Just got home after meeting and having lunch with Michelle and Craig (the Vet).
We met at Piccolo Padre Café in Rozelle as we only needed a table for 3.
It was great to see Craig and we worked out the last time we saw him was October or November last year. LOTS to talk about and catch up with.
Things we discussed:
- Michelle and I went to http://Blurb.com Sydney Meetup on Thursday night, and got all inspired again to create print-on-demand books for our websites
- I talked about the Content Management System I use and how I'm much happier now to quickly add News items to my website knowing that these snippets won't be deleted (as per previous system)
- using Widgetbox.com, and how disappointed I am - and Michelle is too - because they now show adverts on our widgets forcing web visitors to click twice to remove; we are both looking for new widgets to display our blog updates and youtube videos (without paying the ad-free 'pro' price, which seems to be the new biz model for many sites). If you know of one - let us know :-)
- selling info via locked PDF, with password, and how to avoid customer forwarding the pdf to others for free
- I suggested alternative - create a tangible product rather than an ebook - e.g. black and white Booklet via Blurb.com or Lulu.com, which means customer gets a product shipped to them so it has more perceived value. Print-on-demand is the easiest way to provide info and give customer a high perceived value
- Craig said he'd recently received a PDF which 'disappears' after a set period of time - very cool - but still could be opened in other software and turned into a non-disappearing pdf quite easily - any other suggestions?
- Craig alerted me to an issue with google ads on my site - I can't believe I forgot to check it in http://Browsershots.org - and highly recommend you each do this for new pages on your sites, to see how they appear in other browsers, on other types of computers. And yes, I.E. 5-7 generally don't show sites as they appear in all the better known browsers, so find a work-around for people still using those browsers.
- SBI announced new monthly payments for website owners, good idea.
- Michelle and Craig - did I miss anything? If yes, please post a comment on this post.
ATO
Craig gave us some great tips about the Australian Tax Office and the free software and tips they provide:
Free on-site assistance -
The e-record software seems really good for doing BAS, and then lodging it on-line via a direct link for e-record to the Business Portal, uisng a digital certificate.
The e-tax software via the individual tab at www.ato.gov.au :
http://www.ato.gov.au/individuals/ also seems really good.
Additional concessions for small businesses available to 31 Dec 2009
found via a more general page here
Proposed dates for next meetings (every 4 weeks):
- 16th August
- 13 Sept
- 11 Oct
- 08 Nov
- 06 Dec Xmas Party
UPDATE
Just found out Geoff and Karen went to old venue today, so we didn't meet up. Can everyone please let me know if you're attending the lunches, so this doesn't happen again - thanks!! If in doubt, make sure you have my cellphone number with you, and give me a call - you'll find it in the emails I send you.
Ciao for now
Teena!
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