by Hamish | Sep 13, 2013 | Uncategorized
So I went to my first WP Melbourne Meetup the other night and it was fantastic. I can’t believe I haven’t been to them earlier. Would have saved me so much time and I would have learned many of the things I have taught myself much more quickly had I attended earlier I am sure. I’m a digital marketer teaching myself development so whilst some things will take a bit of clarity and research to get my head around I still had an enjoyable night. Great to meet so many passionate WordPress people and I look forward to getting more involved and giving back to the community. I have bookmarked the #wpmelb hashtag and am furiously going back through the slides to comapare with my own notes. Here were the key takeouts for me as a relative newbie to the space. Child themes – Now obviously as a newbie I couldn’t ask about Child themes on the night as I didn’t want to look stupid. I’ve been working on changing themes around but never as a Child Theme so this will save me a lot of time and heartbreak. http://easywpguide.com/ This is by far and away my highlight of the night. I had started working on a guide like this myself. Will save me many hours. Thanks http://www.advancedcustomfields.com/ WP-CLI – ” WP-CLIis a set of command-line tools for managing WordPressinstallations. You can update plugins, set up multisite installs and much more, without using a web browser. ” So I have a lot of reading, learning and scoping out to do but I am looking forward to coming back –...
by Hamish | Jun 18, 2013 | Uncategorized
Last Week (June 12-13, 2013) I attended the Digital Productivity Conference in Brisbane organised by the Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy. As the Managing Director of a Boutique Telecommunications and Internet Service Provider, I thought it important and useful that I attend. I am glad I did. I’m glad I went and not because I am in need of convincing of the value of high speed internet. High speed internet improves business processes and allows new products and services to be developed. I am not convinced of government’s ability to cost effectively manage the building of a network but I do hope it eventuates sooner rather than later. Rather, my reason for attending the conference were inherently selfish. I wanted to see ideas of how other businesses and industries were using high speed internet. This allows me to develop my own ideas and case studies to help promote my own products and services. These ideas will become the crux of other posts on this blog but first I wanted to make some comments on the opening remarks from the current Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Stephen Conroy: – Only 43% of Australian businesses have a web presence – A business that is highly engaged online is 2 times as likely to be growing and 4 times as likely to be looking at hiring staff instead of downsizing. These are pretty damning statistics but they make sense. A digitally engaged business is evolutionary. They are embracing the new railroad (the idea of high speed internet as the new railroad is something I will...
by Hamish | Apr 24, 2013 | Uncategorized
We live in a different world. The internet heralded a revolution and started a content economy – you needed to educate your clients through content in order to build visibility, credibility and trust. From here comes profitability. Social networking platforms have further developed the idea of content marketing. Content is vital but more important in a social media world is communication and conversation. You need to build content that gets people talking and if they want to talk with you you need to respond (well not all the time but you know what I mean. When you are starting out with a social business answer every question. The bigger you get the harder this will be.) You need the content first to create the conversation. One of my favourite Internet Entrepreneurs is Rich Schefren. Recently on Facebook he described ten different types of content that people can create for their clients and prospects. It was entitled in a post called “10 Types of Content You Can Create for Your Prospects.” The great part about each of these content types is that they can also be conversation starters. The purpose of this post is to expand upon each content example and investigate how we can turn it into a conversation. Before we get to conversation, you first need to understand the importance of the content. Realistically, content needs to be epic. It needs to be memorable. Otherwise, people won’t want to participate in the conversation. Bad content is boring and people don’t want to talk about it. Here are the ten content possibilities and how you can utilize them to...
by Hamish | Apr 2, 2013 | Uncategorized
I don’t like the idea of selling products I won’t use myself. I like to stand by what I say and what I am promoting. The more I have learned about Google over the years, the more I have come to love Google. Since we started using Google Apps for Business we have never looked back. I like to keep up to date with my products and I like to use and hack tools that make my life easier. Hence, my love for Google Apps – specifically Google Apps for Business. One of my businesses is Altitude Communications – we are an Optus Business Partner. Optus promotes and sells Google Apps and we have been using Google Apps since the beginning. Here’s a brief rundown of Google Apps before I start raving on like the fan boy that I am. What is Google Apps for Business? Google Apps for Business is cloud based – that is it’s hosted on someone else’s server. It consists of a number of tools covering email, productivity, organisation and communication solutions Google Apps for Business allows you to backup and store files, emails and calendars in the cloud that can be accessed anytime, anywhere to be worked on in real-time by multiple users. All you need is an internet connection. Google Apps for Business is fully managed and hosted in the cloud so you can avoid the usual costs and hassles of operating sophisticated software and enjoy access almost anywhere on any device with an Internet connection. We were debating whether we should upgrade our server but decided to go with Google Apps for...
by Hamish | Jul 6, 2012 | Uncategorized
Let me just preface that I do sometimes use taxis, for social occasions, but for business travel and occasions I definitely prefer using a chauffeur driver. If you want to get around Melbourne, chauffeur travel is your best option as your access to taxis can be difficult – especially during peak travel periods. Here are the 5 major reasons I prefer chauffeur travel: I can be confident I will be picked up on time – Traveling interstate for work fairly regularly, I find myself needing to ensure I am at the airport on time. A chauffeur service is the best way for me to ensure I arrive on time for my flight. I enjoy traveling and arriving in comfort – With taxi services, there is no guarantee of the quality of vehicle that you will arrive in. With a chauffeur, I know I can arrive at the airport in comfort or be picked up in comfort after a long flight. I know my driver will be well groomed and the car will be a late model vehicle and very comfortable. I know how much my trip will cost – Many things can have an effect on the cost of taxi travel. With a chauffeur, I know exactly how much my trip will cost before I leave the house or as I am picked up from the airport. I can set up monthly accounts – As I use a chauffeur mostly for business purposes, monthly accounts are great for cash flow and account management. It’s also easy to keep my files accurate for bookkeeping and taxation purposes. My driver will...
by Hamish | Jun 4, 2012 | Referral Marketing, Uncategorized
This article is aimed at those business owners who are looking for a better way to get new customers. It contains 6 great tips for boosting business through networking and referral marketing. These referral marketing tips can be implemented almost straight away and they can be used both online and offline. Implementing these tips should mean that you see immediate business improvements and lead to you getting more customers. Get out there and meet people- Networking is an important part of your referral marketing strategy. You need to get out there and meet people. You need to expand your network. You need to help other business owners grow their business. You need to help professionals further their career. By helping others you create goodwill and from there they are going to want to help you grow your own business or further your own career. First Impressions Count- If you want people to refer business to you, first you have to make them want to refer business to you. You need to create a great first impression. Don’t get out there and burn relationships by just handing out business cards to anyone and everyone. You also aren’t there to be connecting business cards. If you attend an event, why don’t you just concentrate on developing two or three stronger relationships with potential alliance partners? Find people you can work together with and foster these relationships. If you develop these relationships you will be more successful and people will want to refer business to you. Leverage and harness the power of the internet- Social media hasn’t necessarily changed everything but...
