David Barnes - Internet & Web Industry Commentary

ACMA has been very useful .... but they are hamstrung by legislation and tools!

2012-01-04T05:36:00.000+08:00

Below is a very out of date BLOG... a lot has happened in the last 9 months, much of it good but very very hard work.

I'll be back in 2012 with a new perspective, fresh eyes on things and perhaps a little more commentary around the current state of affairs in security,

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I had a conversation with ACMA today re: All of my SPAM complaints and I must say they were very helpful.Whilst we agreed that the "Spoof" emails were highly annoying due to the pain in trying to auto-junk them using a rule in my email client they we powerless to do anything about the spoof employment scam emails.

One thing that was good to know is that the origin of most of these emails is in Russia. Whilst the relays are often sent through unsuspecting mail servers, generally the content was created and formed in Russia. Interestingly I have had many Chinese spoof emails since this investigation started.

So what can be done on your desktop? Well not much really. Unless you buy one of the many SPAM protection software applications that are available and run your mail through them before you get the mail yourself you are some what at the mercy of this illegal and highly annoying practice. Whilst software on your desktop is useful, you are often at the ISP's whim as to what they allow and that they don't allow. Sure there are settings that allow you to create your own block list, but really there could be a better and more open approach.

I have deleted my next few paragraphs due to a change in circumstances which I am not at liberty to talk about. Needless to say when I can, I will.

Thanks again to ACMA for their tireless efforts.

White House backs online 'privacy bill of rights'

2011-03-17T09:13:00.002+08:00

I'll comment on this article soon. It goes to the heart of what we need to be looking at in Australia.

Great move US!

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/australian-it/white-house-backs-online-privacy-bill-of-rights/story-e6frgakx-1226023030182

ACMA complaint process working a little more effectively............

2011-03-12T08:25:00.000+08:00

There are two ways of reporting SPAM email with ACMA. you use this form http://www.acma.gov.au/interforms/spam_complaint_email.asp and have the option of lodging a "report" or a "complaint".

My first 2 blogs with respects to my communication with ACMA was based around a report of SPAM email and not a complaint. I have now elevated the report to a complaint and below is the first response to my complaint and a response back to ACMA with the answers to the questions that I was asked.

Whilst it is a reasonable start a few things to note. The Complaints Officer doesn't know who I am and therefore would have no clue that I headed the development of a global eDM platform (www.platformdirect.com.au) that complies with all of the SPAM legislation's around the World. So asking me whether I had unsubscribed is a fair question but for me the provision of the unsubscribe facility would lessen my issue with this SPAMMER we now know is an organisation called "Red Foundry".

Now before you Google Red Foundry and start abusing them, it certainly does not appear to be the organisation found @ www.redfoundry.com. Although the concerning thing is that perhaps I have purchased apps built by them? I am not sure. But If I have and they are responsible for this SPAM then this goes to the heart of my issue with how organisations handle data and the accreditation Governments need to implement for the prevention of personal data theft and protection.

Even more interestingly the 3 very similar emails (based on content of each email) have 3 different "Return Paths" which were:

davew@ign.com.au (visit www.ign.com.au)
davi539@inspirationalverse.com.au (visit www.inspirationalverse.com.au)
no-reply783@workingin-australia.com (visit www.workingin-australia.com)

Other similar emails have other legitimate Australian email domains.

So indeed are these companies engaging this Red Foundry to SPAM of on their behalf or are they just unlucky and having their domains attached to this behaviour?

I will pose this question to ACMA and see what they say.

.... Will keep updating this as we go.

+++++++++++++++++++

Current Correspondence with ACMA

Ms,

your questions have been copied into my response with answers below each question.

1. Whether or not you provide consent to the ACMA to release your electronic

address (email address) to Red Foundry with a view to requesting that it be

unsubscribed? (Please note that contact details for Red Foundry will be sourced

from the company’s website, not from the email you received)

I provide consent for you to contact Red Foundry.

2. Whether or not you have attempted to use the unsubscribe facility in the

message?

There was no unsubscribe facility so I was unable to do so.

3. Whether or not you have had any prior association with Red Foundry?

No I have not this is unsolicited email.

Thank you.

David Barnes

-----Original Message-----
From: via RT [mailto:enquiries@spamcrm.acma.gov.au]
Sent: Wednesday, 9 March 2011 11:32 AM
To: David Barnes
Subject: [spamcrm.acma.gov.au #84201] ACMA and Overseas spam & upgrading my report to a complaint

Dear Mr Barnes

Thank you for taking the time to contact the Australian Communications and

Media Authority (the ACMA) with regard to spam you have received. I note that

your initial contact with us in relation to this matter was to make a report,

rather than a complaint. Reports are a simple way for Australians to report the

spam that they have received to the ACMA.

Where the ACMA receives a complaint relating to alleged spam activity, it will,

wherever possible, take action to resolve the issue. If you are interested in

the ACMA’s approach to complaints and reports in relation to the Spam Act, you

may wish to read the Spam Complaint Handling Policy at:

http://www.acma.gov.au/WEB/STANDARD/pc=PC_311907

In order to convert your report to a complaint the ACMA requires further

information relating to:

1. Whether or not you provide consent to the ACMA to release your electronic

address (email address) to Red Foundry with a view to requesting that it be

unsubscribed? (Please note that contact details for Red Foundry will be sourced

from the company’s website, not from the email you received)

2. Whether or not you have attempted to use the unsubscribe facility in the

message?

3. Whether or not you have had any prior association with Red Foundry?

The ACMA will contact Red Foundry to advise it of this complaint, and to

clearly outline the requirements of the Spam Act 2003. Should you provide

consent for your email address to be released to Red Foundry, they will also be

asked to unsubscribe you from receiving any further messages. If you have

attempted to unsubscribe yourself and continue to receive messages, this will

also be addressed in the letter.

In relation to your question on international spam, given the global nature of

spam, the ACMA recognises that long term gains rely on cooperation with

industry members and other regulators, both nationally and overseas.

For an example of the successful outcomes that can be produced through

international cooperation, you may wish to visit

http://www.acma.gov.au/WEB/STANDARD/pc=PC_311998, to see how substantial

penalties were awarded as a result of an ACMA investigation conducted with the

assistance of US and New Zealand authorities.

If you have any further queries in relation to this matter, please contact me

by reply email.

Yours sincerely

Compliance Officer

Anti-Spam Team

Australian Communications and Media Authority

Emails That Appear to be from this "Red Foundry" as Identified by ACMA

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Header Details

Received: from (192.168.20.10) by
) with Microsoft SMTP Server
(TLS) id 8.0.813.0; Thu, 17 Feb 2011 14:56:14 +1100
Received: from [92.47.55.95] (92.47.55.95) by

(192.168.20.10) with Microsoft SMTP Server id 8.1.436.0; Thu, 17 Feb 2011
11:56:10 +0800
From:

To: Subject: Didn't fount a job yet?
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/html; charset="utf-8"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Message-ID:

Return-Path: davew@ign.com.au
Date: Thu, 17 Feb 2011 11:56:10 +0800

PRD: platforminteractive.com.au

SenderIdResult: Fail
Received-SPF: Fail (l: domain of does not designate 92.47.55.95 as
permitted sender) receiver=;
client-ip=92.47.55.95; helo=[92.47.55.95];
X-MS-Exchange-Organization-SCL: 7
X-MS-Exchange-Organization-PCL: 2
X-MS-Exchange-Organization-Antispam-Report: DV:3.3.9815.464;SV:3.3.9010.377;SID:SenderIDStatus Fail;OrigIP:92.47.55.95
+++++++++++++++++++++++++

Email Content

About the Job

A well established International Youth Exchange is looking for an International Exchange Co-ordinator to be based in Australia branches.

Key Responsibilities;

Be an ambassador for your community and the AU by creating world-wide friendships and cross cultural understanding.

Create or maintain relationships with local high school officials to determine availability for International Youth Exchange.

Process and distribute language textbooks and teaching materials, as well as monetary aid and donations among partner student organizations.

Guide and support your students and families throughout their exchange experience.

HAVE FUN! Plan group activities, picnics, and gatherings for the students and host families in your area!

What does International Youth Exchange do?

IY Exchange is an organization dedicated to improving international relations through educational and cultural exchange.
It offers students from over twenty countries the chance to study and live in the AU for a complete academic year.

Skills and Qualities

Candidate Profile;
* Desire for new challenges and to develop new opportunities,
* Responsible and capable of setting own challenges,
* Enthusiastic and willing to learn,
* Strong team player.

What's in it for you:
- Excellent Pay (guaranteed $ 19.20/hour);
- Great Opportunity;
- All compensation/salary is paid monthly. Compensation involves bonuses;
- Initial period of probation/stage at basic expenses reimbursement;
- Possibility of fast and substantial pay increase as well as strong and aggressive incentive scheme;
- To join a group of highly successful professionals and entrepreneurs, with a strong and proven track record at a very early stage.

This role would suit a person with experience in administration and a feel for customer service and/or sales.

If you are interested in this role, please submit your CV to: offer@uniongroup-hire.com

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Second Similar Email Header

Received: from by
with SMTP Server
(TLS) id 8.0.813.0; Tue, 8 Mar 2011 16:31:41 +1100
Received: from ppp-58-11-24-235.revip2.asianet.co.th (58.11.24.235) by (192.168.20.10) with Microsoft SMTP Server id
8.1.436.0; Tue, 8 Mar 2011 13:31:39 +0800
Received: from 58.11.24.235 (account 0xljcdf5bda8c7bfz@shtel.com.cn HELO
bacsymkztj.betnwae.va) by ppp-58-11-24-235.revip2.asianet.co.th (CommuniGate
Pro SMTP 5.2.3) with ESMTPA id 595454639 for
; Tue, 8 Mar 2011 12:31:38 +0700
From:
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/html; charset="utf-8"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Message-ID: <>
Return-Path: davi539@inspirationalverse.com.au
Date: Tue, 8 Mar 2011 13:31:39 +0800
X-MS-Exchange-Organization-PRD: platforminteractive.com.au
X-MS-Exchange-Organization-SenderIdResult: Fail
Received-SPF: Fail (: domain ofu does not designate 58.11.24.235 as
permitted sender) receiver= client-ip=58.11.24.235; helo=ppp-58-11-24-235.revip2.asianet.co.th;
X-MS-Exchange-Organization-SCL: 5
X-MS-Exchange-Organization-PCL: 2
X-MS-Exchange-Organization-Antispam-Report: DV:3.3.9907.457;SV:3.3.9010.377;SID:SenderIDStatus Fail;OrigIP:58.11.24.235

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Email Content

One of the leading professional design services company in Australia and New Zealand is currently looking for an ambitious recruit for Business Support Assistant.
Our historically steady growth is expected to continue apace in and beyond 2011.
This is a fantastic opportunity to begin your career within an international market leading business.

Reporting to the Business Support Manager your role will be to provide administrative support to the Education,
Training & Skills team.

- Salary 30 000,00 USD + excellent benefits package
- Flexible hours
- Pension available
- Holidays and overtime will be discussed at interview.

General administrative duties will include photocopying, binding,
maintaining stationery requirements, mail distribution, and taking phone messages for the ETS team.
You will assist in producing seminar packs and material for seminars
and business development events plus helping to arrange business development meetings,
as well as supporting the team with billings, recharges, expense claims as and when required.

The ideal candidate for the role will be an ambitious person looking for an opportunity to begin or to develop a career within a large international firm.
Previous experience in a similar administrative role, or an NVQ Level 2 in Administration,
would be preferred, however not as essential as an enthusiastic personality and hard working attitude.

Team working skills will be necessary as will a "hands on" approach, plus excellent attention to details and organisational skills.

You will have a focus on achieving and maintaining excellent standards of delivery of all work carried out all the times.

To apply for the Business Support Assistant role please e-mail your CV and a covering letter to Deborah@west-contract.com

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Third Email Header

Received: from SMTP Server
(TLS) id 8.0.813.0; Sun, 6 Mar 2011 16:28:43 +1100
Received: from [190.43.184.32] (190.43.184.32) by192.168.20.10) with SMTP Server id
8.1.436.0; Sun, 6 Mar 2011 13:28:40 +0800
Received: from 190.43.184.32 (account 1146731485@trq.jp HELO
iclxikhdthhgys.dudzsmztxyziu.com) by (CommuniGate Pro SMTP 5.2.3) with
ESMTPA id 467970273 for ; Sun, 6 Mar
2011 02:28:42 -0300
From:
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/html; charset="utf-8"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
X-Antivirus: avast! (VPS 110305-1, 05/03/2011), Outbound message
X-Antivirus-Status: Clean
Message-ID: <99c35e3a-8421-41cd-8416-c344b5376b14@platform-per-dc.Platform.local>
Return-Path: no-reply783@workingin-australia.com
Date: Sun, 6 Mar 2011 13:28:40 +0800
X-MS-Exchange-Organization-PRD: platforminteractive.com.au
X-MS-Exchange-Organization-SenderIdResult: Fail
Received-SPF: Fail (platform-per-dc.Platform.local: domain of com.au does not designate 190.43.184.32 as
permitted sender) receiver= client-ip=190.43.184.32; helo=[190.43.184.32];
X-MS-Exchange-Organization-SCL: 7
X-MS-Exchange-Organization-PCL: 2
X-MS-Exchange-Organization-Antispam-Report: DV:3.3.9905.460;SV:3.3.9010.377;SID:SenderIDStatus Fail;OrigIP:190.43.184.32
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Third Email Content

Good afternoon!

I make the functions of manager in the HR department of the company well-known all over the world.

The corporation is engaged in various activities around the world.
- capital asset consulting services
- full support for your businesses
- companies registration
-leading affairs support
- financial consulting
-etc.

Great offer for job-seekers in Australia and New Zeeland for the position of Regional manager.
- salary 2.400 USD + employee benefits
-2 or 3 hours of employment a day
- independent schedule of work

If you feel this job offers is right for you, please inform us your contact information. Robyn@west-contract.com
Your name:
Your surname:
Counrty you live in:
Your city:
E-mail address:
Mobile number:

Remark for you! This job offer is just for Australia and New Zeeland!

Be kind to send us your personal information so that we can contact you for further communication.

Tablets.... you are kidding me right? Oh you're not!

2011-03-09T20:05:00.001+08:00

Just a quick interlude away from the ACMA blogging I have been doing. I have quite a good email from ACMA that I need to respond to but it can wait for now as I'm back in Perth again and infected with all of the chatter about iPad 2, Galaxy S and the HP Touchpad.

Some of my colleagues at work were infected by the iPad "bug". I looked at it and assessed it when it came out and as usual I didn't become part of the early adopter phase. Indeed I never am, but I was and am interested.

I think it was last year in Hong Kong when I saw someone in a lecture using their iPad as a flight simulator. Thought the iPad looked pretty cool and needed something to keep an eye on.

So I started to go through the reasons why I would buy one. Games, yeah but no not enough. Email, maybe but you need an Australian 3G card and quite frankly with Vodafone's recent performance and the cost of a Telstra chip its all a wee joke. Mobile Internet, sorry guys I need a Flash player in my browser and in case anyone hasn't caught up with the news but Microsoft WMV still rates as a movie player.

And so the list went on.

In comes iPad 2 and sure enough no good. My reasons are personal and valid for anyone with a business. Why would I want a Tablet? Easy:

Email.
Internet (with Flash capabilities and all movie download players).
Microsoft Office (or very compatible) with editing features.
Document transfer / storage.
USB connection.
Love the games and the Apps on my iPhone 3GS (yes no early adopter here, nor willy nilly upgrades to iPhone 4) so they are a must now too.

In comes the the two new contenders. Samsung with Galaxy S and HP with Touchpad. I haven't been so disappointed since my favourite football team lost in the 2001 Grand Final. What a joke.

Samsung and HP you have an unbelievable opportunity here to get business user uptake and make Apple the Tablet Choker of all time, a bit like the All Blacks in a Rugby World Cup. I don't care who it is but somebody HURRY UP and please get it right :-)

I'll be back with more ACMA shortly.

ACMA Response, a start

2011-03-07T08:43:00.003+08:00

Monday March 7, I have received a response to case #84234 which was the response to a response that I sent. A good start but reading the email below my reply to ACMA really only informs me of what i had already told ACMA In an email that I blogged on the 3rd of march!

http://davidbarnes.platforminteractive.com.au/2011/03/acma-communications-can-we-improve.html

My response to ACMA's current email response is below. What I really wanted to know and what I think is important here is how can we do something about all of this SPAM and are we being supported by our Government?

Hi Debbie,

Thank you for your response.

My main concern is how do these people get tracked down and fined? Is this something your department deals with or is it just now a cost of having email and doing business.

Are there tools ACMA suggests that we use to block / ban list this type of behaviour?

Thanks

David

-----Original Message-----
From: [mailto:complaints@spamcrm.acma.gov.au]
Sent: Monday, 7 March 2011 11:29 AM
To: David Barnes
Subject: [spamcrm.acma.gov.au #84234] ACMA Email Complaint - Email Spoofing

Dear Mr Barnes,

I refer to your recent enquiry regarding the emails appearing to be sent from

yourself.

As you are aware, it appears that someone may be faking or “spoofing” your

email address for the purpose of sending spam emails. In this situation, the

spammer will fake some or most of an email’s header information, in order to

hide their identity and the email’s originating path. In most cases, these

emails are found to have originated from overseas.

This type of attack is usually opportunistic and automated, and is relatively

common. It is a method that spammers have created to bypass spam filters. Most

likely, your email address was obtained through the use of email ‘harvesting’

software.

You should ensure that your computer is running up-to-date anti-virus and

firewall software, and that you have downloaded the latest security updates for

your computer’s operating system and other software.

If you find that your contacts are also receiving the spam, you may wish to

take precautions in securing your email account, as this may indicate that your

account has been compromised. If you feel this is the case, we recommend you

change your passwords to something that is difficult to guess, and change any

associated security questions and answers (if your service provides this). You

may also wish to report this to your email service provider’s support or

security team.

If you have any further enquiries regarding this matter, please contact me by

return email.

Yours sincerely,

Debbie

Anti-Spam Team

Australian Communications & Media Authority

ACMA Auto resposne

2011-03-03T08:42:00.000+08:00

Ok here we go: in reply to my reply with the case number of "83236" I received the following automated response:

Thank you for your report of spam activity. You have been assigned an ID of [spamcrm.acma.gov.au #84201] for your submission. If you wish the ACMA to contact you in relation to this report, or you wish to revise your report to a complaint, you will be required to provide more information. Please include this ID in the subject line of any further correspondence.

The Spam SMS service allows you to forward an SMS message that you think may be spam to the ACMA on 0429 999 888. Visit http://www.spam.acma.gov.au/ for detailed information about spam, including tips for understanding and avoiding spam, and to register your details for Spam SMS.

The ACMA also provides a comprehensive program about cybersafety. Visit the Cybersmart website http://www.cybersmart.gov.au/ for resources, information and advice.

Yours sincerely,

Anti-Spam Team

Australian Communications and Media Authority

Please note: this is an auto-response notification.

My concern now is I have 2 case numbers 83236 and 84201 for the same issue. So I have now provided more information to ACMA for 83236 and I'm pretty sure the loop will start again if I reply to this email.

So lets wait and see what transpires from here!!! The date is March 3, 2011.

ACMA communications - can we improve the process

2011-03-03T08:37:00.001+08:00

Recently I reported a spate of new SPAM emails that really have over stepped the mark as I can;t just junk them from a "from sender" perspective as they are using my email address in the from line. Sure if we had a corporate spam engine then I could have it blocked, or just better email security it could prevent emails with my address as the from line. But then I couldn't test our SaaS products.

So I have embarked on what is I am sure to be a very long task with respects to improving Australian SPAM reporting and visibility.

So below (at the very bottom) is the first correspondence from ACMA. It is their automated reply to my submission through their web site.

I have now sent ACMA my response to their response. This is the email starting with "Hello".I included the case number in the subject line as requested.

Lets see how this goes.

Hello,

I recently uploaded various emails that have been sent to me that are clearly SPAM and most probably Phishing. Your automated receipt is below requesting more information.

What further information do you require? Is there a way of making this easier for people to be made accountable. What is ACMA doing about international SPAM hitting our shores?

Regards

David Barnes

Group Managing Director

-----Original Message-----
From: non-complaint reports of australian spam messages via RT [mailto:reports@spamcrm.acma.gov.au]
Sent: Thursday, 24 February 2011 11:19 AM
To: David Barnes
Subject: [spamcrm.acma.gov.au #83236] AutoReply: Email spam report [SEC=IN-CONFIDENCE]

Thank you for your report of spam activity. You have been assigned an ID of [spamcrm.acma.gov.au #83236] for your submission. If you wish the ACMA to contact you in relation to this report, or you wish to revise your report to a complaint, you will be required to provide more information. Please include this ID in the subject line of any further correspondence.

The ACMA also provides a comprehensive program about cybersafety. Visit the Cybersmart website http://www.cybersmart.gov.au/ for resources, information and advice.

Yours sincerely,

Anti-Spam Team

Australian Communications and Media Authority

Please note: this is an auto-response notification.

Is the gap closing or getting wider?

2011-02-24T13:32:00.000+08:00

At Platform Interactive we have 3 sophisticated software products, Verdi CMS, Platform Direct and Proficiency Now! Each product competes against other products in the relevant market sectors where the demand is from organisations that require functionally applications.

24 months ago I was of the belief that complex systems are becoming a demand of the past or are just for very large organisations, because really.... who uses all of the features that come with a software application anyway? As the World becomes more connected with business owners and smaller organisations being able to service clients across greater distances they really only need minimal features in their applications as they are so time poor that most features don't get used. The real advantage for time poor users is that as long as the applications can be consolidated into place the users can complete certain tasks easily.

Well I'm once again changing my mind (which our industry does by the second) and through the research we are doing it is very clear that organisations are wanting more features and functions again. Whether they are used is another story but I think the real advantage will be in functionally rich applications that can be automated and even become a quasi prompter for busy business users.

Small enterprises still need simple, integrated and consolidated tools to manage their marketing, web, communication, sales and various other needs. They also need the application to be accessible anywhere at any time. We are all losing patience with the traditional client server applications.

Here we hit a cross road. Simple to use and basic applications start to fail when power users want more. A power user can be anyone that uses an application regularly and starts to rely on it. So where to from there? Moving up to larger more complex applications? I suppose so.

For us it is really about building applications that make sense to a power user which then can be simplified to the general user so that they have the comfort of excessive and sometimes unnecessary features without the drama that generally goes with them.

The Platform Interactive product team is on board lets see what we deliver this year.

2011 Predictions for Organisations that use Web Technology

2011-01-09T09:24:00.005+08:00

Two years ago I called 2009 the "the year of the database" and in many ways I was right. Organisations wanted more from their web sites, email marketing enquiries and usage went up dramatically and prices for general web services went down as tools became more readily available.

View the Blog article here.

I think that social media has clouded the issue for organisations in the last 12 - 24 months. Trying to get your head around leveraging social media has been quite an exercise. Some organisation are doing it extremely well. Others, well they still haven't quite figured it out.

So this is what I think organisations will start to really focus on in terms of their technology and web outcomes for the year:

If you have invested in any technology then your really should have an very good understanding of your client data with multiple mechanisms by which to communicate and search that data. Therefore my first prediction is that customer data acquisition and usage will become more and more of a focus this year for marketers and business owners except their Agencies will need to go through a massive education process to understand how to leverage these technologies).
Prediction 2: The privacy of customer data will also start to become more of a focus for organisations
My final prediction is that organisations will start to attribute real value to their customer database in terms of revenue forecasting and even assigning a value in terms of an asset on the balance sheet where acquisitions are involved.

From a compliance and industry perspective we are well and truly in need of some Government Regulation. so I also predict that the Australian Government will take more of an interest in the data storage and usage of customers this year looking at possibly introducing new standards and legislation.

This year at Platform Interactive we will not only continue with our SaaS business suite that adds tremendous value to organisations using it for their web publishing, data collection, direct marketing and so forth, we will start to look at industry groups that we can help to start educating organisations with respects to the importance of customer data and how they use it.

Creativity (design) Vs Engineering!

2010-12-21T18:32:00.001+08:00

I remember first reading about design Vs engineering when I was studying my Masters Degree. I believe it was a HBR article with respects to the internal conflict at BMW. At the time I didn't think too much about the problem. It seemed reasonable but something that I probably wouldn't need to ever really consider solving.

I suppose it was just another one of those occasions where I had my head buried in the sand. 6 years into building our web business products it took a trip to the EO Cape Town University for me to finally realise how important that article really was and more importantly how important it is to Platform Interactive, with respects to the continuous development of our product suite.

What further cemented the importance of creativity to me was a recent presentation on my return by my team where a developer had produced a widget in a new release that I traditionally wouldn't have signed off on.
I presented that widget to a few customers and we got the "wow" factor. 2 days later a Government department signed off on the purchase of the software.

Design is all around us. No more so than the creativity and wow factor of the iPhone.From a users perspective I think they got so much wrong but it seems that Apple's funky innovation and design have landed them a winner.

Never again will design or creativity take a back seat when we develop our applications. The conflict will have to be resoved by the engineers so that we can make it work for our product and customers.

Fighting the Global SPAM issue

2010-10-22T11:53:00.000+08:00

After a recent set of unethical SPAM attacks against Platform Direct we have taken additional precautions against the Global SPAMMING industry.

Platform Interactive has now reported all of the recent activity to ACMA which also included suspect credit card transactions!

Platform Interactive will continue to fight the SPAM industry as best we can by securing our systems and securing our client's accounts. We believe that industry groups need to work more closely with Australian Government authorities to not only standardise the email marketing industry but create educational services to help organisations better understand electronic communications.

I think that all organisations that use email as a business tool whether it is just for communications or marketing has a vested interested to help prevent the growth of SPAM. People that professionally SPAM or SPAM on purpose are no more than common criminals.

Organisations that do not adhere to SPAM regulation on purpose should be subjected to more rigorous restrictions. Small organisations that have poor contact management need to be better trained with respect to best practice and what SPAM / permission based communications mean.

Need Vs Want - Applications that satisfy Vs Enterprise applications

2010-09-24T09:07:00.000+08:00

I'm not sure why our eLearning product (www.proficiencynow.com.au) has taken off. But is sure has! There are hundreds of eLearning applications out there and we certainly didn't plan to launch one a few years ago.

Can the kudos go to the chief architect of our base Platform? MAYBE!. But the more likely story unfolds like this. Enough of me blowing my own trumpet!

Mid tier and large organisations more and more are wanting smart applications to solve a need rather than a want. Whether this fits with an overall IT / Customer database strategy is arguable. However, the business cycle is placing more decision autonomy and accountability at middle and lower management. That means budgets are smaller, the problem solving needs are greater and the level of service required to accompany a solution must make sense.

We all know the deep dark hole that is IT. IT directors and CTO's all have a tough enough time ensuring that networks are up and running, desktops are fast and the organisation is secured against unwanted visitors. Then you have the early adopters that want iPads and other new gadgets integrated and deployed within the organisation. The problem with early adopters within an organisation is that these new gadgets and software applications pose a risk to the network, firewall security and other untimely issues not to mention the need to support such devices and applications. Early adopters need to have a level of empathy in large and mid sized organisations for the role performed by a CTO as it is difficult and can have a severe impact on an organisation's performance.

One issue that crops up regularly is of course the odd internal "IT Rambo" that thinks he can build everything from scratch or even worse using bits of open source code that s/he finds through a search result. Why do these "Rambo's" want to build everything and control the process? Quite simply their goal is to feel like their position is secure and irreplaceable. The flow on affect here can have significant a impact not just to organisational performance but legally as well. If customer records are not secured properly, fall into the wrong hands or are mistakenly given to an outsider then privacy laws are breached.The ramification here could be severe.

There is no doubt that the "IT Rambo's" that I am referring to will read this and get offended but they know who they are and perhaps they can reflect and learn a little from what I am saying. Believe me I was a Rambo for years. This blog is not meant for them but for business managers and owners that scratch their head and wonder why IT is failing their needs. Project over runs, non delivery and other painful phrases can be used to describe the anguish that organisations feel from failed IT projects.

Well after the past 10 years I can safely say no staff member is indispensable. Sure there may be some pain attached to someone leaving but no one is indispensable.Usually what happens when a Rambo leaves is that another Rambo is hired and the process starts all over again. How many times have you heard, "oh the web site CMS is terrible we'll need to start again". The empire building IT mentality doesn't work and in the long run it just causes more aggravation than it is worth. In the mean time can you answer this simple question: do you know where your data is? All of those precious client records you work so hard to attain - are they backed up?

Then there is the other end of the coin.... the Enterprsie Application Junkies. Can I claim a new acronym....EAJ?

EAJ is the other great problem that IT is renowned for.

"We need to put in SAP so that accounts can talk with ordering and the warehouse. So then lets spend $50,000 on SAP lite and $3 million on consultants to then tell us our business is flawed and we need to re-engineer our processes that have worked for 30 years."

Instead of solving business needs as they arise the IT department canvases the CEO and convinces s/he that an enterprise application is the only way to solve the organisation's needs. The poor middle manager at the business unit level is left to shovel paper work whilst SAP or some other massive system is scoped and delivered. 4 years later, $40 million over budget. Not only that but the 5 staff changes that have occurred have not only lost the intellectual property of the business that is required to deliver the solution but most likely thrown the project so far out of its original purpose that nobody knows what they are really trying to achieve and for what reason.

This may seem like a dig at SAP. It is not. They have targets to hit, like the rest of us. Their software implemented well is the best on the market but was it actually needed. Why was SAP or Oracle Financials chosen?

There is a general shift amongst organisations that is moving away from this EA thinking. The preference is to run 3 year pilot projects so that the business outcomes can be achieved within the time frame required.

After the 3 year period (or whatever the time frame designated) it is a good time to review the original requirements, the application performance and the outcomes achieved. Have the goal posts moved in those 3 years?

What IT departments need to realise is the more they support and guide these projects rather than hijacking the process and delivering an EA, the more we can rely on technology and the people that make the decisions.

One tip though - keep an eye out on your data and make sure you work with your IT team to have policies and processes around that data.

Small Business Owners Beware .....

2010-09-03T13:56:00.000+08:00

You can have the best software around but if small business relies on technical advisers that have a vested interest OR only understand one or two systems then how on earth can a business owner make an informed decision?

Strategy Planning

2010-08-02T15:05:00.005+08:00

Over the past few months our Digital Agency, Tentacle has won numerous jobs helping organisations plan and execute their digital needs. From communications through to web site structure and planning the results have been outstanding.

It highlighted that we should have been doing this years ago and now with the right structures within the business our clients are not only reaping rewards from our quality web development and products but now they are getting the execution that marries with their offline and overall strategic outcomes.

I suppose I was the only resource that did the high end strategy work previously. Given what I do simply it simply wasn't practical. Not only that I have delivered thousands of client and web project outcomes over the years and it was of little to no interest to me.

The catalyst for biting the bullet was seeing some of our low end customers paying for 3rd party strategy planning and getting delivered low end quality and what's more a regression on what they had! We simply needed to step up hold our clients hands through the Digital Planning process.

And what great success we have had so far.

For case examples contact our Agency and ask for Shane or Rob.

Communicate - SCC part 3

2010-05-19T07:15:00.000+08:00

When you run a search PPC campaign you think about your target audience and their click behaviour. For example it may be searchers segmented by geographic location, age, product need or any other criteria. This strategy combines the advertising planning process, functions available through the ad placement tools and the key words and phrases that you set for you campaigns. From there the general plan is to convert your click throughs into sales, leads or at worst subscribers to your database. What happens to that lead after you successfully convert a searcher into a subscriber? I mean if you think about it that searcher took time to click on your ad, fill in a form or even better buy a product and now they are expecting to hear from you.

Hence the third and equally important tactic is communicating to the converted searchers that are now subscribers to your marketing process.

Email marketing is an obvious next step. Before you get to that stage you can communicate very effectively and immediately through acknowledgement responses which ware an equally important strategy. What do I mean by that? Simple, if a form is submitted then you should acknowledge that form submission with an email, text message, thank you page or any combination of the three. What is the content and message going to the recipient or subscriber. Thank you messages are always so boring. This is your opportunity to spruce things up, make and offer or at least ensure your organisations contact details are obvious for the subscriber to use.

I suppose just with this one communication enhancement you are on the way to maximising your SCC strategy. I blogged this small communication piece to complete the three step process and get you thinking. I’ll keep adding to the entire strategy as time permits.

Convert - SCC Part 2

2010-02-24T06:08:00.000+08:00

When you decided to embark on your search strategy there must have been a reason? In the industry we use search to drive traffic for conversions. You lead a searcher to a web page to convert their search to an outcome (whatever that outcome is). Conversions include, ecommerce sales, enquires (phone, email or a web form), subscription to your database and so forth. Some organisations use search just to drive traffic to web sites and for brand development.

For search conversions Google Analytics conversion tracking has made our job a little easier in terms of explaining what search conversions are and how they work. Google of course gives you some tracking code to place into your web page to tell you if your searcher reached the page you wanted them too. Many users of this code place it in the “thank-you page” of an enquiry form or on the “receipt page” of an ecommerce application. These are legitimate places to track your conversions.

With search conversions explained now is the time to ask yourself, what are you going to try and achieve from you’re your successful search strategy? My council to you is to try and achieve search conversions and measure the total cost for all of your clicks each month against the total number of conversions. If for example you are paying $1,000 in clicks to sell $2,000 of products or services is search and online working for you?
Instead of converting clicks into immediate sales perhaps your conversion strategy is to build your database with qualified online enquiries. These enquiries can then be sold to at a later time or regularly communicated to so that you can build a relationship with the enquiry. Essentially you have acquired a lead through converting a click from you Pay-Per-Click search campaign. The way to measure the cost of acquiring this lead to is similar to measuring the cost of a sale. Take the total cost spent on clicks that are targeted to acquire the lead or build the database and divide that by the total number of leads / enquiries received. This gives you your Cost per Acquisition (CPA). CPA is an industry term used to describe this measurement.

Defining your search conversions is important. Knowing what you are aiming to achieve from your search marketing and what those conversions look like should be part of your PPC campaign planning.

Stay tuned for Communuicate and further conversion stratgies....

Search Convert Communicate - SCC

2010-02-18T08:31:00.005+08:00

My passion is creating software applications that businesses can extract measurable value from. Platform Direct has been built around a philosophy of Search - Convert - Communicate (SCC). Perhaps a new Wikipedia definition coming on? I felt it necessary to publish my philosophy and introduce yet another acronymn to the Internet, software and IT world!

Search
As we all know any web site producer wants their site to be found quickly and easily on the Internet through Google, Yahoo, Ask Jeeves, bing and other search engines. This means spending both money and time on optimising and submitting their web site so that web crawlers can easily find and index the content to help rank their web site and pages within the search engine that the crawler has come from. This is quite a random exercise and there are thousands of articles that address the random nature of the search rankings, how they work and why the search engines "tweak" their algorithms to improve the results. Of course the search engines will tell us it is to give searchers the most relevant result. The sceptics will say it is to sell more advertising and quite honestly I think it is a combination of both. Either which way you can never be quite certain which of your pages will index and under what search terms.

This makes it quite difficult to target your general web searches with conversion strategies like embedded forms that relate to specific content that you think the searcher has typed in. For example the searcher may have typed in "flowers" and you really wanted to target searchers looking for "flowers in Australia under $45". So on your web page you would struggle to have an offer targeted to the actual search phrase which means the quality of your conversions or enquiries may actually end up costing you money in terms of servicing random equiries instead of making you money.

So that brings me to pay-per-click advertising. Google Adwords, Yahoo Search Marketing and other various second tier offerings. The beauty of PPC is that you can define the search phrase / word match and present the searcher with a targeted advertisement that is designed to attract them to find out more by clicking on the link present in the Ad. You can also set where the searcher will be taken once they click on the link. The link can be any web address relevant to your Ad with the most effective outcome often being a targeted offer on your web site or a splash campaign web page designed to entice the user to buy, subscribe to your offer or make contact with your business. Competitions also work well with splash pages and campaign micro sites.

By targeting your search and providing a mechanism to convert your traffic into measurable outcomes, search will then become an integral part of your business and an effective one too.

Stay tuned for..... Convert

Platform's New Web Site

2009-11-19T09:31:00.001+08:00

www.platforminteractive.com.au is Live!

We have just launched a new web site and you forget how much effort goes into deploying a new site until you have to do it for yourself again. From wireframes to design, the information architecture strategy through to content development, copy writing, photos of staff etc etc It all adds up. Especially being a web development based company ourselves.

We have focused on 3 core elements for Platform Interactive:

Custom web developed software
Web site development and deployment on our Platform CMS; and
e-Training using the new Proficiency Now product that we sell.

Our flag ship products Verdi CMS and Platform Direct remain stand alone and will continue to grow their own presence.

Of course the success will be based on enquiries and conversions so I look forward to the results.

Social media is on my radar

2009-10-16T07:12:00.004+08:00

At Platform Interactive a significant proportion of our customers are B2B businesses. My key focus when consulting with them is often based around measurable results and conversions. The Internet is perfect for that. As you can expect though I am now being bombarded with Social Media questions. Should I be using Social Media? How can I leverage Social Media. I am a big believer that Social Media has it's place but ONLY when a business (B2B, B2C) has a platform or process to track and benefit from the traffic and leads that can come from a successful ongoing strategy.

My recent Press Release on the Platform Interactive web site gives an insight as to where my head is at for businesses that just follow trends with no outcome based measurements. Indeed how can Social Media be taking over more tried and proven online strategies?

Yesterday I caught up with David Warwick (ex Komosion / Komodo CMS) who I respect greatly and is one of the few of us who have delivered online strategy and proven web based products over the years in this over clustered web space. I asked David what the hell is going on in the Social Media space and have you seen any real results for B2B type outcomes?

I was truly amazed at what he showed me. From getting speaking gigs for himself through to the way that in 20 minutes a day he handles the entire Social Media process was astounding. I think we both left the pub still agreeing that measuring the outcomes was still the key to continuing success, but done right, social media with the correct strategy and underpinning processes is a very powerful tool. Lets wait and see who is actually getting it right though!!

Digital Ministry - Platform Interactive Limited Directory Listings

2009-09-18T14:45:00.001+08:00

Digital Ministry - Platform Interactive Limited Directory Listings

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Retail is it's own special field

2009-09-15T15:18:00.008+08:00

When we talk to web developers about Platform Direct and then demonstrate the application they completely understand the level of complexity that resides within the email templating and sending engine that has been combined with a sophisticated contact segmentation system giving marketers some serious control over their e-markeitng activities.

Well after spending some time helping a friend with his new Pub (The Great Northern, Carlton North) and sitting down over lunch with Carlo Santoro yesterday (Retail Care) it's plainly obvious that integrated Web based solutions for the retail sector are only just becoming a viable and commercially accepted alternative. I'm still not sure how worthy an integrated web solution for a pub really is? it is clear however that retailers are getting closer to needing an integrated web suite that connects them to their POS and inventory system however they really need organisations like Retail Care that completely understand their point of sale needs to be the catalyst or driver of their online requirements.

Organisations like the Just Group & Rip Curl still have not got an integrated retail web offering so what chance is there for the little retailers? I think there could be some hope with organisations such as Retail Care and PIL playing their expert parts and offering solutions that match progressive needs over time.

It's always good when two passionate entrepreneurs come together to discuss industry sectors, the challenges and solutions that could help to drive measurable change as Carlo and I did yesterday. What was even better was Carlo's offer to let me fly to Las Vegas from Los Angeles! This included a quick landing at the old Hong Kong airport, Kai Tak.

Carlo owns Flight Experience in Melbourne a Boeing 737-800 flight simulator situated in the QV building in the city.

Our approach and landing in Las Vegas really highlighted my lack of flying skills! Although 2 / 3 efforts in Hong Kong were reasonable. Either way it was a fantastic experience that I can't wait to send my father on. He's a keen flight simulator gamer from very early days. Those that can remember Tracon in the 80's / early 90's will understand how keen he is on this kind of stuff.

Some links that will get you excited include:

Flight experience Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/Flight-Experience/7940227241?ref=ts

Flight experience Twitter https://twitter.com/FlightExpQV

Flight experience Online store http://www.worldaviationexperience.com.au/store/

Flight experience Blog http://worldaviationexperience.com.au/blog/

Charging for News

2009-08-12T20:58:00.000+08:00

Rupert Murdoch's recent announcement that he is looking to introduce subscription based Internet news sites to help pay for quality journalism is well over due.

I can't see the problem in paying for our News. I mean we pay for newspapers. The subscription model they decide on will be fascinating. Monthly / Yearly subscriptions or pay for content like you pay for tracks on iTunes? Can we our money back if the news item we just read was terrible?

Currently the web sites run by news and Fairfax run at massive losses. I have no doubts many other major papers are losing money supporting their web sites. Whilst the Ad models are based around CPM I cant see too much changing in terms of profit, even with subscription. Agencies should reject CPM with subscription news services and demand a PPC model. We'll see!

Yahoo Portals Turn to PPC

2009-06-30T06:15:00.000+08:00

Finally some common sense! Yahoo has now released PPC on their portal homepages here in Australia.

I think it's a comproise with just sponsored links being the option however it's a start in fixing the online advertising joke of CPM.

EO Global Leaders Conference - Hong Kong

2009-06-02T15:58:00.000+08:00

The image to the left signifies that I am an EO member. EO stands for Entrepreneurs' Organization. I am about to join the board of EO in Melbourne and was sent to Hong Kong for membership training. What has this got to do with web marketing and the digital industry? A good question.

In Hong Kong I connected with hundreds of founders of businesses. The majority of these business owners were not online business owners but owners of businesses that included real estate development, law firms, manufacturing, call centres and software companies etc.

What I learnt was that as business owners we all were able to connect at a certain level. I also discovered that the entire industrialised World does not even come close to relying on digital marketing and web sites as we do in Australia, US and the UK.

I got that message from my visit to Singapore in January however I thought it may have been isolated. Sure email is a critical tool for most however search marketing, email marketing and web site conversions really seem to be far from the front of mind in Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

One fantastic outcome for the web entrepreneurs is that even in a saturated market there is still plenty of room for growth.

Privacy – Who’s got my details?

2009-05-20T15:03:00.000+08:00

When it comes to the Internet I often wonder just how many places my email address, mobile phone number and other personal information has ended up. It’s not like I am hiding my identity on the web, I write for my blog, my corporate web site, this web site and others however the real concerns come from the details that I have given to organisations that have requested them, banks I am with, government agencies and so forth.

I mean how many times are we requested to fill in a form online and where do those details reside? For business owners there is a good 10 point check list from the Privacy web site. Summarised it looks like this:

• Principle 1 - Collection
• Principle 2 - Use and disclosure
• Principle 3 - Data quality
• Principle 4 - Data security
• Principle 5 - Openness
• Principle 6 - Access and correction
• Principle 7 - Identifiers
• Principle 8 - Anonymity
• Principle 9 - Transborder data flows
• Principle 10 - Sensitive information

Download the pdf here: http://www.privacy.gov.au/publications/npps01.pdf

I am really interested in Principle 3, Data Security and Principle 9 Transborder data flows. It is a good time to point out that the Australian Federal Privacy Act stipulates that the act only apply if a commercial or not-for-profit organisation is turning over more than $3million annually. Why does the Act not apply for organisations that are smaller? Does that mean a huge retail organisation like Coles or Woolworths can abrogate their responsibility by engaging a small Digital Services company to perform email marketing tasks using a hosted solution in the US, India or China? The Act provides this out by stating that you can transfer personal data across borders if it is to fulfil a contractual obligation, i.e. perform email marketing for your client.

What about splash campaigns and web hosting offshore? Should we Digital Marketers be allowed to collect information off shore without giving warnings to the user? If we do provide a warning perhaps it should read:

“Dear User, you are about to fill in this form but we really do not know what the hosting provider may do with your information even thought we think it is only accessible by us, good luck as we have no clue!”

There needs to be a reform around the collection and hosting of personal data in the cloud and it’s something that we as an industry can set standards and frameworks to help protect us all.

Publishing with Digital Ministry

2009-03-31T07:03:00.000+08:00

I was recently accepted as a publisher to a pretty cool new industry web site, Digital Ministry. I like how they have created a directory for Internet businesses and service / product providers and have combined it with relevant articles from industry professionals.

It's worth a look. You'll find what i have to say at: http://digitalministry.com/AU/profile/5285/David.Barnes

Enjoy!

Google is only human!

2009-03-12T16:08:00.001+09:00

It had to come "Google to launch targeted ads based on your web browsing*". I mean there are no surprises, Google is a listed commercial entity with responsibilities to shareholders to build their profits. This initiative will do that. The "Don't be evil" mantra will soon become the biggest hoax and furphy since the dot com crash.

Personalised content serving has been around for years (it feels like centuries). Vignette and a few portal vendors in the late 90's and early 2000's were spruiking it as the next best thing, so why not have personalised tailored advertisements based off user behaviour from Google.

Well one thing we don't know is what next? Selling your data for other reasons? I think that the what if question is the community's main concern. The question: What are they doing with YOUR data? has not been answered and with this latest progression it really looks to me that the Google evil is on the way.

Software & web developers and who really made Google will start shying away at some stage and find an alternative.

It's going to get very very interesting.

* headline courtesy of news.com.au

Is Regulation The Way Forward?

2009-01-28T14:57:00.000+09:00

A deregulated market gives flexibility to businesses that operate in industries that have been regulated by governments and industry bodies. Often benefits flow to the consumer with better pricing and services. The issue that we are facing in the Web Software & Digital Services Industry is completely the opposite: There is a lack of regulation and appropriate control mechanisms.

For example: Where does a consumer go to find accredited suppliers of Digital Marketing Services? If someone is Google Accredited does that mean they are able to consult on Yahoo or know when to NOT use Google and perhaps try more traditional direct marketing?

Clearly AIMIA is acting like an industry body but what standards are they putting in place? Do consumers and marketers know that they even exist and even if they do, what powers does AIMIA have to enforce some standards in the industry.

Then of course there is the online development. Choosing the right technology for a business is tough enough. Typically large organisations use Business Analysts, Software Architects, Software Engineers and many more experts to help determine their business needs and technology requirements. So where does a small - large business turn to to find suppliers to provide consistent reliable development and best practice?

Typically there isn't an industry body that can help regulate development and list suppliers that meet and provide standards based development. Indeed the only standards that can be adhered too are industry based data standards and this really doesn't help when it comes to software design standards, historical project delivery and other key technical items.

What happens is that the constant failure of IT related software projects do not allow organisations to achieve the outcomes based objectives they originally set. Also CEO's & CFO's are then baffled why systems are often needed to be rebuilt after 3 years or even less!

I hate to say it but it's time that a professional body takes some ownership of the problems this over supplied and under qualified industry is having. Training certifications that are standards and achievements based need to be devised and adhered to. An industry body that is substantial in terms of it's public awareness, fairness and standards that consumers are aware of and that they can go to for guidance when looking to invest into critical web applications and digital services.

Just a thought!!!

2009 Year of the Database

2009-01-08T13:48:00.000+09:00

2009, more than ever will be the year of the Database. More web enabled database projects were delivered last year than ever before. This year will see organisations look to their database for a better understanding of their business, their customers and of course to communicate more effectively with all customers and stakeholders

Top Predictions

List building and broking will increase in popularity.
Database reviews will occur with many organisations finding they will need to start again due to poor information architecture from the outset.
Email Marketing will continue to grow in popularity.
CRM will have another huge year.

Digital Agencies

2008-12-17T22:55:00.000+09:00

There seems to be more Digital Experts cropping up these days then fluctuations on the ASX. We used to just rescue poor web development jobs where business owners paid for work to be dont that was never completed or failed to meet expectations. But now there is even more mess out there in the Internet business community.

Twice in 2 months we've had companies that have come to us wondering why their Adwords campaign is costing them $8,000 per month ($8,000!!!!! for 2 different companies) and they couldn't see what they were getting for their money. I mean fine Google has click through tracking but if no conversion or call tracking is involved and worst of all sales aren't improving then what were there Digital Experts doing.

What's worse is that to pick up business these Digital Experts wait until a well formed budget runs out and then contacts the marketing managers saying that their Adwords campaigns (PPC) isn't working properly, when in fact it is, right in line with a balanced strategic digital campaign that is designed to maximise client return.

It takes more than running PPC campaigns to be a Digital Marketer.

Web Site ROI & Project Delivery

2008-10-30T10:24:00.000+09:00

Generating a return on investment (ROI) from your web site should be an easy affair. Gone are the days of a brochure based web site whereby the information published to the site becomes out of date over night.

To successfully achieve a ROI from your web site the planning phase of the project needs to meet the ongoing business requirements, increased sales targets and offline marketing requirements of your business. Being able to generate reports based on criteria that are identified as being important to the success of your business and web site will begin to demonstrate that the 24 hour online shop front is returning significant value.

Key reporting variables that is often used includes number of page visits, time of visits to the web site (after hours is a good online indicator), subscribers to your eNewsletter, sales leads, online sales (eCommerce), employment requests, number of changes to your web sites per month and so on. By combining these factors plus many more a business can begin to demonstrate web site ROI.

Gone also are the days where a web developer needs to be paid just to perform updates to the web site. By managing your web site using administrative or marketing resources instead of paying a web developer a business will increase the effectiveness of the site as well as reduce ongoing costs of running a web site. Web site publishing tools are prolific today however many fail to meet the ongoing business requirements of an organisation. Just being able to edit some areas of your web site will not generate a return on investment alone.

By following a well constructed plan, choosing a company that will aid you in understanding how to leverage the web and being diligent about the tools you purchase to manage your web site will generate a significant returns from your investment.

It is also a good time to start planning what results you are looking for from the site. For example if you are looking to increase you member database allocate realisable targets and start to determine what you are going to do with the information once you collate it. With these parameters in mind it will give your project team a better understanding of the outcomes whilst also providing some governance over the web delivery team.

Some key items that can be flagged before engaging your web development team include committed project timelines, project methodology, past experience, referral clients and or course fixed pricing. So many web development businesses find it acceptable to deliver a project over a series of months if at all!

When choosing your web developer ensure references are checked and ask the referees the tough questions that may include; how long have other projects take? Did the web site meet your expectations? and finally; Are we purchasing a supported product or freeware or custom solution?

Most web developers cannot demonstrate successful project delivery cycles within 1 month of accepting a deposit; even fewer have a product strategy and virtually no local vendors support products with regular upgrades and feature enhancements. We hear the same stories over and over again.

Once choosing a vendor and deciding to create your interactive web site the next phase of the project is the planning and delivery cycle. This phase will determine the success of the project with communication with your vendor, emarketing best practice and leveraging search engine crawlers.

All business managers that are involved in the interactive web site project have a series of tasks that are essential to the success of a project. By planning the structure of the web page(s) including functional requirements drawn in, creating sitemaps and of course developing content maps that meet best practice sets clear expectations and guidelines. Web designers and developers will then be able to deliver to a set of instructions that will reduce delivery time, reduce the occurrence of unexpected issues and increase the effectiveness of the web site.

During the design and technical delivery phase it is a time that business managers can reflect and plan on the functional and database marketing results that will govern the success of the project. Although these parameters were discussed in the planning phase a more detailed digital plan and reporting dashboard can now be developed. The plan will set key performance indicators for board reporting and ongoing tweaks to the site during it’s life cycle. Historic reporting or industry standards should also be used for benchmarking purposes.

The planning phase also will determine search engine marketing results and emarketing effectiveness. Expert advice should be sought to maximise results.

Point Of Sale Material

2008-06-25T14:04:00.000+08:00

If I was a retail shop owner selling, lets say levi's jeans, and planning to sell online then why would I not be asking for both instore and online POS material from my supplier?

Web 2.0, Web 3.0 - Or the Real Future?

2008-06-17T12:15:00.001+08:00

Whilst digital agencies and web developers try and give the industry credibility through new acronyms designed to impress marketing managers, the underlying future of the internet is the it's eventual ability to close the gap between search technology, knowledge sharing and streaming video.

Imagine if the video script could be rendered and returned in real time through search results and eventually categorised in some meaningful way. This will therefore lead to a knowledge base of billions of hours of video otherwise only currently categorised by title, author and other current records keeping methodologies. We could eventually search by phrase content, character ascent and much more. This change the way knowledge is recorded and published. Some way to go I think.

I'm sure other Internet visionaries have probably thought of this concept before, indeed it came to me via a conversation I had in January 2008 with a possible acquisition target for my business. Other than the obvious synergies between an internet software company and a film studio (interactive videos for our customers), I just couldn't see how there was a fit. The generic concept of how the synergies could evolve into a giant green screen portal was lost on me over the pasta and red wine at lunch.

Something though was triggered in my entrepreneurial brain. Quickly I dismissed it as something that would require all Google financial resources with years and years of voice, lip and ascent technology with billions more lines of code.

That's the beauty of software development and the internet. The benefits to society are endless. Although this idea is just abstract I could name just a few significant benefits:
¨ The search for knowledge trapped in video could unlock lost knowledge that could save lives;
¨ If the voice recognition technology converting video to script could benefit the deaf in ways I can only imagine
¨ Read the latest transcript from the Kofi Annan online in seconds rather than wait for translators to transcribe and publish the event online ... and so forth

What has this got to do with the Web 2.0 & Web 3.0 issue I have? Well it's simple, if the Internet marketers and spruikers have a true vision for the Internet and 3.0 is the roadmap to getting there then I lay down my arms and will eat humble pie. However, there isn't a technical roadmap that I know of that doesn't grow in incremental stages, such as 2.1 2.2 2.3 etc. It seems to me that the buzz created around Ajax, and browser time processing caught the attention of clients and made the spruikers look smart whilst finally dismissing the calamity of dotcom with 2.0.

I don't think 2.0 or 3.0 really have much to do with anything truly visionary or clever for the internet giving web developers and digital marketers a few acronyms to make themselves look like there are the cutting edge of the Internet. The vital question comes back to haunt those that engage - what is in it for my business and how will that help us?

David Barnes has been responsible for delivering hundreds of web related projects since 1997. Since then he has been responsible for the development of numerous web and e-marketing related products. Now a director of international web software manufacturer Platform Interactive he regularly presents on e-Marketing and web business around Australia.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=David_J_Barnes

FaceBook Wins Hands Down

2008-06-13T15:05:00.000+08:00

Below is a recent article from the company I work for: Platform Interactive

In a recent poll conducted on the TeamVodafone.com web site we asked the site visitors which social networking web sites they preferred.
The clear winner was Facebook with 41.58% of voters using the web site for blogging their lives. Not surprisingly with 56 votes and 27.72% of the vote in clear second place was no social networking.
Platform Interactive will continue to monitor the social networking space to ensure we choose the right media and right strategy for our customers. The results of the poll with 202 votes can be seen in the table below.

MySpace
37 votes, 18.32 %
Facebook
84 votes, 41.58 %
Yahoo Groups
5 votes, 2.48 %
Other
20 votes, 9.90 %
None
56 votes, 27.72 %

"As the next generation of Digital Marketers try and force the hand of companies they consult for into the social networking space I am not clear of the value proposition for businesses. With the continued pressure for resources, measurable return on investment and value for money I think CEO's and Marketing Directors should be focusing on the direct marketing experience and the software that drives their businesses." says David Barnes. "Although the blogging of individuals lives is certainly a current Web 2.0 fad, the business proposition is negligible."

End of an era

2008-05-28T20:33:00.000+08:00

2008 sees the end of a 4 year relationship with the Perth Wildcats. Don't look beyond past this being more than just a business decision.

The Cats were great, Andrew Vlahov, Troy and the team really looked after us and made sure we delivered excellence for the entire four years.

It's funny because the NBL chose Sportal over Platform Interactive as their interactive provider. The Wildcats were the only team in the ENTIRE league not to sell their web site to the NBL / Sportal combination.

I wonder why? Probably because the Cats already had the best site in the league already. Sportal has now delivered nbl.com.au. YUK!!! Check out how they handle a sub site -

Sportal's site is hardly the quality site(s) that we we built for the Cats on our CMS . We excelled and it was a delight seeing the site grow each year.

It becomes pretty clear that if you make a poor technology choice your web site, capabilities, design and scalability will probably end up like Sportal's effort.

So why cancel the sponsorship? I suppose it comes down to how hard your money is working for you.It's funny, the community based sponsorships such as Swan Districts FC, Collegians FC and so forth really work hard to promote your brand and bring you business. I thought that was just because they were small. However after sponsoring Team Vodafone (Peter Jamieson has been an inspiration) and getting TV exposure, brand exposure and a national team that really partners with it's sponsors it became clear that the focus needed to be on those types of relationships.

The Wildcats will still hold a special place for me and the team at Platform and I wish them all the success this year in the NBL

Bluetooth, got a long way to go

2008-05-27T18:15:00.000+08:00

At the Melbourne Grand Prix this year we ran a blue tooth campaign in conjunction with Team Vodafone, Comms Online and Gorgeous Films.

Comms Online supplied the blue tooth hardware, Gorgeous Films provided the talent (Stacy, head Melbourne Storm Cheerleader) and did the video taping and production and we supplied the Team Vodafone relationship, strategy and implementation.

The strategy was simple, we plastered the race track with "Switch on your bluetooth" posters as seen above. Once the fans went past the team pits they were sent the video with Stacey. Then all they had to do was go to the merchandise stand to enter the draw for a chance to win the prizes.

Well it didn't pan out like we hoped. First of all the bluetooth application can't detect what video type phones will receive (RM, WMV, MP4) thus many of the recipients failed to see the video.

Secondly, and it's fairly obvious, half the phones around don't have bluetooth on or don;t have it at all so we got caught there.

Finally bluetooth technology just isn't ready.

In hindsight, we should have used a simple jpeg. Did we make the campaign too complicated? Possibly! It could have been an SMS activated response instead of going to the merchandise store.

To wrap up: my new car's bluetooth radio receiver is buggy and just today I was just on the phone to a client that has a bluetooth car radio system that is also buggy.

I think the powers to be that created bluetooth devices have some work to do.

Google - The price reflects my last blog

2008-04-06T08:52:00.000+08:00

I'm certainly NO Google bash'er however I refer to my last blog "Yahoo has it hands down, December 09, 2007".

By looking at the Google strategy and their small foray into "EVERYTHING" it only seemed reasonable to assume that other search engines would catch up in terms of the search and advertising offering that Google is well rebound for.

The problem they face is that it was the web developers that gave Google the tick of approval. Now they are starting to encroach on their original market and as sure as Global Warming is occurring the web development community is starting to bork at Google.

The chart above which has been lifted from "http://quotes.nasdaq.com/" shows the Google share price 5th April 2008 shows the business investor community also sharing similar sentiment. Sure you can relate the drop to the sub prime mortgage issue but surely the company that has the highest annuity income of all time couldn't be too affected by the mortgage lending issues in the USA.

Let's see what they do next.

David Barnes

Yahoo has it hands down

2007-12-10T12:17:00.000+09:00

The revenue figures may not reflect it however there is a swing in the web marketers space away from Google and back to Yahoo!. Remember when Yahoo was the king of search in the 90's. Well I think their back.

Although Google has a beta video search already released it's new iGoogle search has missed the mark. The Yahoo interface is far more targeted and with the Channel 7 Australia hook-up is giving us far better news, sport and community content.

Not only that, Yahoo/Overture have finally fixed their PPC campaign advertising interface that put off so many of us off in the past. It's far easier to get a client online and the charges are far better value than what is on offer through the Google.

All in all with Google trying to complete in the software arena instead of being a competitive search portal the swing will continue to shift.

Are Advertising Agencies Kidding?

2007-08-01T18:50:00.000+08:00

How many web sites do you vist that just haven't been planned properly? What's worse is how many advertising agencies have FLASH only web sites or just plain poor non functional web sites. I actually haven;t seen an Ad Agency that has well strctured and well planned web site. Yet Ad Agencies produce some of the World's largest brand web sites that are possibly the worst I have ever seen. They'll tell you that it's part of the client's overall marketing strategy and advertising support mechanis however this is just to cover up their lack of interactive knowledge and lack of technical understanding.

Has anyone seen a good Ad Agency web site????

David Barnes

Google - making a killing - SEO makes sense

2007-07-22T20:28:00.001+08:00

Clients ask me all the time - when should I pay for adwords (PPC) and when should I pay for SEO? The answer is simple you should be doing both in a balanced and structured way.

Ask yourself - are you happy paying $5.00 per click? No - neither am I - so instead we rank very highly in the organic section of the search results.

It's funny - in 2004 a federal government department (shall remain unnamed) paid us to run their Adwords campaign. The brief was such that they had thousands to spend in 3 months on some very popular keywords. Of course back then, cost per click had a small demand and so we struggled spending hundreds of dollars on targeted campaigns such as "business" yet alone thousands :-)

Today on those same keywords and phrases we could spend thousands in one day. Even bidding hundreds of dollars on some words. The real winner here is Google. Other winners are the search engine optimisers (SEOers) and search engine marketers.

Both strategies are valid however common sense should prevail.

David Barnes MBA MAICD
Executive Director

Platform Interactive Pty Ltd
P. +61 (0) 3 8620 2600
W. http://www.platforminteractive.com.au

Commerce Queensland - Platform Interactive lends a hand with TeamVodfone

2007-07-08T16:49:00.000+08:00

The Commerce Queensland networking event held at the Sofitel in Brisbane on July 5th 2007 had 165 people register.

Platform Interactive was able to secure Craig Lowndes, Jamie Whincup & Peter Jamieson from Triple Eight Race Engineering to present about the V8 Supercar season so far.

In addition to having the guys come along we managed to secure a signed Team Vodafone T-Shirt combined with PPQ's donation of the 3 personal number plates "TRP 08" that was framed and auctioned. I was asked to nominate a charity and of course in line with our sponsorship of Variety Australia.

The auction raised $5,000 for the unique auction item. What a great success.

The picture (right) shows the Platform Logo is on the "splitter" of the race car. In the background I am presenting the benefit analysis of the teamvodafone.com project so far.

David Barnes
http://www.platforminteractive.com.au

web development globally - where are we heading

2007-06-26T20:04:00.000+08:00

It's been a while since my last blog, mainly because we have been so busy help companies take their next step online and rescuing more and more "cow boy" web development projects.

The search phrase, web development australia, yields 103,000,000 google results the way I just searched. That is an amazing amount of competition for business related web sites and subsequent development work.

Where does one begin? How can someone find the actual truth? If I was just starting out in the industry again I wouldn't know who to believe and where to turn.

Does Microsoft know what they are doing? Surely not, arguably their search engine was around when Google built their unbeliveable empire.

What about the advertising companies and the dedicated web marketing companies that know very little about the software that drives best practice and are more concerned with CTR's, CPM impressions and where to place another corporate spend.

Are the big companies getting real conversions from online advertising or is a case of the "we'd better play in that channel because everyone else is" type attitude. Not from the figures I have seen.

Search engine optimisers have their place but are they demonstrating conversion value for money? Should your site be well optimised? Yes but why?

PHP Vs .Net, open source Vs Microsoft, supported applications vs non supported.....

Glad I'm not at the beginning again.

Business Beware

2007-04-04T06:50:00.000+08:00

My last blog related to open source and shareware software used to edit web sites. The resultant data loss due to hackers exploiting security holes in the code base was devastating for hundreds of Melbourne based businesses. This has highlighted another critical issue, web database hosting.

How much is your database worth? Have you got 100, 1,000 or 10,000+ client contacts? When considering the right web hosted solution for your business you also need to consider your relationship with the hosting provider. In most countries there are privacy legislations that are designed to provide protection to the client information that you hold.

Ask yourself the following questions when considering saving $5 per month on web application hosting:

Does the hosting provider provide regular database backups?
If the hosting provider closes downs can you retrieve your information?
Will the hosting provider access your private information and use it for their benefit?
Will the hosting provider SPAM your clients or sell their email addresses?
Can you get written guarantees that the hosting provider will return your information if they close or are taken over?

Businesses need to beware of their handling of client information and the true cost of being irresponsible. We see it everyday and think company's should be held more accountable for their client information.

Over Supply and Under Delivery

2007-03-19T18:17:00.000+09:00

I've spent most of my working Internet & web software development life delivering successful projects that meet stakeholder requirements and expectations. Too often clients come to me and people in my organisation (Platform Interactive) after:

losing money with their current web site developer
becoming dissatisfied with their web developer
never achieving the results they were promised

The worst part of the whole equation is that more web development companies are cropping up, download security riddled shareware (Mambo, Joomla etc) implementing the software and not supporting it properly.

Don't get me wrong there are thousands of successful implementations of open source shareware running successful web sites that meet stakeholder requirements. At what point does this software become dangerous and unreliable?

There was a classic example of a irresponsible web development company in Melbourne that had about 100 installations of Mambo for clients. They didn't know what they were doing and of course in came the hackers...... end of story and of course the sites were not supported and the clients LOST their entire database.

It's a jungle out their and it is a buyer beware market.

Link Exchanges

2007-03-12T08:57:00.000+09:00

I have always been a believer that link exchanges offer no true value to your targeted SEO unless the link exchange is within you targeted audience. We have been exchanging links with a US based link exchange. Has it added true value? Probably not. Has google picked up our link on these sites? Yes. (type in to the google search bar link:www.platforminteractive.com.au).

Good link exchanges will be sgement targeted and geographically oriented. The world certainly needs more quality link exchanges.

David Barnes

Web Marketing Plans

2007-02-28T06:33:00.000+09:00

The more clients are turning to the web for revenue, increased efficiencies and leverage the more confused and disgruntled they are becoming. The true successes are coming from the well structured sites that move strategically, growing in a progressive manner based on return on investment reinvestment triggers.

How many under capitalised projects fail because of poor web marketing planning?

Google Adwords

2006-10-08T09:34:00.000+08:00

When creating an Adwords account it is important not to share keywords and phrases between adgroups. Your account will slow down or stop. Adwords is a terrific way to create brand awareness with respects to how you want your customers to understand your business.

By setting country and city specific campaigns you will increase your effectiveness driving traffic you really want rather than a general surfer that never buy your product or service. Adwords is a far more targeted solution than SEO. By combining both you will maximise your online effectiveness through search engines.

Email Marketing Australia

2006-09-25T16:39:00.000+08:00

Out of the hundred of clients that I have met with and thousands of people I chat to about this topic the largest variable in the email marketing space in Australia seems to be the benefits that direct database marketing can have for businesses large or small.

In Sydney many businesses don't regard the topic and are only starting to embrace the thought -- I am part of a conference addressing email and direct online marketing in October 2006
http://www.platforminteractive.com.au/news.php?newsid=20

What are your thoughts on email marketing in Australia? Is emerged and email marketing on the forefront of minds or just another addition to the already crammed management and promotion space?

Look forward to hearing your thoughts....

David Barnes
Director
Platform Interactive