The Google Voice service which launched last year in Beta, has since undergone a metamorphosis and has emerged as a brilliant solution to online phone and voicemail management.  The SMS service works better and there is a Chrome extension which makes it easier to manage.  An account is still free if you have a Google log-in and you have a choice of keeping your existing number and upgrading it with voicemail.  If that doesn’t suit then you can set a new main number which will ring your cell, home and office phones, as well as your desktop VoIP. Gmail integration also gives users the ability to turn voicemail into emails.  International calls are cheap and future additions include number portability and no set-up web calling.

As a communications solution, especially where small businesses are concerned, it is simply brilliant and we have been using it for sometime now along with over 1 million others – a figure you can now expect to balloon thanks to this latest release.  Google themselves are delighted with the results particularly after the now infamous rejection by Apple of its Google Voice app (an episode that led Google to design their own mobile based web app).

Google have described the service as ‘the pinnacle of modern human communication’ and given all that it has to offer – I think they may be right!

So what can you expect from the new and improved software? For starters, there is a brand new default theme known as Twenty Ten to replace the now rather tired looking Kubrick theme which has been used since the first release.  Additionally, the interface is now lighter and there are over 1200 bug fixes available.  Wordpress theme designers can now find it easier to customize themes with the new APIs which allow for customized menus, backgrounds, page headers and much more.  There is also a bulk update feature whereby upto 15 plugins at a time can be updated in just one step.

Another big change is the integration of WordpressMU into the core Wordpress program.  Wordpress MU allowed users to edit hundreds of blogs from just one installation but was always a separate program to the regular Wordpress install.  Fusing the two together now allows users to benefit from the functionality of both.

Wordpress 2.9 enjoyed over 10 million downloads and signs indicate that v3.0 will be just as popular.  But don’t expect a v3.1 to be out anytime soon.  The Wordpress team has announced that it is taking a break from developing new versions to focus instead on many of things that surround Wordpress.  The growth of this software and its popularity has been astounding but with all the focus being on the core program itself the developers feel they now need to look at other areas such as the showcase, forums and compatibility APIs.  The goal is to try to improve the whole Wordpress experience and while they acknowledge this may take time they aniticpate the investment will be worthwhile when it comes to creating a stronger infrastructure for the Wordpress platform and its millions of users.

Oh and in case you are wondering about the name “Theolonius” — it is Wordpress’s code name for v3.0 in tribute to the jazz giant Theolonius Monk!

Basecamp allows us to track and organize every aspect of a project online making it easier to manage jobs and stay on schedule.  The reason we love to use Basecamp is the numerous advantages it offers us to keep a project running smoothly from beginning to end.  This project management software allows us to set up project tasks, assign members of our team to each one and set project milestones.  From one location we can upload and review files, update our clients on progress and handle every task quickly and efficiently.

Email is a vital aspect of our project management and Basecamp helps to ensure we always deliver messages when and where intended.  The software allows us to send emails without even having to be logged into the service.  Basecamp gives each project its own unique email address so we always know who sent the message and which project it is intended for, any messages sent are also flagged up to every user on that account letting them know a new message is available. Better than that, Mailmanagr can now be integrated with Basecamp allowing users to set up email addresses, create milestones, to-do lists and messages just by sending an email.

In our opinion Basecamp gives us everything we need to manage our projects and deliver to our clients on time.  The Mailmanagr integration is a great addition too, ensuring our emails and communications do not go astray!  While it may not suit everyone, I would strongly encourage everyone to take advantage of the free one project plan they offer.  Give it a whirl, it’s a product that I swear by and couldn’t live without…let me know what you think.

Email marketing can be a great tool for promoting your business, if you get it right that is.  Many companies will adopt it because it offers the potential to instantly increase sales and allows business owners to adopt a marketing strategy which is easily measurable.  There are a number of factors which will govern the success of an email marketing campaign, but one of the most important factors is the email marketing vendor that you chose.

The market for this type of service is huge and in our opinion over saturated.  This means that when it comes to choosing a company to launch your email marketing campaign you will need to pick wisely and according to your needs and business type.  Here are our top four email marketing solutions to help get you started:

1. Mail Chimp: This is our personal favorite and the one solution we frequently recommend to our clients, especially small businesses.  Designed with a bright and cheerful interface, Mail Chimp offers plenty of features which are designed with simplicity in mind.  While it may lack some advanced reporting features, it makes up with a robust feature set.  Mail Chimp also offers a free service to those businesses that have under 500 subscribers.  This is a pricing advantage that no others can match!
2. Constant Contact: Constant Contact is a household name for many businesses.  They have done a great job with their corporate branding and advertisements but don’t let this play into your decision.  Pricing starts from just $15 per month and subscribers will find a comprehensive feature set, easy to use wizards and excellent help and support.   Where it does fall short is in the number of reporting features available and free tools on offer such as conversion tracking.
3. Vertical Response: If you are looking for a solution which does not require a contract or minimum term commitment then give Vertical Response a try.  From just $10 per month you will find plenty of features which will rival those of any of their competitors.   Personally, the best part about Vertical Response is their “pay as you go” pricing option.  Maybe you send quarterly newsletters.  If you know that your business will not be sending emails monthly, why enter into a monthly contract?    Unfortunately, Vertical Response is not the easiest of the bunch to navigate.
4. iContact: Considered among the best in the business, iContact offers a simple to use solution.   Packed with features, including a custom survey option which allows users to create and send their own surveys, it is easy to use and with subscriptions starting from $14 per month.  Its only flaw is the lack of reporting features available and it doesn’t include conversion tracking or Google Analytics integration.

Businesses of all sizes, give each of these four vendors a look.   Personally, if you’re a small business with under 500 subscribers (email recipients), I’d definitely suggest going with Mail Chimp.  (Mail Chimp is also good for companies of all sizes, see their full pricing options).  If you have more than 500 subscribers and know that you won’t need a vendor each month, I’d suggest either Mail Chimp’s prepaid “pay as you go” plan or Vertical Response’s “pay as you go” plan.

MasterCard is determined to take Paypal on; they have also announced a plan to open up its’ payment gateways to developers who want to build and enhance the online platform and mobile apps.  (As you may know, Paypal released their API Paypal X at the end of 2009.)

So what are the benefits of this new app?  I’m not sure if it’s a benefit but unlike Paypal, users of MoneySend will incur a transaction fee at the front end (sending the money) while the recipients won’t be charged a fee.  (Paypal recipients incur the transaction fee, if any.)  And security?  It’s always a concern when it comes to the storing of financial information via electronic devices such as phones.  But MasterCard have made moves to assure users of the app that it is secure and that all personal and financial information will not be stored locally on the iPhone or iPad.

Since eBay purchased Paypal, all traders are required to have a Paypal account in order to sell through via eBay.  This in itself may be the biggest factor in the success of the Paypal app and most likely the reason MasterCard will struggle to convert users – especially as MoneySend charges to send payments unlike Paypal.

Paypal is a giant – there’s no argument there.  MoneySend is the first app to be released by another major financial-focused company but so far it’s slow to gain traction and is currently only available in the US.   I respect the ambition MasterCard has; they have clearly spent time and resources developing the MoneySend app in a bid to lure users away from Paypal.  Truth is, Paypal has a strong brand and very wide appeal, something which could be tough to beat – even if your name is MasterCard.  Only time will tell…

Magento Mobile offers merchants a fully customizable and seamless storefront integration for mobile applications.  It allows you to easily integrate your full store catalog, checkout procedures, inventory and full reporting and admin features.  There are also device specific features and a choice of branded themes to select.  Your mobile storefront can also be further customized with colors and images which will update on users mobiles even after they have downloaded the app.

Outdoor product retailer, The North Face, is one of the first market leading companies to use the new Magento Mobile commerce app, which soon become available to more countries around the globe for users of the iPhone.  So what can Magento Mobile commerce offer you?

• Storefront Integration: As mentioned above, you can seamlessly integrate you existing website into the app with all your products, checkout facilities and enjoy admin features such as reporting and stock control.
• Manage Multiple Devices: you can easily manage multiple devices with just one installation.  Later this year Magento hopes to extend the app to the iPad and android devices.
• Hassle Free Management: managing mobile apps can be time consuming so Magento offers to manage them for you for a low cost monthly fee.
• Fully Customizable: you can alter the appearance of your storefront to promote your brand and match it to your existing website.  Any changes you make will automatically appear even if users have already downloaded the app.
• Low Cost: you pay only for the features and devices you want to use, while Magento will manage the ongoing maintenance for you.

Currently, this app is available on a limited release so if you want to know more you will need to sign up through the Magento website.  There will also be a webinar on June 23 presented by Tim Schultz who will give a 60 minute presentation about the new app and also feature a Q and A session.  Those who want access will need to sign up as spaces are limited.

The server requirements for ExpressionEngine are fairly standard and revolve around Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP.   Most companies will run Linux based servers which are capable of ExpressionEngine hosting, but you should consider the following tips before choosing a hosting company for your ExpressionEngine website:

• Don’t run ExpressionEngine on Windows.  Although possible, you can run into numerous issues and problems.  Running on Windows may save you money but you will most likely spend more money troubleshooting the configuration.
• Cheap hosting, although very attractive should also be avoided.  Hosts such as GoDaddy and 1&1 offer very cheap ExpressionEngine hosting, but their packages tend to lack key tools and the support needed to manage your EE installation.
• Ask any potential host to run the ExpressionEngine server wizard to establish if their product meets ExpressionEngine’s requirements.
• If you want to manage multiple sites for clients consider how you will do this.  Some ExpressionEngine hosting packages offer up a master admin panel like cPanel where you can manage multiple sites and domains from one account.  Other companies prefer you to set up separate accounts.

To help you find the right ExpressionEngine hosting package for you here are a few choices to consider:

• EngineHosting.com is our recommendation.  They are affiliated with Ellis Lab who created ExpressionEngine and offer hosting packages starting at just $10 per month for shared hosting.  They offer excellent support and will even install EE for you.  If you purchase ExpressionEngine at the same time as the hosting package you will receive a 20% discount.
• MediaTemple.com has hosting packages from $20 per month and offers a user control panel which will allow you to configure sites on your account yourself.  Their support is good, although there is one disadvantage for those who wish to replace index.php in their URLs as this can be tricky with Media Temple servers.

Other ExpressionEngine hosting companies exist but be sure to do your research before embarking on a twelve month (or longer) hosting commitment.

What sets Drupal apart is its ability to provide powerful frameworks for sites, from a basic level static site to a community based site and beyond.  Consider it as a constructor, providing you with only the essential elements needed to create a basic website from which you can enhance and develop to create a site which meets your needs.  Some may be put off by this, particularly beginners who may choose to abandon Drupal in favor of another CMS, simply because of the time it can take to build a site which meets their requirements. However, it is worth nothing that the core code is simple but powerful, modification of the core functions is relatively easy and it is very easy to write your own modules.

While other CMS platforms may be more specific in their attributes, Wordpress for instance is great for blogging, Drupal has been heralded as akin to the holy grail in developers eyes simply because of its flexibility and ease in which powerful websites can be built and configured.  Drupal also offers very robust eCommerce modules to create powerful shopping portals.

Check out just a few of the names who have built websites with Drupal:

• The White House
• FedEx
• Fast Company
• Forbes
• The Onion
• Grammy

Over the past ten years Drupal has evolved to become a leader in CMS programs and a favorite not just with us but many others as well!  There is a great API and a large resource of tutorials available to users on just about everything you could ever want to know. Added to this is the fact that since its inception Drupal has always had a focus on security and is regarded as one of the most secure CMS programs available. This powerful software is definitely our first choice for building websites large or small.

Few can argue that YouTube has revolutionized the way people share videos online and this was underlined a mere 18 months after its launch when Google acquired the site in a high profile takeover.  To commemorate its fifth birthday the site has released a series of videos titled ‘My YouTube Story’ which includes clips and features of people from around the globe telling how YouTube has changed their lives.  Documentary filmmaker Stephen Higgins is also involved and has produced a series of touching clips which feature in the initial release.  If you are a regular YouTube user you can also get involved by uploading your own story and YouTube has said it intends to put these videos on a ‘global map’ along with an interactive timeline of clips.  A few stats on Youtube:

• 1 billion views a day – 2009
• 2 billion views a day – 2010
• 3rd most popular site on the planet (Alexa)
• Available in 23 countries and 24 languages
• Average time spent on site – 15 minutes
• 70% of site traffic is from outside the US

The popularity of YouTube means that for many the Internet would not be the same without it and the numbers above firmly back this up.  In fact it would take you 1700 years to watch every video on the site!  Would the site be so popular if Google hadn’t taken it under its wing? Well that remains to be seen, but Google is continuing to develop online video sharing including the imminent arrival of Google TV, meaning YouTube could become even more accessible.  Here’s to the next five years, Happy Birthday YouTube!

Pitched by Microsoft as ‘not being a search engine but a decision engine’ many who initially reviewed the site had to agree that this was a good and accurate description.  Microsoft’s focus was on providing a quality search feature which would return the kind of relevant results that around 42% of us say we fail to get with other search engines.  Indeed Bing’s marketing campaign centered on the problem information overload from other sites which often returned a large amount of unnecessary or irrelevant results.  Bing on the other hand would return better results and a host of other features so users can tailor them further.

So what has happened to Bing in the last 12 months?  It would seem that Microsoft can give itself a big pat on the back because Bing has rapidly picked up its market share and sits a comfortable third behind Google and Yahoo! when it comes to search query traffic.  In fact at one point last year Bing actually hit the #2 spot behind Google – however this was somewhat short lived and lasted just a day!  But since then Bing has enjoyed continued growth, increasing its market share of search queries month on month even though its competitors were seeing falls in their share of all search query traffic.

Not bad considering how poor its predecessor was and that its launch was considered by many to very low key and with little fanfare.   While some may be wondering just how Bing has managed to obtain such as strong foothold in the market in such a short space of time but just remember Microsoft has a lot of money to invest in the idea and spent millions of dollars in TV ads, radio commercials, etc.   However, it would seem that Yahoo! was actually Microsoft’s main target.  On the 29th July 2009 Yahoo! did a deal with Microsoft which will actually see it powered by Bing over the next ten years.  Bing’s market share would therefore increase from 10% to around 28% and although still less than half of Google’s overall share, it is none the less a massive leap forward towards its biggest competitor.

Google must now be looking over its shoulder especially as some commentators have accused it of complacency as Bing continued to gather momentum and introduce feature after feature to its UI, many of which are missing from Google’s interface.  But Bing has not been without its criticism – a difficult-to-use experience for first time users.
However, the figures speak for themselves and it would seem that twelve months on Bing is here to stay and is set to grow bigger and better.  Whether it will tempt us to quit Google altogether remains to be seen but it is becoming the preferred search engine choice for many web users and where Microsoft takes Bing from here will be interesting.