Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians Conference

06-25-2010 by Téa Brennan

I will be presenting at the Women Parliamentarians Conference in Sydney this week on online campaigning and the management of social media. Something that is not unique to politicians, but typical, is that they need to balance it with the 1001 other commitments of a public figure. My presentation will talk about some of these issues, and make some suggestions on ways to improve your online presence. It’s about working smarter, not harder with social media. And also, importantly, retaining some privacy and leisure space on the web.

It applies to so many other industries as well – where the social media evangelists have been singing the praises for so long… and yes, we are all convinced, but it all comes unstuck when you are busy, need training, or don’t use your website. There will also be some talk on making yourself *too* available (which often has detrimental effects in other areas of your life).

It is my first “proper” Conference speaking gig – hopefully the first of many! I am humbled by the fact that I ave been asked to speak alongside people like Lisa Baker, Jenny Lindell and Laurel Papworth. With such a high calibre audience of people who speak for a living… I am nervous but honoured and hopefully can provide people with some practical tips to manage their online presence in a more efficient, targeted and beneficial way.

I am also planning on having some meetings in Sydney for some very exciting projects I am working on and I hope to tell you about them very soon :)

I am in The West Australian this weekend!

08-01-2009 by Téa Brennan

I was interviewed by Louise Burke for today’s West Australian Business section. I like talking about social networks, because I use them, well, a lot more than most :) I also get a massive ego boost, because it makes me feel so special and important and knowledgeable :D

The important point that I tried to make is that whilst there is no one right way to use social media, there is one wrong way. Don’t try and sell stuff straight away:

Web designer Tea Brennan, or “tealou”, said the best results came for people who used twitter informally.

“The common theme is to make friends first, have fun second, sell third,” she said. “It really is about long-term strategies and networking and not one-way advertising, this is a common mistake people make and it’s the fastest way to fail.”

She likens twitter to being at a party or other social occasion.

“You don’t just outright sell at a party, and you shouldn’t do that on twitter either,” she said. “Be helpful to people when they need it, but don’t get in their face either.

“I also tweet about what I am working on and have even written about my frustrations/emotions as a sole trader … I make it so that people think of me as an option when they hear someone needs a designer. It works for my circumstances.”

Tea’s profile proclaims her to be: “The third-worst mother on the internet. Web designer. 30th most influential Tweep in Perth. Apparently. Funny sometimes too.” And she posts comments which range from colourful social commentary to her children’s socks.

“I advise my clients to be as ‘warts and all’ as they are comfortable with,” she said.

“For me, nothing is off-limits, but you need to find your own limits … the approach that I would use for a political party might be different to say, my business, or an accounting firm.”

You get what you pay for, Photographer’s Edition.

08-17-2008 by Téa Brennan

With so many sites like bludomain, bigfolio, or other template sites selling Flash-based websites for $100-$400, I find myself having to "defend" my pricing to photographers (and other creatives, who, ironically, also charge thousands of dollars for their own work – you’d think they’d be more sympathetic if anything :) ), who either don’t understand why the template sites charge what they do, or even flat out refuse to pay a designer for a bespoke site.

I refuse to compete in the hundred-dollar market and here’s why. First of all, the only reason that Bludomain and BigFolio can sell websites can sell a Flash website for a ridiculously low price is because they are selling on volume. A Flash site with a content management system will cost you at least $15,000 – often much more. But the template guys spread their costs over a hundred people instead of one. Of course, the downside to this is that 99 (or even more!) other people have an identical website!

With a template site, you may get the benefit of a cheap website, but what is the real cost of that? I have browsed many, many, many photographer’s websites, and if you put yourself in the "browsing photographers" position, as most brides are, you’ll notice that they all start to look the same.

In a highly saturated market, a good stand-out web presence can make all the difference. Custom sites will instantly stand out from competitors (from a web browsing point of view)… simply because templates are so common!

My clients have noticed a significant jump in enquiries and bookings, just from having a site that is different from 90% of the other photographer’s sites. Part of it is in the SEO, but I think a big part of it, anecdotally speaking, is that if a bride is surfing through 15 (or 30 if shes particularly obsessive :) ) sites, 95% of which are bludomain sites… I guess that it has a homogenising effect in terms of the experience of the website.

And you are naive if you think that people don’t switch off if they see the same thing over and over, even if the images are different.

Websites are not just a directory of business, but are also an experience, that invoke emotional reactions. They are more like television advertising than, say, the Yellow Pages…and people wholly expect to pay for TV Advertising because it brings results. I guess if I can use an analogy with Yellow Pages listings, its like the difference between having the standard 2 line Yellow pages listing, versus the display advertising with your custom graphics and your look and feel. The display ads will always cost more (often a lot more than you think you can afford), but you get more, and the majority of the time, you get better results.

You ultimately get what you pay for with web design. And when someone next tells a photographer that they can go to istockphoto.com and get a great photo for much less, hopefully that photographer will know how web designers feel about template sites.

WordPress 2.5

03-30-2008 by Téa Brennan

Well, WordPress 2.5 is out, and I must say, this is a very, very nice upgrade.

I just upgraded this blog to use 2.5 before unleashing it on my unsuspecting clients, and from my very brief look through the dashboard and admin interface, my immediate impression is that this could well and truly take WordPress into the full-blown-CMS realm once and for all. A few designers (like me) have already been doing it for some time, obviously, but the UI of the admin panel has improved, there is an integrated image gallery, and the promise of a better WYSIWYG editor (Can we post youtube yet without hacks??)…well… what a great development this is.

As I move into the premium theme development market, I am hoping to create templates that will fully harness the power of WordPress as a CMS, and cater for specific industries.

First up is a photography blog that utilises the built in media gallery. I am excited about this :)

What if you spoke like you commented?

08-31-2007 by Téa Brennan

This is a classic. Check it out:

What if you spoke like you commented? — Young Go Getter

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