Have work will travel

One day working on the road at places such as Woolgoolga in New South Wales, Australia

The great thing about working in web development, website content management and content development and all things related to the Internet is that wherever I go, my work goes with me. Well, that’s good because I can log on and respond to emails and discuss website development projects with my team and so forth. Not so good in that wherever I go, my work goes with me.

As I write for several websites including Captivations – custom sports clothing manufacturer, Ski The World (say no more!) and Stuff By Susie’s Health Blog (more about the Dukan Diet than simple health website), I’m not restricted to a small airless office to do my work.

A road trip from Sydney to Brisbane to visit clients (and catch up with family and friends along the way) gave me ample time to do the necessary work-related jobs and to enjoy some of the scenery along the way. Later in January, I head to Canada to research for the ski website and a skiing book that is planned.

Within a few days working at some of Canada's best known ski resorts

One day, working at some of the best beaches in Australia in mid-summer then in a few short days, working in minus 5 temperatures at some of Canada’s best ski resorts.

Life-work balance – way to go!

Highlight this month: the Internet Show in Sydney

Free seminars were well attended at the Internet Show

With the online environment changing so rapidly, those of us working in the business of building websites, managing search engine optimization (SEO) and writing good web copy that has the right balance of keywords (and engage the reader – most important) attending conferences and shows like the one in Sydney this week is critical.

Internet statistics alone are enough to make the head spin.

Here’s one – there have been 2.3 billion searches on mobiles in 2011 (so far!).

Here’s another – there are 4 billion mobile phones being used in the world – many more than the 1 billion televisions.

And another: in 2013 mobiles are expected to outstrip computers.

Yes, mobile technology was a focus of the Internet Show, though eCommerce got a good run as did digital marketing and social media.

The seminars affirmed that we at Bold Type are right up there in SEO as we are in writing good copy for our online clients. We’ve done some digital video and that’s the new frontier for our business. We have the expertise so watch this space (as they say).

New websites, trip to Melbourne: it’s been a busy month

We’ve got some fabulous websites on the go: one for a new line of outdoor casual clothing that will rival Billabong. Another is for my very own design-your-own-summer-dress range which is an interesting build.

SouthBank at dusk with the Yarra looking particularly Seine-like, oui?

In the midst of all that, a business trip to Melbourne for the design-your-own-summer-dress website. Gotta love that city. Yeah, there is a rivalry between Sydneysiders and Melbournites but, hey, I come from Queensland and I love both. A tram ride is sublime for someone who loves public transport. I managed all my appointments from East Brunswick to Abbotsford, Northcote to South Yarra, Collingwood to Preston using the trams and trains. MetLink app for the iPhone helped too!

Smith Street Collingwood in Melbourne – worth a look, catch a tram!

What’s best about Melbourne for me: strip shopping which is everywhere. Particularly liked Smith Street, Collingwood. And for sheer gorgeousness, SouthBank precinct at dusk has got to be a winner. It’s no wonder they call Melbourne the Paris of the South.

Good for me that my new made-to-order summer dresses website business will be taking me back there for some time to come.

Oh, and by the way, I almost ran into Matthew Pavlich, the AFL Fremantle Docker footballer at SouthBank. Thanks to Gaysie for reminding me!

Loved editing work this month

Even though we use computers for writing and editing, a good pen never goes astray

Loving your work is perhaps a luxury but I really have loved my editing jobs this month.

I had the pleasure of editing a great essay by a Year 12 student this month. Great writing that drove the narrative forward and held the reader’s attention.

Structurally it was very sound. And while it might have looked like there were lots of ‘red marks’ (even if an an online edit in Word with track changes), many of the changes were typographical or consistency issues – double or single quotation marks, when to use a ‘z’ or an ‘s’? It was a great piece of writing and good to edit.

Also, I edited some webpages for Linda Magson, Sydney Counsellor’s website. Editing webpages is quite different from editing print pages. Structurally, the two medias are similar. However, for websites, focusing on specific keywords for each webpage and making sure keyword density is right are just two of the differences. Metatagging is also something I do when editing webpages.

Then there was the writing and editing of the Captivations website and writing news articles for Liza McKilliam Real estate, Kenmore and Chapel Hill in Brisbane.

As an editor who also writes, here is some advice on good writing.

Six tips for great writing

Whether writing for the web or for print, good writing has:

• interesting and/or important ideas of value to the reader
• logical organisation of the content – use headings to signpost the information in the body text
• an appropriate voice for the context of the work – some things to think about: is it formal or casual, friendly or factual?
• the right words and good variation so that the writing is interesting
• smooth and expressive paragraphs and sentence structure
• correct and consistent punctuation, spelling and grammar that make the text easy to read

And regardless how good you think your own writing is, a professional editor will make it better. That’s the truth because as writers we’re too close to the work to find the little things that take a good piece of writing to a great one.

Love the work? Get the best editor. Contact Sue Stevens for a quote. Read about Sue Stevens on the Bold Type website.

10 web marketing facts that you should know

Fact One

Knowing what works for web marketing can pay off big time

In Australia, Google has 91.95% of the search engine market share (so far in 2011)

Fact Two

The top Google ranking website gets twice the traffic of #2 ranking.

Fact Three

Approximately 36% of Australians access the Internet in any month on their smartphones and the figure is rising.

Fact Four

60% of new mobile phones are smartphones. iPhone is the most popular smartphone, followed by Nokia and Android.

Fact Five

5 seconds – it’s important because 32% of consumers abandon a website if it doesn’t load within 5 seconds.

Fact Six

If your website gets 1000 visitors a week, then a conversion rate of 1% = 10 sales; 2% = 20 sales, 5% = 50 sales and so on.

Fact Seven

Google Maps has 150 million mobile users around the world.

Fact Eight

Facebook is the most visited website in the world. There are 9 million Australians on Facebook.

Fact Nine

LinkedIn generates the most conversions for B2Bs: 61% over company blogs @ 55%, Facebook @ 41% and Twitter @ 39%.

Fact Ten

Facebook generates the most conversions for B2Cs (business to consumers) with 67% followed by company blogs @ 63%, Twitter @ 53% and LinkedIn @ 39%.

Read more about getting the most out of your website @ our website, Bold Type.

It’s FAQs not FAQ’s: get it right, for God’s sake!

OMG, is that FAQs with an apostrophe!

The use of the apostrophe has become ubiquitous on websites and frighteningly enough, when it shouldn’t be used at all.

We won’t name and shame some of the companies that are guilty but there are quite a few international businesses, big businesses and even government websites that are guilty of this most horrendous grammatical sin.

Ahhggg! That’s the only thing that comes to mind apart from I will never, ever do business with company who can’t spell FAQs correctly. It’s not rocket science.

Why FAQs and not FAQ’s

FAQ stands for Frequently Asked Questions. Using an ‘s’ at the end just implies the plural of FAQ and is the ‘s’ at the end of Questions. FAQ’s is not possessive in that it is not owned by someone or something.

Apostrophe ‘s’ is only used – I repeat, only used – when something is the possession of another. Susie’s jacket. My name is apostrophised because it is the jacket of Susie. The computer’s hard drive – it is the hard drive of the computer so computer takes the apostrophe.

Get it! Good. Now, please web content writers and web content developers, please get it right.

Here’s another one: it’s or its: read about the difference between its and it’s.

EchoStars open gardens at Farnsborough

The colours of Autumn at Farnsborough, Moss Vale

This autumn, Rose Figtree opened her gardens at Farnsborough at Moss Vale in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales to raise funds for EchoStars.

Bold Type made the website for EchoStars as a contribution to this worthy charity. It was natural curiosity that lead to Sue and husband Bill doing the 1.5 hour drive from Sydney to Moss Vale to see the gardens and support the cause.

Gorgeous is the word that comes to mind. The autumn colours of gold, orange and browns, the variety of the trees and gardens was truly magical to see. And we’re told, it has all happened over the past six years. That’s a lot of gardening!

More brilliant colours at Farnsborough, Autumn 2011

The gardens are now closed for winter but will be open again in Spring for a very different look. We’ll be going back to see (and smell) the spring flowers. If you’re interested, check out the EchoStars website where information about the open gardens will be posted. While you’re there, have a look around the site and make a donation. It’s a worthy cause that Bold Type is proud to support.

Read more about the EchoStars website on the Bold Type website.

Social media, is it worth it for a business?

Are social networking sites really good for business?

We’re told that social media is a must for most businesses: that without being on Facebook, Twitter and the rest, you’re not really ‘connecting’ with your clients. But did you know, Apple (the corporation that makes Macs, iPhones, iPads and the rest) has fewer than 500 000 Facebook followers. Given that they sell billions on iProducts, what’s a mere half a mill people in terms of their marketing strategy? Say no more!

You can read more about this topic on Bold Type’s dedicated ‘everything web’ website, Balmain Website Designs.

Build a website properly if you want it to make money for you

If you want your website to make money, it needs to be built properly!

A well-functioning website – with good quality, free inbound links and well-developed content that is meta-tagged correctly – is the best marketing tool that your business can have in an Internet-savvy world.

And it shouldn’t cost the earth.

At Bold Type, we use open source software, WordPress, so all our clients pay for is our time. That keeps the costs down but we’re not the cheapest.

At the end of the day, you want your website to work for you. Cheap is not going to cut it as you won’t have the tools to keep your website relevant and highly ranked on Google.

Visit the Bold Type website to find out how we can make your website work and your business blossom.

Here’s to a great 2011

Happy new year from us all at Bold Type

It’s been a great year for us at Bold Type. We’ve built some really gorgeous websites, and worked with some of our clients to help them keep their websites high up on Google and other search engines. We’ve written content, managed email marketing and shared our knowledge about getting the most from a website.
And we’ve had great results. For example, one client has seen a 250% increase in targetted visits which has resulted in a direct and substantial increase in business coming from his online enquiries.

We’ve also done some interested editing jobs, proofreading and some more tutoring of university students. Gotta love the publishing business.

Love helping people get the most out of their websites: it is the publishing platform of the now (and the future). And still love everything to do with print publishing.

Sue Stevens and the team at Bold Type wish all our clients (and future clients) a healthy, happy and prosperous new year.

Contact us today and we’ll help make your 2011 more prosperous.