Posted in Web Hosting on Thursday, February 02, 2012, 05:07
Mobile web users are forced to scroll when viewing products and services from mobile devices. Can small businesses afford to not have a mobile website built for smaller screens?
Vancouver, British Columbia, February 01, 2012 — 4GoodHosting.com today has announced the formal release of their new application, Mobile Website Builder, designed to help business websites be more viewable on smart phones. It will allow anyone with a cell phone to view products and services without continuously scrolling. The Mobile Website Builder features a 3-step intuitive wizard that uses a WYSIWYG format to help make mobile websites easier to build. 4GoodHosting.com is of the first web hosting companies in Canada that offers this online advanced mobile website builder program and offers a free seven-day trial.
Traditionally, most websites are harder to view on mobile phones due to large graphics and content. However, according to a 2011 Neilsen State of the Media Report, 83 million people access the internet from their phones. Morgan Stanley’s 2010 Internet Trends research report have indicated mobile web usage on Smartphones will grow so rapidly, it will dominate over desktop Internet usage within two years. 4GoodHosting.com’s Mobile Website Builder gives business owners the ability to optimize their website for mobile phone usage.
After creating a mobile website with the Mobile Website Builder, mobile device users will be able to view products and services, and include a map to easily navigate to their location. Mobile Internet users will no longer need to scroll side to side or up and down excessively when viewing a business website from their mobile device due to the accessibility of compressed graphics and shorter word content. Mobile Website Builder offers other features for business owners, including:
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Library of Templates
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Large Toolbox – allows rich controls to be added
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Full Style Sheet Control
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Low Maintenance
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Leverage of Web Investment – Transfer content from existing website
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A click to Call button so user do not even need to dial the business phone number
In a 2010 Pew Internet & American Life Projects study, 11% of mobile phone users have purchased products and made charitable donations from their cell phone. In the same study, 43% of cell phone internet users go online several times a day while 12% go online about once a day. “2011 was the year that shopping on mobile devices moved into the mainstream,” said Paul Bruemmer, managing partner of PB Communications. “It won’t be long before the majority of retail sales are made from tablets and mobile devices rather than laptops and desktops.”
The Mobile Website Builder application is open for registration and has a free seven-day trial. Custom mobile website designs are available starting at $199 for three mobile web pages. Other custom packages include a five page and eight page mobile website. To view a video of the Mobile Website Builder interface and how it works, visit http://4goodhosting.com/mobileweb-mobi/mobile-website-builder
ABOUT 4GOODHOSTING.COM
4Goodhosting.com has been in operation since 2000. A member of the Better Business Bureau, 4GoodHosting.com is a full service website design, development and search engine optimization company. They free domains with their website hosting plans and are located in Burnaby, BC V5C 6C6 Canada.
If you’d like more information about 4Goodhosting mobile website builder, please visit http://4goodhosting.com . Call or email 4GoodHosting at 1-866-708-4678 sales@4goodhosting.com
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Posted in Google on Monday, October 24, 2011, 08:48
Google recently announced that its latest AdWords aid, Google AdWords Express, is now available in the UK and Germany.
The service, which was first announced back in July, is designed for “local businesses looking for local customers. It's for business owners who want the benefits of a targeted online ad campaign without having to spend time managing it.”
The principle behind AdWords Express is simplicity; users just have to enter their Ad Headline, Ad Description, and their maximum monthly budget and Google will do the rest.
Google say “AdWords Express will figure out which searches should trigger your ad to appear and displays it when these searches happen. Your ad will be shown in the Ads section of search results pages—on the top or right hand side—and in Google Maps with a distinctive blue pin. Customers can see your ad whether they’re searching on laptops or mobile phones.”
When a local search is made, an ad will appear above the organic listings and Google will also put a blue pin on the map so the location of the business is easily visible. All users in the UK and Germany should be able to start using their service today.
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Posted in Apple on Tuesday, October 04, 2011, 12:30
Apple’s online retail store is officially down! I wonder why?....
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Posted in Google on Monday, October 03, 2011, 09:09
Last week, shortly after revealing the introduction of real-time stats to its analytics service, Google announced its first ever paid-for analytics package, called Google Analytics Premium.
In the blog post announcing the feature, Enrique Munoz Torres, Product Manager of the Google Analytics team, goes to a great deal of effort to describe the service, how it came about, and what additional benefits users can gain from the service.
He says Premium users will benefit from:
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Extra processing power - increased data collection, more custom variables and downloadable, unsampled reports
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Advanced analysis - attribution modeling tools that allow you to test different models for assigning credit to conversions
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Service and support - experts to guide customized installation, and dedicated account management on call - all backed by 24/7 support
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Guarantees - service level agreements for data collection, processing and reporting
What Torres fails to mention, however, is the amount of money you’re looking at to actually purchase the Premium package. In order to find out, you need to contact Google directly, or get in touch with one of their authorized resellers.
Mike Arrington, TechCrunch founder and ex-employee, writes on his new blog (Uncrunched) that he has actually contacted Google for some pricing, and it looks like there’s a pretty good reason the blog didn’t mention it.
The reply that Arrington received, posted below, says that an annual subscription to Google Analytics Premium will set you back a staggering $150,000 (£97,000) or £12,500 (£8,000) per month.
Without trying the service it’s hard to comment on whether or not it’s worth the money, but for a flat annual fee of $150,000 Google need to be pulling some seriously impressive rabbits out of their analytics hat for Premium to pay off.
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Posted in Facebook on Monday, September 26, 2011, 09:22
It happens from time to time; a spam message/chain mail will surface explaining how Facebook will begin to charge for its services if you don’t repost this message ASAP!
Of course, it’s absolute rubbish and despite Facebook’s best efforts to convince people it won’t ever be charging for your profiles, thousands of users continue to repost the messages. The latest one, clearly written by a literary genius, reads as follows:
“SO GLAD I COPIED THIS FOR ALL OF U, I DNT WANT FB 2 CHARGE:
IT IS OFFICAL IT WAS EVEN ON THE NEWS FACEBOOK WILL START CHARGING DUE TO THE NEW PROFILE CHANGES . IF YOU COPY THIS ON YOUR WALL YOUR ICON WILL TURN BLUE AND FACEBOOK WILL BE FREE FOR YOU PLEASE PASS THIS MESSAGE ON,IF NOT YOUR ACCOUNT WILL BE DELETED IF YOU DO NOT PAY”
As Facebook point out in several of its blog posts, it would never encourage users to repost anything, especially messages like the one above. If you sign out, you’ll even see on the homepage that Facebook says “It’s free and always will be.” Then again, we’re assuming that most users who’ve had the brains to forward on this message probably never have signed out, ever.
The linked post from 2007 also emphasises “We will never put the responsibility on YOU to send information to your friends. If we have information we need to share, it's our job to get the word out.”
And just in case you still haven’t quite got it, Facebook also posted an update on its own Facebook page saying:
PASS THIS ON!
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Posted in Google on Wednesday, September 21, 2011, 06:37
To coincide with the public release of social network Google+, Google has come up with what is arguably the most unsubtle bit of marketing the web has ever seen.
Released in limited field trial 12 weeks ago, Google+ is probably nothing new to the more tech savvy of you out there; but for most of the general public a massive blue arrow will be the first sign of the network they see.
Not quite a Doodle and not quite an advertisement, the arrow can be seen when you visit Google.com (and aren’t logged in with an Apps account). Signed in, it will still point to your name as you can see in the pic, but if you don’t have a Google account it will point to the +You tab and encourage you to sign up.
If the giant arrow wasn’t a big enough sign, Google has also added a note under the search bar that says “Thanks for waiting. Google+ is open to all! Join now.”
There have been a number of comments suggesting that this is a sign of desperation from Google as Google+ usage has apparently dwindled in the last few weeks. If the arrow had appeared at any other point than the public release of the site then there could perhaps be some justification to the comments, however, as mentioned above, not everyone is aware of the network and this is just Google’s (unsubtle) way of introducing it.
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Posted in Apple on Wednesday, September 14, 2011, 04:58
According to reports from Brazilian internet service provide, UOL, an Apple plant in the São Paulo city, Jundiaí, is ready to begin production on Apple’s iPad 3 casing.
The plant is thought to the be owned by Foxconn who claimed to be investing around $12 billion in Brazilian production solutions that would avoid the high import taxes that the Apple’s Taiwanese manufacturers face.
According to UOL’s report, “The Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Mercadante, said on Tuesday (13) that Apple plant in Jundiaí (SP) is ready to be opened and produce [iPads] that reach the market until December.”
Aloízio Mercadante also says "At first many doubted, but it will be the first time that the company will produce iPads outside Chinese territory. We are taking a big step for digital inclusion in the country."
Without mentioning any company names, Mercadante talks about how games manufacturers have not only created employment opportunities in Brazil, but also increased revenues. He says that the new factory “opens a promising market for Brazil.”
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Posted in Twitter on Friday, September 09, 2011, 05:08
Twitter announced yesterday that after just 5 years in operation the site has over 100 million active users, more than half of which log on to Twitter (in some form) everyday.
Twitter.com alone receives over 400 million unique visitors each month, handling one billion tweets every five days.
Although Twitter receives millions of ‘active’ users, not all of these users actually use the service for tweeting, with many members never tweeting at all. Around 40% of active users only use Twitter to follow others, mainly friends or celebrities.
Twitter has successfully spread around the world, even reaching outer space: “Twitter’s global reach gives a voice to people around the world and as far away as the International Space Station. After launching Hindi, Filipino, Malay and Simplified and Traditional Chinese in the coming weeks, Twitter will support 17 different languages.”
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Posted in Internet on Thursday, September 08, 2011, 10:47
After an extremely poorly advised investment in failing tech company, Options Media Group Holdings (OPMG), earlier this year, rumours are again circling that pop sensation Justin Bieber is looking to invest more millions in a New York startup.
The Biebs was recently spotted playing basketball with venture capitalists Mike Duda and Steve Nash (right) of Consigliere Brand Capital, who are known for their investments in startup companies.
Their ‘consultancy experience’ ranges from the likes of Cisco to Nike, and their actual investments follow in the same irregular pattern. Their 3 mentioned investments are in BirchBox, an online cosmetic company, Chloe & Isabele, an online and home party jewellery store, and StellaService which allows users to search for stores with good online customer service.
Although their experience would point more towards the retail end of the spectrum, BusinessInsider seems to think “that the Bieber-backed startup will be a good-natured Zynga.”
They also suggest that The Biebs isn’t the only celebrity investor and says that there are other ‘high-profile’ celebrity investors on board.
Investing in tech startups seems to be a running trend in highly profitable celebs with some famous investments including LadyGaga’s investment in Turntable.FM, Ashton Kutcher’s investments in Skype, Foursquare, Blekko and more, and Justin Timberlake’s famous MySpace venture.
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Posted in Facebook on Thursday, September 08, 2011, 06:45
Some changes are being rolled out across Facebook today that will allow users to add who they’re with and where they are to each status update.
Users are being shown a message box explaining that explains how Facebook have updated some settings and changed the status update security settings to give users clear, inline control over their updates. 3 main updates have been made to the update box that users can start using straight away.
Say Who You’re With
The tagging option, which FaceBook have titled ‘Say Who you’re With’ allows you to tag anyone in your update. This isn’t limited to just friends, meaning you can tag anyone you can find on Facebook. However, the reviewing update which Facebook applied a few weeks ago still applies to this.
Whether you’re a friend or not, if you’re tagged in someone else’s update, you will have the opportunity to review the tag and either accept or reject it. If rejected, you’re obviously removed from the post, and if accepted your friends will be able to see the post as they would any other tag.
Add Location to Your Post
Pretty much speaks for itself. Users now have the option add a location to their posts by entering the search term which then brings up a list of places, powered by Bing. The good thing about this is that, unlike Facebook Places for mobile where the location is automatically picked up (which seems to never work for me on BlackBerry), you can select an option from the list (which includes shops, restaurants etc as well as towns) or choose to just use your search term.
Control Privacy When You Post
The last update isn’t so much of an update as it is an extension of the previously amended security controls. Users can now select the level of privacy that they would like their posts to have, much like the last update which allowed users to do this for their profile information.
Users can now select from Public, Friends, and Custom as privacy settings for their posts. Once a setting has been selected it will apply to app future posts. So if you add a location to your posts and don’t want the world knowing where you are, it’s probably best to limit the visibility of the post to just Friends.
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