So the rage is mobile and although most if not all of the new smart phones have html browsers there seems to be enough data to suggest that mobile users have less patience than non-mobile users when it comes to zooming in and out, scrolling, etc. while browsing websites. It is also true that different mobile devices don’t support some technologies our desktop browsers do such as flash and javascript. To that end the current trend is to create a mobile friendly site. Great and I’m sure you just heard now I have to spend more money on development. Well I’ve found a easy to use solution that can remedy your worries.
piJnz is a mobile landing page creation tool that turns anyone into a mobile website developer. I just created a mobile website for a website that offers photo booths for rent and the process was fast and simple. So much so I had a two page website done in about 20 minutes including adding a plugin to the Wordpress site that re-directs mobile traffic to the mobile site.
Signing up for a piJnz account is easy and they offer you thirty days free trial so you’ve got nothing to lose. Once you’ve signed up you are taken to your My Pages page which will eventually list all of the pages you’ve created. There is a button to create a new page and links to help files on how to create a mobile landing page and other subjects. Clicking on the Create New button takes you to a basic wysiwyg editor laid out like a cell phone. You can add additional functions to the page layout and take away functions/features from the page layout. It couldn’t be easier. Once you’ve create your page you save it and then can preview. Upon clicking the preview button a shadow box displays a cell phone with your content inside complete with scrolling buttons at the top and bottom. No need to check your phone to make adjustments to the page. Very simple and easy to use.
Pricing starts at $9.95 for a three page site and goes up to $175.95 for a 100 page site. Although the pages are hosted at piJnz you can point your own domain to piJnz to give a seamless experience to your visitors. This may not be the only mobile solution out there but it has to be one of the easiest to use for non-technical people, and affordable too!
The merging world of human and technology just took another step forward. Are hubots around the corner? Probably, we see what technology is doing for amputees, those who are blind and those who are unable to speak so it should not be a surprise that Google is basically teaching computers to “see”. Where this could lead is anyone’s guess and I hope it’s for the better not the worse.
Interesting post on the Google AdWords blog regarding their new +1 button. Take note of the reference to organic rankings being impacted by the number of +1’s a page has. This is another indication of how social media is impacting old school search and maybe Google’s answer to Facebook’s “like” button?
I love gadgets. That might also partially explain my love of James Bond movies as well. Maybe it’s a guy thing, maybe it’s a wanna be cool thing, don’t know and really don’t care. That being said when I came across this blog post on the future of mobile search I just had to share it. How much would this change the way you look at the world?
Although the economy is showing signs of improvement, a new report suggests small businesses are trying to get smarter with their paid search spend while decreasing their spend budget.
The State of Small Business Advertising report, conducted by online advertising firm WebVisible, found that the average small business spent $2,126 on search in Q4 2010, a 1.1% year-over-year decrease from 2009. The average keyword count was 87 root keywords per advertiser over the last three months of the year — a 30% increase from the same period in 2009.
The study, which included more than 10,000 small businesses in the U.S., indicates smaller advertisers are scaling back but becoming more efficient with paid search. This report was limited to search engines and did not include Facebook or other social media spend.
According to the report, online video usage by small businesses is on the rise with 26% of advertisers using video on their landing pages in the fourth quarter. This is up from 19% the previous year and watching video now ranks second in user actions when visiting a landing page; clicking through to the advertiser’s main Web site was the most common user action. Video views as a percentage of all user activity on landing pages skyrocketed 85% from 2009 to 2010.
In an apparent move to by-pass the Egyptian government’s lock down of the internet, Google announced a workaround for the people of Egypt that allows them to call a phone number and leave a message that is then translated to message on Twitter. Brilliant!
Google AdWords continues to push the reporting envelope compared to Microsoft’s adCenter reporting. Google announced on Friday, Jan 21, the addition of customer interaction statistics they call “Free Clicks”. These stats show you how often visitors open a product extension plusbox or get directions to your store directly from their ad. For video and display ads, you can now see how long visitors are sticking around to watch your video or interact with your ad’s content.
Campaigns with a high number of “Free Clicks” could be an indication your ads are performing better than they appear to be elsewhere in your account. Read the entire post here.
We here at The Info Group wish all the happiest of holidays and all the best in 2011! Here’s a little diddy from one of our favorite bands you’ve probably never heard of FruitCake-SuperBeing.
Wishing you and yours a most blessed Thanksgiving! The following is a traditional turkey recipe.
Ingredients
* 1 (18 pound) whole turkey
* 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
* salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
* 1 1/2 quarts turkey stock
* 8 cups prepared stuffing
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Place rack in the lowest position of the oven.
2. Remove the turkey neck and giblets, rinse the turkey, and pat dry with paper towels. Place the turkey, breast side up, on a rack in the roasting pan. Loosely fill the body cavity with stuffing. Rub the skin with the softened butter, and season with salt and pepper. Position an aluminum foil tent over the turkey.
3. Place turkey in the oven, and pour 2 cups turkey stock into the bottom of the roasting pan. Baste all over every 30 minutes with the juices on the bottom of the pan. Whenever the drippings evaporate, add stock to moisten them, about 1 to 2 cups at a time. Remove aluminum foil after 2 1/2 hours. Roast until a meat thermometer inserted in the meaty part of the thigh reads 180 degrees F (80 degrees C), about 4 hours.
4. Transfer the turkey to a large serving platter, and let it stand for at least 20 to 30 minutes before carving.
In their never ending mission to provide the most comprehensive information on all things, Google has launched The Google Election Center. At a basic level a user can submit their address and find their polling center. For programmers an api is available for building custom apps.
The Google Election Center allows users to provide information on their district such as:
Polling place locations
Registration instructions
Ballot information
State and local election office contact information
A widget is available to those wanting to embed where to vote info on their website. Like many widgets you have some customization ability such as size, border color, a message and logo.
The bottom line is, GET OUT AND VOTE! Those that do can complain all they want to, those that don’t … Zip IT!
I love gadgets. That might also partially explain my love of James Bond movies as well. Maybe it’s a guy thing, maybe it’s a wanna be cool thing, don’t know and really don’t care. That being said when I came across this blog post on the 
In an apparent move to by-pass the Egyptian government’s lock down of the internet, Google announced a workaround for the people of Egypt that allows them to call a phone number and leave a message that is then translated to message on Twitter. 
