Let's talk for a moment about gratitude. About how people sometimes do things for no reason beyond wanting to say, 'Thank you for a job well done'. As small business owners, gratitude is often the last thing on our minds. Overwhelmed as we are by our quotidian railing against the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. Taxes and wages and equipment costs and rent and insurance and accountants and bookkeepers and ever diminishing profit margins and, oh, did we mention taxes already? The enormity of the 'all hands to the pumps!' approach small business owners go through on a day to day basis makes thinking beyond the next task on our  'To Do List', nigh on impossible. This isn't a slight upon us as small business owners, or as human beings. It isn't that we don't care about other people. It's just that running a small business demands so much of our focus, so much of our time, that it's often hard to look beyond our own borders. Beyond what we need or what we want.

Consequently in business (and indeed in life), someone saying thank you for a job well done, is an all too rare occurrence. Just think about how many satisfied customers you've had down through the years with your small business. And then try to reconcile that with the tiny handful of positive reviews you've got on Google maps, or the minuscule amount of testimonials you've got from customers or clients on your website. Because I guarantee you the math will never come close to adding up.

In small business a customer says thank you by re-signing with you when the contract is up for renewal, or by returning to buy more products from you, etc. And maybe by recommending you to a friend, colleague or business associate. Beyond that, all bets are off.

But sometimes - just sometimes - the innate kindness of the human condition shines through when you least expect it. Today was such a day for me. It started when one of our clients, AutoActive Car Solutions, (a leading North Shore Mechanic) emailed me this wonderful testimonial out of the blue:

"Appointing Brian and Tony from SEO North Sydney to build our new website and do our SEO was one of the best business decisions we’ve ever made. Brian is creative, knowledgeable, focused and is fantastic to work with. His experience and expertise are unparalleled. We had no idea how SEO worked but Brian explained everything and made understanding the process particularly easy for us, and it has been a wonderful experience. Solid results were seen within a few short months, and now we have twice the Google first pages promised in the contract (with many at number 1). Thank you again Brian – we simply cannot thank you enough!" 

                                                                                             - Leeman and Bruce – AutoActive Car Solutions

As if receiving that wonderful and unexpected testimonial wasn't enough, we then received delivery of this amazing gift basket!

When Autoactive signed with SEO North Sydney several months ago, they needed a new website designed and built, they needed SEO for the new website, and they needed brilliantly written content to populate the new website. But more importantly they needed someone on the other end of the phone who not only understood what they go through each day as small business owners. But who actually gives a damn about whether their business grows or not. And that's where I like to think SEO North Sydney offers a real point of difference. We're a small business just like you. Our clients are small businesses and SMEs just like you. And so we understand - I mean really understand - what steps need to be taken in the digital domain to ensure your small business can compete on an equal footing with the big boys - WITHOUT BREAKING THE BANK. Because when it comes to Google, the size of your business doesn't matter a hill of beans. What matters is the concerted ongoing execution of a comprehensive, tailored WHITE HAT SEO strategy, via Google Best Practice guidelines. Do that correctly (and ethically) and any company, no matter how modest it may be, can rank on the first page of Google.

So to Leeman and Bruce at Autoactive Car Solutions, let me go on record and say that it's our turn to say Thank YOU. Because your thoughtfulness and kindness totally made our day!

With the run-in to the July 2nd federal election underway, Australians are already tiring of Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s mansplaining rhetoric, with tens of thousands of disgruntled voters demonstrating their growing dissatisfaction with the Liberal leadership by visiting PunchMalcolmTurnbull.com.au to, ‘Open up a can of  (digital) whoop-a** on the PM!'.

#punchmalcolmturnbull | #punchbillshorten

When questioned about the election, renowned left-wing union leader, Dave ‘Make sure you call me Davo’ Davis was quoted as saying: 

Opposition leader Bill Shorten has also been on the receiving end of the Australian public’s pre-election rancour, with thousands of middle-class Australians rolling up the sleeves of their Tom Ford suits and putting down their Triple Venti Soy No Foam Skinny Lattes just long enough to visit PunchBillShorten.com.au in order to, ‘Give that Shorten chap a good what for!’.
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Political blogger and three times Eastern Suburbs bridge champion, (Captain) Bruce Tabernacle Watkins-Drummond, from the Sydney suburb of Vaucluse, was quick to respond when questioned about the up-coming ‘Australian Federal Punch-Up’:

​While some political pundits will view the greater number of votes counted on July 2nd as revealing the winner of the Australian Federal Election, everyday Aussies will know the truth: that the real winner of the election will be the candidate who receives the least number of (digital) punches, and thus demonstrates once and for all, his superior popularity!

SEO North Sydney Pty Ltd, being the web design company responsible for these displays of digital shenanigans, wish to point out in the strongest possible terms that they are in no way taking sides in this election. Indeed, if this current Australian political debate were made up of countries, SEO North Sydney would be Switzerland. (Just without all the silly accents, hidden slush funds and corrupt FIFA officials…)

Further, while these websites may at first glance seem to be 'putting words into the mouths of Malcolm Turnbull and Bill Shorten’, SEO North Sydney Pty Ltd wish to point out that the words 'spoken' by the cartoon versions of both Malcolm and Bill on these websites, in no way represent either the views of the Liberal or Labour parties, or Malcolm Turnbull’s or Bill Shorten's personal views, or indeed anything either candidate may or may not have said in real life. Rather, the words 'spoken' are purely there for the purposes of parody, satire, et al. Naturally we could have had cartoon Malcolm saying, "All Australians understand that high-quality, reliable and affordable broadband is a critical part of the infrastructure our nation needs to prosper in coming years".  And cartoon Bill saying, "Labour is at its best when we are the party of ideas and action - ideas that empower the powerless and actions that build a better Australia for the long term.”  But honestly…where’s the humour in that?

Also, while we’re on the subject of pointing out the patently obvious, SEO North Sydney Pty Ltd wish to go on record and say that these sites are in NO WAY promoting violence. Be it against politicians or anyone else. And as much as you may wish to give these (or any other) politicians a good old fashioned shellacking for broken campaign promises or ludicrous shifts in policy. Don’t. Just don’t. Rather, might we suggest that you take out your pent-up frustrations on them here in the digital domain. Where, with a bit of imagination, you can give them a good what-for 'till the cows come home!

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Thanks for popping by and visiting punchbillshorten.com.au. A fun little website we built to help Australians get through the monotony of yet another Australian federal election. Naturally when it comes to which leader will make the best PM, Malcolm Turnbull or Bill Shorten, we here at SEO North Sydney are completely neutral. So please don't take the Punch Bill Shorten site to heart, or else treat the subject matter too seriously. It's just a bit of satirical fun when all's said and done. And we hope it put a smile on your face and lightened up your day :)​   

In the spirit of friendly political rivalry, we invite you to vote on what you would like Bill to say when he's being pummeled by Australia. And also to invite you to suggest some words yourself (in the comments below). We'll add any funny ones to the poll. And once the voting has been tallied up, we'll get Bill to speak the winning words when the biffo is happening!

Please remember that if you're suggesting something for Bill to say, do your best to keep it clean (this is a family site after all), in the spirit of fun, and to keep it to 5 words or less..