Applications are all the rage these days. You can get one for just about anything. I'm curious about how and why people create these apps, so I asked some questions of Leigh O'Brien, a Perth resident who co-created an intriguing and popular app called My Fantastic Funeral.

MATT: Firstly, please tell me about your app My Fantastic Funeral. What were the project's main motivations, and how did it come about?

LEIGH: My Fantastic Funeral is an app designed to solve two problems. It enables you to create the send off you want and relieves the stress for the family and loved ones left behind. You simply:

Add music.
Add photos.
Add other details.

Then share this information with family and friends to ensure your wishes come true. It is like an extension of your will with all the finer details included.

Above all My Fantastic Funeral is all about making your final farewell one to remember. Gone are the days where funerals have to be morbid affairs. Funerals should be personal,memorable and above all fun. It is a celebration of your life here on earth. The My Fantastic Funeral app was created to make funeral planning effortless and to assist you in making sure you go out with a bang!

The idea came about when a friend and I heard a song on the radio and thought we want this at our funeral but had no way of making sure our loved ones would play it so we decided to make an app and include a lot more detail. You can even use the app to tell people what dress code you would like as well as what charity you would like donations made to, where you want your ashes scattered and who should speak during the service.. We have tried to cover all bases.

MATT: It's an unusual idea, but I know that it's been quite successful. I'd imagine that some people would be skeptical about its potential appeal. Was this the case or not?

LEIGH: Let’s face it we plan and celebrate all big milestones in our life such as birthdays, christenings and weddings. We believe your funeral should be no different. In fact it is even more important to get the details right because funnily enough “you won’t be there ...”

The topic of funerals has been a bit taboo over the years but I think that attitude is changing. There seems to be so many more cases of cancer and other illnesses so people are starting to think about getting their affairs in order and I think the funeral planning is part of that process.

I know my dad who is a baby boomer felt a little bit strange about discussing funeral arrangements but once he understood the concept behind the app he changed his view. When he found out we would have played a song he didn’t want he soon cottoned on and realized why the app is important and what purpose it is there for.

I also asked some Gen-Y kids what they thought and they seemed not to be phased by the concept and thought it was a good idea. We also got some good feedback from an article that was featured in the Border Mail from some older readers so I think its slowly catching on.

MATT: Apps are huge business and amazingly popular. But do you need much technical skill to create them? If you aren't "geeky" enough to do it all yourself, how do you go about realizing your vision?

LEIGH: Initially we looked into building the app ourselves but discovered it would take us a long time to learn how to do it so we opted to have someone build it for us. We used the internet to make enquiries and got 3 or 4 quotes from different capital cities before deciding on a company. It was only supposed to take 2-3 months but in the end took about 6 months.

MATT: What advice would you give to anyone intending to create their own apps?

LEIGH: If you have the knowledge and skills then sure go ahead and build it yourself but if you are like us complete beginners I would suggest to outsource it to a professional.. I think it saved us a lot of headaches in the long run.
If you have a good idea for an app get some advice and give it a go. it is a little bit scary but you have to take risks to be successful.

MATT: What promotional methods have been the most effective, and why?

LEIGH: We started out on Facebook and Twitter and they have been working well for us. We are slowly building a following. We have just had a few articles published in local newspapers which seemed to have created some interest. We are hoping to feature in some big newspapers and on some current affairs programs in the future to further promote the app.

The app has been downloaded  in 11 countries so far and we are hoping that word of mouth will assist us in spreading the news about the app. We have a website: myfantasticfuneral.com.

MATT: Do you have plans to create other apps in the future. If so, what are they?

LEIGH: At the moment we will just concentrate on this one. We have plans to further develop My Fantastic Funeral so it will enable video.

I would love to create more apps in the future. I have been chatting to my niece and nephew about a fun game app so we will have to wait and see if we can get that one up and running..Its all about having fun on the journey..after all thats what life is about.

When placing ads on a noticeboard it always helps if you can think of the kind of people who would frequent it most often. Obviously, if it's in a shopping arcade there'll be people from many different walks of life. But if it's on a campus there'll be a different, generally younger demographic.

You've also got to think about socio-economic class. It's not such a good idea to put ads for theatre shows up in notice boards in working class suburbs. I don't want to sound like a snob, but it's just a fact that people from suburbs like Balga don't go to stage shows as often as those from Subiaco and similar areas.

That's why anyone who caters for the more alternative set should use noticeboards down in Fremantle. If you're promoting things like yoga classes, mediation, health, diet, or anything vaguely New Age there are a lot of people in your demographic. There's one massive noticeboard at the Fremantle Library that would get a lot of people in your target demographic looking at your ads. There's also one outside a New Age store called the Blue Buddha in the Manning Arcade nearby. There's another one in a shop in South Terrace. I'm pretty sure it's Manna Health Foods, on the corner of Nelson St.

Advertising on the free and paid online classifieds can be a good move. Many of these sites get huge traffic and appear high in search engine results. But you shouldn't forget the traditional local newspaper classifieds. They go out to a lot of people in Perth and Fremantle, are certainly browsed by a high proportion of them and can be quite effective.

I've used these papers to advertise the lessons described on this site and have made several sales through them. The best results seem to come from Fremantle Herald and Perth Voice (both put out by the same company). Placing classified ads in Post papers also seems to work, though not as well.

The best thing about these publications is that they're very cheap. I can put a four line ad in the Fremantle Herald for fifteen bucks a week. You almost don't notice that. The Post is even cheaper (although it has a smaller circulation).

I haven't yet used the West Australian classifieds. Of course that paper has enormous reach compared to these smaller publications. But are the ads read as widely in comparison? I'm not convinced. I had a friend who took out an ad there once which set her back quite a bit (I think it was a quarter pager). No calls at all.

The sales people highlight the fact that this paper covers the entire state. While that would be a bonus if you had a big business with outlets and offices in many population centres, it wouldn;t be the case if you just had a small, locally oriented business. If you ran such an outfit and advertised in The West most of the people who saw your ad wouldn't end up buying from you even if they wanted too because they'd be too far away! But you're still paying for their views. Ads placed in smaller but much more locally oriented publications will therefore tend to get you much better value for money.

Because local papers are so cheap, you only need the odd sale to make advertising in them worthwhile. Then you can keep tweaking the wording for best results. And I think this is a very important factor. As well as having your ads in the right category, you've really got to have a compelling, short headline that zeros in on your market. Finding just the right one for what you're offering is easier said than done and can take several rewrites.

This is a new site, so I have created a couple of dedicated social profiles for it recently. I've been focusing on the Twitter one over the last week or so. In an effort to get the ball rolling there I've been lots of following lots of Perth business accounts.

What's really noticeable is how prevalent those in the food and hospitality industry are. Not only are there a lot of them, they have consistently big followings and are very active.

Every now and then I find Twitter accounts from other businesses. But they're comparatively few and far between. And they're usually not up to date. Most of them signed up long ago, tweeted a few times and just gave up!

Cafes and restaurants sell social experiences

I'm not sure exactly why this phenomenon occurs but I think it's got something to do with the fact that cafes and restaurants need to create an atmosphere in which patrons can chat and enjoy each others' company. They are selling a social experience already, and therefore take to social media like ducks to water. They also thrive on regulars. So they're keen to create and maintain a friendly rapport with customers online as well.

Businesses in other fields tend to be more about supplying products or services that don't require any social interaction -- and often just once -- so they don't see the value of Twitter. That's unfortunate because it's certainly a quick and effective way to increase your online footprint as well as get more people in your city to know about what you do. (If you wish, I can quickly show you how to do this in a private lesson or two.)

If you've got some promotional material made up, you've got to choose where to put it. Two options are to put your ads in little piles in cafes or pin them to community noticeboards. Many people prefer the former method. But I think the noticeboards are a better idea for most businesses.

Firstly, flyer collections in cafes are often not prominently displayed. They'll usually be sitting in some corner of the cafe. And they often get a bit mixed up with other stuff. Of course that's a risk on the boards, too. But it's not so bad.

Also, advertisers often leave quite big piles of twenty or thirty or more in cafes. While some do get taken by patrons, the remaining ones often get thrown out by cafe staff when they've been there a while. And if these areas aren't well maintained then other brochures can end up obscuring yours pretty quickly. In both scenarios if you've spent a lot of money on glossy flyers this is just money down the drain.

The noticeboards, on the other hand, aren't patrolled by shop staff so often. And while some can get a bit cluttered, your ads can usually be visible for the whole time they're up there. If you've pinned, say, five flyers to a big noticeboard they're much more likely to stay up until they're all gone. That can result in a very good ROI.

That said, cafes can be a good choice if you're seeking a young demographic from the inner city with high disposable income. Fashion shows, theatrical events, hairdressing salons, and similar ventures go well in such places. But if you have a business such as plumbing, or gardening, obviously, these locations aren't so great.

Noticeboards that target a certain demographic exist, too. There are many such boards on the university campuses in Perth for example. If you have a product that would appeal to this youthful demographic it could be an extremely effective way to advertise. Refurbished computers come immediately to mind.

The more I learn about business the more I realize it's about doing a whole bunch of things repeatedly. It's like spinning plates. You go from one to the other, and keep them all up.

You'll always have things on your mind that you know you should get around to eventually. These include building a website or a Facebook page, getting some sort of equipment, placing ads, etc. The number of things you need to do can seem overwhelming and easily lead to procrastination.

Begin it now

To prevent this from happening it's important to get into the habit of regularly starting something new -- no matter how small. Do this, and the next step is easier. Also, your subconscious will be working on things. You'll come back to that project armed with new ideas and approaches. You'll "hit the ground running" on it.

This applies to all tasks required, but especially to an online project such as building a new site. This is because time is a significant factor in SEO. The longer a URL is up there, the better. And it's a process that will inevitably develop in stages. So you should get the first one underway soon. 

Don't rush

That said, you don't want to rush into it. You should give a lot of consideration to the keywords you'll be targeting and the content you'll include. But once you've done that and bought your domain name it's a good idea to start your site ASAP. What you build doesn't have to be final. It's just really important to just put some stuff up there. The fact that you've "gotten the ball rolling" helps you psychologically as much as anything else.

A lot of people make the mistake of believing that a website should be made perfectly and completely from the start, and then just left up there. But the opposite is true. It should be a work in progress -- even if you don't have a blog that you're continually updating. You can always tweak pages, add new ones, etc. That's why the sooner you start, the better.