meant that just those visitors hitting the home page weren't being counted.
A quick adding of the code results in a 40% increase showing in the stats.
Analysing your statistics is vital for any business. A quick audit to ensure all is well with your reporting can make a big difference to the decisions you make.
This crap is currently making news.
You can have the most beautiful site in the world but if it doesn't get found by the target market, then it's a waste of money.
Make the commitment to be different.
I spent the weekend at the brilliant Heart of Gold International Film Festival.
The assumption (Google never says) is that it's Google's way of reducing the value of links from sites that sell links.
We dominate the search engines for the major terms related to the market and would be the market's major web site.
and take days to respond to an email.
One of my most enjoyable ones was tonight to the Ashmore Rotary Club here on the Gold Coast.
I love that heading!
Last week I purchased a $500 multifunction centre.
Maybe not.
Yesterday, my family and I entered a fun run - The Golden Door Salt Village race, which is part of The Golden Door Fun Run Series, wonderfully well organised by the guys and gals at Corporate Challenge.
The event has it's own terrific site that has tons of information.
So on one side of the street it will be 5.45 pm and on the other 4.45 pm.
I guessed the lost revenue at $100. It was actually $300.
Since signing up with us his stats over the past 2 days have been at their highest level ever - the visitor numbers are up 40%.
