Friday, May 30  

Hear From 2 Teenagers Who Stole A 9 Yo Girl Scout's Cookie Money

Why You MUST Aim To Make Digg's* Home Page With Every Single Thing You Write

A couple of months ago I wrote this blog post:

Forget Trump, 8 Business Lessons From The Governor’s Hooker

That article was, without doubt, the most popular article I've ever written on this site. By a mile.

You know why?

Because I wrote it with the intention of getting it onto Digg (that didn't work, but that doesn't matter).

Because I wanted to get the article onto Digg I did something I don't always do.

• I wrote the headline to grab attention.
• I wrote the article to grab attention.
• I wrote about a subject of extremely high interest.
• I wrote the article so it was a bit amusing.
• I wrote the article so it was interesting to read.
• I wrote the article so it provided some value to the reader.
• I wrote the article so it was easily readable - by that I mean the sub headings, the list and the bolded words.
  

Writing for Digg makes it a much better writer.

The way Digg works - where people vote on the best content - makes you write to get read.

It gets you to hone your writing skills to be highly effective - because if you 're not getting the article on Digg, it's just not interesting enough.

Which means your writing isn't good enough.

Cheers

Brendon

* Digg is a site that has it's members vote (digg) on the best content submitted.

"Once something is submitted, other people see it and Digg what they like best. If your submission rocks and receives enough Diggs, it is promoted to the front page for the millions of our visitors to see."

Labels: writing for Digg

Thursday, May 29  

Creative Names For Petrol Prices

As petrol hits $1.55 AUD a litre (that's $5.60 US a gallon) the rapidly rising price has become a major talking point here in Australia.

Tuesday, May 27  

Why You Should Register Domains With The Little Guy

Sunday afternoon I had a call from a client (yep, we give our clients our home and mobile (cell) numbers).

The client was frantic with worry as when she typed in her (very valuable) domain name, all she got was a page full of ads.

We don't manage this client's domain name. Or her hosting.

"I've Lost My Domain Name."

"Someone has registered my domain name.......I think I've lost it."

Here's the thing with domain names and hosting.........the big guys/companies don't care.

The big companies don't know or care that your domain name has expired and your email address where the reminders have been going is inactive.

• The little business, a business like mine, knows that renewal is coming up.
• Little business knows that your email is no longer working
• Little business will make sure you don't let your domain expire.

Because all business matters to a small business. And because your business matters it gets attention. Someone becomes accountable.

Little Business Cares

Little business cares - and that's what you need.

And yes, the client's domain name okay - it had expired but we renewed it before it was let into general circulation.

Cheers

Brendon

Friday, May 23  

Christmas Food - Diabetes Friendly

I was talking with someone today about niche markets and the best strategy for them and, unsurprisingly (!!), the book "Christmas Food - Diabetes Friendly" came up.

You see, when you target a very narrow niche, your target is much more specific.

So you don't need to be wasting your money on wide circulation media - you can target your niche in the case of this book in the months leading up to Christmas and via industry organisations like Diabetes support groups.

Cheers

Brendon

Labels: Christmas Food - Diabetes Friendly

Monday, May 19  

The Difference Between Employers & Employees

One once worked with a guy who took a day off because it was his cat's birthday. I kid you not.

Stop Standing Around Holding Your Belly You Lazy Woman!!

I received an email today from Karen with whom we're working on a web project with.

Knowing she was pregnant, I asked her how long she had to go.

"Well, I'm actually in labour right now but I thought I'd have time to finish off a few things before I left."

Can you guess which one is self employed?

Amazingly, it's the opposite of what you'd think.

The first guy was running his own business.
Karen is an employee of a business (she works from home).

I guess it comes down to the standards and work ethic of the person.

Cheers

Brendon

Friday, May 16  

Telephone Cock Ups Come To An End..... Maybe

What a magnificent telephone business we have in Australia with Telstra!

You just know it's going to be one cock up after another with Telstra and they never disappoint!

After moving the office, and finding we couldn't take our 'old' number, we organised for the old number to give a message with the new number we were given and then to divert to that new number.

Phone Disconnected, Then Diverted To The Wrong Number

That didn't happen of course - took us 7 hours to get that rectified.

And that new number - yep, they gave us the wrong one!

So the message tells the wrong phone number and then diverts to that number.

Terrific. We've only missed about 50 client calls so far and 4 man hours!

So, the new phone number is (and this one actually works):

New phone number is: 07 5535 1967
The new fax number is: 07 5677 0296

The numbers work so feel free to call.

The interesting thing about all this is that we just knew it was going to happen.

It seemed so simple.

• We'd like a new number in the new office - "Ok, the new number is xxxx xxxx."
• We'd like 'old' number to give a message telling the new number and then it diverts the call to the new number.

Didn't seem that hard - but 2 days later and we're still trying to fix it.

Cheers

Brendon

Wednesday, May 14  

New Phone & Fax Numbers

Howdy

As of today we have a new fax number:


From tomorrow (Wednesday) afternoon our telephone number - 07 5598 4898 - will no longer work. Our new line and number doesn't get activated until Friday, so on Thursday we'll be incommunicado.

Cool word for a bad situation.

Email us at admin@tailored.com.au if you need us desperately.

Phone Systems on the Gold Coast - Use Phil Scott Communications

One of the things I try and do on this site is give shout outs to local business guys and link to their web sites to try and help them out a bit when they do a terrific jobs.

The latest star is a guy who installs phone systems on the Gold Coast - Phil Scott at, you guessed it, Phil Scott Communications.

Phil has done our ADSL set up, cabling and phone systems set up here on the Gold Coast for 8 years and he's terrific.

A Great Job At A Great Price

No mucking about, he's an accredited expert who really knows his stuff with phone systems, data cabling, ADSL set up and more. He does a great job at a great price.

If you're looking to set up your phone systems here on the Gold Coast then Phil is your man.

Cheers

Brendon

P.S: That's not really Phil - he's much better looking.
P.P.S: That last P.S sounded a little gay - not that there's anything wrong with this.

Labels: phone systems gold coast

Monday, May 12  

Tool Of Pro Web Developers

Here's a free tool you might like to use to check how your site looks in different browsers - over 52 different browsers in fact.

Browsershots.org is the tool we use when checking that sites we develop work and work well.

Cheers

Brendon

Now You Can Check Paris Hilton's Antics In Order

Check out TimeTube - a cool tool using YouTube videos and arranges them in chronological order on what you search for.

The videos that had huge views appear in the timeline bigger than the less viewed videos.

Pretty cool - check it out at TimeTube.

Cheers

Brendon

Friday, May 9  

Chocolate Fountain Hire in Melbourne Equals Wife Heaven

I was down in Melbourne a few weeks back with my wife and we have a mate who has a chocolate fountain hire business in a Melbourne suburb.

Now I don't know about you, but my wife's idea of heaven is to actually sit in a chocolate fountain with a spoon or a funnel!

(My idea of heaven involves beer and football.)

I've seen a ton of marketing gimmicks to grab peoples attention, but a chocolate fountain hire has to be one of the best - I know people who go to my mate's functions just for the chocolate!

If you're launching something and want to grab attention - or increase your likelihood of a big crowd - then for the ladies it's chocolate.

For The Boys - A Beer Fountain

For the guys, a beer fountain would be just fine!

Whatever you choose, make sure it's relevant for your market and someone that is decadent and unusual.

Cheers and have a good weekend.

Brendon

Labels: chocolate fountain hire melbourne

Thursday, May 8  

The World's Greatest Wife

I have a mate Terry.

Terry is a soccer mad crazy man who adores the Socceroos.

If you ever need tickets to see the Australian soccer team play - even if it's an impossible to get into match at the World Cup - Terry knows how.

He's set up his soccer traveling tips web site and gives some great advice - and he tells an interesting story or 2.

His latest one doesn't have the heading "World's Greatest Wife" but that's what it is about.

This from Terry's blog:

"I paid in excess of $800 a ticket for an $80 ticket. And all with Veronicas (his wife) blessing."

Yep. $800 for a ticket to a soccer game. What Terry didn't say was he bought 4 tickets!!

Oooooh, that's gotta hurt Terry!

He also talked about how lucky his wife is in an earlier post.

Authentic Writing

You can tell Terry will build a following.

It's pretty simple - if you read his stuff you can tell he's funny, passionate and really knows his stuff.

Once word gets around - either through high search engine rankings or word of mouth - that Terry knows everything about getting tickets to Socceroos' games, then people will find him and his site.

There is no secret to great writing for a blog other than just write about what you love - that'll shine through.

Cheers

Brendon

"My Dad is An Ego Maniac......"

My daughter filled in a form for school the other day where she had to list my interests.

She listed my interests as "Bike riding and self praise."

Ha! Yes, my daughter thinks she's funny. The rest of the family (except me) thinks she's right!

Aside from the ego maniac thing, it's important to have confidence in what you are doing in business.

For some reason I've always had this unshakable belief in myself in just about anything.

Now that can be a bad thing, but in business it can be a great thing as it helps drag you through the tough times.

Cheers

Brendon

Psssst, Wanna Buy A Kidney??!

There's been a lot of debate lately here in Australia regarding the low level of organ donors we have here and how people go overseas and buy kidneys from donors.

One of the experts here suggested it would be okay to start the practice here where you can sell off your organs at the right price.

My mate Phil is a caricature artist and came up with his, as usual, unique take on it:


Cheers

Brendon

Labels: caricatures

Wednesday, May 7  

iPhones Coming To Australia

It's just been announced that iPhones are coming to Australia.

One of our clients - Paul over at Smooth Mobiles - has been selling iPhones in Australia for a while now and I got one from Paul a while back.

No review from me other than to say the iPhone is without doubt the best phone I've ever owned.

Buy one.

Paul's service is simply unbelievable and I can't recommend him highly enough.

Cheers

Brendon

Labels: iphones

Saturday, May 3  

How To Avoid Hidden Costs With Your Web Site

We are working on a client's site and she has a limited budget and was adamant that she didn't want any hidden costs. Fair enough too.

The best way to avoid hidden costs is to avoid springing hidden requirements on your web developer.

"Oh, by the way......I'd like to be able to sell thing from my self. That's wouldn't be extra would it?"

Me: No, of course not.

It's just an extra 6 hours work for us and we'd be thrilled to give you that even if it means we make a loss. After all, it's important that I get punished for you not giving me a full brief! ;o)

Cheers

Brendon

Thursday, May 1  

Recording Skype Calls

I use Skype to call international numbers and when I want to interview people (we often use audio testimonials on client sites).

I've used Hot Recorder for years but have lately started using Call Graph:

• it's very easy to use,
• you can set it to record all Skype calls automatically,
• it records straight to mp3 (you have to convert calls from the HotRecorder format).

The price is right - it's free.

Cheers

Brendon

Labels: record skype calls