Dear [First Name],

how can e-commerce benefit your business?

As consumer's trust of the Internet and online sales continues to grow, people are turning more and more towards the web to make purchases.  In 2005 there was a total of $170 billion spent in online sales (Forrester). That's a good chunk of change.  So if you've ever toyed with the option of adding e-commerce to your site, the timing is perfect.

In a nutshell, e-commerce consists of the distributing, buying, selling, marketing and servicing of products or services over electronic systems such as the Internet. Fantastic examples of companies using e-commerce include entities such as Amazon.com, eBay, and the NZ hero TradeMe.

So what does it take to add e-commerce to your site?  Basically all you need is a shopping cart (software that allows people to order) and a way to process credit cards (either manually through a merchant account with your bank or electronically using an online payment system).

With Freeparking Plus, Professional & Premium hosting accounts, customers receive a shopping cart (WebFarm-Shop) for free with the option of either using their merchant bank account to manually do the processing or adding WorldPay, which offers secure multi-currency online payments.  It's an easy way to offer your customers the benefit of shopping and making payments online.  Find out more today!

attention: xtra customers

Xtra has announced a plan to block all outbound traffic on port 25 by the end of April. When Xtra makes this change it will mean that all Freeparking hosting customers using XTRA as an ISP will not be able to send email through the Freeparking mailservers.  This can easily be resolved. 

To Fix: Set your outgoing mailserver to 'smtp.xtra.co.nz'

Outlook 2003: Open Outlook > Select the 'tools' pull down menu then 'Email accounts'> Select 'View or change existing email accounts' then the 'Next' button > Select your Freeparking account 'mail.yourdomain.co.nz' and then the 'Change' button > Change the 'Outgoing mail server (SMTP)' field from 'mail.yourdomain.co.nz' to 'smtp.xtra.co.nz'

Outlook Express: Open Outlook Express > Select the 'tools' pull down menu then 'Accounts' > Go to the 'Mail' Tab > Select your Freeparking account 'mail.yourdomain.co.nz' and then the 'Properties' button > Go to the 'Servers' Tab > Change the 'Outgoing mail server (SMTP)' field from 'mail.yourdomain.co.nz' to 'smtp.xtra.co.nz'

If you have any questions please contact support@freeparking.co.nz

beware of domain scams

There is currently a letter being distributed by Domain Registry of America (and possibly others) informing people of their domain name expiration.  The letter looks like an official notice and appears to be an invoice asking you to pay $AU 41 ($NZ 49)  to renew your domain name ($NZ RRP 44.94).  To respond to this letter will actually mean switching your domain name to a new registrar.  Domain Registry of America have been successfully prosecuted several times in the U.S. but somehow keep popping up again. We just want to inform you that this is a scam and not official documentation. 

travel to exotic destinations

It all began in 1997 with a tour to Israel & Egypt for Tours Direct to be hooked on exploring the more exotic destinations this world has to offer. Since then they have specialised in escorted tours to places around the world like Antarctica, China, Siberia, Peru, the Arctic, Turkey, India and more.

Their web site has been huge for business with 70% of all requests coming via the Internet.  In all Tour Direct print advertising they encourage people to visit their site  and request information, ensuring quick, efficient and economical communication. 

"The greatest benefit is being able to 'sell' the tours with colour economically on-line. Travel is a very visual product and we can readily change images for minimum cost as opposed to hard-copy printing material," explained Mandy Page of Tours Direct.

Freeparking was recommended to them by their web designer for the low cost and excellent support. 

"What's great with Freeparking is the flexibility you have as your business grows and needs to expand online," Mandy said. "We have a Freeparking Plus account and as we consider upgrading to allow online payments it's nice to know that we can easily add WebFarm-Shop (for free) without having to change suppliers."