Newcastle Artisan Bakery

Newcastle has a thriving handmade and artisan scene - we are especially proud of Blackbird Artisan Sourdough - a local enterprise featuring slow made bread with ancient yeasts.  Carolyn Scott was recently featured in Find Handmade, a magazine style website where Australian artisans share their stories about being successful as stallholders at the local weekend markets.

Blackbird Sourdough

Carolyn Scott of Blackbird Sourdough

Carolyn is justly proud of the whole artisan baker’s skill set – a niche specialty of experienced bakers and chefs whom she calls the ‘band of bakers’ – all aware that by sharing their knowledge they are building the core of artisan bakers across Australia.  It is refreshing to hear an handmade artisan like Carolyn not troubled by imitation or competition – the very idea of a competitor learning your secrets is not what most stallholders fear.  But it is not easy to replicate – with high barriers to entry and set up costs mean it is not likely an artisan baker will be setting up shop on every corner anytime soon.

Carolyn’s own set up story is also worth sharing – after 30 odd years working her family business producing quail, partridge and game birds for fine dining restaurants, she used her chef’s and pastry chef’s experience and turned her hand to artisan sourdough baking.  But it was a few years before she sourced the commercial kitchen at Maitland Gaol as a basis for her enterprise.  Now, with a stellar fit out and enough room to fully pursue her interests, Blackbird Artisan Bakery is truly changing people’s lives.

You can read the whole story here, please feel encouraged to comment and make your thoughts known if you are a customer - I know you are out there.

Find Handmade in Newcastle

Selling handmade in Australia

Selling handmade in Australia is all about doing the hard yards and spending time facing a markets stall.  I've met many wonderful and talented people who are able to combine their artistic flair with the natural chutzpah to front a market stall.  But what if you don't want to front your own stall and spend your weekends spruiking your wares?

For sure you can keep selling with etsy and madeit – but nothing rivals the control and freedom of having your own online storefront.

No longer is the dream to create your own designs and one day open a shopfront in the high street – going forward the next step is opening an online store and selling in front of a global audience.

Let Organic Digital work with you a have your own wordpress online e-commerce solution working for your brand.  You can be up and running from as little as $1500 – AND we offer regular workshops where you can learn face to face how to manage and edit your own wordpress website.

Our mission to to build lasting relationships with you and stallholders like you across the artisan and handmade niche and empower you to take full creative and management control of your online presence.  You too can learn the skills to take control and be confident selling online, and Organic Digital is here to help you achieve that.

Olive Tree Market Newcastle

Olive Tree Markets,
Junction Public School,  Newcastle,
New South Wales, Australia.

Now we all know of the Olive Tree Markets and how, over the years, it has established an enviable reputation for designer handmade arts and crafts.

And here's why - It is hands down the friendliest, most open and approachable Markets Stallholders Event I have had the pleasure of reviewing.

Just talking to the stall holders and taking the time to listen to their personal stories is what it is all about.

The Stallholders are lovely and open and share their story about each product they have handcrafted, and are only too willing to offer advice and contribute to making your buying decision easier.

Removals Newcastle

Making Removals Easy

Moving furniture, clothes and digital hardware can be simplified if you follow these simple tips.  Making your move efficient, well-organised and in your timeframe is what you should expect from an experienced removalist in Newcastle.

1 Use Plenty of Packaging.
Careful and well thought out packaging makes a bug difference on moving day.  If it fits in a box, put it in one.  Keeping things in a box encourages putting like with like - which is convenient when you are unpacking at your destination.  An adaptive, free void filler is shredded paper in plastic shopping bags.  Wedge these between any hard surfaces that may come into contact.  When you box doesn't rattle when shaken, you have packed it densely enough to support boxes being packed on top of each other.  This means you can fill the Newcastle Man and Van space most efficiently.

2 Prepare the Workflow
Take advantage of moving your boxes to a convenient packing point, so there less time is spent carrying boxes across your premises.  Remember, what you want from your removalist is pick up, transport and unload at destination.

3 Use a Local
Local service around Newcastle for a removal service is important.  Locals take the most direct route and can offer advice on the best times to move to avoid traffic congestion.

Making Removals Easy is often overlooked as during the move you are distracted by leases and estate agents.  Being prepared and armed with these simple tips for removals makes a difference for your best move.

http://newcastlemanandvan.blogspot.com.au/2013/05/making-removals-easy.html

Chickens in the Backyard Merewether

Here is a first attempt at video - pretty quiet but just the start.

Newcastle Digital Evolution

Sometimes just switching gears and going for a walk or doing something completely different is extremely effective in focusing your mind on the task at hand.  Just like poring over your new website for hours analysing all the detail to see what you can do to make it bounce more. 

Well, there is a name for this and there is a process to measure and record the effectiveness of your website – it’s called split testing, where two alternate options are given in real time to visitors to your site.  They either choose A or B and once you have a reliable sample of visitors, you can track and record just where you are doing things right and what can be improved.

Split testing is a measureable way of keeping tabs on your website and proving whether certain approaches to marketing and promotions are effective. 

At Newcastle Digital, we like to test your site so it does not become a “Billboard in the Desert” with a single lost traveller stumbling by each week – which is nice and pretty but not much use in raking in extra turnover. 

You want visitors, converted into customers so each morning when you check your email you have a few nice paypal payments and some orders to ship.

Attract Online Customers?

So how do we attract online customers 

to your website when it is brand new
amongst a plethora of established competition? 

And how can we give it a nudge along
so that it moves closer to the first page of the search results,
which is where something like 98% of all buying decisions are made? 

The first step is to target local search, so you are found within the local area by customers who are likely to use you –

the low hanging fruit.

Authentic Web Search Results are gold for your Brand

http://newcastlewebsitedesign.blogspot.com.au/2013/02/small-business-websites.html