by Shaun | Mar 24, 2015 | Wordpress
These days I tend to develop exclusively in WordPress. I’m going to take the time today to explain why.
I want to do this because I have seen people on several facebook groups proclaim loudly about the shortcomings of WordPress as a platform. I am reminded of the old adage “A bad tradesman blames his tools” when I see this.
Usually the people who are critical are pushing a barrow of some other product, such as Drupal or Joomla or something like that. That’s fine. Each person is entitled to their opinion. However, what I find distasteful is that so many people feel the need to validate their opinion by tearing things down that don’t align with their world view.
The reasons why I chose WordPress are many. First and foremost was that when it comes to content management systems, WordPress is the most used in the world. That is not open to dispute. The figures are out there.
Next is user convenience. I can set it up so that the user can change any of the content they want without having to contact me every time. This is one of the biggest gripes I hear for people when it comes to web designers.
Next is the flexibility. This is a platform that you can do literally anything with (if you are good enough). Customization is only limited by your ability.
There are countless themes for WordPress. Many of them are free. There are frameworks (things that make developing sites quicker and easier). There are countless plugins that allow you to extend its’ functionality in whatever direction you want. There are many sites on the web that you wouldn’t even know are run on WordPress. For example, the New Yorker and Variety Magazine to name just two.
When taken as a whole I am glad I have invested the time and effort to learn WordPress to a high level. It has its’ detractors, yes. But let’s face it. Envy is a powerful emotion.
by admin | Feb 27, 2015 | Microsoft, Windows 10
I’m a geek when it comes to technical stuff. So when I found out I could have a look at the Windows 10 technical preview, I was excited.
I downloaded the preview and decided to install it (after backing up all of my important files that is).
Here’s how it went.
Firstly expect to wait a LONG time. This update is going to see your computer out of action for several hours (several meaning at least 4 probably more).
Unfortunately so far I have found at the other end, things aren’t quite ready yet. Which is a shame, because I am really impatient. I want Windows 10 on my system badly.
The interface is fantastic.
I’m a web designer, I love computer interfaces. And of course new interfaces make everything seem special. Your tired looking old computer gets a new lease of life.
But… There are too many bugs at the moment.
This is to be expected of course. This is not a production version. Software companies release these things in this way to iron out the bugs.
My experience was that the product at the moment is quite unstable. After installing it and starting it, it took me three attempts at logging in before it didn’t crash on me within the first five minutes. I repeatedly got the message “you don’t have permission to run this” when attempting to open a program.
I needed to update my mouse driver, but when I tried to, the installation didn’t work. But worst of all from my perspective was when I tried to work on WordPress website I am creating, I got the message “Error establishing a database connection”. I’m sure I could have troubleshot this if I had the inclination but to be honest it’s just not ready.
Time to roll back, put up with Windows 7 for a little bit longer. A beautiful interface is a nice thing but not at the cost of error free running. Apparently it’s slated for release later this year. Of course having been in the industry for a while I know that what they say and what ends up happening are two different things.
On the plus side the rollback to Windows 7 was fast (about 15 minutes) and trouble free.
by admin | Feb 19, 2015 | SEO
Let’s talk about SEO again for a moment.
I want to start with the notion that anyone can guarantee you page one on Google. This is utter rubbish. Google themselves say this:
“Be wary of SEO firms and web consultants or agencies that send you email out of the blue.
Amazingly, we get these spam emails too:
“Dear google.com,
I visited your website and noticed that you are not listed in most of the major search engines and directories…”
Reserve the same skepticism for unsolicited email about search engines as you do for “burn fat at night” diet pills or requests to help transfer funds from deposed dictators.”
Now what I like about this is that I have received the exact same email! I would suspect that some of the readers have also received the same email themselves.
I also love the “burn fat pills at night” reference. Any unsolicited email offers should go to the same place – the trash.
The article also gave an example of a company that had promised page 1 on Google to a number of customers, had failed, been taken to court and ordered to pay restitution.
The point to this story is this. No one can guarantee page 1 on Google.
The article says so directly. Personally if Google says this, I think it would be wise to believe them.
So what is in when it comes to SEO in 2015? Well a lot of things are out. Meta descriptions and meta keyword loading of your page have become less and less relevant in favour of –
CONTENT
So here are some tips.
Engaging content that people want to read. For example consider adding a blog to your site.
Mobile friendly (I’ll keep saying it until the message gets through)
Clear specified location (there is a way to make this friendly to Google by the way). When you think about it, this is a real clincher for many businesses. If I want a pizza, these days all I have to do is speak into my phone and say something like “Pizza Bar Henley Beach” and a list of pizza bars in Henley Beach comes up. Usually with a little map (if they have set up their website properly) and a link that says call. I press that button and I’m ringing. The old ways of looking up a number in a directory and then copying it to the phone are gone.
Page titles are still important – for example “Pizza Bar Henley Beach South Australia” as title will help a lot.
These tips will help. There are other things to do with the page structure, that I as an SEO look at too. These little things assist with making the page Google friendly but will not trump content.
By the way, it seems surprising but I have had clients in the Adelaide area who wondered why they weren’t being seen on search queries. When I did an evaluation of their site, I found the word “Adelaide” was nowhere to be found. It’s often the most basic of things that are overlooked.
by Shaun | Jan 22, 2015 | Microsoft, Windows 10
The big technical/geek story of the week has to be the impending release of Windows 10.
First thing to ask is why Windows 10? Whatever happened to 9? Well apparently this is something to do with the fact that they don’t write Windows from scratch. There is a huge codebase that travels from one release to another.
This is quite understandable, given that these type of products have millions of lines of code in them; It is simply not feasible to rewrite the next release from scratch.
Anyway, the old codebase has references left over from Windows 95/98, and so that there is no confusion with the operating system version, they decided to sidestep the problem by simply naming their newest version Windows 10.
The really great news for people who have Windows 7 or 8 installed is that it is a free upgrade.
No, that is not a misprint. Free. For anyone who knows Microsoft they will realise that this is almost unheard of. Microsoft is one of the most profit oriented companies in the world.
However, Windows 8 was not well received. Well to be honest it was just about completely rejected. So in the past few iterations of Windows, we have gone from XP (a very well received operating system) to Vista (almost universally despised) to the back on track Windows 7, to the disliked Windows 8.
Clearly, Windows only gets it right every second time. Apparently the word in technical circles is that this is the one they have got right.
What is at stake for Microsoft?
Good question. I really don’t know for sure. Microsoft is still a very profitable company despite the changing computing trends – 22 billion dollars profit in 2014 – but it’s profit is coming from different things these days.
Xbox is the division that is on the rise, with a 120% rise in income for that division from 2012 to 2013. Microsoft is also moving into the cloud computing space in a big way, so services like this will keep it going strong for a time.
Add to this the fact that good or bad, most PCs come bundled with Windows, so whether it’s a dog or not you’re stuck with it.
But.. computer operating systems have been at the core of Microsoft since the company’s very beginning, starting with good old DOS. It would be a great humiliation for a company such as Microsoft to see Windows decline to be just a bit player in the computing world then eventually disappear .
So humiliating defeat is a risk if they don’t get it right.
There is a also massive potential upside. Microsoft recently bought Nokia. From memory the deal was worth 7 or 8 billion dollars.
Windows 10 is a cross platform product. That means that it can be installed on PCs, tablets and phones.
At the moment there is a great deal of consumer resistance to Windows phones. The choice of phones is generally considered to be either iPhone or and Android phone. No one wants to be caught with a product that is on the nose.
However, if Microsoft get it right, their phone division could take right off and these days phones and phablets are where it’s at.
I for one am a sucker for snazzy interfaces. The first screen shots look pretty enticing. Perhaps I could be persuaded to buy a Windows phone if it looked cool enough. Perhaps a lot of other people could too.
When can I have it?
According Microsoft “later this year”. Microsoft have form on this. “Later this year” means any time between now and 2024 in Microsoft speak.
Microsoft are in the process of releasing a technical preview. When I can get it, I’m downloading it. May as well live dangerously. Will let you know how I go.
by admin | Jan 13, 2015 | Uncategorised
In these days of many options for building web pages yourself, why would you hire a web designer?
It’s a fair question. The best answer I think for this is that there are many things that people can do themselves that they don’t these days. Everything is a trade off.
You can mow your lawns yourself, or you can hire someone to do it for you. If you are handy, you can do home improvements, like painting the house, tiling, putting up pergolas or whatever else you can think of.
However, there is always a time penalty. Sure you can put a web page together in maybe 10 hours of your time (perhaps less, perhaps a lot more, depending on the complexity of your design). You’ve saved yourself $500 dollars, right? Yeah but you have also lost a weekend. Those are the trade offs you make.
Small business people especially are always busy
There are never enough hours in the day to get everything you want done. Often the people running small businesses are doing things like admin and paperwork on a Sunday evening while watching TV, because it’s the only time they get to do things like this.
So, if you’re time poor, sometimes it makes sense to just hire someone
But apart from that, what are your needs for a web site? If they are very standard, off the shelf needs; i.e. a simple informational site, it may be easy to create a page with a standard web designing tool. If they are more complex, what then?
A professional web designer has an in depth knowledge of the latest trends in web design. He/she understands HTML5, CSS, Javascript, SQL, WordPress, mobile optimisation, SEO et c. Do you? Do you really want to?
So that is what you’re hiring you hire a professional designer. You hire expertise in a very complex field. You hire someone who takes away all the difficulties associated with developing a web presence.
In addition to that, a website is an exercise in company branding and marketing. Companies that grow, companies that become big tend to emphasise the importance of branding and marketing and spend accordingly. Small businesses that remain small businesses usually do so because they look to cut corners. A good web page is a vital window to your business and not where you want to cut corners.
You don’t just hire a web designer; you hire a web strategist
You hire someone who can advise you on the whole spectrum of web design. From the page development, to branding, to social media strategy. That’s why you hire a professional web designer.
by admin | Dec 17, 2014 | Uncategorized
In the near future it’s going to become a WHOLE lot worse for you if you lose your phone.
For many people it’s a when, not if proposition. It’s a simple fact of life. It’s a small device you carry in your pocket. Things do happen to fall out of pockets.
Aside from that of course, smartphones are valuable. Valuable objects are subject to theft.
Now to mitigate against that, you can actually find your phone these days using your computer. If you have an Android phone, there is Android device manager. I recommend that all phone owners use this. It can locate your phone to within a few metres.
Iphone has the same feature too.
However, the worst can and does happen.
But why do you say it’s about to get worse?
Well the dependence on our phones is going to get a whole lot greater. Talk about one device to rule them all!!
Firstly there’s Tap and Pay.
Tap and pay is where you install tap and pay software from your bank and your phone can be used as a paywave style credit card.
Lets face it, as time goes by, this is where the banks want us to head. This is what they do. Increase their use of technology to remove overheads. It started with ATMs, then online banking.
Now the next step is credit cards. For a bank it makes a lot more sense to roll out an app to customers than to keep having to mail out replacement credit card by surface mail. I would imagine that it is a lot more cost effective for them.
So that is here now, although I am not aware of too many people who use it now. However, that will change within the next couple of years.
Next is the Smart Lock
A smart lock is a door lock that is controlled by your phone. It has a lot of advantages. For example, if you want to give a friend access to your house, you can SMS them access. A pretty handy feature I reckon.
But gee it gets bad now if you lose your phone. Yes people lose their keys. Yes people lose their wallets. And of course women get handbags stolen.
However, this now increases your risk. You don’t just lose your keys. You lose your keys, credit cards and phone all at once. Definitely not a good idea for the absent minded.
So obviously the question is – with the advantages of new technologies like this, are you prepared to take the risk?
The August Smart Lock
Tap And Pay
by admin | Dec 9, 2014 | SEO
To not put too fine a point on it, it’s all important.
Search engine optimisation is marketing. It’s a fairly simple concept. The more relevant visitors to your page, eventually the more sales. It’s simple eyeball mathematics.
This is a new era. What people used to do was plonk their bums down in front of the television after the evening meal. The advertisers used to have a pretty captive audience. Three commercial TV channels.
Then there was print. The daily newspaper circulations were huge.
Finally there was radio. That was it. Three major mediums on which to spread your message.
Now as we know, the world is a lot more diverse.
Free to air? I dunno. How many channels are there these days? Fifteen or so? Then of course there is cable with x amount of channels on that too and the TV channels are streaming content online too.
Newspapers? Well they’re dying. They give them away these days, yet you still won’t subscribe. All the news you could ever want is online. Why bother with a newspaper?
Radio? Well I’ll grant you. It still has a niche. I think it won’t change too much either, since it’s not like you can use anything visual while you are in your car.
Anyway, as we all know, where everything is heading is online.
The smart people are already moving to online places. People are stars just from Youtube clips. Look at Psy, the Gangnam style guy. Became a world wide phenomenon from the film clip on Youtube.
Maybe you’ve heard of Jenna Marbles, maybe you haven’t. She’s made a career out of silly 10 minute skits each week that are viewed by millions of people.
Even Jerry Seinfeld has moved online with his Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee.
So the point is, where are you going to put your marketing effort?
Into things that are dying or something that is ever growing? When it comes to purchasing these days, 97% of people research purchases online before buying. It makes sense then if you are selling products to have product catalogues online, even if you don’t offer online purchases.
The first annual state of digital marketing survey found this:
Over 75% of digital marketing impact is derived from SEO and Pay per click efforts. (by the way B2B stands for business to business and B2C stands for business to customer). Notice that the biggest slice of pie goes to SEO.
So if you’re serious about increasing traffic to your web page, get serious about SEO.
And of course it goes without saying that I can help.
by admin | Dec 4, 2014 | google
It has just become more important than ever to ensure that your website is mobile friendly.
Google are now adding a “mobile friendly” label to all searches that are done on a mobile phone. You can check it yourself. Just do any search on Google on your phone and you will see the label next to any search result that is mobile friendly.
For a while now it has been extremely important to have your website mobile optimised. When people end up on a site that is not optimised usually they leave pretty quickly.
Now it is essential. Consumers will start noticing this label pretty quickly. They won’t even click on your listing if it is not mobile friendly.
Studies have shown as well that people that are searching for services on a phone are very outcome oriented
in 50% of cases they are seeking to make a purchase and often make it immediately.
If for example you are a restaurant they want to be able to see quickly where you are (a map), a phone number (which has to be able to be clicked on to dial), a menu and opening hours. All in a mobile friendly format. Someone searches for say a Thai restaurant in the Glenelg area, they are probably quite ready to eat. You need to make it easy for that person to connect with your business.
So what is Google checking?
Well the Googlebot is checking the following things:
Avoids software that is not common on mobile devices, like Flash
Uses text that is readable without zooming
Sizes content to the screen so users don’t have to scroll horizontally or zoom
Places links far enough apart so that the correct one can be easily tapped
The other thing about this is that it is a major Google initiative to see that Web sites are mobile friendly. So websites that aren’t mobile friendly get a lower search ranking than ones that are. Can you afford this?
If you haven’t got your web page mobile friendly yet, it’s time now. Talk to me about this. I can help.
Google Guidelines
by admin | Dec 1, 2014 | Uncategorized
Google faster cable
The NBN in Australia has been made controversial and political
The main issue being we don’t need 100 Megabits, 25 Megabits to the home is all anyone will ever need.
Now, without wanting to get too political about this, that is a bunch of politicians pandering to a particular demographic, an older demographic that doesn’t see the value in the internet.
There is always going to be this talk. I think it was 1908 when a guy from the US patents office recommended the closing of the patents office because, “Everything that could possibly be invented has already been invented”.
More recently, no less that Bill Gates infamously said, “640 Kilobytes of memory is all anyone will ever need”.
The thing is, what we have now as far as the internet is concerned could not have been imagined in 1994.
So it stands to reason that what we will have by 2034 will be equally unimaginable to us now.
With this in mind, Google (who as we know already are a very innovative company) has decided to invest $300 million in an undersea cable between The US and Japan with a speed of 60 Terabytes per seconds.
To non technical people this is hard to comprehend. I can say, “Well a terabyte is one thousand gigabytes” but it doesn’t really make it any clearer to the average person.
Lets put it in terms every one can understand. A blu-ray disc has roughly 50 gigabytes of information on it. Roughly, 10 gigabits is equivalent to 1 gigabyte. If you have a 25 megabit connection, that is going to take you about 5 1/2 hours to download.
A 60 Terabyte connection could download 120 blu-ray discs per SECOND!
As with anything in computing, underestimating the growth of storage or bandwidth requirements is folly. In 1994 a 500 Megabyte hard drive was big. In 2014 a 500 Gigabyte hard drive is average to getting small. That is a hard drive 1,000 times the capacity of a large hard drive 20 years ago.
By this rationale, what with the emergence of the use of the internet as a gigantic cloud for storing everything, data speeds requirements are going to just climb and climb.
As for the future, If you want to see it, look at what Google is doing. They seem to be at the crest of the wave right now. But if they are knocked off, what then? Well obviously who ever knocks them off their perch.
Google’s undersea cable
Google’s innovative technologies of 2014
by admin | Nov 27, 2014 | kindle
Books and libraries a thing of the past?
There are many things that the internet is killing off.
I may go through a big list soon, because it is something I am fascinated with. So much that has been around for what feels like forever is now on borrowed time. The vinyl record (I know there’s still a market there for it now, but it’s not common like it used to be) was replaced by the CD, which fell to the MP3 player, which fell to the smartphone.
One thing of note is that the cycle of things becoming obsolete appears to be shortening. The CD has been with us for 30 years maybe? Not much more than that, surely.
One of the big things that the internet is killing off bit by bit is the book
I heard talk on the radio today about how a school in South Australia is looking at creating a virtual library for its’ students. This obviously is not new. Other learning institutions have been using this for a while, but always in conjunction with a bricks and mortar library.
The obvious question to be asked about this is how long before there is ONLY a virtual library at most schools and no real books and no library building?
We have seen the demise of book stores.
Amazon has been great for that. Discount books delivered worldwide at a lower cost than book stores who have all the store costs to pay before they can turn a profit.
We are also seeing the rise of ebook readers such as the Kindle.
These devices are great (I guess) if you want the convenience of being able to carry an 8,000 book library with you wherever you go. But how do you feel about reading an actual novel on a device? Is it just what people do now?
Is there no place any more for the tactile sensation of the pages of a book? Do I feel more comfortable with an actual book just because they are what I grew up with?
The technology we have today changes many things. The book is one of them.
What do you think? Do you care that physical books made of paper may go the way of so much, due to the internet?
by admin | Nov 20, 2014 | Facebook Advertising
I recently pointed out that that Google Adwords was becoming so expensive that it was not cost effective for most small businesses
Of course there are pay per click alternatives to Google. One of those is Facebook. Facebook for those who don’t know (or more likely don’t care – there are people who are not into Facebook), Facebook is the number 2 most popular site in the world behind Google.
The stat is that fully 25% of Australian user’s time on the web is spent on social media sites such as Facebook.
But – the fundamental difference between Google and Facebook is that people go to Google when they are searching for a specific thing – often a product or a service (97% of consumers use the internet to research purchases).
People go to Facebook to relax and play.
They look at photos their friends have posted and see what they have been up to. They play games. They chat to friends.
Now there is nothing wrong with this. For 50 years television has been a form of entertainment and been supported by advertising. So entertainment and advertising obviously mixes. Same as magazine and newspaper advertisements.
However, a recent consumer survey in the US said 62% of people surveyed said social media such as Facebook had no influence on their purchasing decisions whatsoever.
The effectiveness of Facebook advertising varies, depending on your business. The click through rate (That is how many people actually click on the advert) for health care is very low, but it gets steadily better the more entertainment oriented your business is.
It is something worth trying. But like any advertising you have to measure it and see how it goes. That is the key for any small business advertising. Knowing what advertising is resulting in sales.
Facebook advertising – effective or not?
by admin | Nov 17, 2014 | rank higher SEO, Search engine optimization, SEO
A lot of energy and money is being expended by a lot of people on getting to page one on Google for their preferred search terms. I have heard of people “guaranteeing” page 1 of Google for a pretty handsome fee.
In the meantime I’ve just gone about and got my first page one
I knew that to have any credibility in the SEO field I had to be able to show that I could improve my own visibility, so that’s exactly what I did.
Late September, early October I was looking at the best ways to market my business. The obvious answer that kept coming back to me was to improve my ranking on Google.
I believe in just going for things, whether you are ready or not and then getting better via the school of hard knocks. So when I first launched my business, I think my website could have looked better, and the SEO could have definitely been better.
I was nowhere on Google.
Since September though, I put in a lot of work on my site and now have been able to see my web pages slowly climbing the rankings for various search terms. The important one for me is “Web Design Adelaide”. In Google terms I am still nowhere, since page one is where it’s at, but I’m heading in the right direction. For that particular search I have gone from around page 30 on Google 6 weeks ago to page 14. In SEO terms that is great.
I check regularly using Google’s Webmaster tools to see where I am at. Webmaster tools shows all the queries that you are ranking for and where you rank. It’s an essential tool for people with websites.
So I was checking over the weekend, and sure enough, there I am on page 1.
There was my own business on page one of Google for the term “custom website design Adelaide”. Very pleasing to see.
So anyway, what this means is that, yeah, I do know SEO. What I did for myself I can do for you. If you’re not ranking for important searches, get in touch. I can help you at a price tailored to your budget.
by admin | Nov 12, 2014 | Android, smartphone
Today I would like to muse on the most amazing consumer product I consider to have been invented in my lifetime – The smartphone.
What a device! A pocket computer fully connected to be able to access the entire sum of human knowledge.
I have just recently changed phones and phone providers.
No big deal. People do that a lot these days.
I changed my phone from a low end smartphone to a high end one. What was I thinking even getting a low end one? Me, a committed techno geek.
OK, well I learnt from my mistake, that’s all I can say. I found that my internet usage was very low on my other phone, simply because it didn’t work very well.
As soon as I got a phone that was half decent, my data requirements immediately went up.
My old phone company was giving me 500MB (per month). It just didn’t cut it any more. Time to get more. So now I’m on a 2.5GB plan. Much more in keeping with my desire to get the most functionality from my phone.
So anyway, this got me thinking. What are the things I use most and like best on my phone?
Well the first thing I really like is the ability to tether my laptop to the phone now and make the phone a personal wireless hotspot.
I wrote last week about free WIFI on the city of Adelaide. I noted that free WIFI is becoming more and more common wherever you go. However there are times when you want an internet fix and there is no WIFI close by. The phone fills that gap.
So tethering is number one on my list.
Next the apps on the phone. I really like Google maps (I’m sure there are competitors to this product out there I just don’t know them). This is fantastic. Never lost again, no matter where in the world you are.
Then, still on the GPS path (maps uses GPS to determine your location) , apps like Nike running that you can turn on when you go for a run/walk/bike ride and they will tell you how far you have gone are fantastic. If you want to get fit it’s good to be able to keeps tabs on how far you are going each time you are active and what progress you are making.
Next instant messaging apps that allow you to call friends and family no matter where in the world they are. We have skype, facebook messenger and viber to name a few. For Apple users there is facetime. Each of these apps let you talk to someone, via the internet, often with video.
Finally, there is of course the camera. The mobile phone has made the recording of life events so much more accessible. For me this is fantastic. I am a late convert to recording every event via photo . I wish I wasn’t. Just looking at photos brings special memories back to life instantly.
Of course there are other things, surfing the web whenever and wherever you want is great. Accessing and editing my important documents from anywhere is good too.. there is so much to choose from. But I said 5 things, so I’ll stuck with my top 5.
Anyway that’s just a bit of fun and my favourite smartphone uses. What are yours?
by admin | Nov 10, 2014 | adwords
When it comes to SEO, The question commonly asked is why spend so much time optimizing a page?
Isn’t it easier to just purchase pay per click advertising? That way you’re guaranteed page one of Google.
Well sort of. The way Google Adwords works is that you’re in an auction with other Adwords customers for search terms. Where the competition is high, naturally the price rises.
What this means in practise is that for some of the more popular search terms, the cost per click can be up to $12.
Now think about that. The mathematics of any marketing campaign are simple. You get lots of lookers, a small amount of them become potential customers and then an even smaller amount become actual customers.
I don’t know what the actual conversion rate is for most eCommerce sites. Apparently the figure most often bandied about is 3%. Your conversion rate could be higher, it could be lower, but let’s just work with that 3% figure.
That means that for every 100 visitors to your site, 3 actually purchase something.
And that is where the problem lies with Adwords at the moment
If you get 100 clicks on a competitive search that is at roughly $12 per click, it has cost you $1200 to get those visitors. Now assuming that 3% conversion rate, that means that whatever you’re selling, you have to make a lot more than $1200 out of those customers to make it worth your while.
At that is assuming that you convert at 3%. You may not reach that level. The one essential thing for any web based business is traffic. If you are getting 5000 hits a day and a 1% conversion rate, that is 50 sales a day. That is most likely a booming business.
So there is brief explanation about why SEO currently is preferable to Adwords for most small businesses.
by admin | Nov 5, 2014 | WIFI
OK, imagine this. All the office buildings in Adelaide torn down and made into parklands.
Adelaide just becomes a giant entertainment and shopping precinct.
Sound far fetched? Well with WIFI and 3g, if you are an information worker, you can pretty much work anywhere you can take your laptop these days. You could work from a coffee shop all day. Although after your 10th espresso you would be more wired than wireless.
Internode have set up free wifi hotspots in conjunction with the state government and the Adelaide city council. (I have no affilliation with any of these organisations by the way).
Accessing the wifi is as simple as finding the Adelaidefree WIFI network on your device and connecting to it.
It covers most of the CBD and even the banks of the River Torrens.
I have recently had the opportunity to test the Adelaide Free Network during a business meeting at the Strathmore Hotel. What an excellent way to work! Angus beef burger in their beer garden while showing a client a new site. I love the freedom technology like this brings. I am not tied to one spot to work. Anywhere that I can access the web I can do my job.
Some friends have said to me before that it can be quite slow. I didn’t find this. I checked out a news website, Facebook and my Gmail. Each of these were quite responsive.
Of course wherever you go these days, there is often some form of free WIFI. Yes it does vary in speed and some have fairly limited download limits (for example, I think Hungry Jack’s is quite low).
This type of things gives even more impetus to move your stuff into the cloud, since it’s going to be available more and more readily. I don’t think the presence of free WIFI is going to decrease over time. Like all of the technological advances of this amazing age we live in, it’s only going to get more prevalent and more reliable.
For more information have a look at the Internode site.
