Dance Blog 2008-08-20T14:27:23Z http://iansblog.ozdance.info/atom.aspx Quick Blog Dancing and Domains tag:iansblog.ozdance.info,2007-08-30:c79d3a23-918c-4dc9-9a72-e3651e18ecaa Ian McKenzie 2007-08-30T15:22:11Z 2007-08-30T13:32:00Z
Ian_McKenzie.jpg




Question:
None of these existed in 1970. There were 3 million in 1998. Earlier this year there were 65 million. Currently there are well over 100 million. To what am I referring?

Answer:
Websites

The increase in the number of domain name registrations has been exponential in recent times. People are using the World Wide Web more and more not only for business, but also for daily activities that other media such as print may have been used for in the past. For example, I am connected to the Internet for the major part of most days of the week. I used to have copies of telephone directories for each of the capital cities and several country areas in Australia. I have dispensed with them all. To find a number anywhere in Australia, or anywhere else in the world for that matter, I just get onto the computer keyboard and find it in less time than it would have taken me to find the correct hard copy of the telephone books I had. The Internet certainly has changed  the way many of us do things.

But, this is a dance blog site. What has all the preamble above got to do with dance?

Well, my simplistic single word answer to that question is "heaps".

Anyone in any sort of business without a web site is missing out on what could be a large increase in their market share. But the way your business is presented on the WWW is also important.

I regularly browse the Internet looking at what people are doing and how. Dance web sites are frequently the subject of my attentioin. The vast majority are beaut. They are well presented, easy to navigate and informative. But there are some that have attributes which I find disconcerting.

My biggest dislike is pop-up or pop-under pages when going to a site. I don't want to go to a page advertising I-pods or whatever when it was a dance site I went to. If I am interested in I-pods, I shall "Google I-pods" and find the information myself.

The equal second biggest dislikes on my list is links that don't work, and out of date information. Disfunctional links can be a problem for any webmaster. Web sites can change their structure or domain name servers, or pages can even be deleted. So the occasional broken link can probably be excused. But if you come across a web site where many of the links go to "this page cannot be found", it means that either an Internet Service Provider is down, or the web site owner and/or the webmaster is slapdash. The best solution is to periodically check all of your links, and fix or get rid of those that no longer work. One dance site I visited just this week had several links that didn't work. One link on the site that did work went to a page advertising an event planned for 2003, which had in fact been cancelled. This bad link had been sitting there for over four years without anyone taking appropriate action.

I could go on about other dislikes, but two will do for now.

If you have a web site or web sites, try to look at them from the point of view of those you would like to visit your site(s). Be critical of it (them), or get someone else to be critical of it (them), and keep making appropriate changes.

If you don't have an Internet presence, and you are involved in some sort of business to do with dance, there are a few alternatives that you may like to consider:

The first is to get a free listing on the appropriate dance site listed to the left of this blog site. Anyone with any dance related business in Australia is entitled to this. In fact this applies whether or not you have a site of your own. If you do have a site, I would be happy to exchange reciprocal links.

Alternative number two is to get your own page on one of the relevant dance sites. Each of my regional dance sites has a home page with details how to do this. The cost is a mere $110 including GST to set it up and a yearly maintenance fee of only $27.50 which also includes GST.

With your own page you will have a unique URL (web address) that you can refer your clients to.

A third alternative is to register a domain name through Ian McKenzie's Domains (less than $10 per year) and get a free hosted web site, and also a free hosted blog site if you wish. This blog site you are currently on is an example of a free hosted site. The hosting cost is covered by non-obtrusive advertisments across the top of the page. If you don't have the necessary software to build your own site, I can refer you to some which is totally FREE. Just click on the link and scroll down the page until you come to the appropriate link.

The fourth alternative is to once again register a domain name through Ian McKenzie's Domains and pay for hosting. Economy hosting costs as little as around $5 per month and is advertisement free.

I am able to assist with the above alternatives and many others. I am only as far away as the telephone or an email. All of my prices are very competitive. My phone number is 07 5547 7187 or 0400 106 654 or email me at ian@ozdance.info . Further contact information is available on my personal site. www.ianmckenzie.name

Happy dancing

Ian McKenzie

PS
For those of you who subscribe to my blog, I inadvertently hit "publish" without proof reading. My Keyboarding skills are only mediocre, and there were plenty of typos. Hopefully I have fixed most of them now.

Ian

]]> Anniversary tag:iansblog.ozdance.info,2007-08-16:57d9f9aa-d88e-4394-9dfa-142b6eb7aa75 Ian McKenzie 2007-08-16T10:51:25Z 2007-08-16T10:28:00Z Do you dance the Ballroom Jive? Perhaps you dance the Rockabilly. Or perhaps the Lindy Hop or any of the two step, four step, six step or eight step versions of Rock 'n' Roll are your preferred styles.

Regardless of your preferred style of dance, you have no doubt danced on numerous occasions to the music from the guy who is generally referred to as the "King" of Rock 'n' Roll, Elvis.

Today, 16 August 2007, is the 30th anniversary of the untimely death of Elvis Presley. Many artists throughout the world have honoured Elvis by trying to copy his unique singing style and flamboyant dress. But none have come close. I heard an announcement on the radio this morning that this week is "Elvis" week. His memory certainly is being relived now and throughout the coming week with shows and dance events all over the world. Elvis fan clubs abound. There is even one in Australia, and a Google search of "Elvis" will give you thousands of links. However, I have given a brief biography of Elvis at the link below.

http://www.brisbanedances.com/html/elvis.html

If you subscribe to this Dance Blog, and you live in the Brisbane area, you may also wish to subscribe to the fortnightly newsletter being produced by Aussie Dances. There is a subscription box on the web site above, if you are interested.

A "Tribute to Elvis" dance is planned for this coming Saturday night at the Mt Gravatt Bowls club in Brisbane. I look forward to seeing you there if you can make it.

Cheers for now, and keep dancing!

Ian McKenzie

]]> What's on tag:iansblog.ozdance.info,2007-08-08:5f4961c9-a04f-40db-8df8-3c7ce0704a87 Ian McKenzie 2007-08-08T14:11:50Z 2007-08-08T13:27:00Z Hi It's Ian McKenzie here again

The title of this blog is "What's on", because that is the title of the new page that has been added to each of the following DANCE SITES:

www.dancinginbrisbane.info
www.dancinginsydney.info
www.dancinginmelbourne.info
www.dancinginadelaide.info
www.dancingincanberra.info
www.dancingintasmania.info
www.queenslanddancing.info
www.newsouthwalesdancing.info
www.victoriadancing.info
www.southaustraliadancing.info
www.westernaustralia.info
www.northernterritorydancing.info

The purpose of the "What's on" page, is exactly that ..., to let people know what is on. If you have a regular event on a certain day of the week each week, whether it be dancing or some sort of entertainment, then let me know abolut it, and which of the above site(s) it is suitable for. As with other listings on these sites, the listing is FREE. If you would like a link to your web site, that can also be obtained in exchange for a reciprocal link from your site back to the site in question.

Each of the above sites also have a "Dance Suppliers" page, for any firm supplying to dancers or dance studios etc. This page also has been added fairly recently.

In addition to the free listing, you may wish to place an advertisement on the above pages, or any other pages of the sites listed. Paid advertisements are inexpensive, and are of a fixed size. They can be either in "Flash Movie" format, or gif format. We can design and produce these advertisements for you if you provide the information you require.Details are on the home pages of each of the sites listed above.

Brisbane Social Dance Scene

Strictly Ballroom, has started social ballroom dance events in Brisbane. Their first was conducted last Saturday night at the University of Queensland, and I have been told it was very successful. Well done Karen Amos and the others with you conducting this event. Strictly Ballroom have a listing, and a link to their web site, on the "What's on" page of the Brisbane Dance directory.

Aussie Dances start their regular Saturday night dances in Brisbane with LIVE MUSIC on Saturday 18 August. So if you live in Brisbane, or you are visiting Brisbane on any occasion, be sure to check out these dances at a venue somewhere in Brisbane every Saturday night. There is also a link to Aussie Dances web site on the "What's on" page of the Brisbane Dance Directory.

Neither of the two new social dance events mentioned above are involved in teaching. And, I am sure both will promote any dance school or teachers that are supportive of these dances.

I understand a commercial dance venue has also recently started Saturday night social dance sessions in Brisbane. Things certainly are looking up for the dancers of Brisbane.

The Rest of Oz

Hey, remember that this Dance Blog is intended to let all of Australia know what is happening in your part of the world. But, I can't let people know about it if I don't know myself. If you have anything interesting coming up, send me an email, and I shall try to include the information in the next blog.

That's about all of the news for now.

Happy dancing

Ian McKenzie



]]> Charity Dance Party tag:iansblog.ozdance.info,2007-07-26:e1fce7d9-651e-4b42-aadf-bc908b8bc557 Ian McKenzie 2007-07-26T08:47:00Z 2007-07-26T08:47:00Z Next Saturday 28th July

Charity Dance Party in memory of Sylvia Booker and her love of dancing.

Sylvia passed away in February 2007 from Cancer - all proceeds and donations are going to Palliative Care Services.

This invitation is open to all who love dancing or would like to support a worthwhile cause. All the Dance Groups that Sylvia was a part of have been invited to attend and promote this dance event.

Dancers are asked to get the word out and let as many dancers know as quickly as possible of this event on next Saturday.

Dance, have fun and help raise much needed funds.

Blind Hall, Corner of Vulture and Stephens Road, South Brisbane.
(walking distance from Southbank railway station)

7.00pm till past midnight.

BYO drinks etc.

$10.00 at the door

Music: Modern Jive and requests to suit all dancers

This is a charity event and everyone is welcome.]]> Brisbane Dances tag:iansblog.ozdance.info,2007-07-22:0e741260-9415-4855-8e78-d07c3ab33767 Ian McKenzie 2007-07-23T09:43:52Z 2007-07-22T18:49:00Z Brisbane Dances

Black and Mack (aka Phil Black "Blacky" and Ian McKenzie "Ian") did a market survey which found there was a need for a regular dance in the Brisbane city metropolitan area on Saturday nights.

Sure, there are heaps of RSL clubs, Football clubs, and Bowls clubs etc., which have a "small" dance floor and live music. But Black and Mack's survey showed there was not to their knowledge any regular Saturday night dance in Brisbane with live music giving an eclectic mix of Rock 'n' Roll, Ballroom, Latin and circle dances changing partners.

Well, there is now!

Brisbane Dances have a Tribute to Elvis night organised for Saturday 18 August at the Mt Gravatt Bowls club in Brisbane. ( it is the 30th anniversary of Elvis's death on 16 August) Cathy Drummond will be performing and the dance will be held from 7.00pm to Midnight. Other regular Saturday night dances will follow. Details are on Brisbane Dances web site www.brisbanedances.com .

Before the end of 2007, Black and Mack's Saturday night dances will be a regular event for Brisbane dancers to look forward to. Check the web site regularly for updates.

The cost of attending these dances is being kept to a minimum..., only $10.00. So they are sure to become popular events.

 
That's all for now

Happy Dancing

Ian McK.



]]> Black Friday tag:iansblog.ozdance.info,2007-07-11:d7befb61-1309-41bd-bcc8-72b6d16d85cf Ian McKenzie 2007-07-11T10:12:00Z 2007-07-11T10:12:00Z Black Friday
I have received a few emails from dance clubs during the week. One was from "thank Arthur it's Friday" who is organising a special event for this coming Friday the 13th. Arthur and Betty have a link to their web site on the dancing in Sydney web site. www.dancinginsydney.info Other dance clubs have sent me their newletters of new timetables and events etc..All the clubs from which I have received information have links on their relative city of state web sites, all of which are hyperlinked by the way at the left hand side of this page. So, check with your favourite dance clubs or teachers regularly.

Another email came from the Gold Coast in Queensland, a bit closer to my own home. It was from Brad who runs the Bead Shed which operates out of the Cararra Markets on the Gold Coast. The Bead Shed boasts a massive range of beads, findings, dance costumes and dance accessories, and sells throughout Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific region. I had a browse around their web site, and was impressed with the extensive on-line catalogue they have available. Their web site is at www.thebeadshed.com.au , or if you prefer you could give Brad a call on 07 5579 8637.

Subscribe to this Blog
Talking of emails, you may have noticed a link on this page which allows you to subscribe to this blog. If you subscribe, when a new posting is made, it is automatically sent straight to your email address. I reiterate that this is an automatic response, and that your email address will not be used for any other purpose as a result of your subscription. Also, you are able to unsubscribe at any time if you so wish. To date I have posted six only blogs since the first was posted on the 7th May this year. That's an average of way less than one per fortnight. So, your email inbox will not be iinundated with dance blogs.

Listings
Remember there is no charge for listing your favourite dance club, studio, venue, or teacher on any of our associated web sites. So, if your favourites are not listed, let the relevant people know about these sites and send the relevant information to me at ian@ozdance.info As, I have previously mentioned, dancing is not my main business focus and I am therefore relying on all of you out there to let all dancers and any one related to dance in Australia be aware of this free service I am offering. I am willing to spend whatever time it takes to make all of the new relevant listings.

Cheers for now, and keep dancing

Ian

]]> Dance and Communication tag:iansblog.ozdance.info,2007-05-16:b4d8fab9-1a35-4713-a82a-82948fadae7c Ian McKenzie 2007-05-16T09:29:00Z 2007-05-16T09:29:00Z The title of this blog is also the title of an article I have recently published. It is on each of the regional dance web sites under "Dance Articles". But, I want to elaborate more on the topic of dance and communication here.

I have made an effort to open up communication regarding dance in Australia by publishing this blog site and its associated fourteen dance web sites. One of my aims was to enable anyone travelling to anywhere in Australia to be able to readily find a dance class or a social dance session to attend, dancing the dance styles of their choice.

These fifteen web sites have been published for around three weeks only. Feedback from all over Australia has been positive, and for that I thank you.

I am listing new sites daily, but I do have a dilemma. It is impossisble for me to contact all Dance Studios, Dance Teachers, Dance Venues etc., in Australia. I do need to rely on viral marketing.

If everyone who is already listed on one of the sites, and if everyone who comes across one of the sites spreads the "word" to all the people they know who may be interested, then the sites should become comprehensive fairly quickly.

The more listings there are on all the sites, the more useful and popular they will become with dancers throughout Australia, and the better for everyone concerned.

The "Out and About" pages on the Brisbane, Sydney and Canberra sites each have Dance Studios featured. The other regional sites currently do not. If your studio is in the relevant geographic area, and you would like to be featured, contact me via email and I shall arrange to get your story and pictures etc., from you. First in , first served....!

The majority of listings in the directories have links back to your web sites if you have a web site. If I have linked to your site, I would really appreciate reciprocal links back to the relevant dance site, and/or the Australian Dance Directory site.

There are Gif images on each of the sites that you can download and hyperlink, or alternatively, a text link would be fine.

Any suggestion that anyone has for making any of the sites more useful, please let me have them.

Cheers for now

Ian

]]> Flamenco to Swing tag:iansblog.ozdance.info,2007-05-09:cc248f81-fc86-46ea-91ff-3e227556eca8 Ian McKenzie 2007-05-09T08:18:00Z 2007-05-09T08:18:00Z Flamenco article submitted by www.tomasflamenco.com " target="">Tomas Dietz. Tomas gives a history of this unique dance style, with its very close relationship with music and communication. It is published on the Australian Dance Directory Web Site. Thank you Tomas.

www.swingpatrol.com.au " target="">Swing Patrol run Swing classes in Sydney and Melbourne and have submitted an interesting article on the history and development of Swing. The article is published on the Lindy Hop page of the Australian Dance Directory.

Hopping at the Savoy, is an article on Swing Dance history and development which I have written, which is published on the Swing Dance page of the Australian Dance Directory.

Each of us has a "writer" inside of us. Let your "inner writer self" come out, and write an article on a dance style that you are passionate about. Send it to me and I shall get it published for all to read.

I have received some enquiries from people on some aspects of dance that were not neatly covered on the dance sites that I have published. So I published a new site to cover all of these miscellaneous aspects of dance. The site is called Oz Dance, and its URL is http://www.ozdance.info The site is of course very embryonic, but it has pages for Dance Performers and Dance Choreographers. So, if you have expertise or interests in either of these areas, be sure to send the relevant information to me. If there are any other subject areas that you would like to see covered related to any aspect of dance, then please let me know.

I am also preparing a Dance Glossary, I have got as far as the C's I think currently, but will add to this over the next few weeks. Help here with any terms would also be appreciated, there may be some that are peculiar to your particular style of dance.

Mothers Day is almost with us. Are any of you giving any specials for all the Mums out there? If they are Post-Mothers Day specials, let me know about them and I shall publish details in the next Blog.

Cheers for now

Ian

]]> Postscript tag:iansblog.ozdance.info,2007-05-06:d1062be3-b537-40e1-8d7c-4d4f9dba4796 Ian McKenzie 2007-05-06T10:44:00Z 2007-05-06T10:44:00Z http://iansblog.ozdance.info to all of your dancing colleagues, friends, partners etc.

Cheers

Ian]]> Ian's First Dance Blog tag:iansblog.ozdance.info,2007-05-06:e18ed110-13bf-40be-beef-6c67a3f42e0e Ian McKenzie 2007-05-06T09:48:00Z 2007-05-06T09:48:00Z

Hi It's Ian McKenzie here.

Thanks for visiting my DANCE Blog site.

Blogs will be published at least weekly on this site and will cover anything that I find of interest with regard to DANCE. If you or your dance studio have anything of interest coming up concerning dance, please let me know, and I shall publish the details in this blog. You can send the information via email to ian@ozdance.info 

There is now a suite of fifteen web sites that I have published. I hope that these sites in a short time will become a comprehensive directory of everything and everything to do with dance in Australia. If your dance classses or studio or style of dance is not currently listed, then please let me know about it (them), and I shall happily publish the details.

All of the Web Sites you see listed on left hand side of this blog site have been published late in April and early May 2007. Listing of dance classses, studios, venues etc., is free.

Thank you for the very positive feedback that has been given by several of you who have already listed on one or more of the sites. Comments such as "what a great idea you have" from Stray Cats Rock 'N' Roll, and "Congratulations on getting this website together - it's fantastic and just what we all need" from Tomas Dietz Flamenco Dance Academy; are typical of those that have been received, and are very much appreciated.

As you can see, you can subscribe to this blog if you wish, and have new entries emailed to you when they are made. Alternatively, just put the URL for the site in your favourites and be sure to come back often.

Any ideas you may have to make any of the sites more useful and or user friendly, please lets have them.

I would like to apologise for my lack of knowledge with regard to the names of some places in this great country of Australia. I have published websites for the major capital cities in Australia, and also published websites for each of the States. My intention was that if your dance venue or class etc., was in or near say Sydney or Melbourne, then the listings would go in the "Sydney" or "Melbourne" websites. However if you are in some other part of New South Wales of Victoria, then your listing would go into those State websites.  A dance studio that I have featured on the "Out & About" page of the NSW directory, should have in fact been in the Sydney directory. So, my apologies to JF Studio Dancers at Longueville, (and in fact to all Sydneyites), as I was not aware 'til yesterday that Longueville was in fact a suburb of Sydney. I do plan on changing the information over to the correct site before the end of the long weekend.

If you send me information to be published on one or more of the dance sites, would you please make it clear which site the information is to go on.

I will prepare a form later today, giving the format that I would like the information in,  and publish it on the sites.

That is about all for now. Please keep the information coming to me. If you are a dancer and your studio details are not listed on the approprite site, please let the studio's Principal or teachers, know about these sites.

Cheers for now

Ian


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