After just reading this article on TechCrunch.com, my mind is buzzing, or is it boggling? Plan is one of the oldest and largest children's development organisations in the world, and has no political or religious affiliations. In the UK, they have just released an advertising campaign which makes use of a game changing billboard - it "has a camera that scans passersby and if one stops to look, it determines their sex and shows them a 40-second video if they are female. Males only get a link to the advertiser's website."

Costing £30,000 for a 2 week placement, the system claims a 90 percent accuracy rate - your call as to whether or not that is money well spent or even how ethical it actually is, but two things are very clear:

1. Advertising as we know it is going to change dramatically. To use an example from TechCrunch: What if you load up a hundred videos of people in different outfits, and then match that to whatever the person viewing the ad is wearing? "Nice red blazer. But we like this one better. Only $25 at H&M." (or Myers, David Jones, etc)
2. Face recognition abilities will no doubt reach a lot further than just male or female. With a whole range of information potentially available (Gender, Age, Race, Religion, among a tonne of other assumptions) to advertisers, their marketing budgets and analysis just got a whole lot more accurate and that space at the bus stop just got a whole lot more valuable ;)

What do you think? Is it money well spent? Does this kind of advertising exclude people or is it simply clever marketing? Could there be privacy concerns resulting from the face recognition?

Have a look at the full TechCrunch article by clicking here, or you can watch the video below:

Image at beginning of article sourced from TechCrunch

BLOG. The term itself is sometimes confusing, let alone trying to understand what it actually is, how it is used and whether or not you need one.

"BLOG" is simply the short form of WEB LOG as when they began in the late 1990's, that's exactly what they were - a log of an indiviual's experience, stored on the internet. Blogs are typically displayed in reverse order so that the latest entry appears first and originally they were very simple - one way communication, one place for all different topics and thoughts.

Over time Blogs became a lot more interactive, allowing entries (known as Posts) to be categorised and allowing readers to comment on posts and share their favourite posts easily between other websites and friends.

Additionally, the term Blog has become a word used to describe actually writing the posts, so if someone is going to "Blog" about something, they are simply going to write about it and "post" it to their Blog.

Now you know what a Blog is, do you need one? The answer to this depends on a few things, though two important questions to ask yourself are:

Have I got the time?

Blog posts don't have to be long, in fact to some degree, the shorter they are the better. That said, writing a good blog post will probably take you about an hour - so that gives you an idea about one blog post, but just how often should you actually post?

The key to a successful blog is to post regularly - not necessarily frequently. In my opinion, once each week is sufficient, however once a fortnight or once a month would also be frequent enough. Any longer than a month between posts and some people will forget the Blog exists, any more than once a week and some people will stop reading them - after all, reading your Blog takes their time as well.

Have I got something to say?

Most people who have never 'Blogged' before think that they couldn't do it because they are not good at writing or wouldn't know what to say. Sound familiar?

Writing for the sake of writing takes a lot of creativity and skill. Writing for the sake of sharing information and knowledge simply takes experience - which everyone has to varying degrees.

Additionally, Blogs are more often than not found as a result of an online search. It makes sense that most people search for the solution to a problem.

Therefore... If your Blog posts simply explain a problem you have had and how you overcame it, or they explain how the way you do things overcomes a common problem, then you don't need a degree in English to have a successful blog, you just need to tell it how it is. Your personal writing style and the relevance of the information will be welcomed by the reader.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

So do you need a blog? Probably not. Would you benefit from having a blog and would others benefit from you sharing your knowledge?

ABSOLUTELY.

There are many more benefits to having a Blog than just information sharing and generating "traffic" - more than can be outlined here - however if you have at least an hour to write regular Blog posts and you have some answers to common problems and questions within your industry, then you should definitely consider starting a blog.

For more information, please Contact Us

Do you have a website? If so, does anyone know it's exists, or how to find it even if they know you have one?

How many times have you asked yourself the above question? If the answer is either 'never' or 'not very often', then we need to talk!

Enter SEO...

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation, a term which basically refers to making adjustments to your website so that when someone searches for 'Cookie Farts' in their favourite Google (also known as a Search Engine), your website appears before as many of the 12.3 million other websites (HOW MANY?!?) which discuss Cookie Farts to some degree. Of course, you might choose a word that is more relevant to your website / industry - in fact I highly recommend it - but you get the idea.

SEO is a term which is widely used when discussing websites, and most people know that SEO = Instant Website Success (IWS) and that where IWS is not achieved, a quick phone call to Google / Yahoo! / Bing (yes there is more than one search engine and there are actually more than these 3 as well!) should do the trick.

The fact is that there is no such thing as IWS, there is no phone number for any of the search engines and there are many factors involved in moving your website up the rankings for various keywords. THIS part of SEO is a lot more complex, and is not always so easy to understand.

Enter the Analogy...

While there is so much more to SEO than an IKEA instruction manual for a Volvo, I can't help thinking that a comparison between a town/city and your website goes a long way to explaining how it works in a language we can all understand.

Let's assume for a few minutes that your long lost uncle's brother's dog was the 'mayor' of a small country town called Betoota until he died and left you the keys. The only condition to accepting those keys is that you build it into a thriving modern city - with a current population of 0 that's quite a task!

The first thing you need is people. Lots of people. Afterall a city is nothing if it doesn't have people, so the next question is how do you get those people there, what makes them stay, what makes them tell their friends that it is a great place to be and encourages them to go there as well?

Vision
Know where you are going to be, how it will look, what it will do. This will be the cornerstone for every decision you make and for all the steps below.

Structure
A good city should have a structure that is well thought out and easy to navigate. When planning the structure of the city, it should be done from the viewpoint of the potential inhabitants. Who are they, what will they be looking for, what will make their life easier?

Facilities & Services
If you don't have relevant, attractive facilities and/or services, people will go elsewhere for them. But it's not just a case of having them. You could have a great shopping centre but if yours is 30 years old and you have made no changes to it, the brand new one down the road is going to be more attractive.

Point of Difference
Betoota has a population of 0 - except on Race Day. The annual event attracts thousands of people to it. For the local area, it is something different. A bit of research can highlight several areas where your city could do things differently.

Ownership
Inhabitants want a say in what goes on. Afterall, they have to live there so by providing the platform for them to share their ideas and views, then taking the best of those on board, you will grow a happy population.

Roads Out
Small towns and large cities alike, can be a boring place if there is nowhere different for poeple to go. Build roads out to popular places or neighboring towns.

Roads In
You want to attract people so you can grow your town into a city. If the roads to get their are long, difficult or confusing, it simply isn't going to happen. The more roads you have in, and the better those roads are, the more people you will see arriving.

Tourism Association
Finally, you need a group of people who know what you have to offer, and know exactly how to offer it. They can do the research, advise on what people like, what people don't like. They know who your target market is - is it young families, older couples, etc - and they find creative ways to 'sell the sizzle'. They monitor the effect of the changes you make and keep up to date with the latest trends and interests.

Put all these things in place, and your town with a population of 0 will one day become that modern, bussling city.

The exact same steps can be applied to building your website from where it is today, into a modern, popular website. Think about it:

Vision
You need to know where you want your website to be. What will it DO? WHO will be using it? HOW will it be used?

Structure
Plan your website structure in a way which is easy for people to use - think about your target market, how will they expect things to appear, where will they expect things to be? Make sure your links are all clear and it isn't possible to get 'lost'.

Facilities & Services
What things could your website DO or PROVIDE to your target market that they would find relevant? The more relevant and useful something is, the more likely it is that people will share your website with others.

Point of Difference
What could you do that would set you apart from other similar websites? Perhaps you could have a calculator of some description, or a checklist which visitors could download. Think of relevant and interesting things that other people aren't providing and find a way to incorporate that with your website.

Ownership
People love interaction, so give it to them. Provide a way for people to comment, add 'Tweet' and 'Like' buttons, share their experiences or photos. Get creative, there are lots of ways people can interact with your website and they will love your website for that reason.

Roads Out
Provide links to other websites that have useful information. The more links out (Outbound Links) to other websites you have, the more search engine love you will see...

Roads In
This is an important one because it's one thing adding links to other websites, but other websites will only link to yours if they think it is worth doing so. For that reason, the more links (Inbound Links) you have TO your website, the easier it will be for search engines to decide how relevant your website is for various keywords and phrases.

Tourism Association
Finally, you need a group of people who understand your vision, understand your market and know how to get your website there. That tourism association is US.

We have the tools, experience and know-how to get your website on the map, to advise you on the changes required and to monitor the effect of changes to your website on the visitors you get.

Contact us and let us help you to grow your website into the CITY THAT NEVER SLEEPS...

At the core of Templeman Twells Web Design is a desire to help others and we believe you can help. If you have a website, when you change your website hosting to ours, you can be sure that you are helping to change lives. How?

For the rest of 2012, each month we will be helping an organisation to change lives by donating $20 from every website hosting account which is changed to ours in that month - so if you have been thinking about changing your website hosting, there has never been a better time.

We offer business grade linux website hosting in Australia with daily and weekly backups from as little as $220 / year. Our hosting provides you with all the email addresses you need, mysql databases, sub domains and much more. For more information, visit our Website Hosting page.

As we are already well into February, we will be supporting our first selected organisation until the end of March 2012. Who have we selected?

Compassion Australia (www.compassion.com.au)

Compassion is an international Christian child development and child advocacy ministry committed to working in partnership with local churches around the world to foster the spiritual, economic, social, physical and emotional development of children living in extreme poverty in over 26 developing countries. Find out more...

Check back on the 1st April to find out who we will be supporting in April!

Having recently been requested to integrate the Advam payment gateway with the WordPress e-Commerce plugin, I thought it would be a simple case of:

1. Search Engine
2. Download Code
3. Upload Code
4. Apply authentication to settings
5. Inform the client to crack open an ice cold beer and watch the $$ roll in as people purchase from their shop

But, how wrong was I! Aside from no plugin or code to be downloaded anywhere (or beer, let alone ice cold ones!), there wasn't even any information on how to integrate the two.

Always up for a challenge, I set out to write my own Advam merchant gateway class for WordPress e-Commerce, and here it is:

Click here to Download the File

And here are the all important steps to enjoying your ice cold beer:

1. Make sure you have your Advam Account Number, Operator ID and Operator Password handy - you will need these later.
2. Click on the link above to download the Zip file. Unzip it and remember where you saved advam.merchant.php to. 
3. Use your favourite FTP program to upload the file into your wordpress install (/wp-content/plugins/wp-e-commerce/wpsc-merchants/)
4. Log into your WordPress administration panel and go to the settings for the Store.
5. Click on the Payment tab and tick the box next to Advam - then press Update.
6. Hover over the Advam line and click on the Edit link.
7. Enter your Advam Account Number, Operator ID and Operator Password. Press update.

And that's it! You are now receiving credit card payments through the Advam payment gateway and drinking ice cold beer. Told you so...

With Australia Day 2012 celebrations just around the corner, it seemed a great time to ask a simple question on our facebook page -

What's your favourite .com.au website?

Afterall, celebrating Australia's websites is surely less harmful than watching a guy cook snaggers on a barbie in his red jocks (maybe he is superman?) on an aeroguard advert!?

Silence, came the loud reply - with the exception of one enthusiastic little vegemite...

Such silence got me thinking, what is MY favourite .com.au website? Then it hit me like an aussie teenager hitting their first VB... I don't have a favourite .com.au website either! You see, I am on the internet all day every day, because that's my job. The problem is, I'm not merely surfing the internet for entertainment's sake - I'm actually doing my job! I spend my days flicking between Google, Google Analytics, Facebook, Twitter and Templeman Twells Web Design. All other websites are usually those of clients or development testing areas.

Surely there must be some .com.au websites I visit often? A quick search in my history for .com.au tells me otherwise. I now put an updated question to you...

Do I just lead a sheltered life in a backward two dog town out in the sticks or are there actually great websites out there, visited often and by many, which were genuinely created in Australia and have a .com.au domain? Hint: the answer "BOTH" would probably be accurate...

And as if by magic, you can now enter your favourite Aussie website HERE! Check it out, add your website and share, share, share!

UPDATE: Voting is over, and the people's favourite Aussie website is: GUMTREE.com.au

The results of the voting are as follows (Vote - Website)

8 - www.gumtree.com.au
6 - www.ebay.com.au
5 - www.doodledrops.com.au
5 - www.waroonaambulance.com.au
5 - www.ecostreetads.com.au
4 - www.zinniafloraldesigns.com.au
4 - www.stoneypark.com.au
4 - www.peeltrails.com.au
4 - www.vortexcleaningsolutions.com.au
3 - www.jarrahdaleholidaycarriages.com.au
3 - www.imp.org.au
3 - www.revolvermusic.net.au
3 - www.backpackersbillboard.com.au
3 - www.huddleup.com.au
3 - www.southerncrosscampertrailers.com.au
3 - www.jexanalytics.com.au
3 - www.serpentinevalley.org.au
2 - www.motorhound.com.au
2 - www.boozle.com.au
2 - www.switchdirections.com.au
2 - www.tcrealestate.com.au
2 - www.dwellingupcaravanpark.com.au
2 - www.taylorsecurities.com.au
2 - www.narrowlothomes.com.au
2 - www.abc.net.au
1 - www.salvationarmy.org.au
1 - www.dbsconsulting.com.au
1 - www.waroonashow.com.au
1 - www.pinjarracma.org.au
1 - www.baldivisfootballclub.com.au
1 - www.tinsignsaustralia.com.au
1 - www.resurrectionswanbourne.com.au
1 - www.spicatum.com.au
1 - www.robboscontracting.com.au
1 - www.drakesbrookguesthouse.com.au
1 - www.ezefeeder.com.au
1 - www.cockburnsoundregatta.com.au
1 - www.purplecowphotography.com.au

So, not exactly a massive sample, but Gumtree.com.au should still be proud to call themselves the People's Favourite Aussie Website of 2012 (...and so early in the year as well!)

Thanks to everyone who voted and I'm sure next year the voting process will be even bigger and better!

Corrigin is well known for holding the dog in a ute record, but is there more to this small country town that that? I certainly think so.

With clients and contacts spread across Western Australia, I am privileged enough to travel to a wide variety of places. With Corrigin now on that list of places, I made my second trip out there yesterday.

I was impressed the first time, and yesterday was no different - after just 2 visits, Corrigin hits the top of my list for favourite places to visit clients. Corrigin's website hits the nail on the head, saying:

Nestled in the central Wheatbelt region, 235km south-east of Perth, is the progressive community of Corrigin.

Corrigin is a predominantly farming community with cereal cropping and sheep its main industries.

Corrigin's pro-active approach in improving all facets of country living mean this picturesque town is a great 
alternative to the city and offers all the necessary services and facilities including medical, educational, 
recreational, economical and social.

It is only in the country that you can develop a relationship with the whole community, where everyone knows you 
and you know them.

Over 1,200 proud and friendly locals are keen to welcome all visitors and prospective residents to Corrigin 
and hope that you will enjoy our town as much as we do.

What really strikes me is that their signage looks professional, their website looks professional and is full of useful and relevant information, the buildings and streets are well kept and there is a real "air" of a country town which is making every effort possible to attract people - and in my opinion, succeeding at that!

They even have a giant dog, and a dog cemetary!

Definitely worth the trip out there, the drive is just as spectacular as the town...

I could give you the top 10 ways to improve your productivity. I could give you 5, or even 7, but writing all those would probably decrease my productivity and that's not what this is about, so today you get just one.

That's right, one little nugget of joy which will (and by will I mean may...) help you and your business to improve your productivity:

Get UnReal.

So much in the world today is all about the here and now. We want things instantly, we want to be informed constantly and we don't want to have to grind our own coffee and wait for it to taste just right... This seems to be a common thread running through the marketing campaigns of many businesses both big and small.

Technology goes the extra mile to ensure that products and/or services are available to you constantly. If your job involves sitting in front of a computer with internet access (are there any other kinds any more??) all day, you will probably be familiar with one or more of the following:

Email: Email clients usually have a little notification box that pops up to let you know when new mail arrives. Not wanting to miss anything important, we often have this set to check for new mail every minute or two. The notification window encourages us to look, and therefore don't miss any important emails, right?

Facebook: Website browsers made it possible to have multiple windows open so you can quickly flick between them, using Tabs. Many people have Facebook open in one tab, and then use this tabbed system to work in other windows. When you receive a new notification, the title of facebook's tab changes to tell you how many notifications you have, ensuring that you don't miss a notification.

Google Analytics: Having recently released Google Analytics Real Time, Google have obviously also cottoned on to this mindeset. With no form of notifications, they simply rely on their awesome-ness to keep you coming back... and you do... because they are...

The problem with all this real time, is that you are constantly distracted from what you are doing. MindTools.com tells me that it can take up to 15 minutes to regain complete focus after a distraction, and when you do some basic maths, being distracted just 8 times in a day is enough for you to lose up to 2 hours of productivity!

So how do you get UnReal and improve your productivity? I'm sure there are many ways but here is a start:

1. Set your email client so it doesn't check automatically. Set aside 3 times each day for checking emails. In the morning, after lunch and just before you go home.
2. Set aside certain times for managing your social media outlets. For example, you might decide that first thing in the morning and last thing in the day are sufficient.
3. While Google Analytics Real Time is amazingly cool, there is no information available to you NOW that won't be available to you TOMORROW. I have yet to think of a situation where someone would absolutely need to know at any given second what is happening on their website, so again, set aside a bit of time to check your stats from the day before, then close it down.

There you have it, the unreal guide to improving your productivity!

If you are trying to install the Magento shopping cart but can't get past the Configuration step because of a "Response from server is invalid" error?

The cause of this error is most likely the DNS hasn't resolved yet, but whatever the reason, there is an easy way to get around it.

In the Web Access Options panel, simply tick the "Skip Base URL Validation Before the Next Step" box. Make sure your URL is correct, but if so, ticking this box will get you through the Configure step.

Happy Magento-ing!