2011 - Bluewire Media

Posted on Dec 16, 2011 by Adam Franklin

Tim Martin – All roads lead to your website

If you’ve ever wanted a hands-on course for getting started with social media, Tim Martin is your man. He runs great courses and is a popular speaker.

I’ve been following Tim on Twitter for many years and had the pleasure of catching up with him in Melbourne recently. I also got to interview him about the importance of a website.

Here is what Tim shared with me:

My name is Tim Martin and I’m the principal presenter for NET:101.

What’s the importance of a website?

Well essentially, my view of these things, is that all roads lead to Rome and Rome is your website.…

Posted on Dec 8, 2011 by Angus Russell

Responsive Web Design vs Separate Mobile Site – Which is right for you?

It’s been obvious for a while now that mobile internet use is on the rise, in fact some estimates suggest that as early as 2013, more people will use mobile devices to access the internet than desktop computers.

It’s equally obvious that if you’re building a website now, you need to think about accommodating mobile users.

Until recently (or to be more precise, until this article by Ethan Marcotte in May 2010), accommodating mobile users meant creating a separate mobile version of your content. While this is fine, it comes with a few disadvantages (which I’ll get to soon).…

Posted on Dec 5, 2011 by Angela Logovik

I’m married…how do I change my name on Facebook and LinkedIn?

Has your name changed? Mine has.

After walking down the aisle in September, I’ve just started the massive task of changing my name everywhere. I’m sure most women (like me) don’t realise how big this task will be until they actually start the process. Bank accounts, phone, electricity, drivers licence….the list goes on.

But, these days we also have social media to deal with. How on earth do you change your name on Facebook and LinkedIn? I’ve just figured a couple of these things out and have some basic steps below.…

Posted on Dec 1, 2011 by Toby Jenkins

Marc Lehmann Interview – How Saasu use the web for their business

Over the last few years, we’ve moved our business tools away from software and increasingly into the cloud.

I love the idea of the cloud:

accessing information from anywhere
allowing our workforce to be mobile
all the data backed up.

The ease of use and simplicity of design that typifies these applications is the icing on the cake. As is the ability to share data across them.

The search and constant involvement with the web eventually lead us to discovering Saasu which we now use as our web based accounting tool, along with a bunch of others.…

Posted on Nov 15, 2011 by Adam Franklin

News jacking – how to hijack a news story

Newsjacking by David Meerman Scott

My favourite marketing author David Meerman Scott has just released a new book today called Newsjacking. Well it’s not literally a book as we used to know them. It’s only available as an instant digital download on Kindle or iPad, not as a printed version.

Newsjacking is term David uses to describe the practice of high jacking a news story. It is done by astute marketers who publish real-time content that fuels a reporter’s desire for a unique angle on a breaking story.

The result: tons of media coverage, worth a fortune, that would normally be completely impossible to obtain.…

Posted on Oct 4, 2011 by Adam Franklin

My take on The New Rules of Marketing & PR 3rd edition

When David Meerman Scott wrote the first edition of The New Rules of Marketing & PR, Twitter didn’t exist and Facebook was only used by uni students.

Haven’t times changed since 2007?

Yes, we’ve seen social media sites like Facebook and Twitter explode and some like MySpace, implode. I agree certainly that internet years are like dog years!

I like how David explains the old rules. There used to be three ways to get attention.

1. Buy it (adverts)
2. Beg for it (press releases)
3. Bug people for it (salespeople)

Luckily, now there is a 4th: Earn attention by publishing remarkable content!…

Posted on Sep 27, 2011 by Toby Jenkins

How to make things happen FAST – #1 tip from Scott Belsky

If you want to know how to get things done, then Scott Belsky, CEO of Behance, is your man.

A good friend of ours Liz Watson, gave us the heads up on Scott’s presentation for Portable Talks when Adam was reading Scott’s book “Making Ideas Happen“. It was great timing and a fantastic presentation. Personally I believe in the adage: ideas are 1%, execution is 99% and Scott has dedicated his time to the 99%. His presentation ranged across all sorts of techniques from checklists, through to meeting patterns and technologies – all focussed on the execution of ideas.…

Posted on Sep 23, 2011 by Toby Jenkins

How can we use the Web to build an Engaged Culture? – Interview with Marcus Child

Tuesday and Wednesday this week were like a business improvement bootcamp!

Adam and I went along to another great Verne Harnish Rockefeller Habits event put on by The Growth Faculty on Tuesday and sat next to Derek Hodge, a TEC (The Executive Connection) Group Chair.

With a full day of Verne under our belts and sharing ideas, Derek invited me to join him the next day for a TEC presentation by Marcus Child (@digitalmarcus) titled “Leading an Engaged Culture”.

What a cracking few hours! Marcus was incredibly energetic as a presenter with great practical ideas around leadership and staff engagement, not to mention some incredible results to report.…

Posted on Sep 22, 2011 by Sharon Barbour

Alien Host Vs Hosting

Ten weeks after starting at Bluewire Media and I am starting to feel like I have some clue about the crazy world of web. If you asked my colleagues they would still call me a rank amateur but in my head I am moving ahead in leaps and bounds.

Who's hosting this party?

I have always been an avid user of the web, but understanding the nuts and bolts about how it actually functions was as foreign as an alien language. In fact, considering the possibility that there was some mothership in outer space, run by freaky little aliens who used some awesome energy source to store and transfer the information we are now sharing across the globe in an instant, was not so far-fetched for me.…

Posted on Sep 20, 2011 by Sharon Barbour

Project Budget Tips

Let's consider the budget

We all want a beautiful, unique, functional website for our business but many of us have no real idea what it might cost to get one. While not always fun, talking dollars and cents will act as a reality check on the scope of your website design project.

Whether you’re building from scratch or upgrading a current website, it’s important to have some understanding of website pricing and the various elements that can affect price. This will allow you to be ready to adapt if need be, once you send for quotes.…

Posted on Sep 15, 2011 by Sharon Barbour

SHARING IS CARING

Learning to share is crucial.

Did your Mummy teach you to share?

Here’s hoping she did because in the new world of marketing on the web, sharing is key. When I started working at Bluewire Media the first thing I noticed was how much “stuff” they gave away — I’m talking seriously helpful information, expert knowledge and wisdom, practical advice and guidance on all things web, just given away. Free! I don’t know about you but I thought I was living in a world where nothing comes for free.

Here is the conversation that repeated regularly in my first few weeks until it sunk into my thick skull.…