Verizon Internet Review

January 27, 2012 By Leave a Comment

There are three important things most people look for in an Internet service provider: reliability, speed and great price options. Verizon Internet is one of the service providers that offer all 3 of these requirements plus additional features that enhance your experience in exploring all the wonders of the Internet. If you’re looking for an Internet service provider that goes beyond a fast, reliable and affordable Internet connection, seriously consider the Verizon solution.

How reliable is it?

The Verizon Internet network offers reliability that millions of people around the world trust. That level of trust just doesn’t go to any cookie cutter Internet service provider. Subscribing to this service gives you access to a dedicated line, which means the reliability and speed of your connection does not rely on the usage of other people such as that entire family next door.

This reliability is not just a wild claim for marketing purposes. There are actually hard facts supporting it. In 2011, the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) released a report on the very first nationwide performance study of residential wireline broadband services in the US. Included in this report are some of the country’s biggest broadband Internet service providers, including Verizon Internet.

In this report, it shows that Verizon’s fiber optic-based (FiOS) Internet service delivers 114% of the service promised in a consistent manner throughout the day. On the other hand, Verizon’s high speed Internet service delivers 85% to 90% of the service promised on a consistent basis. While these numbers are very impressive, Verizon still reminds customers that the actual performance of the service may still vary depending on several factors such as network traffic, technology and other factors.

What do I get with this reliable and fast Internet connection?

Verizon Internet comes with additional features that complement its speed and reliability. It includes different types of content like videos, online events and game statistics via ESPN3.com. On top of all these, you can also chat with your friends or other fans when you’re viewing an online event or a game. You can even enjoy multiple games at the same time.

If you want a different type of game, a PC game to be exact, you can subscribe to Verizon Games. It is actually the world’s largest on-demand PC game service, containing over 2,000 full version game titles. This is an additional service with a separate payment option than that of the Internet service. For $18.99 a month, users get access to Verizon’s game library. The best thing about this is that you can try the service for 7 days for free.

Getting Verizon Internet also gives you access to My Verizon, your control panel for all Verizon services and products. This is extremely useful if you are subscribed to multiple Verizon products and services since you can manage all of them in one location. This control panel includes features that let you view and pay your bills, check phone messages, send and receive email, access different sites like ESPN3.com and more. The features available in My Verizon depend on which services or products you are subscribed to, so if you’re only subscribed to a one, it may not feel as useful as it really is.

Is it limited to desktop computers?

No. Verizon Internet offers Wi-Fi capability that lets you access the Internet from any hotspot location around the country. There are over 5,000 of these locations, including hotels and airports, so you can be sure that wherever you are in the US, there’s one near you. Not all plans include wi-fi access, though, so if this is something important to you, make sure you get a plan that includes this feature.

Where do I go if I need support?

Verizon offers support through multiple channels. You can get support from Verizon’s Support Center, their support forums, their Facebook page, via Twitter or via phone. You can even go to their YouTube profile to view helpful videos that discuss everything about FiOS. However you want to contact Verizon Support, you just need to pick one medium and contact away.

What are the available plans?

Verizon Internet is available in two kinds of bundles: High Speed Internet and High Speed Internet Enhanced. The High Speed Internet plan is ideal for casual users who like to download photos and music every once in a while. This plan offers speeds between 0.5 to 1 Mbps and it includes 9 email accounts and a personal web space of 10 MB in size. You will also get a wireless router free of charge. If you’re not a heavy user but you still want reliable and fast connectivity, this is the ideal plan for you. The price for this plan is $24.99 per month.

If you use your Internet connection to constantly stream media, download content and even play games, you need the High Speed Internet Enhanced plan. This plan offers 3 speed ranges that correspond to 3 different prices. The speeds this plan is available in is 1.1 to 3 Mbps, 3.1 to 7 Mbps and 7.1 to 15 Mbps. These speeds depend on the highest speed range available in your location.

Like the High Speed Internet plan, High Speed Internet Enhanced also includes the 10MB web space, 9 email accounts and a free wireless router. In addition to all of that, this plan also includes Wi-Fi access. If you’re a heavy user or if there are several people who are going to use the Internet connection at the same time, this plan is your best shot. The price for this plan is $39.99.

The Bottom Line

Any way you look at it, Verizon Internet satisfies your requirements for speed, reliability and affordability. You just have to ask yourself which plan is appropriate for you.

Filed Under: internet service providers Tagged With: ,

How To Embrace Your Facebook Timeline

January 27, 2012 By Leave a Comment

There are two types of people in this new digital landscape — those who aren’t really affected by layout and feature changes in Facebook and those who curse the heavens because of it. If you’re one of the latter, you have to know that you have two options. First option is you can leave it all behind and swear off Facebook forever. The second option is to simply suck it up and embrace change.

With Facebook Timeline’s imminent arrival as the default profile for users, now is the time to pick a side. If you simply can’t stomach Facebook Timeline, go fort and find your new hangout elsewhere. We hear Google+ is nice. However, if you want to embrace your shiny new profile, you have to know what you’re getting yourself into. Here are are some tips on how to make this transition as painless as possible.

Understand Timeline.

The first step in accepting your new profile overlord is to understand with it is. Facebook Timeline brings a radical upgrade to your profile with new features that turn your usually lifeless profile into a virtual scrapbook. True to its name, Facebook Timeline lets you document your entire life using photos, videos, links, events and status updates. It’s all contained in one continuous feed of posts arranged in a pretty way.

Be creative with your cover photo.

One thing that gives it that visual punch is the new Cover Photo. On top of your timeline sits a large photo that you can change whenever you want. It overlaps with your profile photo which gives you a window to be creative on your Facebook profile. If you let your imagination run wild, setting your cover photo could be the most fun part of this whole Timeline business.

Fill out your past.

Before Timeline, you can only document your day-to-day life from the day you joined Facebook up to the present. With Timeline, you can now add events before the day you joined Facebook. You can actually start on the day you were born. You can pick several categories from the menu bar to tell people whether the event is related to work and education, family and relationships, home and living, health and wellness or travel and experiences. You can literally spend days filling out your Timeline. Obviously, if there’s something you don’t want to appear on your Timeline, don’t add it.

Control your privacy.

Most of the negative feelings from people who don’t want Timeline to invade their Facebook accounts stem from the issue of privacy. Once Timeline kicks in, it can potentially shine some light into past Facebook posts that you would rather not see again. Don’t panic just yet. You are not helpless in this fight. There is a new Activity Log section where you can adjust the privacy settings of all your individual posts. It will take some effort especially if you’ve been in Facebook for a long time already, but no pain, no gain, right? As for your new life event posts, remember that the default setting is Public, so make sure you adjust it if you don’t want everyone to see it.

The Bottom Line

We all know that some people are overreacting over this whole thing but there are legitimate concerns out there that justify the worries of some rational people. However, all of these concerns, mostly about privacy, can be overcome in two simple ways — suck it up and take your time in adjusting your privacy settings or deactivate your account and leave forever.

Filed Under: facebook Tagged With:

NAVTEQ Maps Review

January 21, 2012 By Leave a Comment

As the leading global provider of maps, traffic information and digital location content, NAVTEQ is trusted by a multitude of companies to deliver navigation, location-based services and mobile advertising in different countries all around the world. NAVTEQ’s digital location content is used in all kinds of applications such as portable and wireless devices, automotive navigation systems, Internet-based mapping apps and even government and business solutions. It is safe to say that NAVTEQ powers most of the world’s needs for digital location content.

What kind of information is provided by NAVTEQ?

Covering 6 continents and 85 countries, NAVTEQ offers digital maps that include details such as physical barriers, gates, one-way streets, turn restrictions, relative road heights and more. These maps do not just show geographic location, they also provide useful information that can help people navigate better and safer whether they are creating a route for deliveries that are essential to their business or they are simply planning the best road trip experience possible.

NAVTEQ maps include points of interest that lets users easily find restaurants, hospitals, hotels and any other establishment that they can visit. For personal use, these maps offer valuable insight on planning the perfect trip or simply discovering what an area can offer in terms of services, entertainment and leisure. For commercial and government use, the details in these maps are essential in providing services such as mail services, emergency response services and different fleet operations all over the world.

What makes NAVTEQ data different from the data offered by other mapping services?

NAVTEQ has an elite team of geographic analysts numbering more than a thousand. They survey roads all over the world using a proprietary GPS-based collection software and technology while following a single global specification. This team of geographic analysts collect as many as 260 attributes of locations, giving the data they produce a robust and detailed quality that can be used in different applications. This kind of expertise, quality equipment, standard practices and attention to detail make NAVTEQ data stand out from the data offered by other mapping services.

Is this data updated often?

NAVTEQ data is constantly updated to make sure that users get the latest and most detailed maps available. Aside from the usual attributes that users find in these maps, NAVTEQ continually find new attributes and ways to enhance their maps more. They listen to their customers, other industry leaders, mapping experts and regular users of mapping applications and devices to determine what kind of information people want and need. Listening to the people and doing an extensive marketing research gives NAVTEQ the heads up on what people require in their maps, giving them the advantage of knowing the next steps to take in improving their maps.

What kind of information can be expected from NAVTEQ maps?

One of the most popular features of NAVTEQ maps is the set of points of interests or POIs. These POIs include airports, hospitals, schools, restaurants, parks, museums, gasoline stations, casinos, cinemas, banks and ATMs. For consumers, these maps help them navigate their location better. For companies, these maps help them be found by their customers. There is even a NAVTEQ service called Direct Access that lets companies put their logos on the maps. This makes their location easier to find, making it more convenient for customers to go and purchase their favorite products or services.

For drivers, these maps provide another benefit: traffic information. Knowing when and where to expect bad traffic conditions or when and where they can drive to a specific destination without encountering jams is a priceless advantage. NAVTEQ provides real-time traffic information in the US, Canada, Brazil and some countries in Europe. Live traffic conditions are displayed right on the maps so it will give drivers an easier time in navigating the roads comfortably and safely.

Are there industry-specific features in these maps?

Yes there are. For businesses and services that include truck routes, NAVTEQ Transport offers truck routing maps with details such as physical restrictions, legal restrictions, transport-specific POIs, preferred routes, hazardous materials restrictions and warning information for hills, lateral winds and curves. Drivers can specify their routes and the attributes they want to see on the map and they will be given a map with all their specified information. These maps provide truck drivers and navigators a way to pass through their routes quickly, easily and safely.

How can I acquire maps?

NAVTEQ maps are installed different navigation devices and mobile devices. If you need to update these maps, you can simply go to the NAVTEQ store, choose the specific model of your device and purchase a map update. Specific instructions are included to make each update easy and quick to install.

The Bottom Line

While other services provide detailed maps with similar details, if you want to use the most trusted maps in the industry, NAVTEQ should be your first choice. Their maps are always updated, highly detailed and contain information backed by state-of-the-art equipment and the expertise of geographical analysts.

Filed Under: gadgets Tagged With: ,

Rebtel Review

January 21, 2012 By Leave a Comment

The world is getting smaller everyday thanks to technology, particularly the Internet and the field of telecommunications. Advances in these fields are letting us communicate better, faster and cheaper. Just take for example Rebtel, a company that offers free calls and cheap international calls. Some if its services include cheap international calls to mobile and landlines phones, free mobile to mobile calls via 3G, WiFi and local numbers, mobile applications, international SMS, phone cards and PC to PC calls.

How do I make cheap international phone calls?

Rebtel brings down the cost of international calls by assigning a unique local number for the contact you want to call who is overseas. Instead of calling their international number directly, you just call this unique local number, letting you save up to 95% when compared to regular international phone calls. There’s no need for phone cars or PINs and you can use any phone device whether it’s a mobile phone or a landline phone. It sounds too good to be true but there you go.

Using this system, you are only paying your local service operator the usual rate for local calls plus a minimal per-minute fee for the international call which will go to Rebtel. There are only 3 simple steps in signing up for this service: first, fill out the sign up form which includes the phone you will be using to make international calls; second, enter your contact’s name and phone number which will be assigned a unique local number; and finally, proceed with your international call using the Rebtel local number.

How do I spend nothing at all but still make calls?

With over 50 countries supported, users can use the Rebtel app to call their friends from supported countries for free as long as they are also using the Rebtel app. There are no absolutely no fees for making these calls except for the charges related to the data connection you will be using. This means you can use 3G and WiFi connections that you already pay for to access the Internet to make free calls.

You can use your mobile phone, your landline phone and even your computer to make these free calls. For the mobile phones and computers, you just need the Rebtel app to make free calls. For landline phones, you can tell your friends to use the local number assigned to you by Rebtel so they can call you international while only being charged for calling a local number, which is of course free. Unlike Skype, the most popular free calling option, Rebtel works with all kinds of landline phones and mobile phones with no connection fee. If you’re looking for a great alternative to Skype or any of the other popular IP call services, Rebtel is a solid option.

Which mobile devices are supported by Rebtel?

Rebtel supports the iPhone, Android smartphones and Blackberry devices. The apps on these platforms let users call any number from their address book, access all Rebtel features and services, as well as use local minutes without requiring a WiFi connection. If you’re having trouble controlling the charges on your usual call minutes and even text messages, you can definitely save a lot of money if you use Rebtel services while still enjoying the call experience you are already accustomed to with your existing mobile device.

How can I use Rebtel to save money on sending SMS text messages?

You have 3 options for using Rebtel to send text messages to international friends without paying the usual expensive fees. First, you can use your regular mobile phone. It works just like the cheap international call services of Rebtel as it assigns a local number to your contact from abroad. This means texting your international contact will just be like texting someone locally. You will only be using the number of text messages included in your existing carrier plan.

Second, you can use your computer and the Rebtel web interface to send text messages to your Rebtel contacts or any of your international friends. This option lets you skip the rates charged by your local carrier and instead just pay minimal Rebtel international SMS fees. Similarly, the third option of using the app for Android, iPhone and Blackberry devices exclude you from regular text messaging rates and instead, you only pay Rebtel’s fees.

How do I know the call rates for different countries?

First of all, if you are calling someone who is also using Rebtel, you don’t have to worry about fees because it is free. For your contacts who are not using Rebtel, you can find out the rates for the supported countries by going to the Call Rates section of the Rebtel website. In this section, you can also check which countries are supported by the service.

The Bottom Line

Rebtel definitely gives your usual carriers a run for their money with services that offer free calls and cheap international calls. The best part about it is that you are not sacrificing call quality so you can still clearly hear your friend’s voice abroad while paying less.

Filed Under: iphone Tagged With: ,

Budget Prints Review

January 19, 2012 By Leave a Comment

It’s true that almost everything can be done digitally these days especially when it comes to magazines, books and other printed material. It is often said that print is dead but we all know that’s not entirely true. Print, specifically the actual printing process, still has a lot of applications in our daily lives. There is still demand for print in our homes and our offices. It doesn’t always come cheap, though, so being smart about your printing services is the right thing to do. You can do it with online printing services with people with a budget in mind such as Budget Prints.

How does it work?

It is as simple as uploading your designs or picking any of the pre-designed templates available and submitting your order. There’s nothing else to it. Budget Prints is a straightforward online printing service that makes all the steps of applying a design to different formats as easy as pie.

What kind of print formats are available?

Formats are divided into two categories: For Your Life and For Your Business. The For Your Business category includes business cards, letterheads, envelopes, postcards, rack cards, magnets and other items you can use in the office or in conducting business in general. These items are printed in great quality material with great print quality as well so you are assured that your business paraphernalia are as professional as you are.

The For Your Life category includes items that you can use at home or anywhere in your daily life such as invitations, note cards, bookmarks, thank you cards and others. Even though they are not meant to be used in a professional manner, you can still count on the material and print quality that Budget Prints basically offers all of its customers.

What can I do with the pre-designed templates?

Just in case you don’t have a design of your own, you can pick from any of the available pre-designed templates available. Once you have picked a design, you can then customize it through the Online Designer feature. This tool lets you input the text that you want to include in your design. You don’t even have to sweat it if you made a mistake because you can always preview your design before committing to it.

I want to upload my own design. What are the formats accepted?

You can upload any design in the following formats:

  • PSD
  • JPG
  • GIF
  • PNG

You have to make sure that your design is in any of these formats or else you need to convert it before you upload it to Budget Prints.

What types of paper are available?

In general, Budget Prints offers 12pt and 14pt paper stocks with rounded or standard square corners and matte or glossy finish. Depending on the product, the type of paper available may vary. All of these options will be available to you before you commit to your order.

Do I need to register an account to do all of these?

You don’t have to register an account to pick or upload a design. However, if you want to save your design for later, you will need an account to do so. This is standard practice and it is quite easy to register an account so this should be no problem at all for you.

Registering an account also gives you the benefit of having your shipping information already stored in Budget Prints’ system, making your future orders faster and easier to process. The stored billing and shipping information in your account can be easily edited whenever the need arises.

Is it secure?

Budget Prints uses a secure Internet certificate that ensure all transactions are secure. More than a million customers have already purchased products from this service and all of them can attest to the level of security that is present in the website whether you are simply creating a design or you are already making a purchase.

How are items shipped?

Budget Prints offers four different shipping methods:

  • Economy – 21 days
  • Standard – 14 days
  • Expedited – 7 days
  • Rush – 3 business days

Shipping is free for orders equal or more than $30. This deal is a daily promotion so you can take advantage of it any day. However, there are additional fees for handling, multiple shipping destinations and expedited shipping. Also, do take note that Budget Prints only ships within the United States for now.

How are items priced?

Pricing depends on the type of printed item and the quantity to be ordered. Prices for business cards start at $1.59 for 25 pieces, envelopes start at $45.99 for 100 pieces and magnets start at $12.95 for 25 pieces. You can visit BudgetPrints.com for their complete pricing details.

The Bottom Line

Budget Prints is a service designed to make designing and ordering printed items fast and easy. Yes, you can save more money if you print stuff at home if you only need a handful of them. However, if you want to print by bulk, your best option is to get an assist from online printing services like Budget Prints.

Filed Under: ecommerce Tagged With: ,

Volusion Shopping Cart Software Review

January 19, 2012 By Leave a Comment

If you’re planning on putting up an online store, your first consideration should be which platform will you use to reach your customers and sell your goods. There is the usual auction sites and social networking sites that offer you a built-in audience of thousands or even millions, but you will basically be on equal ground with hundreds of other online sellers. You don’t want this kind of business. You want to stand out and you can do that by putting up your online store the way you want it. Ecommerce software is your answer. One of the standout leaders in the ecommerce and shopping cart software field is Volusion.

What is Volusion?

Volusion does not just offer a piece of software. Its service is a combination of marketing tools, business management tools, shopping cart tools, customer support tools, web hosting and web design. These elements combine into one product that gives you the ability to put up an online store that is safe and efficient for both you and your customers. You may not have the advantage of a built-in customer base, but Volusion offers you total control over your online store and the customization features to make it all your own.

What will the online store look like?

It depends on your taste, actually. You will be able to customize the look of your online store by picking any of the more than 120 free high quality ecommerce templates available. If the free templates don’t do it for you, there are also premium templates available.

If you are a web designer or you simply are the type of person who wants to customize their website on the code level, you will find that Volusion may be a little frustrating for you since you can’t directly modify the code behind the software. You are also limited to picking templates and not modifying them further. The good news is that if you’re the type of person who does not want to get their hands dirty in styling their website, Volusion makes things easy and comfortable for you. When you pick a new template, whether free or premium, the Volusion staff will be the ones to install it for you for no extra charge.

What are the features of Volusion that make it stand out?

You can let your customers pick any color of any item on your store thanks to the Color Swatch feature. This feature is supported by the Smart Match feature that gives customers the ability to keep different combinations of product options as they are shopping in your store. This efficient system makes the shopping experience a pleasant one for shoppers as they can navigate through the store without losing any of the items and their product options that they have previously picked.

That sounds great for shoppers but what can it offer me as a business owner?

As your customers shop comfortably in your visually stimulating online store, you can also experience a leisurely experience in processing orders, dealing with customer concerns and tracking the overall progress of your business. Volusion has a robust set of reporting features,an intuitive order processing section and an innovative inventory system that make managing your only store as easy as it could be.

Marketing your online store is also an easy task with the help of Volusion as it includes an SEO toolbox, the Deal of the Day feature, customer reviews, email and newsletter management, a wish list feature and a tool for offering coupons and special discounts. It is basically a complete tool set for keeping your customers happy and attracting new ones from all over the Internet.

Is it Social Media and Mobile-friendly?

Yes it is. Volusion includes the Social Store feature that lets you easily integrate your online store with your Facebook page. Managing your YouTube videos and sharing news and announcements via Twitter and Facebook are made easy as you can do all of it from your Volusion administration panel. Your online store also comes with a mobile version so people on their mobile devices can still browse and shop in your store comfortably even if they’re not in front of their desktop or laptop computer.

Is Volusion secure?

Volusion is fully PCI certified so you are assured that your online store is protected and safe. You are also guaranteed of a 99.99% uptime, as well as fast load times thanks to Volusion CDN (content delivery network) which can improve your site’s speed by up to 60%.

What are the pricing options?

Volusion is offered through 5 different pricing plans:

Steel – 100 products, 1GB data transfer, $19 per month

Bronze – 500 products, 3GB data transfer, $39 per month

Silver – 1000 products, 5GB data transfer, $59 per month

Gold – 5000 products, 15GB data transfer, $99 per month

Platinum – Unlimited products, 20GB data transfer, $149 per month

All plans do not have setup and transaction fees. They all include the standard features of Volusion such as free templates, mobile commerce, social media tools and the Social Store feature. The Gold and Platinum plans include additional features and services: onboarding coach, account manager and API access.

If none of these plans fit your needs, you can schedule a consultation for enterprise-level solutions.

The Bottom Line

Volusion is a complete ecommerce solution designed for people who want to offer a comfortable online shopping experience for both their customers and themselves. People who want deep customization in terms of design, however, will find a better solution somewhere else.

Filed Under: ecommerce Tagged With: ,

How to Join the Fight Against SOPA with Your WordPress Blog

January 18, 2012 By Leave a Comment

The Stop Online Piracy Act or SOPA is a new bill in the United States that, if passed, will allow the government to block Americans from accessing certain websites. It aims to fight piracy and copyright infringement. While it sounds noble, this bill will actually promote censorship initiated by sensitive corporations or any website owner who thinks their goods are being accessed or trafficked illegally.

Supporters of the bill explain that SOPA will enforce existing copyright laws and improve the intellectual property market, including the related industries and their jobs and revenues. On the other hand, people who oppose the bill are fighting for something bigger. Their cause is about free speech and fighting censorship. If you are one of those people who want to fight for your right to free knowledge, unbound creativity and unrestricted communication, you can join the cause.

There are many ways to join the fight against SOPA. If you have a self-hosted WordPress blog, there are a couple of plugins that you can easily install to participate in the protest against SOPA.

SOPA Blackout

January 18th, 2012 is Web Blackout Day. Led by Reddit, WordPress.org and Wikipedia, websites around the world are protesting against SOPA by blacking out their service for several hours. This aims to show the whole world what can happen if SOPA is passed. You can join the blackout by installing this WordPress plugin. It allows you to add a customizable page that will replace your blog on this date. You don’t have to worry about losing some of your search engine juice as it sends a temporary 503 status.

Stop SOPA Ribbon

If you don’t want to make your entire blog inaccessible but you still want to join the cause, you can simply put a ribbon on your blog that links to the American Censorship website. There is no customization required. Just install the plugin and the ribbon will be sitting there on the upper right corner of your blog ready to bring your blog readers to American Censorship.

Non-WordPress Website

For websites not running on WordPress, you can implement your own blackout by using the piece of code offered by American Censorship which puts a black bar with the words “Stop Censorship” over your website’s header or logo. It is a much subtle way of participating in Web Blackout Day but it does show your support for the cause.

Other Ways to Join the Cause

Of course you can always write about SOPA on your blog or join discussions in forum boards. Let your voice be heard throughout social media. It is this form of self-expression that the cause is protecting so what better way to support it than actually using the exact same thing that you will lose if the bill passes.

You can find out more ways to fight SOPA as well as the similar bill PIPA by going to AmericanCensorship.org. They have a lot of information about the bills and a number of ways for you to participate in the protest.

Filed Under: wordpress Tagged With: , ,

ClickTale Review

January 11, 2012 By Leave a Comment

ClickTale is a customer experience analytics solution comprised of a suite of analytics tools for measuring the clicks, mouse movements and keystrokes of website users. It is used by more than 70,000 companies and individuals who want to always be on top of what customers are actually doing on their websites.

How is it any different from other analytics solutions?

Aside from being the most trusted analytics solutions around, ClickTale offers you the capability to see user activity on your site through the eyes of the users themselves. This is possible thanks to the visitor recordings feature which records every mouse movement, mouse click and mouse scroll of the user and compiles it into a neat video. Instead of just analyzing how hundreds of users navigate through your site, you will get to pick a single user and see how they actually move around your site, giving you valuable insight on how effective your site’s design is.

Can I see user activity in real time?

Yes you can. The Real Time Monitor feature lets you view live updates of recorded users, which means you don’t have to wait days for an analysis of visitor activities. This feature is ideal for usability testing and improving marketing campaigns.

What can it offer in terms of traditional analytics features?

One of the most popular features in analytics is the heatmap. ClickTale offers four different heatmaps for mouse move, mouse click, attention and scroll reach. The Mouse Move and Mouse Click heatmaps, as the names suggest, track mouse movements and clicks and present the data in visually appealing heatmaps. These heatmaps show you where users’ mouse pointers linger the most and where they usually end up clicking.

As for the other two heatmaps, they measure which areas of your web pages get the most attention from users and how far those users scroll down your page. The knowledge provided by these two heatmaps are extremely valuable in placing advertisements and optimizing the location of content. Knowing which area of your web page gets the most attention increases your ability to effectively place content and ads where their exposure is maximized.

Of course, other regulars in analytics solutions are also here, including visitor language, browser version, country of origin, screen size and operating system. These demographics are all presented with clean and elegant graphics that are easy to view.

What then can it offer outside of the traditional analytics features?

Aside from the visitor recordings, ClickTale also offers form analytics, campaign tracking and advanced filtering. These features provide valuable insight into customer behavior in such a way that it’s almost as if you were right there with the customer when they were navigating through your site. The Advance Filtering feature for one offers a deeper analysis of customer behavior than the usual filtering features of other analytics solutions. It shows you every step the customer took from landing on your page to whether they converted or not.

What does “Form Analytics” mean?

While you can use heatmaps and recordings to see what your customers are doing on your pages with forms, Form Analytics can give you a more in-depth look at the conversion rates of your forms. This feature will help you determine which form fields are effective and which ones cause your visitors to actually leave. This feature includes five different reports: Conversion, Drop, Time, Blank Field and Refill. Each report gives you insight on how customers interact with your forms, giving you a better chance in modifying and optimizing your forms to improve their conversion rates.

How detailed can ClickTale’s reports be?

If the recordings, drill-down of demographics and the pinpoint accuracy of Form Analytics have not convinced you yet of ClickTale’s attention to details, consider that its Link Analytics involves a report on user hesitation. That’s right, the Hesitation report exists and it tracks the amount of time between the actual mouse hover action and the moment when a link is actually clicked. Other reports in the Link Analytics suite are Clicks, Hovers, Hover Conversion, Time to Click, Hover Time, Hover Order and Clicking Visitors.

What are the available pricing options?

For small to medium businesses, ClickTale offers three pricing plans:

Bronze ($99 a month): This basic plan includes 3 out of the 4 heatmaps, Form Analytics for 1 page and 20,000 pageviews recorded per month.

Silver ($290 a month): This is the most popular plan and it include unlimited heatmaps, unlimited access to Form Analytics and 80,000 pageviews recorded per month.

Gold ($990 a month): This plan includes everything in the Silver plan except this one allows for 300,000 pageviews recorded per month.

If none of these plans fit your needs and you need more out of ClickTale, you can try the Enterprise solution which includes a dedicated account manager, training and education, a flexible platform and proactive consultation. Rates depend on your customized needs.

The Bottom Line

ClickTale is not your typical analytics solution so if you are serious about improving and optimizing your company’s conversion rates, this is definitely worth a shot.

Filed Under: ecommerce Tagged With: , ,

aMember Pro Review

January 11, 2012 By Leave a Comment

If you are running a website and you are offering items for sale or you simply want to send out opt-in newsletters to your site members, you can do yourself a favor by not doing it manually. Accepting subscriptions payments or running an affiliate program involving a few people can be manageable if you are doing it without the help of special software, but if the number of members on your site is considerable, it’s best if you put your trust in applications like aMember Pro. This software is flexible enough to be used with most of the popular platforms for blogs and forums and other types of content management systems.

How easy is it to install?

Even if you’re not familiar with technical terms and coding, you can still have aMember Pro running with your existing website or new one in no time. You actually don’t have to do anything in the installation process because professionasl from aMember Pro will install the software in your website for you. They will of course inform you of the important details about the installation and they will walk you through the initial process of running aMember Pro so you will be managing your members with this software unaided in no time.

How can this software help me when I’m running an affiliate program?

Tracking recurring commissions is made possible and in an efficient manner with aMember Pro as it includes a built-in affiliate module. This full-featured affiliate module offers the Review/Pay Affiliate Commission feature, the Affiliate Clicks/Sales Statistics feature and the Manage Banners and text Links feature. All of these tools come together to provide users with a seamless and effortless experience in managing affiliates.

Can aMember Pro help me out with support?

Yes. aMember Pro has a built-in customer support module that makes customer responses, queries and requests organized. Instead of switching back and fort between your email account and your website administration panel, you can do everything in your aMember Pro integrated Helpdesk section. Each inquiry also has a unique tracking code for easier tracking and management.

Is it secure?

aMember Pro has a built-in security feature that lets you manage the permissions of your folders and files. That means in addition to your existing security measures for your blog, website or forum board, you can have extra protection in a straightforward and clean administration panel.

Do I need to download anything?

No. Everything is located in your web server so whenever you want to use aMember Pro, you simply need a web browser to access your administration panel. Everything you need to manage and organize your website can be accessed through aMember Pro.

Which payment systems are supported by this software?

aMember Pro supports the most popular payment systems around like PayPal, 2Checkout, Wordpay, ClickBank and more. In fact, it can be integrated with more than 100 payment systems soon. There’s no need to pay developers to create integration between your website and payment systems as it can easily be established through aMember Pro.

How flexible is it?

aMember Pro is designed to support different types of plugins. It can be easily integrated with different platforms such as blogging platforms, forum board software and good old fashioned PHP websites built from scratch. If you want a certain function for your website, chances are you can find a plugin for it. All you need to do is install it via the aMember Pro administration panel and you’re good to go.

What are its main features?

Aside from multiple payment system support, different modules and integration to various existing platforms, aMember Pro offers a core set of features that focus on making the management of members fast and easy. These features include unlimited membership levels, unlimited items, incremental content delivery, automated signup and expiration, multiple language support and general member management tools. Anything from processing payments to handling coupons, aMember Pro has a tool for it.

Can I tamper with the source code in case I want to change or add a feature or functionality?

Yes you can. Purchasing aMember Pro gives you full access to the source code which is written in PHP. This means whether you or your web developer needs something customized for your unique needs, you can easily do so by diving into the code. It uses standard libraries so if you or your developer is already familiar with writing PHP code, you don’t have to learn new technologies to customize aMember Pro. The same goes with designing your aMember Pro site.

The Bottom Line

With a one-time payment of $179.95, you get all of these plus the flexibility to customize it according to your needs. aMember Pro is an ideal software for websites with a large number of members. Out of the box, it is already a complete solution for websites that require an extensive amount of member management. However, it is flexible enough to only cater to a specific set of needs.

Filed Under: ecommerce Tagged With: ,

Scribe SEO Review

January 11, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Scribe SEO promises to make SEO simple. It basically follows 3 general steps in turning your content into search engine superstars.These 3 steps deal with keywords, content and links. Even before you create your content, best SEO practices dictate that you do your homework first and then build your content around it. Best SEO practices also dictate that you let your content dictate more optimization, allowing for a more solid search engine optimization. Scribe SEO covers all of these bases in the most efficient way possible.

How can Scribe help me with keywords?

Scribe SEO basically gives you insight in which keywords are being used by searchers to find the content you are planning to offer. Once you have these keywords, you can then build your content around it. Once you’re done with writing your content, Scribe analyzes it and gives you more keywords that more likely to be profitable for you.

Scribe has a built-in keyword research tool that makes acquiring the best keywords for your content simple and fast. There’s no need to use third party software for keyword research which can take longer. It’s not just a tool for discovering the right keywords, it’s also a tool for improving your productivity. There is also the Keyword Suggestion service that analyzes your content and suggests other keywords that is appropriate for your content.

How can Scribe help me with writing my content?

Other than the keywords optimized for your content, the actual writing falls entirely up to you, as it should. But it won’t be just you and your creativity. You will be guided by the Scribe SEO keyword research tool as you get started writing. Once you’re done, you can then tweak and edit your written masterpiece with more keywords generated by the Keyword Suggestion tool. It’s all you when it comes to content, but you will get to produce better quality content that more people will see thanks to Scribe’s SEO features.

How can Scribe help me with back links?

Scribe SEO has a solid array of tools for building back links. Incoming links is one of the most important elements in SEO as it builds your relevance and trustworthiness across the Internet, so making sure that you are getting incoming links is a top priority. It also has tools for cross linking content within your site and identifying influential people in social media who can help you spread your content and essential help build more back links to your content.

What platform do I need to use Scribe SEO?

You can be using any kind of platform and still be capable of running Scribe SEO. Scribe Web is a general form of the SEO tool set that you can use in any kind of website. However, if you are using WordPress, Drupal or Joomla, Scribe has specifically designed variants for those platforms. They are aimed to run smoothly along any other scripts and software you have installed in your existing platform. These 3 variants are recommended for use on websites running WordPress, Joomla or Drupal as they are more efficient tools that way because they fit comfortably in the existing admin panels of those platforms.

What makes Scribe SEO different from other SEO tools?

With the features available in Scribe SEO, you won’t be forced to just build your content around a set of keywords. That is how you begin writing your content but while you’re doing that, Scribe helps you develop your content more by suggesting more keywords, giving you the freedom to basically write the type of content you want and optimize it later. It gives you insight into how search engines will see your content before you publish it so you can make changes to achieve the best quality possible. It employs best SEO practices so you know that your content is at its best form possible without sacrificing your creative freedom.

What are the available plans and pricing options?

Scribe SEO offers 4 different plans: Starter, Publisher, Professional and Advanced. Each plan includes Scribe usage for unlimited websites, full technical support and the option to cancel with just a single click. They only differ in the number of evaluations — which is another term for content analysis — and keyword searches allowed.

Starter ($17 per month): This plan includes 15 evaluations and 35 keyword searches.

Publisher ($27 per month): This plan includes 30 evaluations and 70 keyword searches.

Professional ($47 per month): This plan includes 280 evaluations and unlimited keyword searches.

Advanced ($97 per month): This plan includes 700 evaluations and unlimited keyword searches.

No matter which of these plans you choose, you can try Scribe SEO out for up to 30 days having the ability to get your money back if you are not satisfied. If you want more than what these plans offer, you can contact their sales department and ask about the Enterprise plan.

The Bottom Line

SEO is an essential part of your business if you don’t want your websites sitting in a corner and just gathering dust. Scribe SEO offers you the chance to improve your content’s visibility in the search engines without sacrificing your own creative vision for your content.

Filed Under: seo, wordpress Tagged With: ,
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