1. You couldn’t just ring/text whoever you’re meeting and ask them how far away they are, you just had to wait and hope you were in the right spot and had remembered the right time? 2. You actually picked up the phone and spoke to your friends, rather than having a conversation via SMS – or better still, you have a conversation in person! 3. There were no ads at the beginning of movies reminding you to turn off your phone, or better still the phone belonging to the person who forgot didn’t go off in the middle of the film! 4. People didn’t feel the need to interrupt a perfectly good constructive in person conversations by tending to a small ringing device in their pocket/bag 5. You took for granted the peace and quiet of leaving your home/office and not being at the mercy of a phone 6. Words were spelt correctly and in their entirety! 7. It was common courtesy to break up with someone, fire someone, or quit your job – in the very least via a phone call rather than via SMS 8. Most computers weren’t even hooked up to the internet! 9. Having a conversation on a cordless phone meant staying within a certain radius of the base 10. Kids rode BMX’s!

It is fair to say that mobile phones have changed our lives in a BIG way! Mobile phones are fast becoming the personal computing device of choice amongst all sectors of the community.

I had quite a difficult time coming up with the above list, trying to remember what our lives were really like before the era of the mobile phone. Fast-forwarding from that point however, the days when the primary use for mobile phones was for just making calls are rapidly disappearing into the distance behind us also!

The not-so-humble mobile phone is now your gateway to the rest of world, apart from the obvious communication purposes of your phone – you can do your banking, browse the internet, buy products and applications, Facebook, tweet, get directions, share pictures and videos, the list goes on and on…

With our reliance on using mobile phone technology – how do we need to integrate this into how we promote ourselves to our customers?

The real question I want to leave you with is this one…

What do people see when they try to access your website from their mobile phone?

Do you need to discuss you mobile web needs? Contact Get-online-now.biz today to discuss.

Oh, and I would love to hear any inclusions you might have for my above list!

Quick question…. Does your business need to be available online? If you want more customers, then the answer is most certainly Yes! Here are five quick reasons to convince you…

Reason # 1 – More people than ever are consulting the internet for information prior to making a decision to make a purchase.  Just because you may not wish to offer your products for sale over the internet, the information you provide to potential customers is vital to their decision making process (check report to get stats on internet usage)

Reason # 2 – What is a phone book? I believe it is that heavy object used to prop open a door, or perhaps it is still sitting at your front door pushed behind a pot plant under a layer of sand and dry leaves? Phone books are becoming less and less a resource for locating goods and services – popular search engines like Google, Yahoo, Bing etc are becoming the vehicle of choice when people are locating a particular product

Reason # 3 – Educate your customers.  A website is a great resource for providing your customers with quality up-to-date information about your products and services, helpful hints, FAQs, troubleshooting information etc.  A well-informed customer is a confident customer!

Reason # 4 - A website works around the clock – 24/7 while you’re not!  Customers can access your website at their convenience without being restricted to your business hours.

Reason # 5 – Go global!  Tapping into the world-wide-web brings with it the advantages of increasing the number of potential customers you attract to your business, removing the restraints of a physical geographical location.

Having a website is just a small part of having an online presence – contact Get-online-now.biz today for a FREE ONLINE NEEDS ANALYSIS

Only two decades ago if you told somebody that the world would be electronically connected, with people in Sydney able to talk to those in New York, London and Tokyo with the click of a button, you would probably have been laughed at.

Today email, social networking, P2P connections and all the other internet features we take for granted are so ingrained in our daily lives that those without risk missing out.

It was 20 years ago that a bunch of computer geeks and researchers at universities around Australia decided to launch AARnet, a computer network linked up by satellite circuit with a 56kbps connection.

Stone age by today’s standards, but a milestone in the development of what was to become the internet in Australia.

The history of AARnet is documented in a new book penned for the company by Glenda Korporaal, 20 Years of the Internet in Australia, which will be launched in Sydney by Governor-General Quentin Bryce today.

The book charts the development of the internet in Australia, looking at key individuals and events along the way.

The internet in Australia didn’t just magically appear, says AARnet CEO Chris Hancock.

“There was no ‘eureka’ moment and it was not centred on any one individual,’ he said in an interview on the eve of the book’s launch.

“It was ingenuity, hard work, vision and an investment by Australian universities of $247,000 for the initial development.”

That was in 1988. The next big thing was the launch of the world wide web in 1991. If the internet was the infrastructure, the web was one way of using it, says Dr Sam Hinton, an expert in internet history and the social construction of technology from the University of Canberra.

Even with the coming of the web internet use was primitive.

There was no Google, it you wanted to find say the latest Hubble pictures, you’d have to know the URL, the address of the NASA server, and because usually that was something that most people wouldn’t remember, bookmarks were really important,” Dr Hinton says.

Through the early 90s, more and more businesses and education institutions began to connect to the internet with AARnet, until in 1995, Vice-Chancellors of Australian universities cut a deal with Telstra.

“Telstra already owned all the cabling between universities. But they bought all infrastructure as well as buying all the clients. And this basically became BigPond,” Dr Hinton says.

The figure for which it was sold has always remained confidential.

“I’ve heard estimates of about $4 million,” Dr Hinton says.

“Even by standards in those days, for what they were buying it is very cheap – $4 million for the entire internet infrastructure of Australia! If I had that lying around I definitely would have bought it.”

The next eight years will see the implementation of the National Broadband Network (NBN), which aims to supply 90 per cent of Australians with a high-speed connection of 100mbps.

As for AARnet, the network still exists as a carrier, and Hancock believes it is the key not only to the internet’s past in Australia, but also its future.

“It is really the engine, its the trailblazer that is using very high capacity now and will be in the future, say for example when the NBN is delivering 100mbps.

“AARnet will be delivering in order of 100s of gigabits per second to researchers,” he says.

He says AARnet continues to influence the way Australians use the internet, particularly in schools.

“Take for example (Sydney school) Abottsleigh, in the last months, Year 6 have linked up with some of scientists in Antarctica, Year 8 studying ancient Egypt have actually looked at all the artifacts with experts in high definition with their AARnet link Year 9 have done an interview with a diver on the (Great Barrier) reef up in Queensland.”

Dr Hinton predicts that bandwidth will be the key to massive changes in our future use of internet, describing the possibilities as boundless.

“I think we’ll see more devices appear in the home over the next 10-20 years which utilise the internet just as an assumption that it’s there,” he says.

“Things like wireless will become an assumption, you’ll have technology like televisions and gaming consoles with built in wireless in them.

“There might be some technology that someone comes up with that helps you work out your shopping list – it’s hard to tell what the future will bring, but with higher bandwidth come new possibilities.”

- AAP 26.11.09 watoday.com.au

Get your business online today – request a free no-obligation quote

Start with a plan and break it down.  From there you will be pleasantly surprised how easily it all pulls itself together….

1. Register a DOMAIN

• Find a domain that reflects your business ie name, mission statement
• Don’t make the domain name too long
• Check the domain with other extensions, ie .com .net .biz etc to make sure that you are not inadvertently sending your customers to a competitor
• Register variations to your domain, including misspelling, abbreviations and extensions

2. Site LAYOUT

• Start by checking out what your competitors are doing, look at how their sites are set out and take note of what you do and do not like
• Make a list of what sites you like and forward them onto your web developer along with the details of what it is you like about them

3. Site CONTENT

• What is the purpose of the website?
• What information will your customers and potential customers be seeking when they visit your website?
• How do you need the website to perform to help grow your business?
• What information are you obliged to publish on your website? Company info, bios of management, updates for investors, news releases

By defining a clear message that you want your website to convey you are putting in place a plan for a smart and relevant website.

An effective website is a valuable tool in reducing marketing costs, establishing your branding, attracting new customers, and providing a better service to your existing customers!

The advantages of having an effective website

Request a free no-obligation quote today to find out how affordable your new website can be!

Visit Get-online-now.biz