Web Unlimited Buzz - August 2009 Newsletter

by Chris Hunter
VP Operations


Howdy! Welcome to the August 2009 Newsletter for Web Unlimited. I feel it's just been AGES since the last time I sent a newsletter! I started off this year with one of my New Year's Resolutions to write a newsletter at least once per month. I think I've sent out TWO newsletters this year!

Oh well, I guess it's better late than never right?

In this issue I'm going go over some of the very exciting things we've been working on lately (other than client's websites), our newest promotion that's probably the easiest thing you've ever done, and how we're tackling the problem of the Recession.

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Design News

Web Unlimited is finishing up our busiest summer yet. Normally the month of July is so dead in sales and projects that we start getting a little worried. Then typically around the beginning of August, we start getting a few more sales and then by September, we're in our full-blown busy season. Heading into the summer this year, with the economy being the way it is, we figured it might even be less busy.

However, I was pleasantly surprised when our project board was completely full in early July and still remains completely full! At one point we had 40+ projects on our project board with more coming in every day.

I guess other than bragging a bit (I'm allowed to do this in our own newsletter right?), where I'm going with this is that if you need design changes made on your website, please expect a week to two week delay. We will fit you into our queue, but the bottom line is that we're just that busy and we appreciate your patience!

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Sign up as a Web Unlimited Facebook Fan and Receive 10% off your Next Order!

I have a friend (you're on this email list so you know who you are) that has been using Facebook for quite a while and he's been trying to get me to sign up for it. I kept telling him, "I have enough websites to worry about! (I personally own and maintain at least twenty websites) Why should I get another one?"

Well I finally took the plunge about a month ago and haven't looked back. It's probably one of the easiest ways to keep your family and friends up-to-date on what's going on in your life. Some people take it (Facebook) to an extreme, but I've been using it to keep family and friends updated about my family's doings and posting pictures of my kiddos.

Last week however, I figured out how to add a page for Web Unlimited. So far it's been a relatively easy process once you figure out their terminology. In my next blog or newsletter I'll post a dictionary to translate some Facebook terminology...

My plan with our Facebook page is to to help promote Web Unlimited items as well as provide tips for websites. If you're already signed up as a business, you'll notice you can also advertise as well. I haven't tried it, but plan to in the next month.

So we have this page, but we haven't really promoted it yet. We have 6 fans right now mainly comprising Web Unlimited employees. It's pretty pitiful actually. If you've never been to Facebook before, fans sign up and receive notices much the same way you do when friends and family link to you.

To help get our fan-base started we put our heads together and came up with a promotion to help grow the fan base; If you sign up as a fan and let us know before your next purchase, we'll give you 10% OFF your next order. It's that simple! All you have to do is follow this link:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/College-Station-TX/Web-Unlimited/143127505336?ref=ts

It doesn't cost you anything at all to sign up for this by the way!

P.S. I'll be posting tips and tricks soon of how to promote your business in Facebook at my personal blog http://www.chrishunter.biz

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Hosting News

Did you know that last year we designed and implemented over 100 websites? That's the same amount we had designed in the first 5 years of business! And did you know that we're well on track to DOUBLE that this year? We have had TREMENDOUS success in the past two years, but we are feeling that in our infrastructure - our web servers. We have had to implement three new servers in the past couple of months with more on the way to keep up with demand.

So in order to alleviate the load on our servers, we have had to become a little more strict on how much of a load that one domain can put on a server. If your domain takes up more than 10% of CPU usage on a shared hosting server, we might just have to move you to the next hosting package up - our Virtual Dedicated Server package.

Along those lines, if you feel you need a little more enterprise capability, then our Virtual Dedicated Servers package might be just for you. We have several clients who have chosen this and are extremely happy. We still maintain the server itself, so you don't have to worry about the technical stuff, and you get all of the capabilities of a Dedicated server for a fraction of the price!

Call Aaron Henry at 979-696-2500 or email aaron.henry@webunlimited.com to ask about our Virtual Dedicated Server packages.

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Training News

Training for CopyWrite CMS, ZenCart and other products are currently being overhauled. We are in the process of implementing several new classes for these products. Effective immediately, we will also be implementing a new policy that each client will be limited to one free CopyWrite CMS training class. After the included class has been exceeded, there will be a nominal fee of $75 per person per class attended.

You are of course encouraged to bring your laptop as we have a public WIFI hotspot to jump right on and edit your site as we go along.

Below are the following classes that will be offered:

CopyWrite CMS 101 - 1 hr with Q&A (1st Wednesday of each month)
This will cover the basics to get up and running with your website as quickly as possible. We will cover topics such as Article and Frontpage Creation, Deletion, and Editing.

CopyWrite CMS 201 - 1 hr with Q&A (2nd Wednesday of each month)
This will get a little more in depth on how to use some of the more advanced features of CopyWrite CMS. We will cover topics such as RSS, iCal, SEO, and Private Pages.

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Sneak Peak - Zimbra's On the Way!

For the past month we have been working on a new server that has some software that will help revolutionize how you do business. Okay it's not that revolutionary, but it's pretty darned cool. The software is called Zimbra and it is a collaboration suite that allows the sharing of email, calendars, documents, and address books with your employees all in one application.

And best of all, it's all web-based!

You can of course use your favorite email client such as Outlook, Thunderbird, or Outlook Express with it, but it's so cool that there's really no point in using them. Why not have ALL of your email in one place so that you don't have to worry about backing up? It really is so slick that you wouldn't even know that you are using a web-based application!

I looked at Zimbra about five years ago when it was released on the market, but wanted to wait until it was a little more stable. I decided to take another look at it once Texas A&M chose it for their official email system for their students and was pleasantly surprised at how it had evolved. Zimbra (the company) in fact was purchased a few years ago by Yahoo, Inc. and has since then become extremely cool, easy to use, and very very stable.

If you need any more convincing how really cool that Zimbra is, just go here (http://www.zimbra.com/demos/zimbra_tour/) and watch the video. We're in the process of adding our own screenshots and videos to our website.

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Zimbra Promotion - Sign up Now and Receive 50% Off MSRP

Web Unlimited is in the process of implementing and testing our new Zimbra solution. We plan on having this solution ready-to-go in the next couple of weeks, but figured we would start signing clients up.

So to promote it, we're offering an unbelievable 50% off of MSRP if you sign up in the next two weeks (ends Friday September 4)

Click here for details (http://www.webunlimited.com/articles/zimbra_hosting) or call our sales manager, Aaron Henry at 979-696-2500 ext 1025 or via email at sales@webunlimited.com

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Recession Busting by Building New Products

In the past year, Americans have seen many companies both large and small stumble and fall due to the current economic crisis. We can't get away from it as it's all we hear about and see on the news. It's hit home a few times with clients of ours as well as a few friends. The latest that I've heard of is a good friend of mine that tried doing all he could to keep his business alive. But in the end, he really has no other choice but to close his doors and pursue something else.

This entire year as I've watched these companies fail, I keep asking myself and my employees, "What can we do here to keep this from happening?"

We've come up with lots of strategies and have adjusted a couple of times to become leaner and meaner. Our latest strategy, which I think is our best one yet, is to come up with some new products. In the next couple of months, Web Unlimited will be launching several new products. This breathes life into our product lineup and brings in new revenue streams. Our Zimbra solution mentioned above is one of them.

With one of the new products in fact, I'm expecting to double our annual sales with sales from it. Talk about beating the recession!

By the way, did you catch how secretive I'm being on this "secret" new product? I'm being that secretive because there's actually nothing like it on the market and I don't want it to leak yet -- at least until we're ready to release it. Then it will be a full-blown online marketing blitz.

Don't worry too much about this "secret" product though as you aren't my target audience, it's my competitors! I'll document what I'm is currently working and not working for selling this product online on my blog - http://www.chrishunter.biz

So my big question to you is, what new products are you offering to your lineup? Also what strategies have you come up with to beat the Recession? I want to hear!

I keep reading and hearing that the companies that come out of this Recession will be stronger than ever. Let's make that happen!

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E-Preneur Club

As we've seen online businesses succeed, the biggest question I have asked of me is "How did they do it?"

I have questions as well, so I think what might help all of us is to get together and see what is working and what isn't.

So Web Unlimited will be hosting a once-per-month forum that we are calling the E-Preneur Club (as in Electronic Entrepreneur). We will start this off as an informal get together held at the Web Unlimited office after-hours. It will probably evolve into having a guest speaker as well. Who knows?

The August E-Preneur Club will meet on Wednesday August 26 at Web Unlimited at 5:30pm. We will have drinks and finger foods available. Please click here (website) to RSVP so we know how many people will be attending.

Oh and also, we're not limiting this to Web Unlimited customers. Everybody is welcome as we just want to find out what is working and not working in the online world! If you have a friend that is kicking butt -- or has questions, please bring him or her along so we can all figure it out together!

If you have something you would like to find out, email me at chris.hunter@webunlimited.com and we'll put it on our list of questions. I'll post a list of questions asked and the answers given on my blog - http://www.chrishunter.biz - soon after the meeting.

p.s. Be sure to RSVP by emailing me at chris.hunter@webunlimited.com