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When you should (and shouldn't use Wordpress).
Wordpress is an open sourced blogging platform used by a lot of sites worldwide. However there are times when Wordpress is great, and when it is not so great. First Up ... If your site is basically a blog (or is very news oriented), Wordpress is a fantastic option to consider using. If your site doesn't fall in this category, you may want to consider other options. Why you should consider options: Wordpress primarily deals with two types of content "posts" and "pages". (which ...
Why do smaller images look less sharp on the web?
When you resize a photo smaller, your photo editor (we used Industry standard Photoshop) will need to remove pixels from the image. (smaller images, contain less pixels). During this “removal” of pixels, Photoshop is trying to figure out how to best remove pixels, and reassemble the edges in the image. As part of this process, Photoshop will blur certain edges to accommodate for the removal of pixels. What we can do about this There are options we can apply such as “unsharp” mask ...
Handy Email Marketing Checklist
When you are sending email campaigns yourself (either using our partner Vision 6 or third party software), here is a handy check list we've developed at TMD Online to make sure your campaigns are sent error free. Mobile Devices Over the last five years we have seen average mobile "opens" increase from a mere 10% to just under 50%. Whenever you send an email campaign - you should consider (and test) how the campaign will look / feel on a smaller screen. Calls ...
Why don’t I get contact enquiries from my website?
It is common practice these days to have a contact or enquiry form on your website. Often enquiries that are generated from this form are sent through to a specific email address, e.g. info@yourcompany.com.au. Why don’t I get these enquiries? A bit of background. There are a number of reasons why you may not receive these enquiries, however a bit of background first. When a form is submitted, we collect this information, format it into an email and then instruct the ...
Web Fonts
A lot of progress has been made in the past few years, in regards to getting fonts to display on your website. In the past we were limited to either using “standard fonts” (e.g. Arial, Verdana) for all text, or embedding text inside a graphic or flash file (which is not good practice these days). Because users only have a small number of fonts installed on their computers (and the type of fonts users may have vary quite a bit), it ...
Australia's new privacy laws and what they mean for your email marketing
Do you shudder at the thought of having to read over a neverending commonwealth act and endless legal babble? Do you feel like you need a law degree just to make any sense of it all? If so, you’re not alone, most people cringe at the thought. Australia’s recently amended Privacy Act is one that I have done plenty of sweating over in the last few months. Our Partner Vision 6 - has a great blog post that talks about this ...
Why Use TMD for your email Marketing
There are a large number of self managed email marketing systems available in the marketplace, and comparing “apples with apples” can sometimes be difficult. What we offer. We are an authorised partner of Vision 6, a local (Brisbane based) email marketing provider. Why choose us (in comparison with other options you may be considering) We offer fantastic support via email, phone or face to face training. We can offer great integration options using Vision 6. This includes syncing contacts between your website database as well as ...
Make sure your Online Reviews are Legit
When you are first starting off your online business, or when its difficult to get decent online reviews - it can be tempting to create "fake" reviews (however doing so can land you in BIG trouble). Sparked by continuous complaints from the public and business community, the ACCC (Australian Competition and Consumer Commission) has recently released guidelines on how businesses should manage online reviews, giving three commandments: Be transparent about commercial relationships Do not post misleading reviews The omission or editing of reviews ...
Why your Google keyword search Analytics are showing not provided
Since around 2011 : Google started encrypting searches for signed-in users, and many thought that Google would eventually encrypt 100% of searches even for those not signed-in. That prediction came true as Google announced it would encrypt all keyword searches for all users starting in late 2013. What this means for you. What keywords users are entering in Google to find your site, has been a critical metric in the past. Specifically from a "discovery" process (e.g "wow users are googling "MyCompanyXYZ ...
Why email campaigns should not just contain images.
Whenever someone receives an email (that contains linked images), 9 times out of 10, the user has to opt to “download” images. Below is an example of the a version of URL (our enewsletter) we sent. Note images do not automatically download, and that as a user I have to “opt” to download images. One of the golden rules when designing emails – is that you should design your email so objectives (i.e read the message / click on links) can ...
Registering a certificate with Rapid SSL
What is a Secure Certificate A secure certificate allows you to accept sensitive information (such as credit card details) from users via your website. To register a certificate with RapidSSL you need to perform the following steps. Before you proceed: Make sure you’ve got around 20 minutes to complete this process. You should check with your hosting company that you can use a RapidSSL certificate with them (if you are using Onthenet – you do not need to worry about this step). Ask your hosting ...
101 ways credit card transactions can fail on your website
There are a number of reasons a credit card authorisation (when a user is trying to buy something on your website) can fail, in fact there around a 100 valid reasons a card can fail. Out of those 100, there are usually only one or two that are in relation to the card holder not having “sufficient funds”. If the card holder has “sufficient funds” and the payment still fails, common reasons this transaction has failed include: The card holder has entered ...
Taking Online Credit Card Payments
Taking online credit card payments via your website is a great way to allow your customers and clients to make payment. But exactly what is the process to implement it? Firstly you need to get a merchant account through a bank (or you can use a "all in one solution" like Stripe. Read more about Stripe here) Note if you already have an existing merchant account (such as an EFTPOS terminal... usually only the major banks allow online merchant accounts). NAB Westpac ANZ St George Commonwealth A merchant account ...
Password Strength is Vital in Protecting Your Business and Personal Information
Guest Writer: Luke Halliday from Mercury IT In today's technologically driven business marketplace one of most often overlooked points of vulnerability to your business and personal security is the strength or weakness of the passwords that you define for usage when logging into: your computer network, email provider, online banking, accounting or payroll applications. To underestimate the importance of strong passwords is to leave the door wide open to identity theft and corporate piracy. Your passwords must be a robust combination ...
What is responsive design?
Responsive web design is a technique that scales and adjusts your website so that it fits optimally on a device other then a computer (e.g. iPhone / iPad / tablet). This allows the user to view your site with minimal scrolling or resizing (zooming in and out). With more and more users using mobile based devices, it is becoming critical that your website is made to be “responsive”. It was noted in the “Our mobile planet: Australia – understanding the mobile ...
Chinese Domain Name Spam
In the past we've received emails from companies such as “China Domain Name Registration Centre”, alleging that the .cn and .com.cn versions of tmdonline were being registered by another party. Now as a seasoned internet user, I knew this smelt a bit dodge. However what should you do if you receive an email such as this? Firstly, domain registers (such as netregistry, melbourneit, godaddy), do NOT conduct “trademark” searches, or try and contact owners of the trademark before a domain name is registered. Be ...
Why you shouldn't launch a website on a Friday
You've finished your website, and now you are keen to get it online – however it’s noon on a Friday. Unless you've got a major advertising blitz planned for the weekend (in which case your site should have been live earlier) it is recommended that you wait until Monday to send it live. Why? Sometimes we need our web hosting partner (or whatever web hosting company you choose) to action a series of changes on their servers. These changes are not always achievable in a “couple” ...
Why you shouldn't list every country in your "country" dropdown
Most websites have a contact or signup form that allows visitors to their site to lodge their details. Now I don’t know about you, but what frustrates me is being confronted with a massive “country” dropdown that contains every country in the world. Let’s boil this down. You’re doing business in Australia. If you are doing business (or getting leads) from overseas that’s also great. Now the temptation is “I should list all countries” in my online forms. Here is the ...
"Find and Replace" Can be a Bad Idea
Every now and then we get a request asking for us to change all instances of text on a website from “text a” to “text b”, e.g. “can you change our phone number from (07) 2222 2222 to (07) 3333 3333”. This sounds very easy to achieve with a “find and replace”. However doing a find and replace across a website is never a 100% accurate (and is sometimes very dangerous). Why it is not a 100% accurate: Sometimes we cannot find the ...
Why do I get spam or blank enquiries from my website
If you’ve got an online form (like a contact form), and your site is a bit old (or your web developer is plain slack), and you’ve been receiving “blank” or “spam” enquiries through this form continue reading ... Why do I receive blank enquiries? Most likely there is no “validation” on the form. This means that someone can simply hit submit, without filling out anything in the form. Why would a user not want to fill out their details? The majority of these “blank” ...