Link to External Websites from YouTube Videos!

YouTube annotations are awesome for generating marketing ROI from video - but don't allow you to link to external sites. LinkedTube is a sweet little tool that allows you to do just this with embedded vids.

Hover over (and click) the 'Buy Tix' button at the top right of the vid below:

bit.ly supports QR codes

Just noticed that bit.ly now automatically generates QR codes - how cool!

SF and NYC do's and don'ts

Dodging tourist traps is tough in the US, so on the back of the 2010 DMA conference, here's a bunch of my San Francisco and NYC favourites.

San Francisco - do's

• Osha Lounge - Thai restaurant in the financial district (there are a few, but I can tell you first hand that the one on 2nd is indeed the shit)
• Range - Restaurant in the Mission with dope food, wine and cocktails
• Mighty - Club about a 15 min cab ride from the city centre with heavyweight DJS (and bassbins). Everything that's quality, from tech to chicago to drum and bass.
• Vessel - Club conveniently placed in the middle of the city. Nice decor. Rad sound. Solid commitment to deep house for a place that's so central to the CBD.
• The End Up - Tastefully seedy indoor/outdoor late night club in the Mission. Very gay / trannie / hermaphrodite / whatever friendly. 

San Francisco - don'ts

• Fisherman's Wharf - San Francisco is pretty much my favourite city in the world, so not much at all to say that's negative. Except that Fisherman's Wharf sucks arse. Don't go there. 

New York City - do's

• Sullivan Room - Proper underground club in Greenwich Villiage. No plastic. Just a dark room, a SICK soundsystem, an educated dancefloor and quality house music. Solid.
• Peasant - Next-level Italian restaurant in SOHO. Prime.
• Koncrete Jungle @ Love - Granted, this isn't for everyone, but if you're into drum and bass / jungle / dubstep / garage, then this is NYC's longest-running broken beat institution. Wicked MC and DJ talent. Best night I had in the US.  
• The Collective - Sweet restaurant in the Meatpacking District, with dope decor and comfort-food-made-a-bit-fancy. You can't lose.  

New York City - don'ts

• The Empire State Building - Of course I expected this to be a bit rank, but nowhere near as tragic as it actually was. Yuck. Trust Americans to take all the fun out of shit.  

DMA2010 Locked and Loaded

DMA2010 begins this weekend, and I'm lucky enough to be in San Francisco for the event from October 10 - 14. Boh!

Forum livesteam 
Listen in on all the discussion and updates. 


Forum presenters list
Follow this list to keep tabs on all the presenters.

@scottywoodhouse/dma2010

Presenters and exhibitors at DMA:2010 in San Francisco

So tune in for the livestream on workshops, keynotes, parties and other rad stuff happening around SF for the next week or so.

Mumbrella Editor Tim Burrows in Hobart

Interesting little event happening at the Hobart Function and Conference Centre next Thursday around the future of media, technology and marketing.

Basically, it's a panel with peeps from the Mercury, ABC and Channel 10, moderated by Founder and Editor of Mumbrella, Tim Burrowes - could be good.

Details

• Where: Hobart Function and Conference Centre, Elizabeth Street Pier
• When: Thursday October 14, 5 - 7pm
• RSVP: ASAP on the AMI website

Tasmanian AMI Awards: Winners announced

I've never been big on awards ceremonies, but Tassie marketing's night of nights has a lot of good things going for it - not least of which being its zero-tolerance policy on big fuckoff acceptance speeches.

It was a sweet night, and hats must go off to the Floatingworld and Walker Designs crews for delivering brilliant live pitches, and of course to MC Richard Crawford - who is consistently hilarious.

Anyway, here's the winners:

• Marketer of the Year - Peter Choraziak
• Emerging Marketer of the Year - Scott Woodhouse
• Student Marketer of the Year - Christiane King
• Brand Extension - MyState Financial / Red Jelly
• Brand Revitalisation - Country Club Tasmania
• Consumer Insight - Aurora / Red Jelly
• Corporate Social Responsibility - MyState Financial / Red Jelly
• Experiential and Band Experiences - Clemenger Tasmania
• Green Marketing - Aurora / Red Jelly
• Marketing Communications - MyState Financial / Red Jelly
• New Product / Service Launch - Aurora Energy / Red Jelly
• Social Marketing - Aurora / Red Jelly

It's good to see so much talent kicking around Tasmania - and then so much of that coming massively unstuck at the Cargo afterparty. Shout outs to the AMI for another solid local gig.

Tamanian AMI Awards - Tomorrow Night!

The 2010 AMI Awards is on tomorrow night at Hobart's Peacock Theatre. So if you're in marketing, advertising or anything in between, come check out Tassie's best campaigns over a glass of sparkling and canapés.

Come party with us

• Where: Peacock Theatre, 77 Salamanca Place, Hobart
• When: Thursday September 23, 4:30 - 6:30
• RSVP: ASAP on the AMI website

Hope to see you there - should be a sweet night!

More from ADMA Forum 2010

Just found some random pictures from last month's ADMA Forum in Sydney. It was such a sweet event I just had to put em up.

Some random guy

Jules Hall, Managing Director, The Hallway, delivering his case study on Jamison Whiskey

Adam Dunne, CEO, Aura Interactive on creating brand engagement using mobile

Andrew Littlewood, Director of Analytics and DR, PHD on 'Fluid Marketing'

I hereby declare Not4Pro's 2010 open!

Last Wednesday's launch of Not4Pro's went beautifully. A good turnout, brilliant presentations from some of Australia's biggest NFP's and a solid showing of young Tassie marketers - couldn't hope for any more.

Check out the slideshow below from our Flickrstream.



Put these dates in your diary!

• Students to approach their chosen NFP(s) by COB Friday 13th August
• NFP to offer the work placement to successful applicant by COB Friday 20th August
• Placements begin on Monday 23rd August

Thanks again everyone for supporting a great initiative - looking forward to seeing how it all unfolds!

Thanks for 3 awesome years!

Just a quick one to say a huge thank you to Hobart-based technology incubator (and my second home) In-tellinc, who over the past three years have have given me every opportunity to learn, explore and develop my career.

So thanks a million to James Robinson, Scott Brownell, Larry Podmore, Judy Holter, Neville Wilson and Zain Wright for a great time and so many brilliant projects! And in particular I want to thank Suzi Watral, who's been a close colleague and personal mentor since bringing me into the K2B Marketing Graduate Program in 2007.

Thanks again guys!

Connecting students with big brands - this Wednesday

I'm amped that this Wednesday is the launch of Not4Pro's - a cool new AMI initiative connecting UTAS marketing students with pro bono work inside some of Australia's biggest not for profit brands!

“Having the knowledge that your work is helping many people in your community is really rewarding and gives you a whole new insight into the benefits of marketing” - Ashleigh Walker, MS Society

Come party with us for FREE on Wednesday

Come say hi at the City Mill Cafe on Wednesday - hear some great speakers, meet some smart people, and maybe even land yourself a career-changing gig with a big not for profit!

"What better way to get involved in marketing than by experiencing the very challenging world of not for profits" - Ric Fletcher, Cancer Council

Don't miss out - RSVP here

Space is limited, so RSVP on Facebook, or by emailing me on scottywoodhouse@gmail.com to reserve your spot.

Sweet case study: The Great Schlep

Precision targeting. Loads of creativity. Disruptive approach. Brilliant example of smart direct marketing.

Online marketing suite

Watching @jerrong presenting Sitecore's Online Marketing Suite - quite cool.

Does all the stuff you'd expect it to, like analytics, content management, campaign management, multivariate testing / optimisation etc. But the interesting part of this service is what Sitecore calls 'Realtime Personalisation' - dynamically profiling visitors and rendering relevant web content based on what it knows about them. Nice.

Adding this dimension to your digital arsenal creates all kinds of new opportunities for testing, optimisation and kicking ass on the web. Awesome preso @jerrong.

Awesome.

Sweet case study: IKEA Facebook Showroom

Apparently Facebook has banned these kinds of campaigns now.

Google Ad Planner rules

Google's Ad Planner delivers a whole bunch of awesome site and audience insights for marketers.



Have to question the integrity of the data driving this service though...use with caution I guess.

Sweet case study: Volkswagon Fun Theory

ADMA Forum: Top-down vs bottom-up

@Mikezed begins with an intersting look at top-down vs bottom-up digital strategy, and explains that businesses typically use one or the other.

In reality, bottom-up is what happens most often - setting up tactics and KPIs at the functional level and measuring random stuff (email click rate, unique visitors, CPC etc) in relative isolation. While easy to set up (creates little disruption inside the organisation), there's no alignment, and because our data is focused around discrete channels, it's not helping us to understand cross-channel / overall performance.

Top-down is the smarter paradigm of creating something that starts at the business level and strategically coordinates activities throughout the business.
 
What's good about top-down

• More focus on delivering real business returns
• Better alignment of activities, less wastage and overlap etc - improving ROI
• Fosters a deeper, more complete understanding of customer interactions throughout their lifecycles
• Management love it

What's not so good

• Hard to put in place - from a management and tech perspective
• Takes more time - all the pieces need to be in place before rushing into execution
• Lots more stakeholder management - "WHY can't we start using social media straight away?!"
• Massive need for communication and collaboration across functional groups (like IT)

Great food for thought.

ADMA Forum day 1: Pre-conference workshop

Mike Zeederberg kicking off the day. Should be a lot of fun.

Live from ADMA Forum 2010 in Sydney

Tomorrow is day 1 of this year's ADMA Forum, and I'm lucky enough to be in Sydney for the first two days of the event.

Forum livesteam
Listen in on all the discussion and updates.


Forum presenters list
Follow this list to keep tabs on all the presenters.

@scottywoodhouse/adma-forum-2010

Presenters and exhibitors at this year's ADMA Forum in Sydney Australia

So stay tuned for live updates on workshops, keynotes, parties and all things rad happening in and around the Sydney Convention Centre over the next 48 hours.

Not4Pro's: a home-grown marketing innovation!

Early next month, the AMI's Emerging Marketers group is launching an awesome new initiative in Tasmania called Not4Pro's.

Not4Pro's connects 2nd and 3rd year Tasmanian marketing students with pro-bono work with some of Australia's biggest not for profit brands, including the MS Society.

A very big thanks to UTAS for supporting the program and helping get this very smart, very cool event off the ground!

Come party with us @ the FREE launch!

• Where: Catch Cafe, City Mill 11 Morrison St Hobart
• When: Wednesday August 4, 5:45 for 6:15 start
• What else: Tapas and drinks provided, guest speakers etc   
• RSVP: Via Facebook, or Tori.VanNieuwkuyk@auroraenergy.com.au 

More to come...

ADMA Digital Course is on in Tas!

Last night ADMA launched its Digital Marketing Course at the University of Tasmania. Was a great night, and a big step forward for marketing in Tas. Many thanks to Rob Edwards, Richard Pester, Tim Quinn and ADMA for having me along.

If you're interested, here's the slide deck from my preso.

Adma Digital Launch

View more presentations from scottywoodhouse.

Official launch of ADMA Digital Course at UTAS

On July 8, ADMA is finally launching its Certificate in Digital Marketing course in Tasmania.

Get registered here - spots are super limited, and should be a quality event. This is a big (and well overdue) win for marketing in Tasmania, so shout-outs to ADMA and to UTAS for making it happen.

Guest speakers are ADMA CEO Rob Edwards, ADMA Education Manager Richard Pester and yours truly.

• What: ADMA Certificate in Digital Marketing official launch
• When: July 8, 5:30pm - 7:30pm
• Where: University Club, University of Tasmania, Sandy Bay
• How much: $27 members, $34 non-members (incl drinks & bites) 
• How: Register here

Cool new Socialnomics vid

Social media evangelist and author of Socialnomics Erik Qualman has done it again - take a look.

Facebook non-believers, your days are numbered

A little while back I wrote about using Static FBML to cut through the clutter on Facebook. Now I'm taking it a bit further - take a look at this latest promo for Tasplan.

I think 2010 will be a big year for discovering powerful new ways of using Facebook (and other platforms) to create genuine, 100%-certified marketing ROI.

Any thoughts? Do share.

Stuff I'm doing - 'Super Straight Up'

Here's ep 4 of a 5-part series I'm creating for super fund, Tasplan with dopest of the dope Hobart designer Juan Melara.



Follow the campaign on Facebook, YouTube and iTunes.

The other night at the Woolstore

Went along to the AMI's social media event at Woolstore last Thursday night - well done guys on a rad event.

Was nice to see Russ Tucker (@russtytuckle) from Tequila venture past the social media 101 rhetoric, with a candid show and tell on its creative application in cross-media campaigns. Big ups Russ.

Props also to Jarrod Lowe from Red Jelly who set the scene nicely to get the room up to speed - see his well executed preso on YouTube.


Again, a top job by the AMI, Jarrod and Russ - let's do it again soon!

Thanks for having me!

A massive thanks to the guys at Tasplan for having me along to speak at their small business event today - had an awesome time!

Anyway, here's the slide deck from the session.

Tasplan Digital Presentation

View more presentations from scottywoodhouse.

Cheers!

DMA:2010 - Australia represent!

Just added DMA:2010 to my diary - San Francisco's kickass digital and direct marketing conference from October 9 - 14. Follow them @DMA_USA, #DMA2010.

Lots of smart people, and literally hundreds of sessions, roundtables, forums, case studies, panels etc. Should be rad.

Aussie marketers, if you're likely to be about and want to meet up, get in touch @scottywoodhouse.

Hope to see you there!

Best Australian brands still sucking at social

Flick through this slide deck by Burson-Marsteller - suggests that for the most part, Australia's 'top 20' brands are still struggling to implement and integrate social in their marketing.

View more presentations from Burson-Marsteller Australia.

The state of the Internet

Very cool video by interactive agency JESS3 - check.


JESS3 / The State of The Internet from JESS3 on Vimeo.

No more cookie-cutter Facebook pages

Facebook Pages are pretty pedestrian, so here's how to differentiate yourself.

Add Static FBML to your Page

Add the app Static FMBL to your Page. This lets you build custom Pages with layouts created in CSS/HTML, or by using Facebook’s proprietary FBML (Facebook Markup Language).

It's still a bit rough round the edges, but here's one I knocked up this week for Tasplan's Super straight up campaign.

Bring it to life

Embed video, display images, add links - go to town. Of course, there are some limitations, but most seem to have workarounds (Google it).

Make it your splash page

Go to Edit Page > Edit Wall. Then set 'Default Landing Tab for Everyone Else' to your new Static FBML Page.

If you have a Page, I'd say it's a good time to think about stepping it up, cause cookie-cutter Pages are a bit lame - not a good look!

Search engine optimisation - page elements

61% of clicks go to organic search results (as opposed to paid), and people use your brand's search ranking as an indicator of it's credibility.

Of course, search has become ultra specialised (128+ variables in Google algorithm), so sometimes you'll need help. But, if you call yourself a marketer, you really need to understand first principals - your entire digital strategy should be founded on it. So here's the basics.

HTML tags and stuff

Basic HTML is easy, and will get you 90% of the way there - so don't be put off. Here's some simple checklists for structuring your approach and making sure the web developers get it right (click image to enlarge).

Title tag First inside the HEAD tag 6 - 12 words 62-70 characters Keywords towards the beginning No repeated words Unique for every page Should make sense to a human	Description tag 2nd in the HEAD tag 12 - 24 words Include all words in the Title tag Insert keywords towards the beginning Complete sentences Repeat words a maximum of 2 times Unique for every page Make sense to a human
Keywords tag 3rd in the HEAD tag 24 - 48 words Use phrases (non-repeated, longest first) Initial cap each word (i.e. "Digital Marketing") Separate phrases with commas Repeat any word a max of 4 times Unique for every page Make sense to a human Include words in Title and Description	Headings (H1, H2) Appear throughout body Contain Keyword phrases Repeat no complete phrases Styles should be CSS-controlled Read like headline with 2 - 4 words Relevant to text below Only 2 levels (H2 and H2)
Image ALT tag 1 word for each 16 x 40 pixel block 1 - 12 words Describe the image / any words it contains Unique for each image Include Keywords	Links Use throughout body Use Keywords in the URL Internal format (i.e. "/linkedPage") Fully qualified in sitemap No more than 100 links / page Use Keywords in anchor text Use keywords from target page in text around the link Make sense to a human

More on keywords

Take every opportunity to use Keywords effectively throughout your website. Try to maximise the following metrics - generally the higher / bigger / clearer the better:

• Density - How much of the page's text is made up of Keywords
• Frequency - How often Keywords are used on a page
• Distribution - The placement of Keywords (linear / even distribution is best)
• Intent - Develop strong themes in your site, and surround Keywords with copy that provides clarification, meaning and context

Body text

The first 200 words on a page set the context of the page and are critical for supporting the other SEO elements mentioned above. Don't waste them - get straight to the point! 

And don't forget, normal web copywriting rules still apply.

• Use Keywords from Title, Description, H1, H2, ALTs, Links etc - they need to filter consistently through all levels
• 250 - 500 words per page
• Distribute Keywords richly and evenly throughout
• Contain important Keywords from Title, Description, and Keywords tags
• Make sense to a human
• Clean, well-formatted code - make it easy for the search engine spider
• Use separate CSS files - brings content higher up on page

That's enough to dramatically improve your search performance. More to come!

The science of creativity

I'm no copywriter, but I love the idea of it, and have big respect for the artform.

If you're not an innately creative person, can you still train yourself to become one? Is it like learning a skill, or getting fit - brief by brief? I like to think so.

So anyway, here's part 1 an investigation into activiting your own creativity, maximising its productivity, and focusing its output in marketing and business.

Brainstorming / jam sessions

Brainstorming is a group creativity technique used to generate a large quantity of ideas geared towards addressing a specific problem / opportunity.

• Clearly define the problem / opportunity - ensure everyone understands, and segment it into manageable parts if necessary
• Begin with obvious ideas, and move to the extreme - crazy is good
• Crank out as many as you possibly can - quantity is the key
• Combine and improve ideas 
• Keep the discussion lively - use leading questions, say something weird, whatever it takes
• Nothing is wrong - EVERY idea is whiteboarded and accepted

Lateral thinking

Lateral thinking is a creative technique for encouraging reasoning that's not immediately obvious, and ideas that may not be obtainable using traditional step-by-step logic or existing paradigms.

It's about finding a solution to problems through an indirect approach and disrupting the conventional thinking patterns used by the brain.

"Lateral thinking is used for changing concepts and perceptions instead of trying harder with the same concepts and perceptions" - Edward de Bono, leading authority in creative thinking and the teaching of thinking as a skill

Idea generating tools used to aid lateral thinking include:

• Random Entry Idea Generating Tool - Choose an object at random, or a noun from a dictionary, and associate that with the area you are thinking about.
• Provocation Idea Generating Tool - Choose to use any of the provocation techniques - wishful thinking, exaggeration, reversal, escape, or arising. Create a list of provocations and then use the most outlandish ones to move your thinking forward to new ideas.
• Challenge Idea Generating Tool - A tool which is designed to ask the question 'why' - why something exists, why it is done the way it is etc. The result is a very clear understanding of 'why', which naturally leads to fresh ideas.
• Concept Fan Idea Generating Tool - Ideas carry out concepts. This tool systematically expands the range and number of concepts in order to end up with a very broad range of ideas to consider

"The problems of today will not be solved by the same thinking that produced the problems in the first place" - Albert Einstein

Problem reversal

In his book "What a Great Idea", Charles Thompson suggests that a concept or idea is meaningless without its opposite, and that the only way to truly understand is to learn from positives as well as from negatives.

Problem reversal method is based around looking at a problem / opportunity from a radically different point of view, leading to completely new and unexpected solutions. Here's how it's done:

1. Make the statement negative
For example, if you are dealing with customer service issues, list all the ways you could make customer service bad.

2. Do what everybody else doesn't
For example, Apple Computers did what IBM didn't, while Japan made small, fuel-efficient cars.

3. Ask 'what if?'
Make a list of pairs of opposing actions which can be applied to the problem. Ask yourself "what if I ..." and plug in each one of the opposites. E.g. what if I...

• stretch it / shrink It
• freeze it / melt it
• personalise it / de-personalise it 
• build it / destroy it

4. Change the direction or location of your perspective
Physically change your perspective - walk around, do something different, or imagine you're in another country.

5. Flip-flop results
If you want to increase sales, think about decreasing them. What would you have to do?

6. Turn defeat into victory or victory into defeat
If something turns out bad, think about the positive aspects of the situation.

Closing thoughts

Apparently, by the time you're an adult, you've lost most of your capacity to be creative - maybe it gets stamped out of us at school, or maybe we just get scared of being wrong...who knows.

But creativity requires free-thinking, and the confidence to depart from society’s norms and values -  stuff that's not always fitting to the world we live in...

Food for thought - more to come!

Stuff I'm doing - 'Super straight up'

Here's ep 3 of a 5-part series I'm creating for super fund, Tasplan with mad-decent Hobart designer Juan Melara.



Follow the campaign on Facebook, YouTube and iTunes.

Bomber email marketing pt1

It's not fancy, but email works. Relationship, Viral, Direct Response, Cross-Channel etc, etc...email is multi-talented and super effective.

But remember, email relationships are built on value and trust, and poor execution can hurt your brand. So revisiting first principles is good insurance, and with that in mind, here's part 1 of my guide to bomber email marketing.

Be regular
Frequency is a balancing act between building mindshare and engagement and not pissing people off. Bi-weekly or monthly generally work best, but whichever you choose, consistency is the key.

Be on time
Good scheduling boosts open rates, and generally, these work well:

B2B - Weekdays Tue - Thurs Around 9:30am OR 1:30pm

B2C - Weekdays & weekends Tues - Fri @ 5pm - 8pm OR Fri evening - Sun afternoon

Deliver value
In this relationship email recipients have all the power, and winning them over means trading something of value - promotions, research, breaking news, good content, free stuff - whatever works.

Don't be a stranger
The #1 factor in recipients' decision to open email is whether the 'From' name is familiar to them. Use either your company name or the name of a person at your company - and once you choose one, keep it consistent.

Wrap it nicely
Create a subject line that a) will capture the interest of the recipient, b) won't trigger the spam filter and c) has consistent formatting.

• Between 20 and 50 characters - more and it might not display properly 
• Follow deliverability rules (see 'Reach your destination' below)
• Use 2 components (consistent part + variable part) - readers can easily recognise your email when it arrives, and get a taste of its content (Wotif do this well)

Get personal
Personalisation is straightforward using email marketing tools and web services, and will massively boost conversion:

• Segment your list and deliver tailored messaging to each group
• Use recipients' names with mail-merge fields (e.g. 'Dear [fname]')

Reach your destination
Around 70% - 80% of all email is classified as spam, and dodging spam filters is sometimes tricky. The science of deliverability can't be covered here, but this is a good start:

1. Write smart copy - rules of thumb are:

• Avoid using capitals and punctuation marks (quotations, dollar signs, exclamation marks etc) in your subject line 
• Avoid marketing hype or 'trigger words' in the body of emails ('free', 'earn money', 'act now', 'you're a winner' etc)
• Avoid offensive or contentious content ('bombs', 'guns' etc)

2. Get added to recipients' address books - Add a short explanatory message to the top of your emails:

3. Check out anti-spamming legislation - ADMA has a code of practice, but take-home points are:

• Don't use misleading header of subject information 
• Use a functioning return email address 
• Don't use generic email addresses like 'admin@' and 'info@'
• Add a clear 'Unsubscribe' link and remove all unsubscribe requests

Don't forget plain text
Include both a plain text and an HTML version of your newsletter. If you don’t, around 5% of your recipients will see a message with nothing in it. Email marketing tools (like MailChimp) make this easy.

Feed your list
Building a quality list of subscribers, prospects and customers is critical.

• We're all marketers here, so get creative in how you harvest contacts - but do it fair and square
• Collect the information you need to segment your list i.e. position, industry etc 

Respect yourself
If you value your company, brand and your own reputation, don’t spam - its bad news:

• Avoid unsolicited mail at all costs - it should always be opt-in
• Stay on topic - only deliver content the recipient signed up for 
• Add a permission reminder to the footer (below) - it's polite to explain to people why they're on your list / why you've contacted them 

• Give people choices wherever you can in how often they're contacted, and what for

AMI Awards live pitch

Sam Shelley, Tommy Windsor and I smashed this one out in 24 hrs for the AMI Awards (Tas) last year.

The pitch

To sell the unsellable - to convince the public that the Tasmanian Tiger on the Government Logo should be replaced with the Chickenfeed Chicken.

Stuff I'm doing - 'Super straight up'

Here's ep 2 of a 5-part series I'm creating for super fund, Tasplan with kickass Hobart designer Juan Melara.



Follow the campaign on Facebook, YouTube and iTunes. Ep #3 drops next week.

Websites - don't get shafted pt 1

I see lots of peeps get stung by sketchy designers, developers and 'web marketers' - soft targets with no street-smarts on what they need and what's involved. So here's part 1 of my survivor's guide.

It shouldn't cost that much

Some jobs require complex solutions and heavy, expensive development. But often when consultants quote lots of money for stuff it's because they a) don't know what they're doing b) are overestimating their self worth or c) are paying too many levels of admin / management.

I recently went to a web consultant for a small site with a customer login and shopping cart - their quote was almost $20k. I ended up getting an exceptional result for $3k.

Design: $1,000 - $2,000

$1k - $1.5k should get you a sweet homepage design and 1 inner template design. Though this might be all you'll need, it all depends on how many 'unique' page designs there are.

You only need extra templates for the unique pages that can't be created from your standard inner one. Common examples are complex contact us and image-rich splash pages.

Site build: $1,000 - $2,500

Depending on your spec, this can be anything from simply cutting up Photoshop files and writing some HTML, to implementing a Content Management System (CMS), linking to a database, adding client logins, a shopping cart etc.

Web development isn't a black box that you just throw money into. Get an itemised quote and show it to someone you know who writes code.

Populating the site with content: $0

This takes a while, so getting someone else to do it can become stupidly expensive. Have a CMS implemented during the site build phase so you can do it yourself (I really like Drupal), and avoid buyer lock-in for ongoing updates.

Use your noodle

In most cases you do get what you pay for. But if you're smart you can dodge the used car salesmen, and get it done for a lot closer to what its worth.

Speed date

Hi and thanks for dropping by. I'm a digital strategist at The Necessary Group and co-founder of Travellr.com. I'm into digital, brands, ads, startups...all things rad about my job.

2010 is looking big - fresh projects, fun events and lots of travel on the horizon - so I'm gonna blog the shit out of it.

Stay tuned, and drop me a line if you're into it:
Twitter: www.twitter.com/scottywoodhouse
Facebook: www.facebook.com/scottywoodhouse
LinkedIn: www.au.linkedin.com/in/swoodhouse