Articles
"I have a present for you!"
I met a friend of mine for coffee and a catch up last week. We met outside the pre-arranged coffee shop and Jan, myself and Jan's 4 year old daughter ...
$100,000 a month - What's Your Expectation?
It's January 7, 2005 as I write this and I've just returned from a 2 week holiday interstate - visited my home state of Tasmania (off the bottom of mainland ...
2 handy tips for New Year negotiations
This article is about providing 2 tips in business. Simple tips that make sense and work well. They are related to selling your stuff for more (or just ...
2 Simple Steps To Web Site Success
One of the more frequent questions I get asked is "How can I get my web site working better?" The answer is simple: just do 2 things. These things aren't ...
5 ways to learn your competitor's secrets
This sort of article always generates a decent response. Many people don't feel that it's the right thing to do - learning from your competitors that ...
An Excellent Problem To Have
I was speaking today with a client after we suggested some specific advertising for his business. His reply was this (now this is a nice problem): "We ...
Are you easy? Simple steps to more customers
Making things as easy for your customers is essential to maximise your sales. After last night's dinner, I had a little sleep in. I woke about 9 a.m ...
Article Collection - August 2003
Thanks for your interest in the articles on this web site. Of course you are free to help yourself to the articles on this web site and print them out ...
Australian Idol and the marketing lesson
Australia has voted..... There is a TV show on at the moment called Australian Idol. It's the exact same format as American Idol. Last night one of ...
Best Value Dinner I've Ever Had - But Up The Creek Doesn't Have Any Customers
My wife and I went out for dinner on Saturday night with some friends. We went to a little restaurant near our home called 'Up the Creek'. (Yes, it is ...
Blow your customers away - here's how we did it for $5.50!
It's a fact that people don't like paying shipping charges for purchases. It's been our experience that women shoppers especially are far happier to buy ...
Death by annoyance - why email is dying
My feeling is that email marketing is losing its relevancy for many, many people. It's dying a slow and painful death and, despite various organisations ...
Displays in Exhibition Centres - Spyder Displays have the answer
One of the issues for people using displays in exhibition centres, shopping malls and the like is how to ensure an outstanding display. With the range ...
Doing what you do best - the secret to success
There is no one secret to success. Not one. (Which kind of ruins the headline above - but I'll keep plugging on!) And I base this not on some flimsy ...
Don't be tight with your money - know when to spend
As you may have read elsewhere on this web site, one of my bigger business successes is a health products web site. Here's the story of how that came ...
Dress for success - perception is reality
I'm a Hottie! The good thing about having small children is that you can generally teach them to say whatever you want. In my case the question is, "Am ...
Establishing the Culture of a Business
This is apparently a true story. A real study. Scientists studying behaviour placed 5 monkeys in a cage. This cage has a ladder. At the top of the ladder ...
Expectations - exceeding them every time
People pay private health insurance so they get the best of care and the best of service. And a private room when they want one. But it doesn't always ...
Free web site promotion - Article 2 in the series
Page Titles, Meta Keyword Tags & Meta Description Tags Okay, so we've selected the most relevant key word or phrase for our web site. And that key ...
FREE, FREE, FREE
Yesterday I started a "FREE shipping" special on one of the web sites we own and manage. Sales went through the roof. They usually do. It's a fact that ...
Getting free publicity to kick start HUGE sales
I could start and finish this article with two words. And in those two- (2) words you will more than likely recognise a billion dollar business that has ...
Gold Coast Accommodation Resorts
Here on the Gold Coast, Queensland there are literally hundreds of holiday accommodation resorts - after all, the Gold Coast is Australia's playground ...
Good Things Come In Small Packages
Small business fights for survival as big operators continue to muscle in on the market. The conglomerates have the upper hand because of their buying ...
Google Ranks Us As The World's Best Web Designer
On May 11, 2005 I wrote an article on the web site titled “World's best web designer - Brendon Sinclair”. I wrote it after seeing a web site say ...
Greatest ad ever written
I'm pretty modest as your probably know by now. [insert look of incredulity here] Okay, I know I'm not really modest. By that I mean I'm not modest at ...
Horses for courses
I went to a business lunch on Friday 16 April, 2004 (Commerce Queensland) where there were 3 different speakers. In between courses, we had those speeches ...
How a Hot Tomato will beat the Sea and Gold
Things are about to be all shook up in the Gold Coast radio scene with the launch of new FM radio station Hot Tomato over the next few days. Hot Tomato ...
How A Major Ugg Boots Retailer Basically Closed Me Down!
(I'll Show Where To Get Best Boots Deal - Read On) This is the truth behind how my retail ugg boot business was basically put out of business by a competitor ...
How a moron does business - the case of the "Cookies, Cakes & Cartridges" business
(This article was written as 'Blog" on the Home Page of the site on August 25, 2004. Because it has a half decent message I've made it into an artricle ...
How Do You Write An Effective Advertisement
I'm sitting here reading a marketing magazine (the creative genius behind it called it....'Marketing'. I actually love the name. Perfectly descriptive ...
How I made a fortune in 2 hours - and you can too!
A rejection that led to a million dollar business Back in 2000 I had a call from a guy who was making his own product in his garage and wanted to sell ...
How the Golf Putting Machine in our boardroom helped make a sale
Running your business on a day to day basis means you have a fantastic idea of what's going on. Part of that commitment to knowing what is going on with ...
How to attract as many hugely profitable customers you can handle - do just 2 things!
Do you know who our best customers are? That is a ridiculous question, I know! Because you are reading this article and can't actually answer. But that's ...
How to blow your profits through the roof... even without extra customers!!
Most people will tell you that to increase your profits you need to do two- (2) things: increase your number of customers, reduce your costs And whilst ...
How To Get A Book Deal
I've written a book and been lucky enough to get it published. I have a client who has written 2 best-sellers here in Australia. Another one has written ...
How To Lose 20 lbs And Market Effectively
I was chatting with a friend of my wife's today and she asked how I could possibly eat as much as I do without putting on weight. She says she watches ...
How to run an Ad campaign... (And how to win 'The Apprentice')
Last night I was sitting in front of the TV when the 2nd episode of 'The Apprentice' came on. The series has been run and won in the USA. It's a reality ...
How To Run The Gold Coast Marathon
Update 5 July 2009: What an event! Man, this page is turning into a saga with 4 years of history of my family and I running this event. This year (2009) ...
How to select the best web designer for the job - every time!
The critical choice that could make or break your business Selecting a provider for any service or product brings with it inherent risk. Is this person ...
How to sell anything to anyone, and have them begging for more!
Okay, so I lied!! Maybe. If you read that headline above, then you're probably expecting an article on selling. But this article has nothing whatsoever ...
How To Toss Money Away
The easy one step guide! Small business continues to provide a substantial part of the national economy. Small business continues to fail at the same ...
I Don't Like It - We'll Take It
Here's a promotional card (it's a pdf file) we are having completed. The look of the card is settled, I just need to work on the copy and we are ready ...
I Love This Sort Of Controversy
As a guy who has a bit to do with the media, I love to see controversial actions get coverage. Stuff like what Richard Branson does. It's all so easy ...
Industries Auswide Booming
Wow. That's really all you can say when a big company in a big industry here in Australia announces a profit for the year of over $13 billion dollars. ...
Just ask. One- (1) very simple way to make a sale.
Last year I made a small speech to a major business group in my home town. The function was attended by 600 people (300 more than the function usually ...
Linking For Web Sites - Article 4 in the series
The Importance Of Links To Your Web Site Links to your web site have become a very important part of the way search engines (Google in particular, although ...
Loving Complaining Customers
No business is perfect. Mistakes will be made, errors will occur. It will happen, and it sometimes happens a lot. 4% of dissatisfied customers complain. ...
Measure stuff!
The importance of statistics on your web site - a resort example We all know how important it is to measure the key performance indicators for our businesses. ...
My Web Site Doesn't Work - What Do I Need To Do?
This is probably the most common question I get asked. And it's a good question. Web sites that don't work are common. And they generally have some easy ...
On Page Ranking Factors - Article 3 in the series
Making On Page Ranking Factors Work For You The way your web page is structured, particularly in regard to how you use your key words or phrase on the ...
One Great Tactic To Win More Design Jobs
Some things are so obvious they kind of just hit you in the face. I don't know if I've ever thought about this strategy before in any depth (I may have. ...
One of the biggies in selling your product or service
I'm a guy and that means I think I'm perfect! (Us guys are all ego driven!) But I'm actually not perfect. I'm short-sighted - which means things far ...
Options - making it easy
Part of our marketing strategy is to develop a series of seminars for business-owners. We are currently developing a range of seminars (or workshops) ...
Professionally Printed Newsletters - On The Cheap!
The simple way to have your newsletter professionally printed - for hundreds of $$$ less than you would pay a printer! Our business sends out a newsletter ...
Qualitative Data Analysis For Marketing
When you're marketing a product or service it's essential to ensure your qualitative data is reviewed and analysed in the appropriate way. I had lunch ...
Reasoning behind web ad
Why we did what we did Okay, I'll run you through the rationale behind our decisions on this ad so you can benchmark what you do against what we do. ...
Resort web site - how to generate more online bookings
I'd like to start this article a little differently by saying this: The objective of the article is to provide a very simple introduction to search engine ...
Selling cigars - all smoke and mirrors?
As regular readers might know, I like the occasional cigar. The last batch I had were Montecristo No 4 - a box of them provided by a friend who should ...
Size does matter!!
A new study out of the US confirms what short people have always feared - tall people are perceived as more successful and they get paid more! Each 2.5cm ...
So near yet so far! The worst customer service.
I have an 11-year-old son called Jack. Jack loves camping. It was Jack's birthday last week. He received $150 cash from various friends and relatives ...
Statistics – Sweet or Stinky?
Here on the Gold Coast, Australia, the 3 major FM radio stations have just been surveyed to see who has the audience share in the various categories. ...
Survey results from March, 2004
In mid-March, 2004 we held a survey on the Tailored site to assist us in developing the site to meet the needs of our visitors. Below is a brief overview ...
Sydney To Surfers Bike Ride - My 1,000 Km Charity Ride
Why I'm Riding My Pushbike 1,000 Km (621 miles) on March 24, 2007 Heh! This is old news - from 2007! Check out my latest charity bike ride here - it's ...
Test, measure and save yourself thousands of dollars
As part of our ongoing marketing we are just about to use what's called an "Unaddressed Delivery Service." (That's a fancy name for having our promotional ...
The 3 step guide to winning prestigious business awards - and getting the biggest bang for your buck
How and why you MUST win awards I first realised the power of winning prestigious business awards back in 1999 when my brother Pete won one of the major ...
The amazing money-making power of a $200 piece of software
No business should be without it! I'll get straight to the point. Almost every business I work with neglects their customers. Sure, it's not a nasty ...
The choices we make - understand this and you could make millions!
Whenever we develop marketing strategies for a client's business, we look very closely at the choice influences on the target market. That is, why do ...
The Essence of Marketing
The essence of marketing is to attract customers to a business. Good customers are okay, great customers are best. Every business wants customers just ...
The other question you should ask every customer
I know I've mentioned in these articles before about asking the 'golden' question. That question is "Why should the customer do business with you?" ...
The Perfect Salesman
The perfect salesman isn't some fast-talking, glib American vigorously self promoting his way to his next billion. It's not the statesman diplomatically ...
The reason most web sites fail
I seem to be on a real "Web sites that don't work" theme at the moment. So I thought I'd stick with it! As an Internet expert, I look at hundreds and ...
The Secrets To Top Search Engine Rankings
Achieving top search engine rankings for competitive terms—that is terms that are searched for a lot - is extremely difficult. In this primer I’ll ...
The top 10 mistakes most web sites make
And why a web designer is usually the worst person to design your web site I look at a lot of web sites. And mostly I shake my head in disbelief. Before ...
The WORST advertisement I have ever read
If your ad writer does this... SACK HIM!!! I'm sitting here reading a marketing magazine (the creative genius behind it called it... 'Marketing'. I actually ...
Threesome ....why they are the best
I've always liked threesomes. Make no mistake about it. They've been a favourite of mine for years. In this article I'll talk about the power of threesomes ...
Web site development business - making a go of it
I know I shouldn't be surprised anymore. But I still am. I'm surprised at how many web developers just don't "get it". And by "it" I mean they don't ...
Web site marketing - Article 1 in the series
"How do I market my web site?" It's a common question - and a question with a sometimes complex answer. But before we get started I'd like to mention ...
What Every Customer Wants To Know
When we’re off selling our services – whether they be web development, marketing, whatever - the most important thing to do is demonstrate the value ...
What To Do When The Customer Complains
Mistakes can happen and they can happen a lot. We all try to minimise them in our business, but nobody's perfect. So, how should you deal with complaining ...
What's in a name? An opportunity, that's what!
Getting your business noticed is critical. A take-away food shop underneath our offices has changed hands for about the 4th time in sixteen- (16) months. ...
When opportunity knocks, the least you can do is answer the door
Howdy. Hope you're well, being good and being nice to others! One thing I've got to do on this site is add a search facility. It's been done, but I just ...
Why a web developer should NOT assign copyright for design or content on a web site
The vast majority of the web sites we develop for clients include the web design, photography, graphics and writing of the content. The web design, photography ...
Why do people spend 4-5 years at University, but they can't get a job?
This has been one of my most popular articles - hope you find it of interest. Here's how to increase your chances 1000% for getting the job you want! ...
Why High Search Engine Rankings Are Even Better Than Pay Per Click Ads
As good as Pay Per Click advertising is (and it's fantastic), getting high search engine rankings for the terms people search for in relation to your ...
Why I'm the best person in Australia... to give this speech
On Thursday July 31, 2003 I gave a speech to the Tweed Valley Home Based Business Group. The topic of the speech was the importance of e-commerce to a ...
Why I'm The World's Best Web Designer According To Google (or How To Achieve High Search Engine Rankings)
Make no mistake about it - high search engine rankings can have a very significant impact on your business. Imagine thousands of new customers coming ...
Why it doesn't matter if your business idea is already taken
As a marketing guy I get to see a lot of new business ideas. And a lot of old ideas. Some good, some bad. Do you have a business idea that could make ...
Why Pay Per Click Advertising Is Better Than Print Or Radio
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 ...
Why The Heck Does He Want Me To Manage Him?
I had a meeting today with a businessman and his manager. They flew up from Sydney to have a chat. They were great guys. Both very intelligent, very ...
Why you should pay me $10,000 for 5 minutes work
I want to say right at the start that I don't usually charge $10,000 for five- (5) minutes work. But if I did, you should pay it. As a guy who predominately ...
Why your marketing must NOT attract as many customers as possible
It's possible that one of the worst things your marketing can do is attract thousands and thousands of customers to your business. Sounds a bit silly, ...
Why your marketing should be as cheap as chips
(If your marketing isn't, then you're doing it wrong) Chips are cheap. Real cheap! Depending on the Fish & Chip shop you go to, the minimum can be ...
Why your marketing should be cheap... real cheap
People I talk with often assume that the marketing we recommend will be expensive. After all, they reason, only the big boys have the money to do really ...
World's best web designer - Brendon Sinclair
Am I really the world's best web designer? In a word: No. In two words: No, No. But what I am doing is not showing I am the world's best web designer ...
