The digital age does not just mean people are becoming less reliant on print products such as the Yellow Pages to search for information.

In these challenging times for directory companies around the world, it has also allowed new entrants to flood the market…two  of which are Wedding House Directory and  Fitness House Directory.

But at two of the biggest global directories conferences recently — the European Association of Directory Publishers’ annual congress in Venice and the Kelsey Group’s Directional Media Strategies in Dallas — Sensis executives found themselves in an unusual position.

Delegates at DMS argued whether “printed Yellow Pages will be extinct in as many as five European markets” in five years, but Sensis, owned by Telstra, has bucked the trend of many print businesses by continuing to make good money from dead trees…

…more than half of Sensis’s revenue comes from the Yellow Pages, and more than two-thirds of Yellow Pages’ revenue comes from print.

It would be reasonable to assume the migration to digital will make this business model unsustainable but, unlike the newspaper and magazine businesses, Sensis has not seen reason to reinvent the wheel just yet.

“Five years ago and six years ago there was an assumption that we had seen the last of print and we are getting into a new world,” Sensis chief executive Bruce Akhurst said. “That may happen over the long-term but we are seeing the print books hold up well.”

Mr Akhurst said usage patterns for the Yellow and White Pages could come as a surprise…

“…Young people use books but they use them at home. People use online in a work environment. But…at home people get the book out. They are using the product in combination.”

Not that Sensis is ignoring changes in consumer behavior. It has 3 million users a month on smart-phones, while demand for the print products remains flat…

If you want to use a book then go for it….

“Explaining to a plumber search engine optimization or search engine marketing and social media and viral media – to make sense of all this is difficult. It is a complex world. We want to take complexity out of it…”

Sensis must ensure that small businesses get good service and results from ads. They must also fend off niche competitors.

“We’ve been quite focused on being able to prove our return on investment that we deliver,” Mr Akhurst said. “If you don’t, you are into this world of saying, a thousand cars drive past this billboard on the side of the road. So what? Did anybody read it? Did anybody call the company? We are out there putting metered ads in books and metered ads to actually measure real response rates to real ads and showing the data to our customers.”

Source: The Australian

The Changing World Of Online & Offline Directories is a post from: OE Design Blog

Life in business is always changing , and if you already have a basis of loyal followers of your products on a social media site like Facebook, then you are ready to tack, turn and  weave with whatever winds of change come your way. And change will come. And only those who are ready to embrace change by utilizing new technology will be here tomorrow.

Even when it comes to fruit….

‘As fresh fruit prices fall, Australian growers are turning to social networking sites and food celebrities to woo consumers. Prices of fruit fell 4.8 per cent in the June quarter, latest inflation figures show.

The chief executive of peak horticulture body Growcon, Alex Livingstone, said plentiful supply and retailer price wars were driving down prices. ‘The flip side is the returns to growers are not good,’ he said.

Tropical Pineapples sales and marketing manager Joe Craggs, who represents 22 Queensland growers, said prices were 10 to 15 per cent lower than the same time last year.

Growers had enlisted Facebook and MasterChef Australia contestant Skye Craig to raise the profile of a fruit oft sidelined as a summertime food, Mr Craggs said.

Citrus Australia chief executive Judith Damiani said consumers were toying with purchasing cheaper fruit, such as bananas.

But Gary Fattore, a manager at national wholesaler CostaExchange, said banana wholesalers were entering their thirteenth week of sales below production cost.

A warm winter had yielded a bumper crop this year, but he hoped prices would rebound as supply dropped off in the coming months.

Apple and pear prices had softened over the last two to three months, and were 10 and 20 per cent lower than at the same time last year…….

Meanwhile, poor citrus crops in Brazil and Florida are driving up costs for beverage makers…’

For those of you not in the fruit industry…..scary isn’t it?

So are you ready for change in your industry?

Do you have a Facebook page for your business?

Maybe it’s time to get organized for change – because change is coming your way – sooner than you may think.

Source: Michaela Whitbourn The Australian Financial Review

The Fruit Salad Of Change on Facebook is a post from: OE Design Blog

‘Google has turned its popular application into an advertising medium, with Australia the test bed in the search giant’s bid to open new revenue streams.

Australian web surfers have become the first in the world to see advertiser logos on the Google Maps website, highlighting the locations of five companies – NAB, Bankwest, JB Hi-Fi, LJ Hooker and Chemist Warehouse. Fitness First and BP are also understood to be preparing to launch advertising on the service.

The new advertising channel has been developed by Google engineers in Australia and is being piloted in both Australia and New Zealand. If successful, it will be rolled out globally.

The logos will pinpoint the location of advertiser’s stores and outlets, ranging from bank ATMs to petrol stations and coffee shops. Viewers can click through to get information on the store or a corporate website.

Google product manager Matthew Leske said the idea initially had been to make map references more useful to users by using the logos they would see on the street.

‘The primary thing was to help users – how do you help people recognize a location instantly?’ Mr Leske said. ‘The second thing was: how can we let advertisers take advantage of this?’

Advertisers will be charge per thousand views for each logo, even when several logos for a company appear in the same view – but the system will also show logos based on the relevance of the consumer’s search,

The function will be available on desktop and laptop PCs first, and eventually on mobile phones using Google’s Android operating system.’

Source: The Australian

Australia, Google Maps & More Money is a post from: OE Design Blog

1. Identify your passion
2. Make sure you can think of at least fifty awesome blog topics to ensure stickiness
3. Answer the following questions – Am I sure my passion is what I think it is? Can I talk about it better than anyone else?
4. Name your personal brand. You don’t have to refer to it anywhere in your content, but you should have a clear idea of what it is. eg: The connoisseur of cookware, the guru of gardening etc.
5. Buy your user name – .com and .tv if possible at GoDaddy.com
6. Choose your medium: video, audio, written word
7. Start a WordPress or Tumblr account
8. Hire a designer
9. Include a Facebook Connect link, call to action buttons, share functions, and a button that invites people to do business with you in a prominent place on your blog.
10. Create a Facebook fan page
11. Sign up for Ping.fm or TubeMogul and select all of the platforms to which you want to distribute your content. Choosing Twitter and Facebook is imperative; the others you can select according to your needs and preference
12. Post your content
13. Start creating community by leaving comments on other people’s blogs and forums and replying to comments on your own comment
14. Use  Twitter Search (or Search.Twitter) to find as may people as possible talking about your topic, and communicate with them
15. Use Blogsearch.Google.com to find more blogs that are relevant to your subject
16. Join as many active Facebook fan pages and groups relating to your blog topic as possible
17. Repeat steps 12 through 16 over and over and over and over and over
18. Do it again
19. Do it again
20. When you feel your personal brand has gained sufficient attention and stickiness, start reaching out to advertisers and begin monetizing
21. Enjoy the ride

Source: Why Now Is The Time To CRUSH IT! Cash In On Your Passion – Gary Vaynerchuk

Building Your Personal Brand is a post from: OE Design Blog

I loved Gabrielle’s explanation of how she is using her blog, her website and social media to promote her fantastic work.  And if you’re ever in the areas that she is conducting exhibitions please check her artwork out.

So here is what Gabrielle has to say…

‘Do you see web tools such as a blog or website as integral to developing your artistic career?

A website is a must for any artist in this day and age. I use it to refer acquaintances (i.e. people I just met, interested in art or what I do etc. I give them my Business card, with website address, which is also essential); other artists (which helps them know you are serious – if they like your work you can show together, they might refer you to someone that matters etc); Students (a good artist is known by the fact that a younger generation is influenced by their work) and as a repository/personal record of my shows etc – i.e. how my work has changed, my growth. Galleries are sometimes referred to the website, however many prefer a printed portfolio or photos first.

I have only just started the blog -not sure if it is integral to my career. About one follower per month adds themselves (which means they think what I have to say is worthwhile). More people drop in and out – I get emails from Denmark, US and acquaintances tell me (unsolicited) they read it from time to time. I use it to store the writings I have collected over the years in one place, to record my thoughts and seek feedback on works in progress (mostly no-one comments, though).

I also enjoy writing, so this is an outlet. I hope it helps to draw people to my website (the more links the better – I have now linked it to Facebook), and gets my name out there; and I want to show that I am a serious artist by of the content of my website (sometimes, painters are not seen as up-to date/serious in this concept driven art world, and it is often difficult to show the breadth of your work, let alone your intellectual ruminations, otherwise).’

Source: Gabrielle Jones Art Attack

Web Promotion For Art’s Sake is a post from: OE Design Blog

• No minimum buy
• Easy and fast creation
• Almost immediate implementation
• Pay only for clicks
• Bid for placement
• Set maximum cost per day
• Stop or pause campaign at any time

No minimum buy – Before options like AdWords and Overture existed, buying a highly targeted ad or a keyword buy could cost thousands of dollars. AdWords allows you spend whatever amount you want–no minimum. You can run or test a campaign for $10 a day or less.

Easy and fast creation – Once you set up an account at Google, you can begin to create ads whenever you want. Simply log in, name your campaign, and enter the headline, short body copy, and destination link. Finally, you can pick your keywords and phrases. Google’s keyword selection tools help you to identify alternate words and phrases and provide you with some data on how frequently certain phases are searched.

Almost immediate implementation – To give you a sense of how fast and easy this can be done, I just paused in writing this newsletter and set up a key phrase ad using the phrase “agency alliance.” It took me less than 10 minutes to set up and began appearing within 20 minutes of having set it up.

Pay only for clicks – When you view our ad, we pay nothing. If you click our ad we pay for the click. Now don’t get any crazy ideas like going there and depleting our checking account by clicking all day. Google’s system protects against multiple clicks from the same user. It also sets a maximum amount of cost per day.

Bid for placement – How much does a click cost? That depends on what you’re willing to bid and on how much you might have to bid based on the key phrase popularity. If you list an obscure phrase such as “agency alliance,” you don’t have to bid very much. A popular keyword like “travel” can cost as much as $55 per click to bid for top placement! When you bid on a term or phrase, you are telling Google the maximum you’re willing to pay for the click against others who have bid on that term. If the next highest bidder is much less than your maximum bid, you will only pay slightly more than the lower bid for top placement.

Set maximum cost per day – Additionally, you can cap your AdWords campaign spending at a predefined amount per day. If you get a lot of activity, you can tell Google not to display your ad after a certain amount has been spent. Once this threshold has been reached, your ad will not display until the following day.

Stop or pause campaign at any time – If you want to make adjustments, you can edit your ad at any time. You can also pause or stop a campaign at any time.

Other uses for AdWords:

Because Google AdWords are so quick and easy to buy, they allow you to test, change, and adjust them as much as you want. Aside from the primary purpose of driving traffic to a website, Google AdWords can be a fast and inexpensive way of testing messages, offers, and positioning to be used in other advertising mediums. Not sure if people would respond to an offer worded one way or the other? Try using the different phrases in a couple of Google AdWord campaigns to see which one performs better. This a fast and inexpensive way of testing, and it also creates value as you test, since the test will be sending visitors to the client’s website!

Google AdWords have reinvigorated the online advertising world. Learning to use this easy and inexpensive advertising option can add to your agency’s offerings, refine your current services, and multiply your existing efforts. Online advertising is definitely worth a second look!

Source: Eric Holter – http://www.linkedin.com/in/ericholter

The Benefits Of Google AdWords is a post from: OE Design Blog

More recent reports show that early small lead may have dropped off slowly, but was back on the rise again towards the tail end of July. Their search growth will grow at a faster rate once the Yahoo partnership receives regulatory approval. It is reported that Bing users are 55% more likely to click on a sponsored listing (adwords type ads) compared to when a searcher sees a sponsored listing at Google!’ reports Brad from www.getfoundingoogle.com.au

So what is this Thing called Bing?

Joshua Moore of www.moorethought.com declares that ‘Microsoft wants the Internet back!’

He adds, ‘When I was back in high school, Microsoft was comfortably in control of a number of things. Legitimate software was everywhere, Internet Explorer was the main way to surf the internet and Yahoo and MSN were the way to search for things. Fast forward eight years and the world has changed… Microsoft finds itself an old player in a new game where:

1. People download free software or pirate rather than buying.
2. Google is the leader on the internet.
3. More and more people are moving away from Internet Explorer.
4. Individuals do not want to use all their computer’s RAM upgrading to Windows.
5. Email is moving away from MS Office and Live (aka Hotmail) to Gmail and others.

To stay a leader, get into every market.

Microsoft is trying to regain some traction with its new search product, Bing. Bing, it appears, is designed to be a more appealing option than Google for individuals wanting to use search when looking for ‘real’ sites.’

So is this going to create a Google vs Bing scenario?

Well Ben Parr of www.mashable.com states that ‘Now, while my three searches may not have been definitive, BlindSearch is using everybody’s votes to provide a running tally of which search engine is best. As of publishing in June, Google is in the lead with 44%, with Bing in second at 32% and Yahoo last at 24%. This isn’t a completely random sampling, as tech-savvy users are likely the ones doing the most searches on BlindSearch currently. Yet it provides for a good approximation and will only increase in accuracy as the sample size increases.

So does this put the Google vs. Bing question to rest? The answer depends on how you choose your search engine. If you care only about results, this might be a deciding factor for you. However, if you care about branding, user experience, design, and integration with other social media tools, then these results are only part of a much larger equation. In any case, the consumer will end up deciding which search tool is best. ‘

So stay tuned….but my advice to anyone who is marketing on the Internet – give Bing a Fling. Try it. Test it. And attract more traffic to your website and do more business.

What Is This Thing Called Bing? is a post from: OE Design Blog

By then approaching each generation from a solid knowledge and understanding base, we will then be better equipped as business owners to get our message out to every age group, and as a direct result will begin to do more business and have more satisfied customers and employees in our circle of influence.

In her article ‘Workplace Warfare: Baby Boomers, Gen X and Gen Y’  Elissa Collier states that ‘Lately, everyone is talkin’ ‘bout your generation. With an age gap of nearly 50 years between the oldest and youngest employees in some organisations, there is a broad range of perspectives, needs and attitudes floating around the office. Today’s workplace is most definitely a multi-generational one – and each generation has its own set of expectations, needs, values and working styles.

While generational diversity in the workforce promotes a broader range of talent, it can often mean conflicting ideas and stereotyping – the Baby Boomers think Generation X needs a stronger work ethic, Gen X sees the Boomers as self-absorbed workaholics – and everyone thinks Generation Y is selfish and self-entitled.

Recognising and understanding generational differences can help everyone learn to work together more effectively and transform your workplace from a generation war zone to an age-diverse and productive team.’

To read the complete article go to: http://www.careerfaqs.com.au/employment-news/1311/Workplace-warfare

The Battle Of The Generations is a post from: OE Design Blog

No matter how many times they get knocked over, they will always rise stronger and more motivated than ever. They are the phoenix in the fire who rise again to face another fantastic day and a fresh batch of new and exciting opportunities.

In Mark McGuinness’ great article ‘How to Stay Motivated During a Recession’ he informs his readers that:

‘Some people say the recession means the end of business as usual. I disagree.

Of course, if your idea of business as usual was like Lou’s – a steady job, predictable market and rewards for hard work, keeping your head down and your nose clean – then it probably feels like the world has been turned upside down by recent events.

But as we said right at the start of Lateral Action, the rise of the creative economy is a long-term trend, and we’ve been living in a world where creativity is economic priority number one for some time.

And you know what? Creativity is unpredictable and risky. Sometimes it’s downright scary. Effects don’t always follow neatly from causes; hard work won’t necessarily be rewarded. On the contrary, it could just turn out to be foolish productivity. Rewards come from being curious, agile, aware of the market and willing to experiment to see what works.

So for me, the recession hasn’t brought anything radically new, just accelerated the rate of change and instability. It’s stripped away a lot of the fluff and complacency, and clarified what’s needed to survive and thrive in a world governed by the capricious laws of creativity.’

For the complete article go to: http://lateralaction.com/articles/motivation-recession/

Recession’s Enemy Is Motivation is a post from: OE Design Blog

And the same goes for many small business owners who are so busy working in their business that they fail to spend much time working on their business. And one significant area that they could be working on their business is in the area of online marketing, website marketing or Internet marketing.

So because of that very reason there has been an ever-increasing rise in the number of Internet Franchises appearing around the globe. These have been created to provide progressive thinking businesses with the tools and the expertise to guide them into this burgeoning Internet marketing world. For businesses to succeed in the future they must embrace a strategic online businesses strategy if they are ever going to obtain a greater market share and in fact, survive.

Gone are the days of just having a website for your business. Gone are the days of even having a website that can be found on the search engines. Today is the day when you need a website that is producing significant sales/inquiries/comments and thus providing your company with increased and significant online profits.

Here are just a few questions that a consultant from an Internet Franchising Model can ask in order to help the local business owner to start looking at ways to reposition themselves more prominently in the online marketplace:

• Do you have an online marketing strategy?
• Do you have an online marketing business plan?
• How much money do you want to make from your website in the next 12 months?
• How many leads do you want to attract to your website in the next 6 months?
• How can you increase your online conversion rates by 100%?
• Can you use the services of Search Engine Optimization writers – copywriters who understand what the search engines are looking for so that you gain a prominent position in your industry?
• Do you have a Blog and could professional Blog writers supply you with fresh and relevant content to your website so that once again you are placed high on the search engines?
• Can you do with some Google Analytics assistance and especially in the area of interpretation of those statistics that shows the flow of not only external but also internal traffic throughout your website?
• Do you want to learn how to keep people there on your website for longer periods?
• Does your website have a flow on effect that guides the readers to interact with you?
• Do you receive comments on your website on your Blog or the completion of a contact form or even the making of an online order?
• What is your current conversion rate for your website?
• Do you require strategic website development so that the website correctly targets your niche market?
• Are Google Ads a viable option for your company?
• Is your spend on various forms of online marketing being correctly analyzed so that you are assured a proper ROI (return on investment)?
• Would you like to look at ways of increasing your conversion rates when people come to you via your website?
• Are there other industry related websites or directories that you could align yourself with?
• Have you aligned your online marketing with your offline marketing?
• Are you communicating a consistent marketing and branding message through all your advertising both online and offline?
• Do you have the correct systems in place to track all your online leads?
• Do you have goals in place that cause you to look for better and smarter ways to market your business in the online world?
• Could you improve the design of your website so as to capitalize on the traffic that visits your site?

For by asking better questions, the local business owner is going to discover better answers. And with the initiation of solid online marketing objectives and the coaching to go with it we will see more and more businesses taking advantage of the services provided by Internet Franchise Consultants who can guide the small business owner to grow their business exponentially via the online world.

There is no better time than now to hire the services of an OE Design Internet Franchise Owner to help you grow your business.

The Rise Of The Internet Franchise Model is a post from: OE Design Blog