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Our 3loves, free online dating site has come out of beta with a new design and close to 7,000 active profiles. For a free site, 3loves packs a punch if we do say so ourselves. Compare it to RSVP, lavalife, redhotpie, match, adultmatchmaker or indeed any of the paid for sites. 3loves delivers what they deliver with absolutely no cost involved.

3loves has been in beta release since late November. With the new site design just launched is better functionality and even stronger scammer barriers. We are striving to keep 3loves scammer free.

3loves was targeted earlier this year in a Google ad campaign siphoning traffic off for RSVP. Once we outed the scam, the campaign which benefited the Fairfax site was shutdown. We learnt a lot about affiliate marketing and how NOT to promote our free online dating offering.

We’re using 3loves to generate traffic for our Find It online classifieds model which is being launched in partnership with newsagents. Ads currently running on 3loves include three which directly benefit newsagents.

We’ve replaced the Tower Systems website and with that upgraded the positioning of our newsagency software. The new website design reflects the strength of our offering and our continuing leadership in the newsagency marketplace.

The photo is a shot from the counter at my newsagency – newsXpress Forest Hill in Victoria.

Yeah, I know that this post is a shameless plug.

The Land from Rural Press, now part of Fairfax media, has a post it note type ad stuck in the middle of the front page.

At least this time it’s not on to of the masthead. Still, editorial would have to be at least a bit miffed that an ad has been given priority over their cover photo.

As with these stick on ads on the newspapers, they generate trash and frustration. Advertisers will realise one day.

Thanks to my colleague in NSW who tipped me off with the photo.

The Age newspaper has launched an online book club – promoted well in today’s print edition. It’s a good move on their part. I’d expect to see more book clubs emerge under other Fairfax mastheads and a coming together of these into a national community of readers. One only has to look at the success of Oprah Winfrey’s book club to understand the value of such a community.

Further to my post April 22 about the future of Borders in Australia is this report in today’s Age newspaper. It speculates about PEP getting Borders and adding it to its Angus & Robertson and Supanews operation.

If it the speculation played out it would be interesting for newsagents. It would certainly arc the pressure up on consolidation.

It seems to me that Craigslist, the free worldwide online classifieds site, is being unfairly targeted by the News Corp. owned Fox News. I saw a story earlier this week which named Craigslist repeatedly as a place prostitutes advertise. If I believed the story, Craigslist was alone in allowing prostitutes to advertise. Newspapers have been in this space for over 100 years. It’s challenging to police and singling our Craigslist demonstrates bias.

The Fox News website has 92 stories which refer to Craigslist. Most are negative. It seems that the editors selecting stories about Craigslist are not the same editors selecting stories about the News Corp. owned MySpace. MySpace stories tend to be positive.

Social media sites reflect society through their content. Craigslist has a mechanism for flagging questionable ads. This gives the community control. I wish Fox News would be so open.

Fox News ought to report the news in a more balanced way and stop targeting Craigslist in this way.

I’ll be in Adelaide and Perth next week for Tower Systems newsagent user meetings. The first 90 minutes is non Tower specific. It’s a general business discussion among newsagents about the challenges we face and how they can be navigated. Anyone is welcome to attend. It’s free. To register please email bookings@towersystems.com.au with your details.

M Stephens, Lee, Jim and Denise have been busy posting comments here recently. M. Stephens started a week ago and was joined by the others today. I’d note that the Jim is not Jim the newsagent from country Victoria.

I can confirm that M Stephens, Lee, Jim and Denise are all posting from computers with the same IP address.

This information might be relevant for people reading their comments. IP address location tracking tools I have checked suggest they are located in Auburn NSW but these things can be inaccurate.

What is not inaccurate is that these four commenters share the same IP address and post anonymously. Anonymous posting is gutless.

Phew! We did more than a usual full Wednesday of trade in the four hours we were open yesterday – being in a shopping centre there is not much choice about when you do and don’t open. On top of exceptional sales in four hours was a full load of magazines to arrive and display as well as the on going challenges of construction in our centre to deal with.

I continue to be surprised by the difference in customer interaction in my newsagency and my card and gift shop. Both are in the same centre and often attract the same customers. However, customers act differently in each store. In the card and gift shop people tend to share more of themselves and their experiences whereas I the newsagency speed to exit is the issue.

Take these Anzac inspired sculptures…

We bought them not expecting strong sales – more for creating a connect with Anzac Day this week. Customers who see the sculptures often have a story to tell.

Seeing a customer bring someone else in just to look at the sculptures makes us feel good. It’s one of the experiences we wanted to create with this new shop.

There is an emotional connection we experience in the card and gift shop which we see less often in the newsagency.

This post has nothing to do with newsagents. Who is sick is a brilliant Google maps mashup. Post your symptoms or check out who is sick in your area.

Our landlord has constructed two of these rather large boxes in our newsagency, around 40 year old columns which need to be replaced. They will be in place for a month, blocking one aisle of stationery and an aisle of wrap and specialty papers.

This box in the photo is an invitation for theft as customers can get behind it and pocket product without being caught. We will probably completely block this other aisle off Monday as the theft risk is too great.

We’re yet to resolve the issue of compensation for this three month intrusion into our floorspace.

The Bart Simpson and Lisa Simpson chocolate masks did not move this Easter. I’ve heard that Darrell Lea will not continue its Simpsons licence. It seems that Simpsons branding of products is not the goldmine it used to be.

This is a video of the racial comments by US shock jock Don Imus which resulted in him being taken off the air for two weeks and facing the sack. CNN reports that his advertisers are running from him. Google lists over 3,000 news stories about this.

In a related story, here in Australia, ACMA, the Federal Government’s media watchdog says: Sydney radio station 2GB breached the code by broadcasting material on Breakfast with Alan Jones that was likely to encourage violence or brutality and to vilify people of Lebanese and Middle-Eastern backgrounds on the basis of ethnicity.

No sooner had ACMA announced their findings and the Prime Minister backs Jones. Huh? Is the Prime Minister that scared of Alan Jones and his Sydney coterie that he will go against the findings of the independent watchdog? I guess the response demonstrates the power of the Jones microphone and therein lies a reason for David Hicks spending five years in jail before getting his day in court.

While The Age in Melbourne runs the story on page 1 and devotes editorial space, I suspect that few in the media will go hard.

Alan Jones cannot take back his words just as Don Imus cannot. It is a test for the media as to how they report and follow up this story. Australian bloggers and independent media have an opportunity to demonstrate their point of difference – as they have done in the US over the Imus story.

In Tasmania today I noticed this newsagency for sale in Sorell. I like they way they are promoting the business boldly across their front window. It has a good main street location and a decent floor space.

Noise from the construction for the new Target store next to my newsagency is making the back room an unsafe workplace and the shop uncomfortable for customers. I’ve sent the landlord these two recordings from Saturday from the two locations: inside the shop and the
back room.

The landlord promised that the work would be completed by 9am each day – it’s continuing until mid afternoon six days a week.

Today’s Sydney Morning Herald is printed on green paper. I’m surprised they did not green up the website as well. Time magazine on Monday publishes a special Earth day issue. Sydney tomorrow night turns off the lights for an hour – Earth Hour. Newsagents in NSW especially could leverage all this activity in around the various titles and products which relate to global warming and climate change and demonstrate relevance on such an important topic.

I’m in Canberra today and was disappointed to see the green Sydney Morning Herald being treated at the airport Newslink store no different to usual.

Newsagencies are small and, mostly, local businesses. We need to demonstrate our local credentials by connecting with local issues. Okay, airport stores are not local but on this issue I expected to see some effort.

The folks at the New York Times announced yesterday a widget providing access from your Google homepage to Times’ classic crosswords. They have an archive of over 1,000 of these and will release new content each Monday.

It’s a great idea and will extend the reach of the Times’ brand. There are hundreds of other crossword widgets already available but with the Times joining the game more mainstream newspaper brands will undoubtedly make the move.

I wonder if there will be an impact on crossword sales from this. I doubt we will notice it this year but it must have an impact at some point. If people can get satisfaction from an online crossword, why pay for a magazine or book? Especially if that satisfaction came through branded and trusted crosswords available on mobile devices which provide the flexibility of a magazine.

Since my post here three days ago about life after selling my home delivery run I have been contacted by eleven newsagents close to deciding on the same path and wanting to discus the pros and cons. When I first posted here six months ago that I had sold the delivery business I received one such call.

While such statistics may be meaningless, the conversations with newsagents tell me otherwise. Each of the eleven has only started thinking about quitting the home delivery business since November. Most cited the News Ltd TDAA contract roll over as a catalyst. Listening to the comments I felt as if there was a crisis of confidence among newsagents about the viability of home delivery.

If my conversations with the eleven are anything to go by we will see many home delivery territories sold this year.

The reaction from people about my blog post yesterday about the new Watermark store at Sydney airport has been surprising. Is response to requests here is another photo looking into the shop from another angle.

What I like about this design is that it supposts a huge range of stock yet remains calm, easy to navigate and allows the product to speak for itself.

Checkout the new Watermark store at the Qantas terminal at Sydney airport. This is a very impressive store anchored around books. Magazines, greeting cards, social stationery and office suppliers are covered with limited space allocated. At the back of the shop is a café. This is a classy looking business and an ideal balance for the Newslink stores in the same mall. Newslink and Watermark have the same owner.

I’m surprised that this was not covered anywhere and that I didn’t notice it. Sensis. BidSmart service was down from March 10 through 15. We have a small BidSmart campaign running for our Inkfast online ink and toner business – this runs separately to our retail newsagency and easily accounts for more ink and toner sales in a week than our shop processes in a month.

If Google AdWords was down I’m sure there would be reports. It’s a bit like someone turning off your marketing campaign. But we didn’t notice. Frankly, the BidSmart campaign was all but forgotten. Until Sensis emails us to advice that it had been off the air. Their apology email resulted in us logging in and revising the campaign. If we didn’t miss it surely there is a problem?

While I was playing with BidSmart today I saw some amazing traffic stats for some keywords which newsagents could play with – I’m not about to go into details here though.

St Patricks day is fun, even for the many employees in newsagencies wearing green make-up and sporting green hair in honour of the one big day of the year for the Irish. Now if only newsagencies could serve green beer.

Tower Systems is hosting a free footy tipping competition again this year and you’re welcome to join in. To join the NRL competition click here. To join the AFL competition click here. First prize is $300, second prize is $150 and third prize is $50. Results are accessible weekly so a boost to your pride is the real reward.

For non lottery sales over $20.00 recently we gave away one of our branded red reusable bags – like Coles green bag but bright red. It’s great to see people come back in with them next time, especially when buying a weekend newspaper – when we are most often asked for a plastic bag. Removing plastic bags is a step by step, transaction by transaction process and having an environmentally friendly option in helping us reduce the number of plastic bags we hand customers.