Articles

By Stefan Sojka

I am just old enough to remember when the first personal computers were rolled out of Bill’s Garage. We were told how they’d be such time-savers and that we’d be sunning ourselves in the Maldives while our dot-matrix printers plotted out our utopian dreams: ascii head-shots, primary school arithmetic and DOS commands to c:>defrag [the future] and d:>format [life].

All computers have managed is to give us more things to do in even less time. In a nightmarish glimpse into a Matrix-like future, when machines dominate humanity, our laptops freeload their way to the Maldives, fooling us into believing they are indispensable – while we spend our entire vacation reinstalling everything.

This month, I am going to attempt the seemingly impossible and use the ultimate time-waster – the Internet – to increase my personal productivity. If this column hits the editor’s desk before deadline – I’ll have succeeded!

The glamour façade of Web 2.0 is all FaceBook and YouTube. Yet, this Ajax-enhanced incarnation of interactive computing shines in many unsung and under-utilized arenas. Personal productivity, or GTD (getting things done, for the acronym addicted), is one area where finally technology might give back some of those slices of life it spent the last 10 years stealing. David Allen, www.davidco.com/ , is the father of GTD, so a good place to get started. Get your workflow in place and set those goals… it’s time for some seriously proactive prioritized actioning!

Joe - www.joesgoals.com – figures if his system is good enough for him, it’s good enough for everyone. He has built a life of success on regular flossing, water consumption and meditation. With his timetable app. and a screen full of smiley faces, a perfectly balanced life awaits me. Note to self – thank Joe for providing a great ‘note to self’ facility.

Mac users are generally so right-brained their lives are sheer chaos, so Chronos - www.chronosnet.com/ - have been hammering away since 1993, trying to rehabilitate us artistic types to a life that verges on the barely manageable. I was going to download the software, I really was, but I got this great idea to redesign their home page.

www.tadalist.com , from 37 signals, is a to-do list manager that is now on my to-do list to use. A 10 second set up (15 if you mistype your password) promises to see me join 4,000,000 other desperate GTD wannabes. I just hope it has the storage space for my lifetime collection of unfinished business.

When I finally get round to getting anything done, I must try getharvest.com the online time tracking application. As my productivity increases, I am bound to find time to double my workload by logging everything that I do at 15 minute intervals.

www.near-time.net/ is an enterprise level productivity suite, taking GTD to the boardroom. Way too many features and benefits to cover on this little back page – just put it in your diary to log on, check the feature list and sign up for success.

www.zoho.com - Zoho’s creators have been around since 1996 and what a Swiss army knife of productivity apps they have amassed! This is a classic case of information management information overload. So many tools, so much productivity, so many log-ins, forms, features, functions, alerts… I need a Zoho management application just to run it all!

Well, the deadline has passed, the editor is ropeable, my stress levels are off the dial – GTD Web 2.0 style has helped me, alright – helped me realise how badly I need all these tools! Tomorrow, 9.00am – turn over a new leaf, revisit all these sites and get things done!

By Stefan Sojka

It only seems like yesterday, when the first dot com boom was here – that carnival of crazy ideas that beckoned cowboys, used car salesmen, media moguls’ offspring and PHP-primed pre-twenty-something start-up upstarts to come up with the next big thing. The information super-hype-way was here to stay. Fortunately for us weary web wanderers the bubble burst, sending a million big ideas and a few billion dollars down the drain.

It wasn’t the ideas fault. It was the Internet. Too soon. Too young. Fast forward to now – mega-broadband, mega-infrastructure, a burgeoning netizenry – perhaps it’s time for a new, burst-resistant bubble. All those great ideas might just get enough eyeballs and click-throughs to reap the intended ROI.

Here begins virtual gold-rush part II:

What better way to enhance your narcissistic lifestyle than chalking up a few dares and bets with your peers? www.bragster.com throws down the gauntlet to the entire world. Fun and frivolous (I dare xXxSaRaHxXx to Wash her face with mushy peas.") to philanthropic (I dare Simon Cowell to do something for charity before he dies), this addictive point scoring portal is destined to be bigger than Google within weeks… uh, maybe...
Q. What is French for Entrepreneur? A. Löic LeMeur. A serial ideas homme, LeMeur has blogged himself filthy rich so many times, he’s addicted to it. Look out for Seesmic – www.seesmic.com an evolving video “conversation”. $6 million of venture capital says it’s an awesome idea. Only time will tell if this frog-spawn will grow legs.
In the music business those on the cutting edge never make it big. It’s only when Madonna drops into your back-alley night club and steals all your ideas that ‘vogueing” becomes a household word. Ditto perhaps with web ideas. www.revver.com pioneered paying video-bloggers a slice of the ad revenue, but never quite got the traction to take off. A $5 million sale of the site after $12.5 million of investment is nothing to write home about. Let’s hope the new owners can get Revver revived and revved up again.
Notice anything about the latest dot com ventures? They all have silly names. Domain name scarcity forces dumb spelling, lame puns and made-up words to worm their way into our vernacular. Case in point, www.pownce.com Nice idea, though. “Send stuff to your friends” is the concept. Incubated out of the Digg hatchery and with similar genetic code, it is simple, powerful, flexible and cool.
I know – how about a new social net­working site! As if your mailboxes aren’t full enough with your FaceBook, MySpace and YouTube notifications. www.tangodiva.com is for wanderlust affected females. All you need now is a site that manages all the sites you’ve joined – a multiple social net­working site management site – complete with its own social network site management net­working tools. Sheesh! I’m going to go and watch TV for a while…

By Stefan Sojka

There are certainly some similarities between Webmasters and Master Builders, though I am always envious knowing that my home pages are un-insurable against fire and flood, yet can be destroyed with one push of a “delete” button, while your buildings last for decades! Still, the feeling of satisfaction of clicking through a newly launched website with its proud owner might almost, I imagine, be as rewarding as taking a prospective homeowner on the first walk-through of your latest residential or commercial masterpiece.

One thing we can be sure about the web now is that it is a great communication tool and a great marketing tool. Regardless of how big or small your business is, a website is the best way to show the world what you do at the least, and can be used to maximize your marketing and transform your business at the very most.

A web site can now be much more cost effective than printing glossy brochures or other expensive marketing mediums (mail outs, catalogues, trade shows, promotional videos, CD ROMS) and when it comes to more complex web sites that process and manage information, there is nothing that can compete.

Whether you already have a website that’s in dire need of renovation and extension, or have not even begun to think about it, I hope this article can shed some light on some of the things you need to consider and hopefully get you motivated to make it happen. We’re talking “Clicks and Mortar” – ie how to make a website compliment and enhance a real world enterprise.

As a web design firm, we have a 4-step process to get a website established. It doesn’t matter how big or small your company or your website is, you still need to go through the same basic process in order to succeed. Since we began this article with a comparison of homes vs. home pages, why stop now?

Four Steps to Building a Master Home Page

1)The Foundations – Getting started – decide on a domain name, choose a web designer, have them help register the name and set up a basic “under construction” page.
2)The Floor Plan – The pages, the links, the content. Decide what the site will be used for and work out a plan that accommodates the visitors, and your business the way you want.
3)Construction – Everything from the wiring to the plumbing, to the interior decorating, functionality, trimmings, doors (links), appliances (database connections, content management systems), cladding and insulation (keywords, code to help the site get found by search engines, disclaimers and privacy statements)
4)Marketing and Maintenance – Launch, and promotion. Ongoing adjustments and reworking, the occasional coat of paint and looking for ways to increase traffic to your virtual cul-de-sac.

The Foundations

An email address and basic web address are two fundamental ways to establish an online presence. As phone bills get bigger and bigger, people are realizing how easy it is to whip off an inquiry or response via email.

Also, even though it is great PR to respond to emails instantly, it is not absolutely expected, so you can get on with your life, and set some time aside to manage all your emails at once, rather than fielding phone calls at inconvenient times.

By registering a domain name that suits your business and sticking to it, it becomes your permanent address, no matter who you connect to the internet with, or even who manages you website hosting. It is merely a matter of redirecting it if you change providers. It is best to arrange your domain name through your web developer, since they know all about the processes and requirements, and can advise on suitable names, as well as managing them as they come up for renewal.

Very early on, you may as well arrange for your web developer to set up a basic “under construction” page – at least it can be a point of contact while the site is developed, as it can take some time to finally launch your dream home page.

The Floor Plan

A successful website needs a lot of planning. Too many times we come across sites that have been hastily thrown together to some kind of imaginary deadline set by the eager owner, completely ignoring some of the obvious prerequisites – ease-of-use, intelligent architecture and lots of keywords for search engines.

Like designing a good home, you need to look at the functions you want the home to perform and accommodate them appropriately. Rumpus rooms and studies, or many bedrooms and a granny flat? There are so many things a website can do – a perfect showcase of a master builder’s capabilities and achievements. What better way to show off your awesome constructions than a photo gallery? Video footage even – of your team in action? Virtual walk-throughs? Detailed photos showing close-ups of workmanship and finish? The colour and splendour of properties and building works can be captured perfectly in a well designed website.

Above and beyond the visuals, a website allows your company to communicate your standards of excellence, your design philosophy and your commitment to customer service, by having the text and layout of the site reflecting the way you do business.

Don’t forget testimonials on your site either – always a great boost to your credibility. Then there are your awards, industry affiliations and preferred suppliers and products – all reassuring your potential customers that you are knowledgeable, experienced and trustworthy. Why not add a mortgage calculator while you are at it? They are everywhere.

This kind of expanded brochure-style website is ideal for potential clients to discover what you are all about and to help them make a decision to hire your services or buy your creations, even before they have spoken to you. This is a common scenario these days. If the website has worked its magic, a couple of emails later and a buyer or investor is hooked. Even if a client has short-listed you from a selection of competitors’ websites, it is a lot easier to make the sale when you talk to them if you have an impressive website to back you up.

All this information, and more, needs to be mapped out on paper and then worked into a design that takes into account the scale and variety of information. Ideally all the primary pages or sections should be available from every other page, and subsections should be available from all other pages in a subsection, with a simple link back to the main section.

You also need to work out how the site will actually function, like if you have customers logging in, how is the log in processed, and where do they get directed to, what information do you want to bring to their attention? Do you have a lot of data to manage? Are you wanting to have e-commerce facilities? What about harnessing information from other sites and plugging it into yours? By taking your time at this crucial stage, you can work out the perfect operation, layout and design of your site.

You should show your designer sites you like and sites that do the same kinds of things you want to do, so you can work together to get the optimal look and feel for your site. We usually give our clients a “Website Workbook”. They find it very helpful in thinking through the project.

Construction

This is where it is time to let the experts do their thing. The usual method is to use a “staging server” where the site can be uploaded and reviewed along the way, making any adjustments, whilst physically (well, with not much more than lifting an index finger) building the pages, files and images of the site. This is where the Webmaster takes over for a while to make sure all the technical and artistic aspects of the plan are carried out as expected.

There will be much to-ing and fro-ing, but amazingly the plans start to fall into place according to the timeline set out, and a fabulous new website begins to take shape. During the testing phase, there will be unexpected issues. You should always allow for the fact that this will happen. Hopefully all the planning will be enough, but as it falls into place, refinements are inevitable. A well quoted website will allow for these changes, and it is one of the great things about websites, that they are so changeable.

To run a website it must be hosted by a company that allows it to stay online 24 hours a day. Larger companies can host their own sites, but it is usually best left to specialists, especially with security issues and many other technical concerns. Economy of scale dictates that larger, well-established web hosting companies should be able to offer good services and technical support for a very reasonable price. Once again your website developer/designer would usually have a choice of hosts, depending on your needs. Once the site is approved for launched, it can be set up properly on its server and the champagne corks pop!

Marketing and Maintenance
Unless people know about your site and what it can do, it can just sit there idle. You must make sure your site is optimized to be found in search engines (there are a few tricks to this) and is listed in any industry directories (eg www.mbansw.asn.au ) and other places where you think your potential customers might go looking for you. This may involve a bit of research and legwork on your part, emailing other sites and chasing up links, but it will be worth it. You might set aside a certain amount of time each week or month to ensure your site is as available as possible. Or if your budget is more extensive, you can get a marketing company involved.

Off line, you have to get your site “out there” – put the web address on your vehicles, in your adverts, on business cards, invoices, letterheads, work shirts, caps – anywhere!

Meanwhile you should have a plan to maintain and improve your site to keep it fresh – add photos of your latest work, news, updated services and contact lists, as well as the possibility of adding whole new sections and functionality. Some changes can be set up to be done by a staff member using software or a content management system, but larger updates would most likely require your developer’s services. By tracking the success of the site, in terms of sales, inquiries, hits, downloads etc. you can make appropriate changes based on budget and anticipated returns.

Even though the building of a website is quite a complex challenge, by breaking it down into four basic steps, as we have done here, and attending to the steps methodically, the whole process can be demystified. With the help of a professional developer, what at first can seem like a mammoth job, can be built brick by virtual brick into a virtual residence any webmaster, and master builder, would be proud to call home.

Other Essentials

•Check your email regularly! Some of your biggest contracts could come through a simple email and although an emailer may wait a couple of days, the certainly won’t wait weeks.
•Visit your own site and test it regularly. Technical problems do happen and the sooner you are aware of them the sooner you can have them fixed. Maybe your inquiry form stops working, maybe there are broken links or images.
•While you are there you should also review the content and see if it might need a little updating now and then. There is software now that allows easy updating yourself, or for more complex sites some kind of content management system could be required. You might be happy maintaining an ongoing relationship with your web developer who can update your site and keep you informed of any new trends in technology and web marketing.
•Check your search engine listings. If you slip down the lists, you will not be found, so you will need to rethink your site’s use of keywords and other search engine tricks.
•Make sure you have antivirus software running on your email program. There is nothing worse for customer relations than giving all your clients a major viral infection!
•Have a plan in place for expanding and improving your site as your business grows. There are many extras you can add to your site when budget and time allows it - but remember it is only worthwhile if you can see a measurable ROI. Databases, file downloads, video, mailing lists, resources, links, affiliate programs, sponsors, humour, news, charity involvement, staff profiles (employee of the month), loyalty schemes – the list is endless and growing every day. Just as mobile phones have evolved into PDA’s, cameras and entertainment devices, so your business presence on the web will constantly change.

Website basic content must-haves:

Home Page
About Us
Services/Products
Gallery
Testimonials
Contact Info/Inquiry FormSome Optional Extras:

Colour Charts
Floor Plans
Materials Samples
Downloadable files
Links to Appliance Manufacturers
Contracts
Video
Voice Narration
Panoramas/Walkthroughs
Flash Animation
Staff Profiles
Mailing List Join Form
Subcontractors sub-sites or links

By Stefan Sojka

(This full-page article appeared in the Trading Post and published nationally.)

If you’re running a small business and you don’t have a website, then now is the time to take the plunge.

An email address and a website are two useful and cost effective additions to any company’s marketing toolkit. In fact every small business can benefit from displaying their wares online and taking inquiries by email, says Stefan Sojka, Creative Director of the Cyrius Media Group, a company firm specialising in web design.

Surprisingly, there are still a large number of businesses without a website, even though more and more people are now using the Internet as a first port of call to find the goods and services they need. The Trading Post’s own website is a prime example of an on-line presence supporting the “real world” version. Your own website can compliment your business perfectly.

“Above and beyond the visuals, a website allows your company to communicate your standards of excellence, your philosophy and your commitment to customer service by having the text and layout of the site reflect the way you do business,” says Stefan.

“If you sell products or ongoing services to your clients, a simple online store and list of services can entice them to do more business with you. Don’t forget testimonials on your site either – always a great boost to your credibility. Then there are your awards, industry affiliations and preferred suppliers or products – all reassuring your potential customers that you are knowledgeable, experienced and trustworthy.

“This kind of expanded brochure-style website is ideal for potential clients to discover what you are all about and to help them make a decision to hire your services, even before they have spoken to you.”

While not recommending that anyone jump on the technology bandwagon just for the sake of it, Stefan advises all small business to seriously consider the benefits of having a website – or upgrading the one they have.

“Sadly, many a website has been created without much thought to how it will function as a marketing tool,” he says. “Not only that, since there are no official standards of website design a site costing many thousands of dollars can actually harm your business because of badly planned content or annoying technical issues. The best sites are simple, concise, easy to use, visually appealing -- and built to an appropriate budget.”

To help you make sound decisions, Stefan has prepared the following planning checklist:

Domain name: You should have a domain name (website address) that is either your business name or a shortened form of it. It can be .com.au, .biz, .com or whatever, so long as it is easy to spell and give out to people. It can also contain a keyword or two (good for search engines), but shouldn’t be too long or hard to type. You can register domain names directly, but it is wise to consult your web professional.

Hosting: To run a website it must be ‘hosted’ by a company that allows it to stay online 24 hours a day. Larger companies can host their own sites, but it is usually best left to specialists, especially with security issues and many other technical concerns. Economy of scale dictates that larger, well-established web hosting companies should be able to offer good services and technical support for a very reasonable price. Once again your website developer/designer would usually have a choice of hosts, depending on your needs.

Web developer: You should look for a firm that understands your business requirements and has a proven portfolio of successful and satisfied clients. You should try to obtain ball park quotes, but if you have no idea what your site will be like, a quote will be impossible. You should find out what kind of process the developer will use to help you plan your site and arrive at their quote.

Planning: Look at your competitors’ websites as well as any other sites that you find appealing to get an idea of what you like and dislike. It’s getting cheaper every day to do the tricky stuff, but some things are still out of reach for most of us – remember some sites may have cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. Having collated all the information you require you will then need to employ a writer to tie it all together into a uniform style and the have the site professionally designed and mapped out.

Consistency: This is a great opportunity to marry the look of your website with your off-line material (business cards, logo, letterheads, etc). It is also a good time to get some great photos done of your work or products and to request testimonials from past clients.

Marketing: Your site will sit there doing nothing unless people know about it. You need to make sure your site is optimised so it can be found in search engines (there are a few tricks to this, including coming up with the right keywords) and is listed in any industry directories and other places where you think your potential customers might go looking for you. Off line, you have to get your site “out there” – put the web address on your vehicles, in your newspaper advertisements, on business cards, invoices, letterheads, work shirts, caps – anywhere and everywhere.

Ultimately, the key to success is to ask yourself what you want to achieve with your site. “Maybe you have more work than you can handle at present so your website will be mainly a branding exercise, keeping you in the public eye. Maybe you plan to market yourself aggressively and target specific groups – if so your site must reflect and support these goals,” says Stefan. “above all it is a reflection of what you are doing off-line and as such need to present you in the best possible way – professional, informative and visually appealing.”

For more information, including free initial consultation and planning advice, phone the Cyrius Media Group on (02) 9877 5544 or visit their website at: www.cyrius.com.au

By Stefan Sojka

It’s time to get our hands dirty in the virtual gardens of cyberspace. This issue, we look at how far the Internet has come in 10 years and how you can benefit from some of the basic features of the web that are now at your disposal - and well within reach of just about any small business’ marketing budget. We will discuss some fundamentals of owning and running a website and show how some simple measures can ensure that money spent online can convert into increased revenue in the real world.

It’s funny how our society has always been so dependent on technology, yet we are always so slow to latch on to any new breakthroughs. Remember when mobile phones first came out? “They’re for Yuppies” we would all joke, not for a minute realizing how much more useful they would be to plumbers than to merchant bankers. And there we all were 10 years ago, mobile phones strapped to our belts, thinking; “the Internet – that’s just for nerds”. It sure was a little less user-friendly than it is now, but even back then a few good domain name registrations and simple ideas (like Hotmail, or Yahoo) would have turned us all into billionaires.

The nerds’ playground soon became the investors dream, and eventual nightmare when the “dot com” bubble burst (more a result of ridiculous investment strategies than any fault of the Internet). Meanwhile, the juggernaut of technological improvement kept steaming ahead. Now look at the web. You can’t step outside of your front door without seeing a web address emblazoned across every delivery van, billboard and t-shirt. You book your holidays online, do your banking, plan your wedding, order pizzas – the Internet is finally a household word – and it’s still evolving. It’s going wireless, it’s merging with TV and telephones; it’s even on the fridge door!

Maybe it is a good idea to stay a few steps behind technology. After all we are never quite sure where it’s headed next, and the last thing we want to do is waste all our money on gizmos that are going to be useless in 6 months time. One thing we can be sure about the web now is that it is a great communication tool and a great marketing tool – especially for small business.

An email address and a website are two useful and cost effective additions to any business’s marketing toolkit. Every small business can benefit from displaying their wares online and taking inquiries by email – from restaurants to gymnasiums, accounting firms to rock and roll bands, and yes, you guessed it – landscapers! In fact landscaping is an ideal profession to benefit from a web presence (as many of you may already know).

Cyberscapes in Cyberspace

What better way to show off your stunning works of art than a photo gallery on your website? Video footage even – of your team in action. Your own “Backyard Blitz” movie could be screened, showing the perfect coming together of your plans. A horrendous patch of flat, dead lawn transformed into a magical suburban oasis. You can even have virtual tours of gardens, before/after slideshows and animations. The word-of-mouth benefit of featuring your clients’ properties in your gallery is a definite winner, as they tell all their friends and associates about your site.

Above and beyond the visuals, a website allows your company to communicate your standards of excellence, your design philosophy and your commitment to customer service by having the text and layout of the site reflecting the way you do business.

If you sell products or ongoing services to your clients, a simple online store and list of services can entice them to do more business with you. Don’t forget testimonials on your site either – always a great boost to your credibility. Then there are your awards, industry affiliations and preferred products – all reassuring your potential customers that you are knowledgeable, experienced and trustworthy.

This kind of expanded brochure-style website is ideal for potential clients to discover what you are all about and to help them make a decision to hire your services, even before they have spoken to you. This is a common scenario these days. If the website has worked its magic, a couple of emails later and the job is on. Even if a client has short-listed you from a selection of competitors’ websites, it is a lot easier to make the sale when you talk to them if you have great content on your site to back up your spiel.

Got a Website?

If you company doesn’t have a website – get one. If you have one, and you are reading this article thinking (rather skeptically) “our site has done nothing for us” – maybe it’s time to look at your site and reevaluate it, along with your overall approach to how the Internet fits into your business.

Sadly, many a website out there has been created without much thought to how it will function as a marketing tool. Not only that, but since there are no official standards of website design, a site costing many thousands of dollars can actually harm your business because of badly planned content or annoying technical issues. I’m sure everyone reading this has heard at least one horror story of someone being ripped off with a bad website. The best sites are simple, easy to use, concise and visually appealing - and built to an appropriate budget.

In future issues we will go into much more detail about many aspects of running a website, but for now, here are some fundamentals to get you thinking about improving your current site, or planning your brand new home page.

Domain Name (your website address)
You should have a name that is either your business name or a shortened form of it. It can be .com.au, .biz, .com or whatever, so long as it is easy to spell and give out to people. It can also contain a keyword or two (good for search engines), but shouldn’t be too long or hard to type. You can register domain names directly, but it is wise to consult your web professional.

Website Hosting
To run a Website it must be ‘hosted’ by a company that allows it to stay online 24 hours a day. Larger companies can host their own sites, but it is usually best left to specialists, especially with security issues and many other technical concerns. Economy of scale dictates that larger, well-established web hosting companies should be able to offer good services and technical support for a very reasonable price. Once again your website developer/designer would usually have a choice of hosts, depending on your needs.

Website Development
There are so many people out there who build web sites, it is advisable to shop around, especially since standards and pricing vary so widely in this unregulated industry. Paying top dollar does not guarantee the best result. You should look for a firm who understands your business requirements and has a proven portfolio of successful and satisfied clients. You should try to obtain ball-park quotes, but if you have no idea what your site will be like, a quote will be impossible. You should find out what kind of process the developer will use to help you plan your site and arrive at their quote.

Planning Your Site
Spend some time looking at your competition, as well as any sites that you find appealing. You will get some ideas on what you like and dislike, and the kind of content you will need to organize. Remember that some sites may have cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. Your web developer can guide you with what is possible for the amount of money you have to spend. It’s getting cheaper every day to do the tricky stuff, but some things are still out of reach to the little guys.

Your main task will be collating all the information. You might need to assign various tasks to people within your organization to gather what you need. You can then employ a writer to tie it al together into a uniform style and you should definitely have the site professionally designed and mapped out. It should be a design based on your existing company image.

If you have an inconsistent image, this is a great opportunity to marry the look of your website with your off line material (business cards, logo, letterheads etc). It is also a good time to get some great photos done of your work, request testimonials from past clients and think about what your business is really about, so that you can focus on promoting its unique aspects.

It is very important to ask yourself what you want to achieve with your site. Maybe you have more work than you can handle already, so your website will be a mere token presence. Maybe you plan to market yourself aggressively and target specific groups – your site must reflect and support these goals.

Marketing Your Site
Unless people know about your site, it will just sit there doing nothing. You must make sure your site is optimized to be found in search engines (there are a few tricks to this) and is listed in any industry directories (eg www.lcansw.com.au ) and other places where you think your potential customers might go looking for you. This may involve a bit of research and legwork on your part, emailing other sites and chasing up links, but it will be worth it. You might set aside a certain amount of time each week or month to ensure your site is as available as possible.

Off line, you have to get your site “out there” – put the web address on your vehicles, in your adverts, on business cards, invoices, letterheads, work shirts, caps – anywhere. Whenever you get telephone inquiries, you can always direct the person to your site and even guide them through it while you have them on the phone.

Other Essentials

•Check your email regularly! Some of your biggest contracts could come through a simple email inquiry. If you don’t respond ASAP, you will lose the customer.
•Visit your own site and test it regularly. Technical problems do happen and the sooner you are aware of them the sooner you can have them fixed. Maybe your inquiry form stops working, maybe there are broken links or images.
•While you are there you should also review the content and see if it might need a little updating now and then. There is software now that allows easy updating yourself, or for more complex sites some kind of content management system could be required. You might be happy maintaining an ongoing relationship with your web developer who can update your site and keep you informed of any new trends in technology and web marketing.
•Check your search engine listings. If you slip down the lists, you will not be found, so you will need to rethink your site’s use of keywords and other search engine tricks.
•Make sure you have antivirus software running on your email program. There is nothing worse for customer relations than giving all your clients a major viral infection!
•Have a plan in place for expanding and improving your site as your business grows. There are many extras you can add to your site when budget and time allows it - but remember it is only worthwhile if you can see a measurable ROI. Databases, file downloads, video, mailing lists, resources, links, affiliate programs, sponsors, humour, news, charity involvement, staff profiles (employee of the month), loyalty schemes – the list is endless and growing every day. Just as mobile phones have evolved into PDA’s, cameras and entertainment devices, so your business presence on the web will constantly change.

One thing is for sure we are never going to go backwards in this age of technology. It’s only been ten years or so and just look how far we’ve come. Sometimes it all seems too much - then you realize just how much benefit we get from it all - and how boring life was without it!

If you stay informed of your options, and make the most of what is available to you, you can enhance your business in cyberspace, and then get back to what you do best right here in the real world.

Website content must-haves:

Home Page
About Us
Services/Products
Gallery
Testimonials
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By Stefan Sojka

1. What is your take on how we arrive at being artists? Do you think it's natural, we are born with it, or do you think its a choice? (I am not talking about professional artists here).

There are many reasons to be sure, and I have observed many of these reasons in myself and others I have met. They range from a desire to express the creative muse that burns within, to a childish or narcissistic need to be liked. Because pop music appears to be an easy road to fame and fortune i.e. write a three chord song and become a mega star, many people I have known become caught up in that illusion, rather than actually perfecting the craft, and learning the professional skills to survive in the music business, because it is a business, and all the three chord mega stars are merely fodder for the manufacturers of their music.
For every rich and famous songwriter there are a lot of fairly well-off unknowns and probably 1,000 unknown amateurs, so anyone contemplating song writing should understand the odds, no matter what their motivation is. These days it seems everyone is having their creativity encouraged, and the tools are so accessible, so really being an artist is becoming a more and more common thing. Being a good artist that anyone gives a damn about experiencing your artistic output is another issue altogether.

I got into music to 1) express myself freely, 2) To make money doing that and 3) to get laid.
My grandfather was a very successful composer, writing music for Hollywood films, including a couple of Alfred Hitchcock movies. He was head of Warner Bros Music Dept and BBC Music Department in England for many years. My uncles also were talented musicians and writers. So I guess talent could be a slightly genetic thing. I started playing and writing at a very early age, and naturally fell into playing in bands in school and after school. After initial immediate success that I had in my local region as a performer of my own music, the band split up, and I found myself forced to continue performing to earn a living to get by financially, as it was 1) easy and 2) what I enjoyed doing 3) made it easier to pick up girls. Things have changed a little since then. My creative muse burns stronger than ever, but my need to earn a living out of music is dwindling.
Unfortunately, without the right vehicle for my own music, since chemistry is such an important aspect of the success of a combo, I had to play predominantly cover versions to make money. This did allow a great training ground to learn the styles and feels of a great variety of music, which I can now draw upon in my writing and performing. So I guess you could say I was born a gifted musician, but I fell into being a career performer, through lack of options at the time. There was no Internet, multimedia or JJJ Unearthed back then. I had no financial support from my family at the time and music is an expensive hobby, so I had to keep making the good money playing covers to buy all the professional equipment to make the sounds I wanted.

Music is about the only career, besides maybe radio, film, TV or advertising, that you can take recreational drugs on the job and actually enhance your job skill set and get promoted and more popular just for being wasted. Jimi Hendrix, Oasis, The Beatles, Eric Clapton, the list is endless. Given this fact, I have been very conscious not to fall into this trap, and have only used drugs for creative purposes in extreme moderation.
I have seen many musicians get hooked on all kinds of drugs, because their heroes were doing it, but they forgot that their hereos actually practiced and perfected their craft long before embarking on a career of being shit-faced all the time. It is easy to become an artistic drug addict rather than a drug-taking artist. Certain drugs can enhance the perception of music, which is why so many of the greats have indulged, but the techniques of playing instruments and recording music become rather more difficult when intoxicated. The exception to this would be the "uppers", like speed, cocaine and ecstasy. It is common knowledge that many a studio musician has a line of something to give them the "edge" when they are laying down their tracks. Now with Techno and Rave music being so popular, both the creators of the music and the listeners are indulging, and in fact some of the musical styles of today have actually been designed to be experienced exclusively in enhanced states of consciousness. It is no different to the drinking songs of the past, ("Red Red Wine" or the jazz styles that were developed while everyone was into the whacky weed, but nowadays the choices are far more diverse, making it much harder to 1) know what is right for you and 2) not let the drugs take over. Of course you can still make music without drugs, and that is probably the best thing to do, and the highest standard to achieve, but it is almost a given that somewhere along the manufacturing chain in the recording business, there is a drug-user contributing to your career. I include alcohol in this, since alcohol is a strong drug. The legality or illegality of drugs is irrelavant, I think, in a discussion about art and life.

2. Do you think that there is a difference between art and craft? This might be good for the songwriters to write back - do you think that songwriting is an art or a craft which you apply skills you know to do the task? Is it a mix of both?

Yes. The art is the inspiration and the deep inner voice or urge to express something important to the world in a musical and/or lyrical form, and the craft is the ability to not make it sound like crap. Some songwriters have a high degree of art and a low degree of craft, and others vice versa, but with the appropriate combination, a successful mix can be achieved. Nick Cave, for example is highly regarded by many as an "artist" without playing more than a few chords and never training his voice, whilst Stock, Aitken and Waterman can have world-wide hits that everybody loves, simply by contriving the entire thing. I have no doubt that there is an ART to what they do as well, but it is the polish of their craft that makes their brand of music work. I like to think that I have a very even balance of art and craft. I have been playing and learning instruments all my life, trained my voice and learned how to perform through acting classes, but I have always believed in my inner heart-felt urge to create and express something meaningful to make me a complete performer. Even while playing covers, I like to think that I bring my own emotions and expression to all the songs I sing, whilst also doing very authentic technical "covers" of the musical elements of the songs. Now that I am more focussed on performing my own music, this is becoming more and more apparent. The technical side comes easy, and it is the artistic side that I am really trying to capture. It also requires a great degree of artistic empathy from the engineers and musicians I work with to make this happen. I have recorded songs with highly technically proficient musicians and audio engineers that sound rather flat, and others with less proficient people that sound great.

3. Why did you become a professional artist? What made you decide that you wanted to make a living out of your art? Do you see the word 'profession' as including more than just 'making money'?

See above. I was forced to make a living out of it. I think that had I made a living from something else, I may have been an amateur artist for just as long, as you don't make a good living out of art until you begin achieving some kind of popular success. Sure I could have done a few festivals and gigs here and there. Over the years, I have probably made more money out of music than most other performers and artists, including many big stars.
Of course profession means more than just making money. There are a lot of rich people who aren't necessarily that professional. It comes down to who you are. Being easy to get along with, not burning too many bridges, showing dedication and a belief in what you do, not giving up too easily, continuing even though things don't go exactly as you had envisaged, and being open to strategic alliances. A lot of artists are so self-absorbed they forget that it takes a huge network of people to create success. They think that they can just be extremely talented and money and fame will naturally flow from that.

I always look at the "thank you" notes on albums to see just how many people made it happen. It is usually quite a large number. Family, friends, fans, believers, empathisers and good business people. It is much easier to make it big if other people think they can make money out of you too, and I think it is the challenge of every artist in this capitalist society, if they want to succeed, to convince at least one other person, who is not an artist, that money can be made if they support your activities. The exception is, of course, if you can convince someone that by supporting you they might lose money, but it is a good tax write-off and they will get the satisfaction of being able to tell their friends they are your patron. I think this happens quite a bit, maybe in Europe more than in Australia, though I have seen examples of it here. Wealthy people who have paid large sums of money to help someone record a CD without really caring if it sold any copies - they can pull it out at diner parties and talk about how they made it happen, and that is enough for them, and a great learning experience for the artist.

4. What is your take on this term 'work and play is one'. That is, by making your passion, your art, your business and life, how do you feel about saying that work and play is one thing for you?

There are aspects that may not be enjoyable, like bills, fixing gear, doing tax, but in the big picture, it is all worth it if my dreams are being fulfilled. I tend to enjoy what I do, and the things I don't enjoy are made less painful by knowing that they are all contributing to my success. Recently I stopped enjoying playing cover songs in pubs, so I have stopped doing that. I need to know that what I am doing for a living is an enjoyable experience.

5. If you were to send a message to people endeavouring to become a professional artist, what would be your message about turning your art into good business practice? i.e the notion of being a good business person as well as being an artist.

I would suggest that anyone who wants to succeed in any field should probably study business and marketing as well as their chosen field. I would also strongly suggest they consider taking courses in personal growth, as quite often the biggest restrictions to success are the ones we place on ourselves. The world is full of millions of opportunities, but often fear or other blocks to our true purpose prevent us from seeing the right path. In the mean time, I would suggest that they get as much experience as they can in a whole range of things, from working in groups or teams, to performing in various formats, to spending time with other more successful people. Look at those that you admire and ask yourself 1) Why do I admire that person and 2) What is it about me that recognises that in them. Sometimes we admire people for the wrong reasons and we really can never hope to be like them, so we might need to look for better heroes. We forget the fact that their life is unique and the circumstances that brought them their success are entirely different to our own. Maybe you like their style, and you like to do a similar style of expression, but how you succeed might be an entirely different path.

Another thing about learning about yourself is that you need to try to understand how the world sees you, because that often determines your success. If you dream of being a catwalk model but you are butt-ugly, chances are you may need to rethink. The same goes for Music. If your voice sounds like Barry White, but you dream of singing songs like Jon Anderson, from the band "Yes", think again. A tenor voice and a baritone voice and a bass voice have distinctive qualities and are perceived by audiences differently. Maybe you will never sing like you thought you could, but you might write great songs, or you might be a great organiser of people. You need to find out who you are and where you fit in, and you need to be happy with who you are. There is no point resenting the fact that you have a bass voice or freckles or lanky legs. You need to find your strengths and capitalise on them. I have seen people waste a lot of years under the illusion that they are going to become something that they never could become in the first place. It takes a long time sometimes to realise who you are and go with it! (Unless you are a twin.)

My other advice would be - listen to the "Sunscreen Song"!! Whatever you do.. listen to the Sunscreen Song…

6. What would be your other messages to send to those endeavouring in your chosen field of art? (tips, what to do, how to do it, which pitfalls to avoid)

Don't think that drugs or lifestyles alone will make you successful. They may inspire you, but they can hinder your professional path as much as they may be able to help it. I am sure that many stars of today are stars because they shared a line of something with a big-time producer, but for every one of those, there are ten thousand people in de-tox, AA, NA, or simply just not cutting the mustard. Be wary of the people you choose to work with. Do all you can to choose people that you can feel a real positive synergy with, rather than sharing the same desire to be rich and famous, the same bars, TV shows or strip clubs, or anything equally as shallow. If you feel like there is a lot of negativity in a working relationship - get out! There is no need for it, and it will hold you back. There is no excuse now as it is now possible to network around the world to find the right chemistry. Make the most of all your positive contacts. People who like what you do - you should keep them informed because one day they may be the one who introduces you to the person that gets you the break you need. It may not be tomorrow - it could be in 10 or 20 years from now.

Be patient. Be flexible enough to re-evaluate your objectives constantly. If your dream is to write a song - record it - become a superstar, maybe you need to be able to let other activities in, like learning your instrument, practicing your art, and discovering yourself. Life is full of miracles, but they don't always go at the pace you think you can dictate at a young age. You can certainly do all you can to make good things happen, but sometimes it is the combination of all your efforts combined with a chance meeting, or even a nasty accident that may help your dreams to begin truly unfolding. The entire universe is huge chance machine, with a nice bit of control somehow designed into everything - including us.

7. What does the word 'success' mean to you in theory? And do you see yourself as a successful professional artist? why?

Success is a constantly evolving thing. It is not a day that you look forward to that you can say "oh now I'm successful" You have to be successful every day to reach the dizzy heights of success you might dream about. I was successful when I was 6 years old. I sang a song and the audience clapped. I was successful at 20 when I auditioned for a band and they chose me. Every event has a number of outcomes. Sometimes it takes huge failures to lead you to ultimate success. I think the world at large will tell you that you are a success by giving you awards and money and accolades, but as we all know, many people who achieve all these things are miserable failures at life. Once the awards ceremony is over, the next hopeful is coming from behind trying to win. Success is the ability to ride the waves of life through thick and thin and be able to say that you are remaining true to yourself as best you can, and creating opportunities for yourself to express that which you really believe you must express. That kind of success will be shared by your friends and family and will be felt as a deeper, more lasting success. You can sit at your breakfast table each day and smile and say to yourself - yep, I'm doing it!!

8. Do you see any specific problems in your chosen field? (the hurdles to pass, society's ignorant views, overcoming perceptions and judgements, any others?)

The fact that everything is market driven. The fact that what might be popular today might not be popular by the time I manage to do it. The fact that it relies heavily on the subjective perceptions of others (this is both good and bad, as all politicians know :-). The fact that it is so competitive. The fact that the glamour can attract a lot of the wrong kind of people into the business. The fact that the media play a large part in deciding someone's success. Now that the internet is here, the fact that everyone thinks they can find an audience, which creates an ocean of flotsam for web-surfers to generally avoid. It makes it harder now to rise to the surface. There are certainly more opportunities, but the emphasis is on "doing it" rather than "doing it well".... and even if you do it well, there are thousands of others who do it well as well! It is hard to see the big picture of art as an endless output of some particular humans for other particular humans to absorb, and surrounding the artists is a huge layer of other particular humans who need to make money from the art. Some of these humans are the same person, naturally! (like you, Gilli :-) These include music shop owners, teachers, record shops, radio stations, publishers, second hand dealers, recording studio owners.... It is hard to see your art as being part of a food chain, but that's what it is. It is up to you to work out how you are going to prosper given this situation, or maybe how you are going to reject it all and create your own machine. That is what I am trying to do, but I know I must operate within the parameters of the global economy, to some extent.

9. Do you see yourself as a student of life? Why? Can you offer any guidance about learning and study in your chosen field?

Yes. That is axiomatic. While you are alive, you are learning. I choose to heed my lessons as much as I can, while others may ignore them, but that is a lesson in itself. If you ignore your bronchitis from smoking for long enough it will turn into emphysema. You will be on your death bed saying "oh yeah, I just realised that smoking does kill". In the more day-to-day things, I learn with every encounter I have with other humans as well as encounters with books, music, internet, nature, inanimate objects, and even with myself, by looking inward and learning what makes me tick.

I suggest people attend personal growth courses - not with any committed belief in their effectiveness, but just with their ability to make you think about things a little differently. I encourage people to learn what things have affected them profoundly in their lives and ask if the effects have been positive or negative. If they have been negative, such as abusive childhoods, being a victim of a crime etc, you need to look at ways to fully come to terms with these things, use the emotional energy created by them in a positive way ie Write a song about it. It doesn't have to be a good song, but it is important that you get the feeling out, so these harmful experiences don't tarnish your life in other ways.

Read a lot. Read autobiographies. Read non-fiction books to help you understand humanity and society so you don't fall innocent prey to its ways, benign as they may be. E.g. if your teacher told you that you have to get a steady job, maybe you don't, but you won't know until you understand why he believed you did.

10. Where do you see the road in the future for the professional artist in your chosen field?

Many more opportunities and many more challenges. A wider playing field, but a far more level one, so the old idea of becoming a star may not be so realistic, but succeeding in life may be well within everybody's grasp. Musicians and artists have a new opportunity to do what the artists of the 60's did, which is change the consciousness of the world with their thoughts. The pen is mightier than the sword, and if you put it to a catchy tune, everyone can sing along. We can all see the planet now from a new perspective, with the information age, satellites and statistical analysis providing clear images and facts about what the hell is going on here. It is kind of scary and kind of awesome that we are all stuck on this planet together and ultimately no matter what God we believe in, if divine intervention doesn't take place, we are 100% responsible as a collective global society to manage the affairs of earth. The thoughts and feelings of the gifted people - the artists, the emotionally intelligent and empathic, expressive souls are hugely important at this time to help steer the human ethos as we evolve in harmony with technology and try to find harmony among ourselves. The artists must first understand themselves and how they fit into this global consciousness, and then they must try to find their own unique voice and create their own stage from which to resonate from. This may be a web site, it may be a newsgroup, it may be a lunch time concert or a march through the streets. It may be my forming alliances with non-musical people that are thinking and working along the same lines, such as social workers, activists, political lobby groups. All th while, though, there is still a need for those to sing and perform the more shallow pop music to keep the less enlightened souls happy, while the evolution takes shape and scoops them up somewhere down the track. If you are an artists and the best you can come up with is "I Love you baby, stay with me, lets go and sniff some flowers in the park, and drink some wine" go for it!! Your three minutes of frivolity will cheer someone up, I'm sure! Music is still about making people feel good after all, even though it is also a powerful force for making people think.

11. Any more info about you? What you are doing? What your goals are? What you've attained?

I am recording my own music. I am writing for a few magazines. I am performing - entertaining people at special events. I am developing new ideas and inventions. I run a Singles Site on the internet www.cyrius.com.au/singles/ I am training to be a radio and TV presenter.

I am net­working with a large number of people to attain my objectives. These are to establish a successful business which will fund my other ventures, to get my music played to a wider audience, to market my board game, to write books, to have films made from my ideas, to develop products that encourage a sustainable future for the planet. To work towards healing the wrongs and the pains of the past - war and child abuse in particular. At this point I have completed 20 years as a successful live performer. I am being published in three different national publications as a writer. My web site has thousands of members and is growing rapidly, my web design business is growing, and I am about to go and record some more songs with my band, Avatar Crash.