A great face for radio

Shane Moore on The Project

Last month I travelled to Sydney for the record-setting auction of the NSW number plate ‘4’.

I was quoted in a Fairfax piece about the auction, which I thought was pretty cool.

The auction went brilliantly, and a record was indeed set, with the plate selling for $2.45 million under the hammer.

The next day I was on my way to the airport with my wife, when I received a message via Facebook from a producer at The Project.  She wanted to have a chat about the auction.

So I called her from the airport, and she asked what I was half expecting (and dreading!) – would I be happy to appear on the show tonight?

Appearing on a TV show like The Project is so far out of my comfort zone, but sometimes you just have to say yes and go for it.

Shane Moore Ten Brisbane

After landing back in Brisbane I had to head straight up to the Ten studios on Mount Coot-tha, where the interview was recorded around an hour before it went to air.

I made it back home in time to watch it with the family, and to be honest it was pretty cringeworthy!

That’s not necessarily because of how I performed, but because of the stupid questions the panel asked and the way it was edited together.

I guess I shouldn’t have expected anything different, but the whole piece was more about taking my wife to a number plate auction rather than anything to do with the auction itself.

They seemed pretty unimpressed that I’d drag my wife along, but you know, I don’t think she minded a few days in Sydney…

Jessica in Sydney

Overall it was a great experience, but I’d have to think pretty hard before agreeing to appear on that show again.

Here’s the video.  My part starts around the two minute mark.

Getting more media coverage

NumberPlates.com.au

Thanks to my numberplates.com.au business I’ve managed to become a bit of an authority on number plates.

This has resulted in a few media appearances and quotes, which is great for the site’s SEO and also nice personally to have my passion recognised.

The latest contact came from a Fairfax journalist who wanted to chat about the upcoming auction of the single-digit NSW ‘4’ number plate.

NSW 4 number plate

I actually enjoy talking with journalists about plates, but I have to be so careful not to say too much, which is difficult when it’s a subject you’re passionate about!

I’m lucky in that a lot of owners of very significant and valuable plates (including single-digits) have been generous enough to share their time and information with me.

Often this includes information about how much they paid for certain plates, which is very sensitive to them, but they’ll share with me because they know I’m a locked vault when it comes to this stuff.

So anyway, it was a good chat, and the article was published here:

NSW licence plate with the number ‘4’ on the market for between $1.2 million and $1.4 million

This follows my first TV appearance earlier this year, when I was interviewed for the ABC, and appeared on their national news and business news programs.

Going back a few years I also had my first radio interview, which was regarding the sale of another single-digit number plate; Qld ‘7’.

That interview resulted from an article that appeared in the Brisbane Times, and was syndicated across other Fairfax properties including the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.

That article included a link to my site, which was very appreciated from an SEO perspective!

Hopefully there is plenty more to come.  Doing interviews is way out of my comfort zone, but that’s generally a good thing long term.

PS.  That NSW ‘4’ number plate is expected to sell for around $1.5 million.  My flights are booked to head down to Sydney for the auction! 🙂

My first TV appearance

Last month I featured in an ABC story regarding number plates.

It was quite an interesting thing to do, and also resulted in a great plug for one of my websites, NumberPlates.com.au.

My part starts at 2:55, but I recommend watching the whole thing!

It was quite an experience for someone who’s never done anything like this before.

The first contact came via my website, from a journalist at the ABC.

This is the dream for any business right?  We all talk about trying to reach out to media organisations to get some coverage, but when they come knocking on your door it’s brilliant.

In this case I give a lot of the credit to my domain name.

The website doesn’t look amazing, and it doesn’t rank number 1 for anything, but it has THE industry leading name – numberplates.com.au.

Exact match domains might not give you the ranking boost anymore, but I’m a big believer in their credibility boost.

So anyway we exchanged a few emails and had a chat on the phone, then that was it for a while.

Then out of the blue another phone call.  They wanted to film a piece ASAP, and they wanted to do it at my garage!

To be honest I didn’t like that idea and suggested we film somewhere else, but they wanted the home garage feel, and of course they wanted my number plates in shot.

So the day arrived and so did the camera person.  The journalist did the interview via mobile on speaker, whilst I gave my answers to an imaginary person standing beside the camera.

It was more difficult than I would’ve imagined…

Afterwards I almost felt sick!  I’m definitely not a natural in front of the camera.

Then weeks and weeks went past without a word from anyone.  I honestly hoped that they’d decided not to run the story!

But on the Easter long weekend I received a text from the journalist – our story would be airing on the 7pm national news!

It also ran on the business news later in the evening, and a few times on the 24 hour news channel.

In the end it wasn’t all that bad, and I was happy to get my Trade Risk ute in shot as well as a good plug for my number plate website.

Plus I’m semi-famous now…