Devine Websites
Affordable website
development and hosting

Devine Websites Client Newsletter Issue 1

In this issue
  • Google Apps
  • Google Analytics
  • MailChimp - Free Email Marketing Newsletters
  • SCAMS and Warnings
  • Devine Accounting

Google Apps

Many of you have asked about Google Apps for your domain, this article is for you...
For those already using it I recommend reading and subscribing to the Official Google Apps Blog http://googleapps.blogspot.com/ and the Official Gmail Blog http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/

Google Apps has multiple versions Standard (Free) Education, Non-Profits and Enterprise. Use Gmail, Calendar, Docs & more for your Domain!

The standard version is Free with up to 7GB of storage space and awesome spam protection. You can send / receive emails from your domain using GMail via company unique web interface. There are tools provided to upload existing emails and address books so you can have all your emails in one spot. Using Google Apps GMail you can also send and receive from other mail accounts.

It doesn't provide a very good interface with normal Windows applications, ie you cannot right click on something in a folder and choose "send to email recipient", but it can be used with Outlook or any other traditional email client if you're not ready to make the move to internet based email completely.

What it does do well is allow you to use any computer in the world with internet access as your email client and it means you don't have to back up your own emails as they are backed up on Google's servers.

When was the last time you backed up your emails, address book or even your computer....

Google Analytics

We send monthly reports from Google Analytics to most of you .

In future newsletters I thought I would give you a few pointers on how to read these reports and hopefully make them easier to understand.

But for now if any of you have any questions you would like to ask or if you aren't currnently receiving these reports and would like to let me know.
Webmaster@DevineWebsites.co.nz

Mailchimp - Free Email Marketing Newsletters

I have just starting using this service myself (as you can see by this email).

They offer a Free Account to store up to 500 subscribers and to send up to 3,000 emails a month. MailChimp tracks everything for you. Opens, clicks, bounces and forwarded campaigns - and it integrates with Google Analytics. With free online training sessions every Tuesday and Thursday and free HTML email templates to get started.

Did I mention it's free? They also have larger paid plans too and offer a 15% discount to non-profits and charities. www.MailChimp.com

SCAMS and Warnings

SCAM: Asian Domains:

Many of have received emails or even phone calls from businesses offering Asian domain names, the emails go something like this...

Dear CEO,

We are the domain name registration organization in Asia, deal with the domain name registration and dispute internationally. Now we have something important need to confirm with your company. On the Jan 28, 2010, we received an application formally. One company named "Random Asian Company Ltd" wanted to register following Domain names:

  • devinewebsites.com.cn
  • devinewebsites.com.tw

and Internet brand keyword: "DevineWebsites" through our body.

After our initial examination, we found that the keywords and domain names applied for registration are as same as your company’s name and trademark.
We don’t know whether you have any relation with them. These days we are dealing with it. Now we have not finished the registration of "Random Asian Company Ltd" yet, in order to deal with this issue better, Please contact us by telephone or email as soon as possible.

They try to get you to buy the equivalent Asian domain name to your existing domains and also try to sell you rights to an "Internet brand keyword" these are both scams. So far I have seen none of these domains purchased by the Asian company reportly about to buy them...

If you want to buy the equivalent Asian domain name to your existing domains you can get it much cheaper than they offer. I can help you with this if you are interested.

Also an Internet Brand Keyword, is the right, in China, to have your website come up automatically in an address bar if someone types in your "Internet Brand Keyword". They also refer to them as Internet trademarks. So far no where else in the world is this "Internet Brand Keyword" policy in use.

SCAM:Domain Registrars

domain renewal scamEvery year I receive envelopes in the post from a random company (usually from USA or Australia) with what a first glance looks like an invoice for one of the domains I look after. They are actually an attempt to get you to transfer your domain to them and get them to renew the registration at a substantial increase in price. Sometimes they even offer free goods or services to entice you away. Usually the cost far exceeds any benefits...

Normally domain registrars will email any renewal notices (unless your email address is out of date) and provide a link to renew the domain.
I take care of this for most of you and also get a bulk discount that I pass on to you as well. If you are unsure of the validity of anything you receive to do with your domain or website, please just send me a quick email and I will give you an answer.

Also just to let you know - I can also register/renew .NZ domains for $28 +GST annually and international domains eg .COM for $20 + GST annually.

Warning: Find the Business (www. find the business .co.nz / www. find the business .com.au)

Some of you are getting calls from Find the Business, this is a franchise operation that offers to get your company onto the local Yellow Pages website's and also onto Google Maps/Google Places, all for a rather costly fee. Both of which you can do yourselves for Free. Yellow Pages NZ offers a free advertising service to all businesses and I have already added most of you onto Google Places. If you are not already there let me know and I will schedule a time to do this for you.

Warning: Google Adwords telephone calls.

Some of you are also getting calls from companies pretending to be Google.
They are actually companies who have Google Adwords accounts and are trying to sell the Google Adwords service. For around $400 per month they will manage Google Adwords ad campaigns for you.

This is not a bad deal if you wish to run a large advertising campaign using Google Adwords; otherwise this is something you could do yourself, if you have the time... and it is also something I can do for you if you are interested..

Websites to check for possible Scams

If you are unsure if something is a scam - firstly do a Google search or check the following sites

Or send me a quick email and I will give you an answer asap.

Devine Accounting

Some of you may not know that my wife Dee has her own business, so I thought I would give it a plug...

If you are a business person who does not require the full time services of an accountant or financial manager, but don't have the necessary skills or time to attend to the financial management of your business activities. Devine Accounting is offering accounting, and book keeping, services with a personal, reliable and committed touch.

Their focus is on developing the client’s business rather than just ‘doing the books’

Devine Accounting are able to provide a cost efficient, comprehensive accounting and business management service.

Contact them today! www.DevineAccounting.co.nz

That is all for this time - thank you for reading this far!

If you have any questions or comments I would glad to get any feedback.

Kind regards
Scotty