With over 4 million searches being conducted on dLook every month we thought it would be interesting to publish the top 10 searches averaged out over the past 12 months to 1/6/09.

The medical profession is the clear leader with an increasing number of searches for specialists. We have also noticed a significant increase in the number of searches for various trades. Over the past 12 months these have increased by over 200%.

It’s easy right?

Ummmmmm no, not quite.

It seems that although there are literally millions of Australians eager to shop online there are many retailers, wholesalers and online stores who are determined to make your online buying experience as difficult as possible.

Mind you there are many online businesses who excel at selling online and the growth of their online traffic and reputation bears witness to the increasing demand by Australian consumers to buy online.

The good sites know who they are and their advertising often includes testimonials from satisfied customers and even customers who were initially disappointed with a product or service but had it rectified by the seller without getting ACA or Today Tonight involved.

So What Are The Do’s & Don’ts of Buying & Selling Online?

Sellers:

• Do display an address and phone number of your business.
• Do maintain an accurate list of your products / services.
• Do include photos of your products.
• Do display prices and postage or delivery rates.
• Do accept credit cards, PayPal & Direct Deposit.
• Do NOT charge EXTRA for credit card payments.
• Do maintain a tracking system for ALL orders.
• Do quote an achievable and realistic delivery time.
• Do invite potential customers to CALL or EMAIL you with any queries.
• Do not have slow loading websites which take forever to display pages.
• Do deal with complaints quickly and fairly. You will get the occasional DH but that’s life.
• Do not use bait products which are always “out of stock”.
• DO have a HTTPS (security page) for personal & financial details.
• Do test each webpage & buying procedure regularly to make sure all is working.
• Do ask people NOT familiar with your website for feedback.

Buyers:

• Do NOT buy from overseas sites unless it’s Ebay, AMAZON, Herbalife etc.
• Do not accept the bona fides of sites who do not display at least a phone contact.
• Do not provide credit card details on a page which is not HTTPS (the S is for secure page).
• Do provide accurate contact and delivery details.
• Do read the Terms & Conditions of the site you are buying from, (yes it’s painful but necessary).

CosmoTel has taken it upon themselves to SPAM numerous businesses without permission - and their response is “Oh, is advertising SPAM”? This is a website hosting business, and they don’t know about SPAM regulations? Give me a break!

Yes dude, if you send out bulk emails to people who haven’t asked to receive your information - that is SPAM.

Just to reassure you - dLook does not and has not, sold, rented, shared or in any other way distributed the emails of businesses on our site.

Personally, I wouldn’t trust my web hosting to a business like CosmoTel who does not respect the rules and regulations of the internet.

As such we spend almost all our time talking to those businesses and doing our very best to address their requirements for online advertising. We are not a multinational corporation nor do we pretend to be.

We are a typical Australian SME operating under the same conditions as many of our valued subscribers. We do not fly any political flags nor do we donate ANY money to ANY political party (you may notice a lack of government advertising on our website).

Having said all that I am publishing a letter I received in my inbox from an unknown person (I suspect it’s from a Liberal Party PR writer). I receive many unsolicited emails every day, some rude, some stupid, some worthwhile but mostly stupid. This one however caught my eye because of the heading “ A Boss Who Tells It Like It Is”. Unfortunately it reflects the view of many businesses who we speak to on a daily basis.

The article is published exactly the way I received it and if I had one comment to make it would be that the writer SHOULD have mentioned the fact that the LIBS had plenty of opportunity to correct the tax burden on Australian business but didn’t.

A Boss Who Tells It like It Is

Date:  12th February 2009

To All My Valued Employees,

There have been some rumblings around the office about the future of this company, and more specifically, your jobs. As you know, the economy  has changed for the worse and presents many challenges. However, the  good news is this: The economy doesn’t pose a threat to your job. What does  threaten your job however, is the changing political landscape in this country.

However, let me tell you some little titbits of fact which might help you decide what is in your best interests.

First, while it is easy to spew rhetoric that casts employers against employees, you have to understand that for every business owner there is a back story. This back story is often neglected and overshadowed by what you see and hear. Sure, you see me park my Subaru Outback outside. You’ve seen my big home at last year’s Christmas party. I’m sure all these flashy icons of luxury conjure up some idealised thoughts about my life.

However, what you don’t see is the history of this company

I started this company 28 years ago. At that time, I lived in a 2  bedroom flat for 3 years. My entire living area was converted into an  office so I could put forth 100% effort into building a company, which by the  way, would eventually employ you

My diet consisted of baked beans, stew and soup because every dollar I spent went back into this company. I drove a rusty Toyota Corolla with a wonky transmission. I didn’t have time to go out on dates. Often times, I stayed home on weekends, while my friends went out drinking and partying.  In fact, I was married to my business — hard work, discipline, and sacrifice.

Meanwhile, my friends got jobs. They worked 40 hours a week and made a modest $50,000 a year and spent every cent they earned. They drove flashy cars and lived in expensive homes and wore fancy designer clothes.  Instead of hitting the David Jones for the latest hot fashion item, I was trolling through the discount store extracting any clothing item that didn’t look like it was birthed in the 70’s. My friends refinanced their mortgages and lived a life of luxury. I, however, did not. I put my time, my money, and my life into a business with a vision that eventually, some day, I too, will be able to afford these luxuries my friends supposedly had.

So, while you ‘ physically ‘ arrive at the office at 9am,’ mentally ‘ check in at about noon, and then leave at 5pm, I don’t. There is no “off” button for me.

When you leave the office, you are done and you have a weekend all to yourself. I unfortunately do not have the freedom. I eat, and breathe this company every minute of the day. There is no rest. There is no weekend. There is no happy hour. Every day this business is attached to my hip like a 1 year old special-needs child. You, of course, only see the fruits of that garden — the nice house, the Subaru, the vacations… you never realise the back story and the sacrifices I’ve made.

Now, the economy is falling apart and I, the guy that made all the right decisions and saved his money, have to bail-out all the people who didn’t. The people that overspent their pay suddenly feel entitled to the same luxuries that I earned and sacrificed a decade of my life for.

Yes, business ownership has its benefits but the price I’ve paid is steep and not without wounds.

Unfortunately, the cost of running this business, and employing you, is starting to eclipse the threshold of marginal benefit and let me tell you why:

I am being taxed to death and the government thinks I don’t pay  enough. I have state taxes. Federal taxes, Property taxes, Sales and use taxes, Payroll taxes, Workers compensation, Unemployment taxes, Taxes on taxes. I have to hire an accountant to manage all these taxes and then guess what? I have to pay taxes for employing him. Government mandates and regulations and all the accounting that goes with it, now occupy most of my time.  On Oct 15th, I wrote a cheque to the Australian tax Office for $288,000 for quarterly taxes. You know what my “stimulus” cheque was? Zero, Zip, Zilch.

What is Kevin 07 Rudd doing with all my taxes? He’s giving them away to people who don’t work as hard as me, to people who have never  worked and have no intention to, deliberately single mums breeding more  drones, recent migrants legal & otherwise plus their huge extended families. They are told to spend, spend, spend - the very thing that got us into trouble in the first place!. Go out and buy that you-beaut widescreen TV for say  $2000 of which $1,750 goes to China , Taiwan , South Korea , Singapore &  Malaysia where all the bits are made or assembled, the remaining $250 keeps the  salesperson & delivery guy in a job for another day & pays a franchise fee to  Harvey Norman. As we hardly manufacture anything in Australia any more virtually all the money spent on manufactured goods keeps overseas workers in  jobs much longer than any locals.

Now, to cap off mere financial incompetence, Rudd has risen to mind boggling levels of truly monumental stupidity by borrowing about 40 billion  dollars every year from foreigners, we don’t have the savings here!…….  to GIVE AWAY!!!!. The State Labor government s have all been grossly  mismanaged, even QLD & WA are in trouble despite the good mining boom years, NSW is effectively bankrupt & VIC is not far behind, SA & TAS are  reverting to basket case status. The infrastructure funds are a thinly disguised bailout to incompetent Labor mates in the States but at least that will employ Australians, however, inefficiently.

Rudd has blown what we thought of a huge multi-billion dollar surplus in one hit, in just one year!. But borrowing to give people $950 to spend  on goods that will employ Asians mostly?, that will make our current account  deficit worse and create a HUGE DEBT that will have to be repaid by us, our  kids and our grandkids. Taxes will have to go up drastically for decades to  pay for all this - there is no other way. Rudd’s cure is going to be vastly  more painful than the illness, unemployment is still expected to  increase by 500,000 by the end of the march quarter 2010. Bringing forward the  next tax cuts would reduce that to 350,000 and if we were to spend stimulus  money productively on pipelines, bridges, hospitals, rail systems  etcetera instead of wasting it on $950 gifts we’d have to better off and have more people in jobs.

Rudd wants to emulate Obama’s huge spending spree without realising that we simply can’t do that. The US dollar is the world’s reserve  currency, they can print money and it will still be worth a dollar, but if we  print 30% more money, which is effectively what borrowing does, our $A will  be worth 30% less which makes everything we import be it petrol or TV’s 30%  dearer and so. Rudd plans to do this for four years to the tune of $200 billion! …..

Despite Rudd often referring to Turnbull as the (wealthy) Merchant  Banker, Rudd, or at least his wife, has many more millions than Turnbull  and his family, most of it from Liberal Government training programs  ironically. We’d be better off if Ms Rein was running the country, her husband’s ego is such that he’d never listen to her unfortunately, at least they  will still be sitting pretty when it all goes pear shaped.

Turnbull is right about Tax Cuts, it has been proven over & over  again in all Western democracies that for all tax brackets, for every $1 of  tax cut the multiplier effect is $3 - now that’s a stimulus!. That stimulus happens each year, every year because it’s a gift that keeps on giving as  the saying goes. Give away $1 and that’s it - spent $1 no multiplier effect, this or any other year.

Once Rudd borrows & gives it away forget about tax cuts for a decade - think higher taxes, higher GST until we repay the huge debt burden he’s creating. This is not rocket science! it’s real, as  opposed to Rudd’s fairy’s at the bottom of the garden approach to ruining the  economy.

Rudd’s hero is Gough Whitlam, for those who are old enough to remember, Whitlam came within a whisker of sending Australia bankrupt and the country was saved from financial disaster by the Governor General, Sir John Kerr dismissing his government . The Greens & Independents, being the populists that they are, will pass Rudd’s so called stimulus with minimal changes. We are going to be lumbered with this very bad mistake. Let’s hope that Ms Quentin Bryce will likewise act with courage and conviction before  Rudd looks like losing the plot completely and takes us down with him.

The question I have is this: Who is stimulating the economy? Me, the guy who has provided 14 people good paying jobs and serves over 2,200,000  people per year with a flourishing business?, or  the single mother sitting at  home pregnant with her fourth child by the latest unemployed layabout  who won’t pay child support, waiting for her next welfare cheque? Obviously, government feels the latter is the economic stimulus of this country.

The fact is, if I deducted (Read: Stole) 50% of your pay you’d quit and you wouldn’t work here. I mean, why should you? That’s nuts. Who wants to get rewarded only 50% of their hard work? Well, I agree which is why your job is in jeopardy.

Here is what many of you don’t understand … to stimulate the economy you need to stimulate what runs the economy. Had the government suddenly mandated to me that I didn’t need to pay taxes, guess what? Instead of depositing that $288,000 into the Canberra black-hole, I would have spent it, hired more employees, and generated substantial economic growth. My employees would have enjoyed the wealth of that tax cut in the form of promotions and better salaries. But you can forget it now.

When you have a comatose man on the verge of death, you don’t  defibrillate and shock his thumb thinking that will bring him back to life, do  you? Or, do you defibrillate his heart?
Business is at the heart of Australia and always has been. To restart it, you must stimulate it, not kill it.  But the power brokers in Canberra believe the poor of Australia are the essential drivers of the Australian economic engine. Nothing could be further from the truth and this is the type of change you can keep.

So where am I going with all this?

It’s quite simple.

If any new taxes are levied on me, or my company, my reaction will be swift and simple. I fire you. I fire your co-workers. You can then plead with the government to pay for your mortgage, your 4WD and your child’s future. Frankly, it isn’t my problem any more.

Then, I will close this company down, move to another country, and retire. You see, I’m done. I’m done with a country that penalises the productive and gives to the unproductive. My motivation to work and to provide jobs will be destroyed, and with it, will be my citizenship. There will be many, many more small & medium sized businesses that do the same and between us we employ 60% of all Australians in work and produce 68% of GDP (more when China is not paying top dollar for everything we mine).  Fewer people paying taxes mean higher taxes. Much higher taxes for the remaining taxpayers who have no choice but to work. Countries like China are thrifty, have  all the money, and will own all the mines and a lot more because we will  have no choice but to sell them the ‘ family farm ‘ to pay our debt. That’s  business - whether it’s mine or the Country’s.

So, if you lose your job, it won’t be at the hands of the economy; it will be at the hands of a politician that swept through this country, changed its financial landscape forever. If that happens, you can find me sitting on a beach, retired, and with no employees to worry about….

Signed,

Your boss

There are so many different Work From Home alternatives available today, and whilst many of them are based on multi level marketing, there are some which seem to be reaping good rewards for people who are prepared to follow a set business plan and put a real effort into running the business as a business.

The Work From Home theme has been on a steady rise in Australia for some time now. The introduction of broadband and the relatively low price of computer hardware & software has meant that many small businesses have substituted their shop-front for a website and are happily doing business without having to run the peak hour gauntlet Monday to Friday.

Working from home may suit a lot of people, but there are pitfalls. Discipline is the key word when running a home based business. Many people find that because they are in their home environment they get very easily distracted (kids, neighbours, TV, pets etc) and find it difficult to focus on the business at hand. There is no easy remedy for this, but the fact remains that you are running a business and if you don’t put in the required effort you will not reap the expected rewards.

If you do choose a work from home business be prepared and committed to running as a business and make sure you are free from distractions as you would be in a shop or office environment.

The last 3 quarterly surveys all show that almost half of the daily mobile directory searches originate in Victoria, and of these 29% are from regional Victoria. This comes as no surprise. In our experience Victorians seem to be much more IT orientated than any of the other states. Perhaps it’s something in the water or the fact that the education system in Victoria is more IT focused than other Australian states. The fact remains that the “Vics” are more IT savvy than the rest of the country. For the record, on a per capita basis the other states rank as follows:

• WA
• NSW
• SA
• QLD
• ACT
• TAS
• NT

Other interesting statistics for dLook.Mobi usage are our most popular searches (in order):

• Taxis
• Pubs/Clubs
• Takeaway Food
• After Hour Doctors
• Real Estate Agents
• 24 Hour Electricians
• Escorts
• Street Directory
• Plumbers
• Accommodation
• Hairdressers
• Emergency Locksmiths
• Bus Timetables
• Movie Theatres
• Limousines

It is also interesting to note the peak times our mobile directory is used. Our main directory dLook.com.au receives its main traffic between the hours of 9am and 5pm. dLook.Mobi is almost the opposite with very light traffic during the 9 to 5 period and very heavy traffic between 7pm and 3am.

One of the reasons for dLook.Mobi success is that it was purposely built to perform well on mobile phones. Rather than just clone the dLook.com.au site we foresaw the future demand for a business directory that was mobile phone friendly and reacted accordingly.

If you want people to access your website on their phones, then take steps to make your website more “phone friendly”. There is a site which actually measures the efficiency and speed of a website on mobile phones. It’s a free service and you would do well to test your website on it.

Our prediction is that within 7 years mobile phone technology will have reached the point where mobiles will begin to take over from PC’s (away from the office). Don’t get left behind.

On a closing note America’s new President intends to appoint a national director of IT. SH%T, why didn’t we think of that? Perhaps someone from the Victorian Board of Studies? The PM will of course have to clear it first with the boards of Telstra, Optus and all the other Einsteins who have been stuffing around with the “new” Australian broadband network. Why not ask the Kiwi’s for their advice Mr Rudd? Their broadband system makes ours look like dial-up.

CASH as opposed to credit is going to be the lifeblood which will see the smarter businesses weather the current economic downturn and that means cost cutting and smarter business practices.

Most Australian businesses rely on advertising and promotion of one sort or another to grow their customer base or at the very least maintain it. There is no doubt that in the weeks and months that follow, business owners will be bombarded with crazy cut price rates from TV, Radio and Press to help fill the vacant advertising slots being created by a tightening of advertising budgets across the board.

But wait, businesses simply can’t “stop” advertising because the effects of negative growth or the loss of hard earned market share will have a much worse effect on a business than a recession ever could. So what’s the answer?

Those businesses which have learned to source new customers via the internet are sitting in the box seat and those who have not are now playing some very serious catch up.

It’s almost impossible to argue the power and influence which the internet has on the Australian advertising scene. In fact, those who dismiss the importance of the internet and continue to channel all their advertising dollars into press, radio and tv will soon disappear into the sunset and sadly so will the jobs of their employees.

Whilst traditional advertising is, and will remain a very important factor in the advertising industry, the internet is fast being recognised as the most cost efficient, accountable and flexible means of generating new business not only in Australia but the rest of the world.

One could sit here and quote example after example of websites which have become part of our everyday lives, Google, Domain, Ebay, Drive, Facebook, RSVP, YouTube and so on. Whilst all of these are individual websites, they all belong to the same medium - the internet. Between them they generate over 10 million Australian visitors per day, more than half the Australian population and the beauty of it is that the “little” guy can competitively play the same game online as the “big” multi nationals.

In fact, the big Australian websites have gotten that way for the most part, by creating various advertising facilities on their respective websites where the “little” guy can harness the power of the internet from a mere pittance.

Those who know how this works have probably not even read to this point in this article but for those who want to find out just follow this LINK.

Monday the 20th of October is your last chance to attend one of the most valuable and informative Internet Marketing Seminars for 2008.

In these current times of financial instability, successful businesses are finding new ways of attracting more customers by actually spending LESS on advertising.

For example, you are probably reading this article because you;

a. Received an email alerting you to it. (cost $0)
b. Found it on Google. (cost $0)
c. Received a fax telling you about it. (cost 12 cents)

The other options available to dLook to publicise this seminar were;

1. A television campaign. (cost $18,000)
2. Strategic advertising in the major newspapers. (cost $16,000)
3. 30 second ads on the major FM & AM radio stations. (cost $11,000)

In fact, to achieve the same result as our ABC campaign (see above) we would have had to use a combination of Press, Radio and TV for an all up cost of about $25,000. Instead our outlay has been $5,000 AND we can actually measure the response to our campaign to the last cent.

That, ladies and gentlemen, is just one of the subjects presented at this seminar, how to measure the RETURN ON your advertising INVESTMENT……ROI.

You will also learn how to create and run your own Google adword campaign using what is possibly the smartest and easiest AdWord software in the world presented by one of the developers of the software who just happens to be a Melbourne local.

And last but not least you will learn how just $1.63 per day can give you a HUGE online advantage over your competitors EVEN IF YOU DON”T HAVE A WEBSITE.

The seminar is being held at Rumelis Turkish Restaurant, 618 Sydney Road, Brunswick and goes from 6.30pm to 10.00pm. A light supper will be provided (Turkish Style) and bookings are essential.

Tickets are fully sponsored by dLook but you MUST reserve your seat(s) either by THIS online booking form or by faxing your details via your faxed invitation.

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What started as a cheap alternative to main stream media (Press, Radio & TV) has become a complicated, expensive and often ineffective means of promoting ones business to the buying public.

Why Is This So?

Simple really. Radio, TV and Press require huge investments in infrastructure and tend to employ qualified, accredited and professional people to deliver their respective media product to the consumer.

Online Advertising on the other hand is an industry where someone with virtually no qualifications or experience can put up their hand and say “I can get you a good return on your online advertising budget”. There is often no investment in infrastructure, no formal qualifications and no governing body to police the claims and activities of so called online advertising companies.

So Does Online Advertising Work?

In a word yes! But only if you do your homework and only if you stick with companies and websites which have a proven track record in the online advertising industry.

Case in point dLook. A dLook online advertising campaign will give your business every opportunity to attract customers by raising your online profile using the power of the dLook website, radio, TV & press advertising, mobile phone browsing, international mobile phone carriers (Vodafone), discount coupons, promotional events (seminars etc) and the 100 or so search engines which almost everybody uses to find just about everything online.

How Much Does It Cost?

Actually it’s quite inexpensive and there are no hidden extras or long term contracts (the minimum dLook contract is 3 months).

Just $49.50 per month or $488 per year is all that a dLook listing will cost regardless of how many postcodes or states your business services. Once you have made the decision to advertise with dLook we will do the rest. Getting your listing in front of as many potential customers as possible is what our reputation is built on and what our whole business is set up to do.

Feel free to contact dLook during business hours on (02) 8249 8120 or simply use our easy online registration form and start getting more business for your business.

Place: Burwood RSL - 96 Shaftesbury Rd, Burwood - in the upstairs conference rooms

Date: Thursday 25th September, 2008

Time: 6.30 to 10.30 p.m. (Light supper will be provided)

Cost: Absolutely free!

Topics Covered

• How much do you really know about marketing your business on the Internet?
• How easy is it for people to find your business online?
• And, when people do find you online, what then?
• Are you converting your visitors to sales or are they leaving?
• How are you promoting your website online?
• What is your average cost per visitor?

The list of questions goes on and on but the important thing is that MOST businesses can improve their online presence without spending a fortune.

If you are unable to attend on this date or you’d like to read some more information, please visit our Internet Marketing Seminar page (or feel free to contact us).

Places are strictly limited - secure your place now by filling in the form below.

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