I immediately went to check that I hadn’t brought the site down. I always take a back up but it is a lot easier if I don’t have to use them (although I have in the past and been grateful for the backup I had done!).

I Googled “Bad Gateway when I tried to update WordPress” and saw a number of posts. One of them recommended just trying it again after making sure all plugins were updated. (I feel terrible that I can’t find the post and can’t give credit where it’s due).

But, the tip worked and since it had taken me a while to find that post, I thought I’d post it here on my blog also to help all those who may not have found the original one.

It seems like it is something to do with the server going a bit haywire but why that is, I don’t actually know since it seems to work for many people to simply try the update again.

Free Ebook Cover Creator

If you’re looking for a fast and easy way to create ebook covers, then there are a number of excellent and free methods that will allow you to create an ebook online.

The first one that I use regularly is:

3D Box Creator allows you to create a hard back book as well as CD and DVD boxes and CD and Box and 3D box. The only limitation I find with this program is that there are no soft cover options to try out.

However, for a basic ebook cover that you can build in about 2 minutes (after you have your graphics done). You just need to upload the front, back and side covers and the book or box cover is built for you and can be downloaded in png format.

When I want a few more options, I also use:

My Ecover Creator. This site does require a sign up process but I don’t receive spammy emails from them and they do have some nice soft cover options of stacks of paperbacks and binders including 2 types of ring binders.

When you’re looking for the best Free Ebook Cover Creator, I would highly recommend using these two free online ebook cover creator programs.

If you intend to use Amazon’s publishing services for their Kindle ebook program, you can also sign up to the Amazon Createspace service that has a free ebook cover creator.

It is well worth considering publishing your ebook via both Amazon Kindle and the many other ebook sellers and distributors that are online.

A good ebook cover can definitely mean the difference between sales and an ebook sitting on the shelf. While these programs produce fairly basic ebook covers, if the graphics are attractive and the copy is good then the ebook covers that are produced are often plenty good enough for what you need.

There are also some very good and professional ebook cover creators on Fiverr who will only charge you $5 to put together a catchy and professional ebook cover and will save you a lot of time as well.

I recommend making sure you message the seller with your project and confirm that they can complete it on time. Most importantly, check that the seller has a history with good comments. If you use a seller with no history, you run the risk that they will not complete your job on time or of the quality you require and expect.

Leave your comments below if you have any other suggestions for great free ebook cover creator programs. While I know there are a few that are available offline as free downloads, my preference is to use online programs if I am not going to use them daily. This way my system isn’t clogged up, I’m not downloading possibly viruses and it’s quick and easy to complete with instructions right there.

When you’re creating your next ebook cover and asking the question: what is the best free ebook cover creator – or how to find an easy ebook creator online, I hope this article gives you some tips that get you started.

We currently offer 3 training courses:

Book your training course by contacting us at Go Viral Now. Call us on +61413131202!

Glossary of  Terms:

SEO – Search Engine Optimisation
SEM – Search Engine Marketing
SMM – Social Media Marketing

Testimonials

I recently found myself floundering with a new web design and people who led me in wrong directions and caused me unnecessary expense.. then my friend recommended Tess. Overnight we were up and running and back in business. Tess was such a delight to work with. Her professional and prompt responds to all my requirements and questions were just what I needed. Tess was so patient whilst I got my head around my new found confidence and ability. I look forward to joining her classes to expand my knowledge and continue editing my website.’

Michelle Shepherdson
Plaster Painting Studios
Entertainment Quarter
Moore Park, NSW
Australia

Video may be one of the most effective methods of reaching out to the NGO target group. However, if the demographic is older, large sized text with a text to speech option or audio podcasts might be preferred.

Any NGO website should offer both a mobile and desktop website and look good (and be able to be read easily) on any device that it is being viewed on. This means that it must render well in mobile phones, desktop PCs and tablets. It should also load quickly so that visitors remain on page.

Options such as “click to call/sms/email” and turn by turn directional maps should be readily available and easy to use for mobiles. All Go Viral Now’s websites offer these options as well as translation widgets and many other features that make your clients’ time on your website and access to your organisation so much simpler.

Membership registration is often important for an NGO website and needs to offer a simple to navigate and secure sign up process. This means the NGO website registration won’t need staff to monitor or maintain it (unless approval is required) and can be a completely hands-off process.

The most important space on any NGO website is the top of the homepage – the section that doesn’t require scrolling to reach (that part that is called “above the fold”) and is seen immediately when the website is accessed. It is this space that is vital to make the most of and get your most important message across.

Our NGO website developments have clickable sliders on the home page making maximum use of this space. You can also offer advertising space or provide clickable banner ads for relevant support networks and organisations.

Having a responsive NGO website means that you can connect with your clients through technology such as QR codes. A Quick Response code is a bar code that is scanned by the person’s mobile phone and takes them to a website, video, v-card, text or image and can provide a lot more information than traditional ads could do.

Adding a QR code to offline advertising can connect those ads to your website and online presence and make it easier and faster for your clients to stay in touch and up to date.

Combining social media marketing with your NGO website will spread the word and allow others to share your information and services to others who might not have heard of you. Word of mouth and recommendations by friends have been found to be the most effective form of marketing. Using social media to share your message and gain support can be very effective for many NGOs.

Some innovative NGO campaigns that combined video with social media and QR codes include this one from Sweden:

The Sex Profile from ESTER on Vimeo.

Watch The Sunshine Centre’s promotional video:

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70% of mobile searches lead to action within 1 hour. It takes 1 month for the same % of desktop users to take action.*

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There are many iPhone rumours that have been appearing online in the last few months, and they have been increasing in frequency and intensity as we quickly approach the launch of the long awaited phone on September 12th. Apple is expected to launch the phone alongside an 8 inch iPad and put it on sale on Friday 21st September. But what do we know about the phone so far?

Name

For one thing, the name is still not certain. There have been many names proposed for Apple’s next smartphone. The iPhone 5 was originally due to be released in October 2011 but instead Apple’s 5th iPhone was the iPhone 4S. As the next iPhone will be the sixth generation, does naming it the iPhone 5 make any sense?

While the iPhone 6 is a possibility, and one that many people seem quite convinced by, just a few months ago Apple acquired the iPhone5.com domain name from a Russian entrepreneur who had owned it since 2008. The decision to force the ownership of this domain name into the hands of Apple could be a clear indication of what the device will be called.

Apple also has two internal models being tested at present, which are allegedly called “iPhone 5,1″ and “iPhone 5,2″, which give more weight to the phone being the iPhone 5.

Other names that have been suggested have included the “new iPhone”, in keeping with the naming convention adopted by the last iPad, and the iPhone SJ, named after Apple’s late co-founder and spiritual leader Steve Jobs. While some people will claim that the iPhone 4S was named in honour of Jobs (iPhone 4 Steve), the phone actually had this name long before Jobs was taken ill and on the verge of death.

It would have been a bit morbid of the company to name a phone in honour of its dead founder before he had actually passed away. The iPhone SJ name would overcome the number confusion caused by the 6th iPhone being the 5, and if we are being more cynical, would also help Apple sell more iPhones.

Needless to stay, we can at least be sure that Apple will stick with the iPhone brand in one form or another.

Screen Size

A popular rumour that has appeared before the unveiling of every iPhone since the iPhone 3G is that Apple will increase the phone’s screen size. Back in 2007 at the launch of the first iPhone, 3.5 inches was a fairly standard size for a touchscreen phone (as there weren’t so many of them back then).

Since that time though the touchscreen market has exploded in size, both in terms of the number of handsets and the average screen size. Three and a half inches now feels very small compared to some of the more popular Android devices. Apple had originally chosen this screen size after intensive research suggested that it was the most suitable size for most people to use a phone with one hand and still be able to reach everything on the screen.

Sales figures for phones such as the Samsung Galaxy S3 and Galaxy Nexus suggest that this is not considered much of an issue by a great number of consumers these days, and it may now be time for Apple to reconsider this decision.

A larger screen has been the most persistent rumour over the last few months. Various leaked images, leaked casings, accessories, schematics and other documents all seem to suggest the same fact: that the iPhone 5 will have a larger 4 inch screen.

The screen will be taller while still remaining roughly the same size as earlier models in terms of its width. These new proportions will result in the iPhone 5 having a 16:9 aspect ratio that will make it ideal for widescreen movies.

Design

All evidence suggests that the design of the iPhone 5 will not differ all that much from the iPhone 4 and 4S. Obviously, the phone will be a bit taller, but in many other respects it will remain unchanged. It will still have its antenna around the side, and have a home button beneath the screen.

One major difference appears to be that Apple will do away with the unibody design of earlier models and replace it with a two toned back casing. While giving the iPhone 5 a distinct appearance this may also hint at the addition of a feature many iPhone users have demanded for some time now: removable batteries.

It is also known that Apple has completely redesigned its proprietary dock connector. Gone is the standard 30 pin connector found on earlier iPhones; it will be replaced with a new, smaller, 8 pin connector. This will occupy less space on the phones exterior, and allow Apple to move the headphone socket from the top to the bottom of the phone.

The iPhone 5 is also thought to be made predominantly of aluminium instead of glass.

Internal Components

Rumoured to appear in 2011′s iPhone, NFC and LTE were both omitted as the late Steve Jobs felt that the technologies were not established enough to push onto iPhone users.

LTE networks are currently only available in a few countries but it perfectly feasible to make an LTE version for some countries and a non-LTE version for others. Alternatively, Apple could just include it anyway so that it is available for countries such as the UK that may get 4G networks operational within the next 12 months.

Apple has already made it clear that it plans to include support for China Mobile’s proprietary TD-SCDMA 3G network, which is pretty useless outside of China, and the 4S had GSM and CDMA support – perhaps the iPhone 5 will be the first phone to rightfully call itself a “world phone”, working on any phone network across the globe.

As for NFC, the Passbook app announced as part of iOS 6 suggests that it may be present, although it would not necessarily require NFC to work. NFC has many other applications, from data sharing between phones to connecting to accessories. As the world moves away from Bluetooth it would make sense for Apple to develop its own answer to Android Beam.

Apple has announced that it is not rushing into any sort of mobile wallet app just yet, so it can be assumed with a fair degree of certainty that an Apple competitor to Google Wallet will not be on offer.

Bye, Bye Google

With the announcement of iOS 6 and the release of the beta version to app developers it became clear that Apple has strong intentions to move away from Google with its iPhone and iPad products. Apple has dropped Google Maps as the basis for its Maps app and replaced it with data sourced from other companies including TomTom and Bing. Apple’s new Maps app also includes an impressive 3D flyover mode.

More recently Apple made it known that it would not be renewing its YouTube licence for iOS, so the YouTube app that has come included with all iOS devices will not be available for the iPhone 5. Instead, users will be forced to watch YouTube videos through Safari or, if Google passes the App Store vetting process, a newly designed app that will need to be downloaded separately.

Not Long to Wait

The September 12th launch date is just over a month away and it is only at that time we will be able to see which rumours turn out to be true. The phone will most likely be called the iPhone 5 and a larger screen almost seems certain. Apple has a habit of introducing a major new feature with each iPhone release (e.g. FaceTime for the iPhone 4, Siri for the iPhone 4S) and what this feature will be for the iPhone 5 is still unclear.

This post was written by Simon from the UK comparison website Best Mobile Contracts.

Why is a business like Mars not mobile yet?

Recently, while surfing the internet on my smartphone I was stunned to find the number of major corporations that weren’t mobile. Significantly, this also included a number of popular brands that are well known and who spend a lot of money on TV, Radio, print and online advertising.
 

Schmackos Australia’s Site Needs Mobile Site Design

While finishing an ecommerce website for a local pet food supplier, I found that the well known Australian brand, Schmackos (dogs go whacko for schmackos!) site wasn’t optimised for mobile devices but being built largely in Flash, it didn’t display anything at all!

This has been fixed with the recent site upgrade but unfortunately, it still requires a lot of scrolling and pinching to see the entire page.

For a company that uses a lot of media in its marketing, it seems crazy that their marketing plan has not included a mobile site design. This means that marketing tools like QR codes aren’t useful because after being scanned to a smartphone, the code would open into a desktop website. Google says that about 60% of visitors on a mobile will click away immediately if they are not given a mobile optimised website.

They will go to your competitor who does have a site they can easily see and use on their mobile.

So what does Schmackos site currently look like on a mobile device?

On the left is their current website rendering in a mobile phone. Doesn’t fit does it?

The site on the right is a mobile version of their website that is optimised for all types of mobile devices. Using HTML5, the mobile site design is able to be read by just about any mobile device. Compare this to a slow loading, ill fitting website on a mobile device and there is no comparison.

Since Google says that by next year (2013) more searches will be conducted on mobile devices, it just makes sense to “go mobile”.

Mobile Site Design for Big Business

So Schmackos owner, Mars, must have a mobile optimised website right? Wrong!

Their website and most of its subsidiaries are all full, desktop websites that load slowly and require pinching and swiping to render effectively.

In fact, the Mars website renders as just hyper links on many mobile devices when tested!

Mars’ website looks like this on mobiles:

And how it could look if it was mobile optimised?

Microsoft states that 70% of mobile searches lead to action within 1 hour. It takes 1 month for the same % of desktop users to take action.

Going mobile not only allows you to use cutting edge technologies like QR codes, virtual coupons and competitions and easy features like “click to call”, mobile maps and contact forms.

By delivering your online content to mobile users in a format that is easy to use and read, you will increase customer loyalty and retention. Why let your customers go to your competitor who does offer a mobile version of their site.

realestate.com.au reported a 213% increase in traffic in the year following their mobile site’s development. At the same time, Paypal Australia reported a 25% increase per month in mobile transactions in 2010 (& it has increased enormously since then).

Contact Go Viral Now to discuss your mobile website requirements.

To see our mobile portfolio, go to: http://m.goviralnow.net

Here are a few quick tips you need to know about the new Facebook timeline changes:

DATE FOR CHANGE: 31 March, 2012.

·         you will need to upgrade your Facebook Page to the new Timeline for Pages format by this date.

COVER PHOTO:

·         You can also update your Page now to the new Timeline and upload a new cover photo image (this is 851w x 315h) and should have an image that features your brand.

PROFILE PICTURE:

·         Your smaller Profile Picture is 180×180 and should feature a logo or your website address.

CUSTOM TAB:

·         Your Custom Tab still displays, but you can’t direct new “Likers” to them anymore. Everyone will access your Tab either direct from your Timeline (it is in a feature box below the Cover Photo), or direct from Ads. You just need to get creative now to get more “likes”.

PIN PAGE POSTS FOR 7 DAYS:

·         You can Pin Page Posts to the top of your Timeline for a maximum of 7 days (just click on the pencil icon on the top right hand side and select Pin to Page to highlight a post with a link to your Custom Tab or an opt-in page on your website).

MILESTONE FEATURE:

This seems to be a big part of what the changes are all about. Facebook is giving you the opportunity to really paint a picture of your business. It’s worth taking the time to find some images and stories that tell the story of your business and its growth to where you are now.

This is the perfect opportunity to celebrate those major achievements, or changes to your brand, your products or services.Include images and pieces about successful events and functions and particularly note your social media interactions that are memorable.

Once you have made all the changes to your timeline you will want to make the switch. You can either wait for the final date or change as soon as you are ready.  Just make sure you tell your fans what you are doing and what you have in store for them.

Post the url to your new timelines in the comments section below. We would love to see them and hear your thoughts about the changes.

DON’T FORGET TO USE FB ADS…

There are plenty more ways to take advantage of the new changes, especially using Facebook Ads in conjunction with your Facebook page.

The fastest and most effective method is to use Facebook ads. Their ads are cheaper when directed within the Facebook site to a Facebook page and you can target them to the exact demographic of your customer base.

WHAT ABOUT THE “LIKES”??

There are also still many clever ways to increase your Facebook “likes” and increase brand awareness. It’s just that it will be different to before. The major change is that branding rather than direct marketing is the key to your Facebook interaction (or seems to be what Facebook wants from businesses).

One way is to offer a competition and feature it on your timeline page but at the same time direct visitors to your business or product page via the page app icon in your custom tab.

Encourage people to take a photo with something to do with your product, service or brand.

Get them to upload it to your page and then vote for their favourite photo on the page. Make sure that people “like” your page to enter the competition (give an extra competition entry to those who have “liked” your page) and ask them to tell their friends about it. Using techniques like this you can continue to generate a lot of new interest in your Facebook page and keep adding those fans.

Competitions like this will work well with the new timeline because it is intended to encourage more sharing and integration between people on Facebook. Finding a way to engage your customers is what it’s all about.

Don’t forget that Facebook fans spend cold hard cash. It is estimated that 1 fan = 20 extra visits to a website.

A study (about a year ago) from Syncapse found that people who are Facebook fans, on average, spend $71.84 more per year on brands they are fans of than those who are not fans. In addition to that, they’re 28% more likely than non-fans to continue using that brand.

Michael Scissons, the CEO of Syncapse, talked about the study on the Fox Business Network: He says a Facebook fan is worth $136.38, taking into account factors like spend, loyalty, recommendations, earned media value, and cost offset for fan acquisition.

SOME INTERESTING EXAMPLES OF THE NEW TIMELINE IN ACTION (check out the full 40 Creative Covers):

Aly Moffatt

Antonio Fadda

Emanuele Bartolomucci

Enk Shahbaz Mehdi

Contact us at Go Viral Now for more information about Facebook and how to grow your social media presence.

Go! mobile marketing in Australia now

Mobile marketing in Australia is in a fantastic position to make the most of the latest global trends, with mobile penetration of 110 percent and good 3G coverage. At the moment we own 5 times as many phones as computers and in the next few years most of them will be smartphones, not forgetting the 70 million smartphones coming on line in Asia.

Many of the top online publishers like Bigpond, Yahoo!7 and NineMSN are seeing their mobile sites grow at 89 percent per year according to the Australian Interactive Media Industry Association. Plenty of mobile specific sites have also sprung up, such as OZmobi.mobi (a mobile guide to Australia), and our own cutting edge company, Go Viral Now! has seen mobile marketing in Australia rapidly become the main marketing area.

Mobile marketing in Australia may be small in global terms but the potential is huge due to our great track record in technical innovation. Important considerations are:
1. 3G infrastructure: Australia’s infrastucture is pretty well set up, with Telstra being very proactive in the roll out of its 3G network across the country;
2. Carrier pricing models: Australian operators are doing their best to reduce the costly data plans that have been the main barrier to adoption;
3. Consumer propensity to adopt new technology: By nature Australians are willing to try things out, and consumers and companies have proven to be early adopters when it comes to mobile technologies.

The mobile Web has been growing steadily, but it really took off in 2008 as more and more people started browsing content on their phones, especially on the back of the launch of the iPhone. That’s been followed by more & more smart phones that are accessible for minimal costs. Mobile sites receive millions of page impressions a month, which encourages more brands, advertisers and sponsors to invest in mobile, making the business model for mobile a reality.

Consumers and Mobile Marketing in Australia

Consumers are changing their lifestyle habits, and as it becomes a habit for people to use their phones to get content, demand for mobile marketing in Australia increases.

Media companies are leading the way in meeting this demand, but significant growth will only happen when all the other industries get a grip on leveraging the technology.

82% of Australian websites are STILL NOT MOBILE COMPATIBLE! Mobile marketing in Australia has come of age… have you?

So there’s a huge need for tech-savvy companies like Go Viral Now! to do the education.

So, Telstra and media businesses, especially Fairfax, have led the way in making their content available on the mobile Web. This makes sense as the heavy users of their news, sport, weather and mapping services online are likely to be tech-savvy, and will want to access them on the mobile phone as well.

With more advanced devices, with better navigation now available and more consumers becoming mobile Web literate, mainstream consumer brands have started to show interest. Mobile marketing in Australia is following trends in the US that have shown huge growth in all sectors of mobile. Google is spending a fortune focusing on the mobile market.

In most sectors, international brands like – of course! Nike and Coca-Cola, have been the earliest adopters. Brands like these have become synonymous with innovation and have always looked to push the boundaries across every marketing channel.

Businesses interested in mobile marketing in Australia can take advantage of these early adopters and some of their innovative campaign ideas.

Just about every brand that doesn’t get mobile will lose, but those that target younger males are probably missing out the most, by not accessing all that loose cash. The innovative brands have covered the full spectrum so far available: from the mobile call to action with traditional media; through mobile as a communication channel in its own right; to mobile content in terms of mobile Web sites, mobile-specific applications, banner advertising and user-generated content.

In order to hit the right target, they’re also using all the delivery methods at their disposal, be it SMS, MMS, Bluetooth, WAP or increasingly, the QR codes.

Mobile marketing in Australia needs to combine an understanding of three things to stand out:

1. The limitations of the screen size – i.e. what is feasible on each and every handset screen;

2. What content is relevant to the consumer – i.e. people who access the mobile Web usually have a specific need and/or a short viewing window;

3. User friendliness – i.e. how easily can a particular piece of information be found.

The most popular content at the moment is news, sport, entertainment, weather and maps, plus mobile social networking as a popular way to keep up to speed with friends. It really does just take the touch of a button to update your location, what you’re doing and to see what everyone else is up to at the same time. Meanwhile the business market is still not up to speed on the potential at all!

Mobile marketing in Australia opens up enormous opportunities for local business owners.

To date traditional agencies have struggled to adapt their creative expertise to suit the mobile consumer. Also with so many different handsets out there, technical delivery is pretty complex. Again, this has opened the door mobile specialists able to handle both the creative and technical sides of mobile marketing in Australia.

Go Viral Now specialises in getting businesses mobile ready to take advantage of the many opportunities from mobile marketing in Australia.

Mobile BANKING is a particularly exciting area that will really take off as consumers start to feel comfortable about using their phone as a mode of payment. Australians’ willingness to give new things a go is critical for a new medium like mobile, as growth stems from both the brand’s willingness to innovate with mobile marketing and consumer acceptance of the new channel.

Mobile marketing in Australia is a great test bed to gauge likely success of mobile campaigns in other larger markets.