Christian iPhone App

I recently made a christian iPhone app for my wife's site, Daily Devotions.  I used a app making service online from appmakr.com.  I added Google Ads so I could better track impressions and use, and hopefully make a dollar or two to support the site.

Appmakr don't provide any reporting stats but the reports from both Feedburner and Google Adsense indicate between 700-1000 impressions a day and a reach (Feedburners term) of approximately 300-500 users per day.  Also we have seen a massive jump in listeners to the podcast.  The most recent sermon in the podcast section of the app has had over 500 downloads according to Feedburner.  This is a massive jump from the 10-25 downloads the files used to receive.

Later blogs I will provide statistics as I have today begun a SEO campaign to try and rank for the phrase Christian iPhone App, I will keep you posted.

Server Hosting

I have been thinking lately of changing my server arrangements.  I would be very interested in anyone opinions on the following suppliers: Web24 and WebCity

Its not that I am unhappy with my current arrangements in fact the prices are fantastic, but I think I need to experiment a little more with CPanel and the like so I can become more proficient in its use.

Maybe a reseller account where I can have multiple sites on the same account, any thoughts??

Online Video Production

Producing online video for your company is becoming more and more important. Your clients want to "see and hear" if they can "feel" your product.  Camthecameraman has extensive experience in producing video for both offline and online markets.  From full Broadcast quality HD TV shows to "on-the-road" web cam reports, Cameron can handle them all.

Online Video Production requires different strategies to be successful and Cameron can talk you through all stages of production.  Whether its that you just need "a bit of help setting something up" or to hand off the entire production process Cameron can help.

Contact Cameron via his hotmail account camthecameraman at hotmail dot com (Sorry I cant write it properly, the last time I did that I got inundated with SPAM!!  I think it is fairly easy to understand though ;-) ) Alternatively if you are in Australia you may wish to try my mobile number which is 0413 642 965.

This is a deviation from the normal stuff I write about but I am genuinely passionate about this and was inspired by a blog post by Steve Ollis.  I made a comment there but thought I would expand on that a bit more here.

My wife and I sponsor a couple of kids through an aid organisation called International Needs, we beleive its the least we can do each month to help those less fortunate than us.  In fact I would go further and challenge anyone in Australia that earns a wage to sponsor a child through any of the wonderful organisations that offer this form of aid.  From first hand account I can assure you that it works, I have found that those that criticise by saying that "too much goes to administration" etc rarely sponsor anything or financially support via other means such as kiva.org or similar.  They just use this as another excuse for not giving at all, but I digress.

I repeat my challenge, every person earning a wage in Australia should be sponsoring a child, embarrassingly most people who do sponsor don't even notice the money missing at the end of the month it is so little comparative to all the other financial commitments we have in the first world.

Its been a while since I last wrote a blog entry. I have been really busy working at my new job at Stewart Media, I have also been working as a teacher at NMIT on the new Diploma of Screen course, running after hours on Monday and Tuesday nights.  I have also been working with my wife Linda on her projects, dailydevotions.com.au and NCCC South Morang.  Needless to say I have been a busy boy.  On top of that Linda and I have finalised a builder for our new home, and sign contracts really soon to start building in May.

 I have really enjoyed all the challenges of working with Stewart Media, working with clients on SEO strategy, managing a great team of SEO consultants.  I have also enjoyed explaining what SEO means, basically its all about getting clients sites to appear on the first page of google.  I have also quite enjoyed learning from Jim and having a great time doing that.

While not active here I have been really active on twitter, follow me I am @camthecameraman, its a really interesting tool and I have enjoyed all the stuff I have learnt and discovered some really inspirational and knowledgable people.  Thats the great thing about it, the personal learning and also sharing my ideas and discoveries with others. Will try and not keep the gap between blog posts quite so long in the future.

Like most of you I have friends who exist in the real world, you know the world where we all talk and we can touch and feel!!  In this world I am often asked why would you waste time Blogging or Twittering.  I say good question, I sometimes ask that myself.  If I was honest I blog because I can and its a great thing to mention to people "hey I have a blog check it out" and also as a chance to share information that I have found useful.  I would also say there is a degree of pride in "being broadcast" the fact that people may or may not take notice is besides the point.

I Twitter for different reasons, some of which I intend todelve deeper into in other blogs but for now here are a few reasons.  (For the uninitiated click on thetwitter logo at the start of this blog post to see my twitter home page)

Searching this phrase again today I have found that, rightly, Buzzbee Homes now ranks for the phrase "Buzzbee Homes". Number 3 in fact, one above my site.  Interestingly this only happened after I referenced them in my blog
"Buzzbee Homes - Why they can't be found in Google" with a link titled Buzzbee Homes.

I think this is more than coincidence. Google always preferences sites with the search phrase or keyword in the URL and of course Buzzbee Home website is at www.buzzbee.com.au.  Previous to my rants Buzzbee Homes didnt rank and it was probably that way since the site went live, after my rants there it is!

Those following my blogs on Buzzbee Homes would be interested to know that just 12 hours since my first blog about Buzzbee Homes I am ranking number 4&5 in Google Organic Search for their company name.  While this is not a hard phrase to rank for I rank higher than the companies website itself. In 12 hours!!!

 This always gives me a buzz, ranking so effectively and so quickly.  It highlights the ease in which this can be done and why it is inexcusable for their web designer Amphibian Creative (Check out their dynamic site!!!) to have not accomplished at least this for their client when they first built the site.

In my previous blog about Buzzbee Homes I mentioned that I would begin to explain why I think Google cannot find them. As you may be aware Google uses a range of factors to determine a sites "relevance", while some of these are well known others are guessed at and some factors are rumoured to gain better SEO results. I am settling into my new role at StewArt Media I am researching and finding out more and more about these factors and how they affect a sites ranking for a particular phrase.  StewArt Media has procedures in place that they have proven over the course of optimising numerous sites to be successful in causing a page(or site) to rank.

While not breaking any commercial confidences I thought it would be an interesting exercise to demonstrate why Buzzbee Homes doesn't rank for even their own name let alone relevant key phrases related to the products and services they sell.

As you would be aware I have reduced my hours at NMIT and taken up a full time position with StewArt Media dealing with SEO (Search Engine Optimisation).  I have been explaining this to my relatives over this Christmas break as kinda like "yellow pages for the web age". People use search engines to find stuff even if they already have a bit of information about the company or product.

My wife and I are currently investigating building a home on a block of land we bought early this year. As such during the break we have looked at lots of builders websites.  Today while listening to the radio we heard an advertisement for a company again, this company advertises a fair bit on this radio station and my wife listens to this station exclusively.  The company is Buzzbee Homes.  

As we are in the market for a new home this caught my ear, I remembered that I have heard them advertise before and in fact I have even heard their MD talking to the morning hosts on issues pertaining to building.  They have invested in their radio campaign and this station heavily.