Friday 27 September 2013

Driving with two eyes

Driving with two eyes


A long time ago I wrote a booklet for learner drivers and their parents.

Covering many basic concepts that driving schools don't have the time to discuss but make a huge difference to how safe you are on the roads. I have finally gotten around to finishing it (well for now) and have published the full article on my website. http://www.chain-me-up.com.au/driving.asp

If you are learning to drive, or teaching someone else how to, please take a look.

I would love to hear your feedback on the content, and your experiences in learning to drive or teaching others how to drive.

I started riding a motorbike about three years ago, which was about the same time as I taught my daughter how to drive and found the concepts in the book relevent to both.

I will add a new section for motorcycles when I get a moment or 50, as there are quite a few new things to consider when you are on two wheels.

Cheers

Ross

Thursday 19 September 2013

New Videos

Last Friday, Catherine (who runs Beloved Treasures) came over to meet the new cat and go over some of the new ideas she had for marketing and updates to our websites (and polish off a couple of wines.)

One of the things I hadn't seen before is a site called Animoto, where you can create videos from your own pictures, videos and music. In a few minutes she had mocked up a simple but visually pleasing video from a few of my photos and using the themes and music at Animoto. I was pretty impressed.

Tonight I had a spare couple of hours and made two new videos of my own. Most of the time was taken up in polishing the photos I wanted to use in Corel Photo Paint, removing dust, colour correcting etc. As the videos are web quality, I didn't have to be overly fussy. There are quite a few themes to choose from and plenty of available music tracks. It's easy to waste time checking them all out, so I used the first ones I liked the look of without trying them all.

The first video is a range of two and tri-tone gold chains with about 15 different images. Adding and ordering the photos took a couple of minutes and creating the video and uploading it to YouTube took another 2 or 3. It's not going to win an Emmy, but it is much more interesting than a page of photos in columns.


 

It was easy to link these videos from YouTube to my Facebook page and embed them on my website. For $30 a year I think the ability to quickly create videos is great value.

The downside is, I have so many charm photos to add, its going to take some time.

Cheers All

Ross

Thursday 12 September 2013

Promotions and Advertising

As a small business, it is always hard to know where to invest time and effort into marketing and advertising. Businesses will promise the earth in terms of the service and outreach they will provide, but no-one will give a measurable promise in terms of the ROI. The best they will usually offer is a vague assurance that it would be a good decision to use their services.

We are constantly harassed by emails promising to get us onto the first page of Google or post thousands of likes on Facebook. Generally using these services will create issues with Google SERPs and result in a fall in rankings rather than a rise.

In light of these problems and not wanting to throw money away for little or negative results I have decided to make the most of word of mouth referrals. The best way to achieve results in this area is simply to provide a better level of service to existing and new customers.

Asking for feedback and product reviews for the goods our customers have bought costs nothing other than time, and by providing quality products and great service, many people are willing to offer a positive review. Again, simply put, looking after your customers is not only the right thing to do, but can generate more sales because they like to deal with you.

When delivering the items they have purchased, include some promotional materials for them to share with friends and family. A flyer or a business card makes it easy for your happy customers to share your store with others. Make sure it contains your contact details!


Think outside the square and make your promotional materials memorable as well as informative.