Monthly Archives: February 2011

GoDaddy vs SquareSpace

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We did a quick comparison between GoDaddy and Squarespace and were surprised to find such a disparity in price. See the features and comparison here at this article. We compared the one year price for the basic godaddy hosting account with the squarespace one year basic account. The difference in price was $38 for godaddy (with a coupon, without it is $48) and $144 with squarespace.

Website Hosting

With the GoDaddy account you can add WordPress as a content management system (which is free). WordPress is the most widely used website content management system. There are thousands of free plugins and website themes available for WordPress. Squarespace uses their own website management tool. That does not mean it is bad but it is not open source like WordPress. So I would choose them for website hosting when you need it.

Coupon Swapping Video Show

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Check out the latest show for online shopping called the Cheap Chick’s Money Tips. Brought to you by our Coupon Swapper site. The show gives tips on saving money, cutting your bills, shopping and more. A recent episode discusses shopping refurbished electronics and more.

coupon showCoupon Swapper provides the best deals at your favorite online sites. The Cheap Chick’s Money Tips provide enjoyable humorous tips for saving money. Take a look and you will quickly become a fan.

Mobile Friendly Websites

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Mobile searches are becoming greater by the day. At first most may think that simply means more website traffic, which could be true. However it also means you may want to consider optimizing your site for those users. There is also the issue of assuring your content is found in search engines. For an excellent mobile phone primer and information about your content being found in search engines always turn to the best. That would be Google and their webmaster blog with a recent post about Making Websites Mobile Friendly.

Google Webmaster Article on Making Sites Mobile Friendly
I do suggest you follow that link above for a little background on mobile phones and mobile content. There is also information on how the Googlebot works, URL structure, and mobile sitemaps. They are always a wealth of information.

US Presidents on a Google Map

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Google created a visual of the U.S. Presidents within Google earth. Not only does it show all 44 U.S. Presidents and their birthplace but also a 3D map of the White House. My kids will love this, what a great way to learn about the Presidents. Also, if you have not used Google Earth you will be amazed by the 3D White House. You can rotate around the White House and zoom in as well as out.

Here is the link to the U.S. Presidents on Google Earth.

North Carolina and Amazon Update

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Affiliates Canned
I first wrote about the sales tax issue and North Carolina’s suit against Amazon in March 2010 entitled Law Dictates Behavior and Affiliates Get the Ax. While I do find the issue of sales tax and nexus interesting (as I am an attorney, I just no longer practice) what I found most interesting was how law dictates behavior and Amazons reaction to end their relationship with all affiliates that are based in the state of North Carolina. I am not saying what they did was right or wrong, but I wrote that post in a humorous tone to point out that the state of North Carolina may have obtained a result they did not intend. That result was to end revenue for some of their citizens.

North Carolina Wants Back Sales Tax
The second article was the following month of April, 2010 about the North Carolina verse Amazon Sales Tax Issue in April of 2010, here is an update. While I do find the issue of sales tax interesting, what I found most interesting was how law dictates behavior

2011 Update
The issue is about sales tax. Essentially Amazon did not require those in North Carolina who bought from Amazon, from 2003 to present, to pay sales tax. An article in Tech Journal South lays out the issue very well here. A quote from their article explains the nexus issue and why legally they may or may not have to require North Carolina residents to pay sales tax.

Much of the dispute revolves around the legal concept of “nexus.” Out of state retailers cannot be forced to collect sales taxes unless the retailers have a physical presence in the state, such as stores, warehouses, or other facilities. In 2009, North Carolina passed a law that said Amazon was required to collect sales taxes because it had affiliates in the state, thus creating nexus. Amazon, in response, discharged its affiliates in the state.

Personally, whether sales tax is required or not, I found the North Carolina law that they intended to use to obtain revenue had such a huge back fire and resulted in hurting some of their own citizens. Always think before you act.

Kleiner Perkins $250 Million Social Social Web Fund

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Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers announced they created a $250 Million dollar fund for social media startups. Find their entire release here. Per their release they want “…to invest in entrepreneurs inventing social applications and services.”. You may want to take a look at the companies they have funded so far if you believe your next venture fits into their fund. When it comes to VC’s you cannot go wrong with Kleiner Perkins. Here are four from their release:

Cafébots Friend Relationship Management. By building applications that are useful, fun, and scalable, consumers will be able to extract more information from and make better use of their social graphs.

Flipboard A social magazine, delivering a personalized experience of the news, images, and information being shared by your friends across social network feeds on your iPad.

Jive Jive’s social software leverages innovations in social to radically change the way work gets done in the enterprise. Jive has over 3,000 customers serving 15 million users.

Lockerz A social commerce company aimed at ages 13-30 creates a revolutionary new way to shop, play content, and connect. In less than a year, Lockerz has grown to more than 17 million members, offering major discounts on the best fashions, electronics, music, and more.

FTC Initiative Do Not Track Consumers

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The FTC issued an online privacy report which has been deemed the “Do Not Track” report. You can find the FTC Release Here. Here is a quote from that release:

The proposed report also suggests implementation of a “Do Not Track” mechanism – likely a persistent setting on consumers’ browsers – so consumers can choose whether to allow the collection of data regarding their online searching and browsing activities.

Maybe I am thinking too much but it seems odd that they would assume it is their decision to determine how to implement a feature in a browser. They actually say it is “likely” to be a persistent setting on consumers’ browsers, that strikes me as odd. That is like your boss saying “we have a problem and you need to fix it, so you have three choices A, B and C, and by the way I think it is likely you will choose C and as you know I can cause you harm, of course do whatever you like but I have a gut feeling you will choose C.”

I am not saying this report is not helpful and due to cases of abuse by companies online, it is welcomed. I just found that statement very interesting. You can find links to the privacy report itself on the right sidebar of the FTC Release Here.

Superbowl Special DOTCO1099 for 65% Off .CO Domains

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Be sure to take advantage of the .CO Coupon DOTCO1099 from GoDaddy for 65% off .CO domains which are regularly $30, now just $10.99 until May 31, 2011.

Imagine if someone typed in your .COM domain name and forgot the “M”. Where would they go? Hopefully to your site, but only if you own the .CO domain. If you obtain .CO domains to match your .COM you can simply redirect the traffic to your domain. Of course you do not need matching extensions but it is not a bad idea. You can also put any site you want at the .CO domain just as you would any other website.