from StoryPeople.

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I launched an affiliate site over the weekend. It was a bit of an experiment for me and I wanted to write down the process and results.

A couple of months ago on a whim I registered the domain (shut your eyes if you are offended easily) stopwatchingfuckinglost.com after talking about Gary Vaynerchuk to some of my friends.

The domain was taken from a quote in the first video I ever saw of Gary – his Web 2.0 keynote speech in 2008.

At the time I was working day and night to get my consultancy up and running, had just started this blog and what he said resonated with me – the idea of really knowing your subject before you try to make a living from it, working hard, knowing who you are and embracing the ‘hustle’ involved with business creation and growth.

When I bought the domain I had no idea what I would do with it. I’ve thought briefly about it every so often and while I was browsing garyvaynerchuk.com I watched this video about his new book being available for pre-order.

I’d signed up to be an Amazon affiliate with intentions of selling books from another domain that is in development so I thought – here we go – there’s my business goal for the site.

I sketched out a design, had a think about the content and social media aspects of the site and settled on creating a simple one page site with rich media and network sharing tools via Twitter and Email.

I got about creating the site – using Tweetmeme button for the Twitter sharing tool and FreeTellaFriend for the email a friend tool.

I embedded the keynote speech with the magic words in it, into the page and wrote a diddy about how inspiring Gary Vaynerchuk is and with his lessons anyone can make a living doing something they love with a picture of the new book and an affiliate link.

Got the go ahead from Gary (yes an actual email, HOW EXCITING!) and launched the site.

Within 20 minutes I’d taken the site down.

Why?

Because the content of the site was all about me and what I wanted to get out of it. It was all about why it’s a great idea to buy this book and it was all about getting the visitor to click on that affiliate link and purchase the book.

It didn’t offer anything new or exciting or useful to the visitor – why would they pass it on? I wouldn’t.

I had a think about my audience – people who know about Gary Vee like to talk about him – his charm is the inspiration he offers and his direct way of delivering that inspiration.

The answer was in the domain – a page with inspirational business/web 2.0/doing-what-you-love-to-make-a-living quotes – that’s something I’d pass on while still being inspired to pre order the book - reaching my business goal for the site.

So that’s what’s up there now. It’s a work in progress. If you haven’t heard of Gary please watch the video it’s WELL worth the time. If you have - I’d love to hear what your favorite Gary Vee quote is!

Filed under: Business, Inspiration
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This is a cute and inspiring video.

Remember when you were a kid…

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The latest profile I have for you is from Jo Klima, freelance designer and founder of The Darling Tree.

Jo is based on the Gold Coast - we met through Twitter and have just completed a client project together.

Working with Jo was an absolute pleasure - she was easy to work with and always delivered on her responsibilities quickly and professionally - so I thought I’d introduce you all to her today!

Her specialty is smart, feminine design - if you’re in the market for a website design or redesign it would pay to have a chat to Jo.

Q) How long have you been working online as a designer?

I graduated from a Bachelor of Design (Graphic Design) at QCA in 2004 and over the following 4 years worked with companies producing designs for online software and web development.

Although my Uni degree focused on print design the work involved at the companies allowed me to venture into online design, however I think the principles of typography and layout I was taught at Uni definitely helped me become a better web designer.

After many months of planning, at the end of 2008 I made the move to full time freelancing by creating The Darling Tree, and 2009 has seen steady growth in the business and many new and wonderful clients.

Q) As a freelance designer, what are your top tips to keeping multiple projects organised and on schedule?

• Regularly updating your clients on your progress is a good way of keeping track yourself.
• If you have promised to deliver work at a certain time, it becomes a priority to have it done by that time.
• I also allow for some leverage on when I complete the work, that way if urgent requests arise I still have sufficient time to deliver the work, and if they don’t then I can provide the work earlier than expected - happy clients either way!

My main organisational tool is the good old daily and weekly To-Do List.

Q) Good web design is an essential ingredient to a brand’s success online. What are three elements that every well designed website should have?

1. A clear focus and goal for the website, whether it be sales, inquiries or members. The website must be planned accordingly to succeed in that area.
2. A well-built site is important so a client can easily update it, or refresh the design as the business grows or changes
3. A beautiful design which is not only functional but also represents your company and it’s personality.

Q) Do you have any online projects that you’ve created for yourself?

I’ve always had a long list of side projects I’d like to do, and while it is growing I have found some time recently to launch a few small projects.

Chandeliera was launched in early May and was inspired by my love for chandeliers.

I also started a mini blog at Gold Coast Designer to showcase new work to the local market.

A while ago I started Miss Jo which I have plans to develop further later this year, among other exciting ideas!

Q) Are you available for hire?

Yes, I’d love to hear from anyone looking to improve their branding or online presence, simply send me an email at jo@thedarlingtree.com or visit The Darling Tree.

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I got introduced yesterday as Clare, who works in Social Media.

I thought - hang on, I work online but not exclusively in social media - then I thought to myself - aren’t they the same thing?

Social media really just describes the way that people use and behave on the internet now.

If there’s anything “new” about it it’s that the term Social Media signifies that there has been a shift in behaviour and the technology developed to facilitate that behaviour.

So what does this mean for business? The way you interact and use the internet needs to be examined - for business growth and to keep up with expectations of users.

The most significant change for most businesses includes the fundamental shift in thinking about marketing using Social Media/the internet in it’s current state - that is to realise that Social Media has given people a voice that is more immediate and far reaching then ever before.

Your brand is not so much “your” brand as it is your audience’s brand to do with it what they will.

Be prepared.

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It’s not as world-changing as Dr Kings (obviously) but it is mine and I’m going to make it happen.

In the spirit of “putting it out there” I’m going to share a secret with you that I’ve held for 14 years.

I want to explore the world while working for myself and running a profitable business.

I’ve dreamt about it since the first time I logged on to the Internet in 1995 and visited the website of the the Musee d’Orsay (which I visited in Paris for the first time in Jan ’09 and it was INCREDIBLE).

Inspired by the fact that I had found a way to feed my thirst for knowledge about the world – at 14 I decided to take IT and Art as electives at High School so that I could work in the Internet/Design industry.

My dream was one of the reasons that I choose my university degree – Communication Design in 1998. It was only the second round of this new degree focusing on communicating through new media – Multimedia and the Internet.

I imagined living my dream would be like being a nomad or a gypsy - but with money. It turns out I wasn’t the only one with that dream and there are people everyday living this work/life mesh while exploring the world. They call themselves digital nomads or location independent.

Back then I figured there were a couple of ways to do this:

• Get a good job with a successful business and get sent around the world on business trips.
• Get a good job, save up every cent, go away for a while, come back – repeat.
• Move somewhere  more central – e.g. London, get a good job there, save up, go on shorter more frequent trips.

I soon realised there were a couple of problems with these solutions.

I left Brisbane and went travelling the day after my final Uni exhibition – to the usual suspects – Europe and the U.K. I had a brilliant time but returned with – you guessed it – zero money.

I did get a good job after Uni and within 6 months of working I was on a plane to Boston to attend a Search Engine Strategies conference (in 2001). Again, I had a great time – a 21 year old girl travelling alone to Boston working in online gaming – I met some interesting characters and fell in love with the city.

However, the trip was short and yes – I got paid when I was over there but one essential element was missing – freedom.

I had decided I didn’t want to move to London after seeing it after Uni and not loving it (although it was mid-winter).

I decided I was happy just working away in a full time job – I was still employed in the Internet industry and deep down I knew that I always wanted my own business one day so I was happy with my 5 day a week job.

I held on to the dream by spending that time observing what worked in these businesses and what didn’t and getting as much experience in as many facets of online business and marketing as possible.

After 7 years I’d had enough of working for “The Man” (literally).

It was time to go for it.

I left my job and started working for the family business as their Marketing Manager. I never thought I’d work for the family business - being quite determined to “do it all” on my own – however the opportunity to work four days a week while I was setting up my business was too good to pass up.

It turns out to be the best thing I could have done – I got to see the real behind the scenes of how business works and be involved with it. That experience has been priceless.

So here I am now.

My consultancy is up and running and doing well – so well I’ve had to pass on new inquiries and/or refer jobs to other people but what’s got me really excited is two projects I’m working on – and when* they succeed I can start living out my dream.

Ever since I’ve had the consultancy I’ve also had internal projects to test out different online business models – the results are in and I’m placing my bets on two new ventures.

The first (which will be released very soon) is a business model that is not location dependent and draws on my 9 years of commercial online experience – tick.

The second (still very much in dev) again, is not a business model that requires me to stay in Brisbane and is based on an issue I’m passionate about – tick.

Exciting times here – exciting times indeedy!

What’s your dream?

*If you don’t believe you can do it, you won’t.

P.S. If this type of thing interests you - I thought I’d share this practical and inspirational website that I’m loving at the moment - The Art of Non Conformity - Unconventional Strategies for Life, Work and Travel.

Filed under: Business, Living
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I’ve got an annoying habit of holding off on launching a project until it’s been polished and polished and is “just right”.

Sometimes my perfectionist streak extends itself to not even starting projects until I’m sure I’ve thought of the absolute best, most efficient to go about developing the project.

Early this year I received a post card from Brisbane based Cutts Creative stuck into a package for their 2009 calender. It was a cheeky way of telling people that the delivery was a bit late due to unforeseen circumstances.

I keep it above my desk as a reminder that it’s better to get something out then to…not.

Filed under: Starting Up
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I’ve spent most of today developing my shop and researching e-commerce best practices.

I did spend a little bit of my day at IKEA - but you know what - if you’re going to work for the bigger percentage of each day, every day,  give up your social life and dedicate yourself to a dream (oh that doesn’t sound so bad actually…anyway…) you’re allowed a bit of time to pick up super cheap candles and accessories (and eat Swedish meatballs for lunch).

Enjoy.

• The Ten Ways Twitter Will Permanently Change American Business
• 107 Add to Cart Buttons of the Top Online Retailers
• 12 Tips For Designing an Excellent Checkout Process

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I don’t know why that sounds like a children’s book title to me but it does.

Maybe it’s because I’ve got books on the brain, you see I’m in the middle of developing my first online shop and it has something to do with books…I’ve always wanted to own a book store and now I’ve figure out a way to do just that!

That’s all I can say about that for now - other then it’s incredibly exciting and has the potential to take my business in a whole new direction.

May has been an busy month here at Lancaster HQ. I’ve received some great feedback and exciting opportunities from the couple of articles that were published, wrapped up a few client projects and dived into developing my new business.

I’ve also done a bit of soul searching - seems funny to admit it, but I’ve gotten a bit self conscious about this blog and for the past month haven’t known what to write.

I got to thinking that the only posts I should write are fully formed, helpful online marketing ones for my readers - while that’s a big part of my every day life it’s not the only thing I wanted to write about here and it’s not the reason I started this blog.

So from here on in, this blog will be a spot to record my inspirations, every day life and business adventures with a bit of online business/strategy/communications advice thrown in too.

I hope you like it.

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Welcome to readers of Virgin Blue Voyeur Magazine (p84-88) or the equally fabulous Dynamic Business Magazine.

Thanks for visiting - let me introduce myself and show you around.

My name is Clare Lancaster – I created my first website in 1995 and was using ‘social networking’ in 1996. I studied Communication Design at QUT in 1998 and started my commercial career as a Search Engine Optimisation Specialist (SEO) in 2001.

If you’re interested in knowing more you can find out about my background and what I’m up to now here.

If you have read my article with Glenn Wheeler you might want to know more about the “Using Twitter for Business” eBook available for $14.95 or you may be interested in my consultancy Dot Marketing.

Thank you for visiting and feel free to have a look around the blog and visit my other websites:

Dot Marketing Consultancy www.dotmarketing.com.au

Are you a woman in business? Take a look at www.womeninbusiness.com.au and feel free to submit you business to the directory - the website will be up and running soon.

Get up to date and learn how to use Twitter for business or pleasure at www.twitterguide.com.au

Filed under: Business, Small Business, Twitter, Websites
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