Online Marketing Sydney, Internet Marketing Australia Freestyle Media

Ross was recently featured on A Current Affair and his traffic sky-rocketted. Read his interview for some tips.

1. Who are you and how did you get into online marketing?
Ross Kilpatrick - CEO & Founder of StreetSmartShopper.com.au - Australia’s No1 Online Appliance and TV SuperStore.

I have been running my own advertising and marketing agency Huntingdales Brand Builders and Advertising for the past 19 years.
Prior to this, I worked on the client side of marketing in senior creative and marketing roles for leading retailers like Grace Bros,
Angus & Coote Jewellers and Traveland as General Manager of retail. So I have done the hard yards in marketing and retail.

At Huntingdales we have built a number of websites for clients and we decided why not have our own online shop to join the revolution.
I felt in the late 1990’s that the web was way too slow a beast to even entertain promoting. Thankfully the speed has picked up.
Believe it all not, I did predict the first collapse in 2000 because of the internet speed issues.

2. If you run more than one website. What is the name and URL of your primary website?
Our key focus is www.StreetSmartShopper.com.au

Our tagline is “Never Pay Retail Again.”

We sell only top branded quality fridges, freezers, washing machines, dryers, ovens,
stoves, vacuum cleaners and big screen plasmas and LCD televisions. Our USP is selling at lower prices
than any bricks and mortar stores. We provide killer service on a very secure shopping site nationally.

We have been voted in the top 5 shopping sites by The Daily Telegraph only 3 months after we kick off in 2006.
A Current Affair recommended Street Smart Shopper as a Gold Metal Winner as one of Australia best Shopping sites in August
2008 and devoted a whole segment to Street Smart Shoppers. We gained over 30,000 unique
visitors to the site that week.

Ultimately, we are waiting until more than the current 6% of people buy online in Australia.

So our site is a long term strategy where we are working on referral business from delighted customers
who are keen to tell their friends they save their pressure time, fuel and money by shopping with Street Smart Shopper.
Sure, it is a basic marketing strategy, but most great ideas are very basic.

I don’t have the brain power to come up with Google. I wish I had. Google currently makes half of all income online globally.

We also run Sullivan Dewing - Buisiness Builders & Chartered Accountants site to grow their new client prospect leads.
www.sullivandewing.com.au and Huntingdales site www.huntingdales.com.au really as a colour brochure online to advise prospect clients of our credentials.

3. The internet provides access to global audiences and markets. Where are you located and is your market influenced by your location?

We are located in Sylvania Waters in Sydney’s south, you could say we are located in the suburbs where the customers are.

Currently we are mastering our online marketing skills in Australia before we launch in the USA, China and India.
I have a number of other online ideas we wish to launch globally so starting here in Australia is a great way to micro manage our online
marketing. Sorry, I can’t tell you about the other ideas, I may have to kill you. My stock and trade is ideas and people could copy my ideas online
in a heart beat.

4. What were the circumstances that led you to start your site/online business?
A retail client of ours had a hobby appliance online site and it was very badly designed, marketed and thought out.
So I invented the name Street Smart Shopper from another idea I had regarding Australia’s largest letterbox catalogue and we joined forces to work together.
But, like a lot of partnerships his contribution was very low and unfortunately his commitment was not there. He eventually bailed out altogether. We now have a better buying supply chain and can provide our customers with even better savings and service.

5. Are you a full time web business person or do you have other income as well?
I work the site 50% of my time and sometimes it goes to 100% like it has been over the last few months as we reinvigorate the product range, design and marketing. I still run Huntingdales Brand Builders and Designers and work on a handful of clients that I like assisting growing their sales and brand awareness.

6. There are many methods of promotion for website. What do you do and which do you think are the most effective?
PR is by far the best way to gain attention. Google Adwords is far too expensive and does not provide a good ROI. SEO is a longer term proposition and needs to
be constantly monitored to gain maximum returns. We also do main stream marketing and advertising on radio, press and outdoor billboards.

7. What techniques did you use in the beginning to launch the site?
Working my initial database really kicked us off to a flying start. As I say, a quality database is a “RIVER OF GOLD”.
You just need to constantly keep mining it.

8. What are your main sources of revenue from the site?
Selling products only. We had a real learning curve when we had affiliate sites linked to Street Smart Shopper to gain
additional revenue. It did not work. Ultimately the commission was too low and we were sending our hard won customers
to other sites. They don’t bother coming back once they start surfing the net. Big lesson learnt.

9. Where do you see key opportunities in the future for revenue?
I wish I knew. In July 2008 I had a trip to Silicon Valley in the USA to attend a week long seminar to see if I could find some other
lucrative ways to earn revenue online. Most rely on advertising. I don’t see this as a long term option.
And for a advertising man that is saying something. So I am still looking for other ways to make money online. Any ideas?

10. Where do you see yourself in a few years time?
I see tons and tons of opportunity online in the future as the online media matures and blossoms.
Currently the net is like an old fashion western movie. We are all pioneers searching for GOLD.
It will only come to a few who are persistent, patient and willing to look for new opportunities.

11. If you could give two pieces of advice to aspiring or new webmasters/internet business owners, what would they be?

1. Don’t do it. Your chances of failure are higher than starting any other business and the learning curve is massive. You’ll need deep pockets and a number of years to become an overnight success. I predict 99.98% will fail online in the next 10 years. Don’t go into a partnership for the safety factor, 99% of business partnerships fail and your ideas will be compromised. If you are game enough go it alone, use your contacts for free advice. But remember it is just that FREE, so only listen to half of it.
2. If you don’t do take my advice to point one. You must devise what is the “One point of Difference” that will make your online idea work over your competitors. Or come up with a low cost Google search engine model that has more grunt and options than Google. Then you will become the second richest person on the planet.

Most of the time you are probably taking something and dialing it up in some way or form. Usually a benefit and then turning it into a massive promise.

The only time you don’t need to do that?
When the offer sells itself.

Checkout the creative above we just did for 3 mobile above. This is hands down the best offer in the marketplace. All you need to do is scream the offer as loud as possible!

Powerful eh? What do you think?

Its an experiment as much as anything. I am trying to figure out what all the talk is about this social media thing.

So if you want to follow me, browse through to here http://twitter.com/Schebesta