Unlike Kaj who is here for the penguins, I am here to hunt seals. Not in a Canadian club baby seals kind of way, but to photograph them. We’ve had great success finding the New Zealand fur seal, but the elephant seal has proven elusive.

First attempt at seals was the appropriately named Shag Point, just north of Dunedin. It’s such an insignificant spot on the map that Wikipedia doesn’t yet have a listing for it! We saw 32 fur seals here, and we were quite chuffed at our first spotting attempt.

The seals seem like quite a lazy breed, and I could easily see why they might have once been almost hunted to extinction. They just lie about on the rocks soaking up the suns rays, completely undisturbed by our gawking and photographing. The seal pups have a lot more life though, and they’re always jumping and frolicking about on the rocks, in and out of the water, and often seem to annoy their mum with their incessant playfulness.

New Zealand strongly protect their seals, so we couldn’t get too close, but sometimes they hop close to you, which is quite a treat for a wildlife-loving photographer! Here’s a couple of lovely pics we took of the seals up close.

We have now also seen seals at three other locations, but the sightings weren’t near as good as the first one at Shag Point. There were also loads of the gorgeous red footed seagulls at Shag Point, and after we went and had fish for lunch I saved my leftover fish to feed to the gulls. Despite trying really hard I was unable to hand feed them, but they certainly thought about taking it from my hand, as you can see from the pic below. It was a really windy day, and the gulls were such eloquent gliders.

Unfortunately I do not have any pictures of the single elephant seal we believe we saw off in the far distance in Porpoise Bay. There’s a strong chance it could actually have been a sea lion. He was more than 1km away and seemed to be terrorising a family, or vice versa. By the time we reached the beach he had started swimming away. We hope to have better luck over the next few days in Fiordland.

It’s really cold outside. Not just a little bit cold. It’s bitter, but without snow. I think the wind chill factor is -15C. But despite the icy outdoors, we’ve still managed to get sunburnt!

We spent 2 days in a little charming town called Oamaru. It is famous for its Blue Penguin Colony, and we were treated to 115 penguins on arriving to their slumber after a big day out on the ocean fishing for a sardine-like fish called sprat.

They’re quite funny to watch as they form group of 10 or so penguins out in the ocean called a raft, and they swim in together. The raft provides them safety from predators. As they arrive the waves knock them over, and knock them off rocks, and the sea shore momentarily becomes a mess of penguins. They quickly waddle out of the water, and then they sit as a group drying off. It is said that they are actually cooling down too, as the big swim home causes them to overheat.

Kaj and I also took a tour at the colony where we were able to walk all through the breeding boxes and little mummy penguins come out to get nasty at us. We saw 4 fluffy chicks too, without nasty mummies. Their parents would have been out at sea catching fish to bring home. Just like other birds they regurgitate their food to feed their young.

It’s hard to believe but we spent hours watching these penguins, and didn’t get home until midnight. There’s still light in the sky right up until 10pm though, and this is really when all the penguin action happens. Just as the last light is beginning to fade.

The next day we were checking out all the old buildings in Oamaru, and we found a little chick behind some crates at the back of the building. He was quite a cutie as you’ll see from the photo, and just starting to lose his baby down feathers so he looks like he’s wearing a luscious fur coat. We decided to come later that night to check that his parents come home from sea, and we found 3 other chicks in various places hidden around the building. These old buildings obviously provide a warm safe haven to raise young.

Oamaru also has a rare colony, and these penguins are much bigger, but shier too. We waiting in the very cold wind until they were waddling in and were treated to them calling and quacking at each other to check who had arrived.

From Oamaru we’re heading further south to Dunedin (Done-ee-din, not dunny-din as I originally though) and it’s likely to be even colder yet. The chill is still a novelty, although the novelty is likely to wear off soon.

Today is our only full day in Auckland, so we picked up some of those ‘Auckland in 24 hours‘ style publications and weeded out most of the options as self-promotion advertisements.

We’re staying on Auckland’s North Shore, which is an historic and architecturally quaint, in a gorgeous bed and breakfast Stafford Villa. Our hostess Chris is a superb decorator, and our room is just divine. It features lots of antique things, but doesn’t feel old and dusty as some heritage buildings can. We have a huge four poster bed which is every bit as romantic as it sounds.

Chris is also a great cook with similar food ethics to myself. As much as possible the produce is local and organic, and she only buys free range eggs and bacon, and looks for little local manufacturers. I absolutely love her attention to detail and all the effort she puts into her fare.

She spoiled us with a luscious breakfast unlike I’ve ever had in a bed and breakfast before! We had local strawberries and blueberries, kiwifruit, star anise cooked apricots, toasted granola, home made yoghurt and freshly baked muffins. If this isn’t enough, she then cooked us a full kiwi breakfast of free range bacon, sausages, scrambled eggs and baked tomato. Everything was served with decadent silverware. See the pic of our breakfast table!

We decided we would catch a ferry across the harbour to the CBD, and just walk around the city. It is incredibly humid here today, and people are blaming me for bringing it with us. The harbour ride was beautiful, but purchasing a local SIM proved to be a lot of drama. For future reference the Telecom NZ phone operators are as useless as the Telstra ones.

We are headed to a very popular restaurant The Engine Room this evening, who have a crummy website but amazing food. They’ve won lots of awards, and I’ve even heard of them from at home. The restaurant is always booked out completely, so it’s lucky we booked 4 months ago. In the last week The Engine Room staff have called 3 times to confirm our booking!

First day was fantastic, Kaj is pleased with the overall plans, which is a huge relief. Hope everything is smooth back home.

I’ve discovered a secret is hard to keep once you’ve told several hundred people. Even though they too know it’s a secret, it’s easier for them to slip up than it is for oneself.

For Kaj who rarely pays attention, he missed all 7 people who told him directly the secret holiday destination. I have allowed him to believe some red herrings, and I’ve even slipped a few deliberate ones myself.

Kaj became privvy to the destination on the plane en route to Auckland. I gave him the 32 page holiday itinerary which I’d meticulously planned over the last 6 months. He thought Auckland was just a stopover, and I’m delighted he’s pleased with my planning.

We’re mostly touring the South Island of New Zealand. Arriving in Auckland and staying for just 2 days, we will then fly to Christchurch and circumnavigate arriving back in Christchurch.

Why I’ve chosen New Zealand

First and foremost, it’s the weather. I yearn for a cold Christmas. Whilst New Zealand will be celebrating Summer, just like us, they celebrate it with blistering winds, single digit night time temperatures and glorious sub-twenty days. It will not be dissimilar to a Cairns winter, but it will certainly last for longer.

Because this is Nicky, you must know it’s mostly about the food. New Zealand is a haven for the foodie calorie unconscious, like myself, and I can’t wait to dig into the copious summerfruit, exquisite local produce and amazing lamb.

Wine needs a category of its own, wouldn’t you say? My two favourite varieties; Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir are championed in New Zealand. We will go to the winemaking hubs of Marlborough and Central Otago and seek out the best.

We don’t take enough photos, and so I’ve asked the kind Kiwis to please put on some nice weather so we can photograph their spectacular scenery. This possibly means being a photographers widow, which I detest, but Kaj has promised to take photos of me too with his new flash.

And of course we don’t go anywhere without seeing wildlife in its most triumphant environment, in the wild. The assortment of critters will indeed be amazing, and they’ll be many we’ve not seen before.

Holiday Highlights

• Strawberry festival in Waitmate celebrating strawberries.
• Seeing the world’s tiniest penguin in the wild, the Blue Penguin.
• Drinking amazing Pinot Noir.
• Visiting Middle Earth: where Lord of the Rings was filmed.
• Watching the sun rise on the highest mountain over Auckland.
• Eating Bluff oysters, considered the best in the world.
• Seeing a glacier and touching snow.
• Swimming with dolphins in Kaikoura.
• Perhaps spotting the elusive kiwi. The bird.
• Hearing sea lions roar on the shore.
• Picking Sauvignon grapes in Marlborough.

There’s not enough website awards in Australia with credibility, but SmartCompany have just held their inaugural SmartCompany Web Awards which shows some outstanding contributions from the Australian web community.

Having entered a website I can tell you that the criteria is thorough and asks a number of probing questions regarding cost to build, time to build and the all important standards compliance.

In true web-friendly style they ditched the gala ball idea for announcing the winners and did it via a webinar instead. Nice work SmartCompany!

Below are a selection of my favourite winners from the awards.

DESIGN: Melbourne Convention Exhibition Centre (Reactive)

Simplicity and ease of use are two key factors designers strive for when building a new website.

BEST SEARCH STRATEGY: RetailMeNot

Building a fancy new website worth thousands of dollars won’t be worth the effort if users can’t find it. Understanding search marketing is a key component of any successful website, which is why coupon retailer RetailMeNet records monthly web traffic of 10 million unique browsers and 22 million page impressions.

ECOMMERCE: Carbonite

Developing a website around an eCommerce offering relies on simplicity and good design in order to make your business stand out. Data backup company Carbonite has managed to achieve a simple eCommerce offering without burdening users, according to category judge Naomi Simson, CEO of RedBalloon.

BEST ONLINE TOOL: Everyday Hero

One of the key factors of our web award winners is simplicity, the ability to create a complex offering in an easy-to-navigate website. According to judge Simon Van Wyk, Hothouse Interactive owner, fundraising site Everyday Hero took out the best online tool award for its no-fuss design.

BEST BLOG: Parenting Ideas

There are many ingredients to a successful blog, including strong design, good navigation and great SEO. But the key element is content – the best blogs have a clear connection with their audience and are updated frequently to keep the conversation going.

To read more about the SmartCompany Web Award winners in great detail, have a peek at their article.

It’s rare I receive an email newsletter that I pay close attention to, but the team at Returnity sent out a great one this morning, which perfectly highlights the points they were trying to get across regarding how visitors read your web and email content.

Heat mapping studies provide great insight into how people consume web content, presenting critical applications to how emails and web pages are designed. We have reviewed several studies and summarised the key findings for you.

General findings

• People don’t read, they scan - so use bullet points, short sentences and bold text
• People rarely scroll - therefore put important copy and calls to action above the fold
• People only focus on about 35% of email content - so keep the message clear
• Images get a lot of attention - use them effectively

Specific findings for email copy

• Bulleted copy gets more attention than straight copy
• Bold copy causes a typical reader to skip over the 2-3 lines above it.
• People are inclined to skip introductory messages
• Replicating important words can improve response
• Immediate calls to action often produce higher response rates, e.g. ‘Sign up today’
• A prominent call to action at the bottom of the email often guides the reader’s eye for the entire email
• Headlines over 50 characters in the email body should wrap on two lines with action words either at the beginning or end
• The first word in every headline and paragraph has vastly more impact and influence over response rates than any other words in the headline, sentence or paragraph.

This is the first email newsletter I’ve recieved from Returnity since I subscribed, but if you’d like to subscribe and catch some useful tips, you can subscribe here.

Today I attended a TTNQ function to explore the newly created digital strategy blueprint for the marketing of Far North Queensland through online channels. The comments were generally positive, and the mood at the function was one of satisfaction and warmth.

Strategy Overview

TTNQ have strongly adopted the recommendations of the Kleinhardt Research Report, and have dramatically changed their online strategy.

1. They’re rolling out a new main website to live at cairnsgreatbarrierreef.org.au to replace tropicalaustralia.com.au.

2. There will be many mini-sites to tackle niche topics such as Cairns attractions (cairnsattractions.org.au) and Port Douglas tours (portdouglastours.org.au).

3. Tourism products will be invited to host video on the TTNQ website, and this video can be embedded on their own website. The new website will be very video-centric.

4. TTNQ will operate 6 webcams around FNQ and invite members to purchase at a discount their webcam system, thereby having a product branded webcam on the TTNQ site.

5. Social media network marketing including Facebook and Twitter presences will be outsourced to social networking specialist firm, Mudo Media.

6. Travel product content will be updated by operators through a username and password, and initially propogated by the DCM Res database. No more ATDW content.

7. News feed of local travel-related news will appear on website from Cairns.com.au.

8. Commission-based bookings will no longer be taken by the site. Direct links to operator websites will be provided.

9. There is no current funding to support a PPC or Google AdWords campaign.

What are your thoughts on this strategy, and how can it be improved.

I’m so pleased to hear the results of a survey which confirm web developers’ suspicions that sound on your website is bad. Here’s an article I found today on Mumbrella.

One of online users’ biggest turn-offs is when websites run ads that play sound without prior warning, says a survey published today.   

According to the survey of 7,000 visitors to News Digital Media sites, 70% said ads playing sound automatically are not okay, with 59% surfing with their sound turned off to avoid it playing unexpectedly. And in another warning around attention-grabbing ads, 57% said they would like a brand less if they found its ad annoying, although most said they wouldn’t bother to tell the advertiser that.

But the Connecting Campaigns study suggests that relevance could outweigh privacy concerns when it comes to targeted advertising. A total of 45% of respondents said they would prefer to receive ads that are targeted to their interests – nearly twice the number those who did not.

The survey also said that  trust in the host site is a factor in the credibility of ads, with 42% of respondents finding advertising more believable on host websites they trust.

It also suggests that video has now gone mainstream, with 92% of users saying they have watched  video content on a website . However, the biggest barrier to this cited was download speed. 

Ed Smith, NDN’s chief commercial officer, said: “What we saw in the Connecting Campaigns report is a strong preference from consumers to receive advertisements targeted to their interests. Trust of the host website remains crucial to a brand developing an effective and cost efficient campaign online with 42% of respondents finding advertising more credible on host websites they trust.”

“The report’s findings provide a clearer picture on user habits that need to be considered when developing a campaign, such as, actively avoiding advertisements that automatically play sound by turning their volume down and not watching videos more than five minutes in length.” 

I received this article by email today from Gail Geronimos, the co-founder of Achaeus. It is an excellent summary of how email can assist businesses to make sales. Well worth the 4 minute read as it’s not your standard advice that I’ve read elsewhere.

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Most business people I speak to don’t understand that using emails is one of the most cost-effect tools for generating leads. The key to a successful email campaign is recognizing that the format of the email and the messages included must be optimised to get the email recipients to open the email and motivate them to click on the intended links.

The power of email as a marketing tool depends on whether or not you use it correctly from the start. Whether you are emailing to 100 people or a 100,000 people, developing a solid strategy for success in email marketing is a necessity.

So how does one use the email advantage to their business advantage successfully?

There are four basic tactics that can help you implement the major points of your business in an email marketing campaign.

1. Calculate the Purchasing Cycle of Your Customers
Every business operates differently and when it comes to purchasing, especially large ticket items, each company will follow certain protocol. If you can get a clear picture of how your customers operate between the period of browsing to the period of buying, you will have the upperhand for developing your email strategies.

2. Do Not Group the Old and the New
Many businesses make the mistake of simply adding new contact emails into an already-established prospect list. This can be a big mistake because the new potential customers have not had the benefit of receiving your previous welcoming emails which typically contain introductory information about your product or services.

If you are adding new emails into your list, these people may not be able to follow recent emails without a background on your product. By creating a standard set of emails that all new people receive your prospective customers will have access to all of the information about your product.

Providing customers with informational emails is a great reinforcement of what you have to offer. Invite customers to free webinars or podcasts or send out a white paper that is of benefit to your prospects. Don’t just promote your business.

The more proof you can supply of your expertise the better chance you stand at keeping the attention of your customers.

3  Regain Interested Customers
It is likely that a large percentage of your email contacts will be non-responsive to your email marketing campaigns but it is a big mistake to ignore that list completely. Regardless of whether or not they click through on your emails or not, it is wise to work instead on trying to reenergize their interest.

By continuing to let them remain inactive without some special attention, you will eventually start to devalue your email marketing campaigns and will find you will have a large amount of undeliverable mail.

When working to win back these customers, it may take several attempts to find out which works best for your business. One such tactic may be to offer exclusive deals only for email list recipients. By providing extra services to your list and not just offering them the standard services, your customers may be more inclined to take action.

You can also put together a simple survey to find out what they are interested in. Also you could ask for feedback on your services or products and what it is you can do better. Go back to the original reason your customers are on your list and use that information to create your win ‘em back strategies.

4. Maintain an Email Calendar
One thing you don’t want to do is become a nuisance. There is the possibility that you can send emails too often and turn off a lot of potential customers. By creating a calendar for your marketing campaigns, you will have an outline to follow to ensure you are moving forward.

Creating a list of seasonal promotions, you will have the opportunity to keep customers in the know about what is happening now and what is coming up. Sending monthly newsletters is a great way to give your customers free information while still promoting your business as effectively as possible. The calendar can serve as a simple visual for planning fresh ideas for each new month.

CALL TO ACTION
Develop a draft email marketing campaign. Talk to an internet marketing expert, get some feedback and start your emails. 

Gail Geronimos
Co-Founder
Achaeus

We take over lots of websites owned by small businesess that need a reliable web developer to manage their website, and unfortunately the process if often hampered by the lack of essential details held by the business owner. Here’s a list of things you should keep tucked away in a file somewhere just in case something bad happens to you.

Geeky warning: Some of the concepts here are technical – if you have any questions just post a comment!

Domain Password

This is sometimes a single password, or a username and password depending on who your domain was registered through.

These details would have been given to whomever registered your domain name for you.

If something happens to your web host and you need to quickly move your website to a new one, you will need this to make the switch.

FTP Details

The File Transfer Protocol allows your web developer to transfer your website from their development platform up to your web host. Your web host will have provided these when you first signed up for a hosting account.

If you’re unhappy with your web developer, you’ll need to give your new developer the FTP details so they can backup the website, and continue to make changes.

Hosting Account Access

Most web hosts have an interface which allows you to make changes to basic account details like setup new email addresses, create a new database and check your statistics.

To move to a new web host, it will be easier if you are able to access your hosting account so your new host can set up the same email accounts and move over your account fully.

Email Accounts

It is a good idea to have a list of email accounts for all your domain names, and the current password. Also include on the list if you have any forwarders or aliases.

If your computer crashes and you are unable to access your email, with your username and password you will still be able to access your email using a webmail interface until your computer is repaired.