In the lead-up to last year’s election, Kevin Rudd’s Federal Labour promised to revolutionise Australia’s internet infrastructure by creating a new “world class” National Broadband Network. The National Broadband network will be produced in partnership with the private sector at a cost of $4.7 billion dollars over a five year period.

It is hoped that together with Labour’s Education Revolution, the much needed solution to Australia’s broadband woes will provide the platform to build and expand Australian Business.  The National Broadband Network will connect 98 percent of Australians to highspeed broadband at speeds up to 40 times faster than most current connections with a minimum of 12 megabits per second.  With my primative 2MB connection, I personally can’t wait!
(Source alp.org.au )

My name’s Vu and I am one of the writers for GO Blog. Having already made a few posts on Goblog.com.au, I only just realised that I have not yet properly introduced myself. With a background in management and small business website design, I will be covering news and topics relating to conducting business online and the things you can do to help improve your sales and productivity.

 I find that, like with many things in life, the simple approach is always the easiest and usually the most effective.   Forgive me if I can’t, but I will attempt to approach my posts in the same light, and try and help those of us who don’t regard themselves as being too savvy when it comes to the wonderful world of online business.  

If you have any suggestions or want to know more about what we cover in our blogs please give us a buzz.

Every day, more and more Australians continue to turn towards online buying and selling in order to find a bargain or even make a quick buck. In mid to late 2007 Hitwise (www.hitwise.com.au) compiled the 10 most popular websites for Aussie shoppers. The table covers the dominators, the movers and the shakers in Australian shopping from June to September 2007.

Following a bumper holiday season, online shopping baskets continue to bulge as credit card merchants and online payment institutions like PayPal rake in the cash. 

$3.29 BILLION AU
That’s how much Aussies spent online over the September November quarter leading up to the all important Christmas spending free-for all.

$56 BILLION AU
Estimated Australian and NZ ecommerce revenues in 2007. Experts from NETT magazine predict this could continue to grow 25% every year up until 2010!
F.Y.I. $230 BILLION US
In US dollars, this is how much the US is predicted to spend online in 2008- this time predicted to grow 25% every quarter! (source Forrester Research)

I have been using AdSense for years now. Not in any huge way, I’ve never been in the position where I could place advertising on a site where there is much significant traffic, but it’s always been there.

Now it’s actually making me some money. Not a lot. Nothing substantial. Just enough to hint that - if managed properly - the little stream of cents per day can grow into a couple of dollars a day and then further.

How do you make money off online advertising?

Traffic
Without it you’re lost. If no one visits your site, then there is no one there to click on the ads or to sell affiliate products to. Be involved and contribute to other similar websites and communities. Make sure you keep your site active and alive. No one visits a site continuously when it hasn’t been updated in years. Search engine traffic is important too, so make sure that your URLs are nicely formatted, you have lots of unique content, etc, etc.

Ad format and placement
I have read this little dot point countless times in other articles. It just seems so… well… pointless at first, doesn’t it? Make sure your any ads you place on your site are cleverly located and are appealing to your audience. If they’re not then people won’t follow them and the advertising will be at best wasted space and at worst a blight on your design. Properly formatted and cleverly located ad units will reap higher click-through-rates (CTR).

Site type
I know that’s a very weak heading, but your site’s content and purpose does dramatically impact upon ad-clicks. Forums typically get very, very low CTRs, so don’t be too surprised if you have high traffic stats, but are not really reaping in the money in ads.

It’s tricky to pull off, but good luck to anyone trying to make a living online.

I have just put together a rather simple redesign for GOBlog.com.au. Finally it’s not just using generic WordPress templates or themes, it’s a custom piece of art now ;-).

The new look is intentionally minimalistic, nothing too fancy or detailed here yet.

What do you think? Any comments, praise or criticism?