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• 

  Christmas opening hours

  Megan 3:33 am on December 18, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Opening hours

   

  Another year has flown by and it’s time to break out the tinsel and fruit cake again!

  We’d like to wish you and your family a very happy and safe holiday season, and thank you for being a loyal customer in 2009.

  We’re looking forward to an exciting 2010, with lots of plans in place to make doing business online easier than ever.

  If you need to contact us over the Christmas period, there will be some hard-working elves manning the phones and online support throughout (excluding weekends and public holidays). You can contact us by calling 1300 721 465 or via email at help@smartyhost.com.au

   

  Christmas opening hours (all times AEDST):

  Thursday 24 December: 8.30am-5.30pm
  Friday 25 December: Closed
  Monday 28 December: Closed
  Tuesday 29 – Thursday 31 December: 8.30am-5.30pm
  Friday 1 January: Closed

   

  Please note: our Twitter account @SmartyHost will be taking a break from 5pm Friday 18 December until Monday 18 January.

  Once again, have a wonderful Christmas and we look forward working with you in 2010.

   

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• 

  Introducing TiniSites

  Megan 2:25 pm on December 15, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: building a website, business website, getting a new website, online business, simple websites, TiniSite, TiniSites, website (2)

  A big idea to get you online in under 5 minutes

  With a TiniSite: 

  • It takes less than 5 minutes to get a website live: you can start with just an address and phone number, and we’ll do the rest
  • You don’t need any IT or web design skills: if you can fill in a form, you can handle this
  • You have total control and ownership: you can add to or change the information displayed at any time, instantaneously; and you can delete your TiniSite and/or build your own site to replace your TiniSite whenever you wish
  • It’s FREE. No strings attached. We just hate to see a good domain go to waste.

  Curious yet? Why not have a look at our introductory video below, hosted by the lovely Emma (she sits opposite me and loves Skittles )

   

  Welcome to TiniSites from SmartyHost on Vimeo.

   

  How did this all come about?

  For some time, we’ve been thinking hard about how to make it easier for our clients to take the leap from domain name registration to a real, live website.

  We’ve seen your frustration and we hear your pain. And we want to make this whole ‘being online’ thing as easy as possible for you.

  With 78% of all Aussies searching for products and services online in 2009*, we reckon it’s crucial that your business has some presence – no matter how basic – on the web.

   

  Now we know why

  We got on the phones and asked our clients what’s made it hard to take the next step. We unearthed a couple of common reasons: 

  • It’s all just too hard and complicated
  • It takes too much time and headspace for busy business owners

   

  So we put our thinking caps on. How could we help people overcome these hurdles? How could we make it really easy, and really quick, for someone to get a website up and running?

  Just having some basic contact details would be a massive improvement on ‘this webpage can’t be found’.

  We hit upon the idea of an online business card. Something metaphorically pasted in the shop window with a phone number and opening hours. A really simple way to help people get in touch with you.

    

  And we’re not stopping there

  TiniSites (pronounced TinEE-Sites) is the first step in our grand plan to do everything we can to help you have a meaningful presence on the web, without the hassle.

  *Source: Sensis e-business report 2009

   

   
• 

  The best laid plans

  Megan 6:07 am on December 11, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: fault report, outage

  You’re probably aware that we experienced some downtime last Tuesday after a power failure and subsequent backup power failure at our data centre provider wreaked havoc with our hardware and caused a two-hour outage.

  First up, we’d like to say a big thanks for your patience while we resolved the issue. We appreciate how frustrating an outage is, and we’re truly sorry for any inconvenience caused.

  Secondly, we think it’s important to let you know exactly what happened and why, how it was resolved and what steps we’ve taken to minimise the chances of it happening again.

  We’ve prepared a comprehensive fault report for those interested – it’s a PDF (200kb) doc that you can download here. 

  If you have any questions, please give us a buzz on 1300 721 465.

   
• 

  New SmartyHost website: a change of focus

  Megan 11:45 am on November 20, 2009 | 1 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: homepage, status updates, twitter, website (2)

  Last Friday we launched our re-vamped homepage – pretty daring given it was Friday the 13^th! Our marketing analyst Harry – who did the bulk of the work on the new site – certainly looked like he’d seen a ghost when we pushed the go-live button . Luckily everything worked just fine.

  Our new website design is the latest in a string of changes we’ve made at SmartyHost over the past few months. Some changes are behind the scenes while others are more obvious – but all have the same focus: to make life easier for you.

  Here are the main features of the homepage refresh:

   

  Live status updates

  We know your website is important to your business. If something isn’t working properly, you don’t want to spend time searching for status updates. We’ve add a live stream of updates to the homepage so you can see at first glance if there’s anything going on at our end that might affect your service.

   

  Twitter feed

  We use Twitter to communicate status updates, technical issues, news and promotions; to chat directly with clients; and to share websites and info that we reckon you might find useful. Now you don’t need to be on Twitter to see our feed – you can keep up with all the news, live on the homepage.

   

  Better sales process

  Buying domain names and webhosting can be confusing, especially if you’re new to the concept. We’ve redesigned our online sales process to help you find the best package to suit your needs. Everything is now presented in plain English, with suggestions to help you match your situation to the most appropriate product.  

   

  Nifty feedback tool

  At the end of the day, our website needs to satisfy your needs. With this in mind, we’ve added a neat feedback tool so you can submit ideas and content suggestions, tell us what worked well, report bugs and so on.  It’s only a great website if it works for you!

   

  We hope you find these improvements to the site beneficial. If you have any feedback or suggestions, either have a go at the feedback tool or drop us a line via the comments below – we’re always keen for more ideas about ways to make life easier for you.

   
  • 

    Paul Hassing 12:37 pm on November 25, 2009 Permalink
    

    Dear Megan & Team. Hearty congrats on this blog. It looks mighty fine. And it’s really good to read more of your beaut writing than the odd comment box grab. I wish you every success. Best regards, Paul.

• 

  Security is no laughing matter

  Megan 10:02 am on October 30, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: database password, ftp password, passwords, security

  Here at SmartyHost, we like to keep things casual and have a bit of fun from time to time. But there are some things we don’t joke about – and security is something we take particularly seriously.

  Our Platinum upgrade has lots of upfront benefits such as better SPAM protection and centralised control panels. But it’s what you don’t see that’s also exciting – Platinum also has improved security features, including stronger password protection. As a result, we’ve made some changes to the way we manage passwords.

  If you’ve already received your Platinum upgrade, you might have noticed that passwords are displayed differently in your Toolkit. You can now see some of your passwords in plain text (rather than concealed by dots or asterisks).

  This was a deliberate change by the SmartyHost team, to make it as easy as possible for you to manage your various passwords. Your security isn’t compromised, because you need a password to log in to the Toolkit in the first place, and once you’ve logged in, the page you see is encrypted in transit (sounds a bit Mission Impossible, doesn’t it!).

  In plain English, that means it’s a secure page and you can only see your password details once you’ve logged in using your master password.  

  And of course, we don’t recommend you share that password with anyone unauthorised.

   

  Making life easier, without compromising security

  From time to time, you might need to know your ftp or database password to log in and make changes/add things to your website.

  However, many of our clients don’t log in regularly enough to remember their passwords off by heart, so concealing them with asterisks can make life difficult.

  You might think: ‘no worries, I’ll just reset my password to a new one if I forget’. Unfortunately, giving you the ability to change your passwords via this page presents some complex problems.

  Changing your ftp password is no problem – in fact, we encourage you to change it regularly to reduce the likelihood unauthorised access to your account.

  However, resetting your database password will likely have a knock-on effect in the backend of your live site, and you can inadvertently bring your whole website down. It’s better to display your password so there’s no need to reset it.

  If you really want to reset your database passwords, we recommend you call us first on 1300 721 465.

   

  Protecting your passwords

  Your Toolkit is the ONLY place where you can see your passwords in clear (plain) text. At SmartyHost’s end, your passwords are encrypted using lots of different randomly generated 256-bit encryption keys (how many? Can’t tell you, for security reasons ).

  We also store your encrypted passwords in a completely separate system so that in the unlikely event that our main system was compromised, the passwords would not be revealed.

   

  Getting technical

  We’ve tried to keep this post simple enough for regular mortals (me included!). But we understand that lots of our clients do have advanced technical expertise, and that this might sound lightweight for you. So for those who’d like us to back this up with more technical details, please feel free to call us to discuss further – obviously we’d prefer to keep the specifics unpublished, again for security reasons.

   
• 

  Very excited about VeriSign

  Megan 12:11 pm on September 18, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: domain names, registrar, VeriSign

  It’s been a rewarding week for our team and we wanted to share boast about some good news with you!

  After lots of blood, sweat and tears (OK, blood might be exaggerating, although Susan did get some nasty paper cuts) we’ve qualified as a domain name registrar with VeriSign, the authoritative registry for some of the most popular top-level domains (TLDs) in the world including .com and .net

  SmartyHost is now one of only 14 Aussie webhosting companies registered with VeriSign, which is veri-cool! (Sorry, lame joke – it’s Friday…)

  What does this mean, you ask?

  In essence, we’re now completely self-reliant and can register .com and .net domain names without involving a third party.

  But perhaps the most exciting thing is that we’ve satisfied an extremely rigorous application process – kinda like sitting the webhosting world’s toughest end-of-year exam.

  Our processes and systems were put under the spotlight, carefully scrutinised and approved by VeriSign. The application process was a great opportunity for us to benchmark ourselves against global standards, and we’re rapt to confirm that we’re right up there with the best.

  As part of the process, we’ve also become ICANN accredited. ICANN is the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), a not-for-profit public-benefit corporation that coordinates the unique identifiers used for computers connected to the Internet across the world.

  Virtually everyone in the SmartyHost team played a part in the VeriSign application process, which took several months to complete – so a big congrats to the team. Onwards and upwards

   
• 

  Doing things better

  Megan 2:08 pm on September 8, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Mates Rates

  Yesterday, a customer asked the following question via another post on this blog:

  “I told someone on the weekend to use Smartyhost for their website, they can get a discount and I will get a small bonus, I logged on and have found the “Mates Rates” code and my credit has disappeared.  Whats going on??”

  Over the past few months, we’ve been taking a good, hard look at the way we do things at SmartyHost.

  The Platinum upgrade is the most significant change. It’s going to deliver a much better client experience – read more about it here

  We’re also simplifying some of our systems that have become complex and unwieldy.

  Yet another aspect we’ve been reviewing is how we add value to our products, so that as many clients as possible can enjoy the benefits.

  With this in mind, we’ve decided to phase out the Mates Rates program. Although we have a very loyal group of customers recommending business our way, the uptake of the Mates Rates program is quite low. Therefore we’ve decided to channel our resources into exploring other ways to reward clients who give us new business – but this time, something that’s easier and more appealing for everyone to become involved in.

  As we continue to update clients to Platinum, you’ll no longer see the Mates Rates credits in your control panel. However, we have a record of credits accrued and we’re happy to honour them – give us a call on 1300 721 465 if you’d like to put your credits towards a purchase.

   
• 

  Exciting times! 3, 2, 1...Platinum has lift-off!

  Megan 3:59 pm on September 2, 2009 | 6 Permalink | Reply
  

  Today’s a big day for SmartyHost!

  At 7am this morning, we flicked the switch and powered up our new hosting system – a major component of our Platinum upgrade project.

  Every new website or hosting plan will now be setup on our new hosting system. That means you’ll receive some exciting new benefits:

  • Better spam protection:  de-cluttering your inbox to save you time, frustration and dodgy subject lines
  • A new control panel: easy-to-use with new options for greater control
  • New, faster webmail: just like using your standard email software, but without being tied to your desk
  • Enhanced website traffic statistics: see who’s visiting your site, and what they’re looking at

   

  That’s just some of what you’ll see. Behind the scenes, we’ve also upgraded the systems that power and protect your data from the impact of traffic spikes or technical issues.

  Platinum isn’t just for new clients. Over the next few months, we’ll be progressively upgrading our existing clients too. We’ll be sure to let you know when you’ve been upgraded – or you can check in with our team if you’re interested in jumping the queue.

  Stay tuned for more news from the team soon – and if you’d regular  updates, follow us on Twitter

   
  • 

    Disgruntled 11:27 pm on September 3, 2009 Permalink
    

    So far no-one is happy with the outage of email and websites. An update on the status of your servers would go a long way to relieving the frustration. Surely there is someone who can give us some feedback.

  • 

    Matt Mulligan 9:05 am on September 4, 2009 Permalink
    

    Hi Disgruntled,

    First, we apologise for this outage – we know your business depends on your website and email. Our legacy hosting platform doesn’t deliver the performance or reliability that we expect on your behalf and that’s what has driven our development of this new Platinum hosting system.

    We’ll be progressively upgrading existing clients to Platinum over the next couple of months. You’re welcome to check in with us to see when we’ve scheduled your websites for upgrade.

    In the meantime, you can check in on the status of SmartyHost systems at http://status.smartyhost.com.au

  • 

    Mates Rates 10:42 am on September 7, 2009 Permalink
    

    I told someone on the weekend to use Smartyhost for their website, they can get a discount and I will get a small bonus, I logged on and have found the “Mates Rates” code and my credit has disappeared. Whats going on??

  • 

    Matt Mulligan 2:10 pm on September 8, 2009 Permalink
    

    Hi Mates Rates,

    Thanks for recommending us. We’re currently upgrading our clients to a better experience and adding some great new features as part of the Platinum upgrade.

    We’re also simplifying systems that have grown complex. As a result, we’re phasing out the Mates Rates program – you can read more about it here

    We’re now exploring new ways to recognise customers who recommend business to us. Let us know if you have any further questions.

  • 

    Digby 3:52 pm on October 20, 2009 Permalink
    

    Regarding Control Panel – reduced functionality???
    Hope I haven’t missed something but there does not appear to be a way of changing passwords for existing email accounts (as there was in teh last control panel) there also doesn’t seem to be any way in which to log a support ticket even though we are referred to the control panel to do so.

  • 

    Megan 9:58 am on October 27, 2009 Permalink
    

    Hi Digby,

    Things do look a bit different in the new control panel. We’ve got some good support notes to help you find your way around email account management – check them out here: http://www.smartyhost.com.au/support/46/215/Creating-and-Changing-Email-Accounts.php

    While we’re transitioning to Platinum, you can lodge tickets by emailing help@smartyhost.com.au