Blogs

Google Asus Nexus 7 Tablet and how I got it (almost) 

Submitted by Nathan on Wed, 07/18/2012 - 00:38
Google Asus Nexus 7 Tablet and how I got it (almost)

If you are like me then you like a bargain, and when Google announced their Android Tablet recently, there was bargain written all over it.

Regrettably, it turns out that Google made some pretty major errors in the way that they have handled the shipping of these devices. I signed up for one almost immediately, under the impression that this might put me at the top of the queue when the tablet was completed and it stared to ship. I was wrong. There appears to have been a blunder, in that stores like PC World and Currys have stocks of these tablets for sale even before Google has started to release stock to their pre-release purchasers, like me.

So I did what any decent person would do... I canceled the order with Google Play and placed it with Currys. I get the same £15 of free Google Play Store apps and delivery the next day. Google had not even sent me details that they were even getting around to considering me for delivery.

I suggest that if you are in the same boat, you do the same, but first check that Google has not started to process your order in Google Wallet. To be doubly sure, you might want to also check your bank statement to make sure that no funds have been taken.

Magento migration - base_url one thing you might forget. 

Submitted by Nathan on Fri, 06/15/2012 - 18:47
Magento migration - base_url one thing you might forget.

I recently had the need to move a site which I was building using the Magento eCommerce platform. Magento has proven to be useful time and again, and the set of features are second to none as far as I can tell.

I was building the site on a domain which was completely different to the one that it would eventually end up on, the reasons are not important, but had to do with Google Checkout.

Anyway, when the site was complete, I opened up the terminal and copied over the Magento database and files to the correct domain. I thought that I had checked everything. However, when I tried to access the site, I got some unwelcome error messages.

Turns out that Magento keeps track of the secure and insecure 'base_url' in the backend and these no longer matched up, as I was now on a different domain. 

A quick hunt around and I found that I needed to alter the database, two fields to be exact.

FREE Local Ranking Report 

Submitted by Nathan on Mon, 10/10/2011 - 20:59
FREE Local Ranking Report

If you have a business and would like to see it listed higher in the rankings on Google, then one of the first things that you need to know is just how well your competition is doing. With this information you can see who of your competitors is getting all of your business, and you can aim to beat them.

The FREE Local Marketing Report software that Picture and Word has developed will trawl Google and show you who is listing well for the phrases that people type into Google when they are looking for a local business just like yours.

Easy and fast to use

Best of all, the online software is so simple to use. All that you have to do is write your telephone number into the box on the screen and we will set off and find out who is listing for what in your marketplace. It's really powerful stuff and can be a great wake up call to you when you see just how the competition are doing in getting the business and calls that you could have too.

Is your phone ringing enough?

We know that the top four places on Google tend to get about 50% of all the business, and so if you are in that top four then your phone is going to be ringing. If you are not then it will be the phone of your rival which is. The ideal place is obviously the very first listing, because they are getting upwards of 35% of all calls and emails asking for new work.