Total online advertising expenditure in the UK totaled 1.4 billion pounds ($3.4 billion AUD) in 2005. That's a 65% increase on 2004!

The UK figures almost mirror what's happening in Australia which shows that online advertising will overtake the amount spent on print and radio advertising by the end of the year!

It's easy to understand this incredible growth - online advertising is fully accountable, flexible and it works!

You see, a Pay per Click advertising campaign can be set up in just minutes with a budget as low as $20 A person searching for your product sees your ad and clicks on it - visiting your web site.

You then get charged by the click (visitor) depending on how much you bid to have the ad position you have. You can then even see if the visitor buys your product from your web site or contacts you via your online form.

With that information you can easily see how much it costs you in advertising for each sale or lead - perfectly accountable!

For a more detailed look at how the get great results from Online Advertising

I read a great article yesterday arguing that PR is a lot better than advertising for the vast majority of business. It's something I agree with very strongly.

Because of a few little successes we've had along the way we've attracted some great media coverage and the ongoing positive effect of that on the business has been fantastic.

And now we're ready to share the secret........and the secret of successful PR is Chelsea McLean!

Chelsea is a brilliant publicist here on the Gold Coast and we'll be interviewing her next week on our Tailored Podcast internet radio show.

Chelsea has been the reason for our wonderful PR success and she does it with flair, good grace and a wonderful sense of humor.

So check out this special interview on Thursday May 11, 2006 as Chelsea spills the beans on generating effective media coverage for your business.

Anthony is our Web Developer Extraordinaire here at Tailored - he is simply a magician with the amount of stuff he knows. And he's a nice fellow as well - read on to learn all about Anthony. Take it away Anthony:

I work at Tailored Consulting, as the primary web developer.

I live in Ipswich, apparently the oldest provincial city in Queensland. Its had a rough reputation for a long time now, but with recent population growth its trying to turn that around. I've lived there all my life, but really have to get my act together and move to the coast soon. Driving around 220km per day to get to work is a little rough on my poor car!

My favourite restaurant is a small Thai restaurant at Corinda (Brisbane) called Kesone Thai. Its tiny, but the staff are wonderful and the food is even better!

My earliest childhood memory involves a family holiday. My father was a professional shooter in his younger days, hunting kangaroos and wild pigs (considered pests by the farmers), and we had gone out to visit one of his old friends. This friend, John, owns a large property west of Charleville. Being a bit of a citykid, the bush was wonderful, but quickly boring. John put me on a small motorcycle, and sent me off to find my own fun.

That was great for a while, until I crashed into a patch of prickles. I've never found out the type of plant this was, but the prickles were around 2 centimeters long and hard as nails. No wonder that memory has stuck with me!

My first job was at age 17 working for my local cinema. It was a lot of fun for the first couple of years, and a positive experience. Come age 19 however, my name stopped showing up on the roster - I guess that payrise wasn't the windfall I expected!

A turning point in my life occurred during my time at university (the exact point is kind of blurry) when I discovered that yes, it really is possible to go a week without sleeping.

My favourite place in the world would have to be Perisher Blue, the ski resort I went to on my school's senior trip. Normally I hate the cold, but this was the first time I'd seen snow and there's something magical about those mountains. Or maybe Fraser Island - largest sand island in the world, and a great place to go camping. Also home to some of the biggest damn blowflies you could ever meet - I think I've seen smaller birds!

The best advice I ever got was a insightful comment from my first boss - "Common sense really isn't that common". This simple fact has proven itself many times over since I first heard it.

I'm happy that I worked my way through four years of university, studying and working with some high-tech and super-cool concepts - and then found a job in a totally different field. Turns out, I much prefer this role!

We've just completed a survey on one of our web sites and the information we've gathered is hugely beneficial to producing a better web site experience for customers.

I'm always amazed at the many benefits surveys bring and just how easy they are to do. Why do surveys:

• You get great information
• You go to the top of mind for your customer/prospect
• Customers buy from you more if you survey them

- studies show that surveyed customers are more likely to buy, less likely to stop buying and more profitable.

The thinking behind why that happens is that surveying increases a customer's positive feelings toward the company and makes the customer more aware of the company and their products.

Four Things To Do At The End Of The Survey

1. Thank participants
2. Share the results
3. Take action based on the results
- and let participants know that's why you are taking the action you are
4. Announce the prize winner
- always, always, always offer an incentive for people to complete your survey - a competition with a nice little prize usually works wonders at enticing people to do your survey.

Email: brendon@tailored.com.au