Onliners: Internet, Web, Social Media & Technology

THE DIGITAL STORY OF THE NATIVITY

2010-12-20T21:43:00.000+08:00

Love this very 2010 retelling of the Christmas story (especially Mary's email to Joseph ;-)

Rewarding Mobile Customers

2010-11-21T17:45:00.000+08:00

A great way to drive traffic to your online applications and off-line venue at the same time, is to make a special offer to those customers who have downloaded your mobile apps. One shop in Lawrence, Kansas, USA offers a free coffee when you show them a certain page of their app on your mobile device. Can you offer customers a discount or exclusive access through your iPhone and iPad apps? Create a marketing strategy today that will result in an increase in both offline and online customers. Comment below if you need help with that, or have questions.

iPad Reverses Your Direction

2010-11-08T11:13:00.000+08:00

Before I had my iPad I had to take my life to my computer, now I bring my computer (iPad) to my life. For example, if I saw an ad or an article and I wanted to check it out online, I would cut out the paper and put it on my desk so that I could research it next time I sat down to do my computer work. Now, I have my iPad with me - in my handbag, on the coffee table, I even take it to bed with me. Now technology follows my life, not the other way around.

The benefits are especially obvious when I'm with clients. I don't have to take them away from what they are doing, I can show them any online resources right where they are - and they love it!

See why Mercedes Benz got increased sales when they started using the iPad in dealerships. (Hint: Instead of trying to drag their customers towards the technology, they took technology and headed towards their customers).

iPhone App Puzzle

2010-08-06T21:08:00.001+08:00

A friend of mine, David Johnson, has just released a new iPhone application called "Tri-me". It is the most addictive activity I've undertaken for a looooooong, long time.

The most frustrating, and gratifying, thing about it is that it is so simple - or it should be.

Every time I complete a level, I have about two seconds of self-satisfying gratification, before the overwhelming urge to start the next level kicks in.

Then I'm in real trouble again.

Tri-me, which is available in the iTunes store, costs less than a very cheap cup of coffee. But it lasts a LOT longer.

Apparently there are 41 levels. I am stuck on level 16.

My advice is to head over to iTunes or search your iPhone app store and try Tri-me - you're gonna love it ... and also hate it!

And if anyone knows any hints, tips or blatant cheats to get me past level 16, please leave a comment!

New Payment Widget

2010-08-02T18:25:00.003+08:00

Receiving credit card payments from your customers just got even sexier with the release of Xilo's new iCharge JX.

The payment widget is completely seamless. You have full control over design elements. And processing is done on the gateway's secure server, so you don't even need to have SSL certificates (although your clients may be reassured if you still do).

You can take a test drive on Xilo's website and apply for a free trial.

Profitable Email Tool

2010-01-23T22:58:00.003+08:00

It wasn't the catchy motto ("share the monkey love") that got me interested, although, I'm sure you'd agree, it is interesting.

I started using MailChimp late last year and I'm very impressed with. It makes building a list of subscribers and sending regular emails to them super easy. Not only that but you can also profit from letting other people know about MailChimp. There's a free option - which is perfect when you're starting out and learning how to use the tools to maximise profits. And there are a couple of paid options that you can upgrade to later.

As Molly Meldrum would say "Do yourself a favour" and check out MailChimp.

Christmas Tech Traditions

2009-12-29T19:14:00.003+08:00

It's become a Christmas tradition for me to serve one of our clients as the last thing I do before going to bed on Christmas Eve.

Every year, the online Thai restaurant at http://www.laddas.com.au closes down for Christmas and reopens a day (sometimes two days) later.

When I close it down and stop customers ordering online, the menu is replaced with a bit of holly and ivy and a Christmas message from the owner (Graham Thompson).

I love this because it is another one of our clients who lets their online business work for them, but not become enslaved to it.

The online restaurant started last century when a larger competitor opened up down the road and Ladda's couldn't expand their seating. Instead, we developed a technology that allowed customers to order from home, with the internet orders faxed straight to the kitchen so the staff could get cooking immediately.

It's proven a great success with an average of 200 order pages faxed through every month.

Speaking of pages, another christmas tradition was trumped by technology this year, with Amazon.com selling more e-books (readable on the Kindle and iPhones etc) than physical printed books.

It's been 2 months since I downloaded my first ebook to a Kindle, and it seems I've got a lot of reading in front of me. Amazon.com has a library of over 390,000 digitised books available for download.

Getting things for free is part of Christmas, right? So if you want to download free ebooks, check out Project Gutenberg. You can keep an eye on the 100 most popular downloads daily. I'm glad to see that Pride & Prejudice made the top 3. And of course, the Charles Dicken's classic, A Christmas Carol, made the top 10.

Google as a Referral Source

2009-11-27T20:32:00.004+08:00

Executive Chairman of Loan Market Group recently presented research findings on referral sources for mortgage brokers, according to the latest edition of Brokernews.com.au

Sam White said "Clients search for and find mortgage brokers firstly through word of mouth and secondly through Google....borrowers are Googling mortgage brokers in their area then seeing who come up and starting from there."

Considering that in 1999 Google was still operating out of a garage, and certainly wasn't available as a client acquisition tool for Australian organisations, it speaks volumes about how the market place for the very traditional business of banking has changed in the last 10 years.

Sam White went on to say that "Clients..want to get a feeling of who they are dealing with and whether, through their web presence, the broker demonstrates professionalism."

Your web presence should include not just a web site, but also a blog, twitter, facebook, and you tube at a bare minimum.

Client Goes to Hawaii - and you're invited

2009-11-16T23:44:00.007+08:00

I've just finished some maintenance on one of our client sites.

Anne Sargeant is a former Olympian, and world champion - she knows how to win! She's also received the Order of Australia medal and regularly appears on television as a Netball comentator.

I consider it a real honour to have Anne as a client. And updating her website is always a pleasure. But this time, it was even more exciting!

You see Anne is holding her annual netball "boot camp" in Hawaii. Along with all the young, fit athletic contests (like under 15s, and under 17s), there's also divisions for "social" players and "over 35s".

C'mon, we all must fit into at least one of those categories.

So if you want to feel good about taking a holiday in Hawaii, why not check out Anne's website at http://www.annesargeant.com.au/html/___contact_anne.html now.

Of course, you can always book in for one of the many netball clinics Anne holds in Australia, but they're not *quite* as exciting as the white sands, pumping surf, friendly locals and cocktails served to your sun lounge, are they?

Welcome to Onliners

2009-11-15T00:54:00.000+08:00

Welcome to the onliners blog. Looking for information on how to prosper online? Whether you've been online for a long time, or you're just starting out, we're excited about helping you publish, promote and profit from the good news about your business.

Onliners has been helping clients (from individuals to large government departments) expand their online presence since June, 1994 - when commercial traffic on the Internet begain in Australia. Our motto is "Virtual Presence. Real Prosperity." And that's what we focus on delivering to every client, every time.

If you're just starting out we have a report (e-book) at a website which will help you. It's called "hot to create a website that pays the mortgage". And it's free! You'll then probably want to find out more about choosing a domain name, and a web hosting service. We can also custom design a web site for you and publish it to the internet.

If you've been around online for awhile, you might be more interested in our advanced services. We can provide regular maintenance of your website, help you promote it, implement e-commerce solutions so you can profit from it, and consult with you on strategic options to help you manage issues such as scalability, social media, intellectual property, digital assets, backups, security, spam and viruses.

Please leave a comment on our blog - we want to hear positive and negative things - we're always learning from our customers. You can also contact Onliners by email - help@onliners.com.au And of course you can follow us on twitter at http://www.twitter.com/onliners and become a fan on facebook - just search for "onliners".

Whatever your online goals are, we hope you'll choose Onliners to help you achieve them.

Sharon Hague

Founder