THE FUEL PUMP

FREE Small Business Expo

Thu, 19 Aug 2010 01:28:00 GMT

Join Fueled, exhibitor and sponsors of the Business Start Up Expo, hosted by the Moreton Bay Regional Council.

While this expo has been geared toward 'start up' businesses there will be plenty of free and useful info for all small businesses.

Pass this information along to anyone who you believe may benefit.

Ready, set, start your business

When: Monday, 6 September 2010, 4.00pm - 8.00pm

Where: North Leagues Club, Kallangur (Google map )

Do you aspire to operate your own business? Want to know how to make your ambitions a reality? Do you know what it takes to run your own business? Do you know you need lots of information?

Find out about the feasibility of your plans, find the right kind of financing and how to register your business.

The Starters Expo consists of -

Starters market - get free information and ideas at the Starters Market from business service providers
Free information sessions
Free appointments with professionals in legal issues, accounting, financing or other areas

There will also be freebies, giveaways and prizes.

Exhibitors

Small Business Solutions: one-stop shop for small business - Government
Quest Regional Newspaper - Advertising
Westpac - Business Banking
Lanier - Printers & Office Equipment
Acclaim - Apprenticeships
ANZ - Business Banking
Ashley Printers - Advertising & printing
AusIndustry Government - Innovation, Industry, Research, Science
Australian Business Register (ABR): Register your business - Government
Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC): Information and education about fair trading - Government
Australian Taxation Office (ATO) - Government
Bartercard - Trade your services
Biz Results - Accountants
Cats / Ascenta - Accountants
CPA Australia - National Industry Organisation
Commonwealth Bank Australia (CBA) - Business Banking
Computer Troubleshooters - IT support and maintenance
Corporate Business Solutions Government - education and workplace training
Corporate Solutions - Strategic Planning
Department of Education and Training (DETA) - Government
Department of Employment, Economic Development & Innovation - New business
Franchise Council Australia - National Industry organisation
Fueled - Marketing, Design & Web
Garnish Marketing - Marketing, Design, Web
IP Australia: Protect Intellectual Property - Government
Lember and Williams Law - Legal Professionals
Manufacturing Skills Australia - National Industry Skills Council
Moreton Bay Regional Council: Office of Economic Development - Government (Local Council)
Office of State Revenue (OSR): Payroll tax & transfer duties - Government
Queensland Business Technology - IT solutions
Queensland Chamber of Commerce - State Industry Organisation
Queensland Tourism Industry Council (QTIC) - State Industry Organisation
Ray White Commercial - Commercial real estate
Shoreline Business Group - Business planning and analysis
St George - Business Banking
Torque Toyota - Fleet Services
United Retail Federation - National Industry organisation
Village Motors - Fleet Services
Vividus - Marketing Strategies
Yellow Pages / Sensis - Advertising

Workshops

Small Business Solutions
Australian Taxation Office
Office of State Revenue
IP Australia
Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation
Australian Competition and Consumer Commission

Change - CETERA & GRIFYNN COMBINE TO BECOME FUELED

Wed, 18 Aug 2010 23:36:00 GMT

Change!

“It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.”

Charles Darwin (1809-1882) English Naturalist

Introducing Fueled!

As of July 2010 Cetera Media P/L and Grifynn Creative P/L formally joined forces to form Fueled Media.

Previously, the two independent agencies specialised in their own particular disciplines. Cetera had focused predominantly on corporate branding, graphic and print design, where Grifynn’s expertise related to all things web.

Over a period of just six months, a very natural synergy developed while working closely together on a number of projects. This relationship has resulted in the amalgamation of Cetera and Grifynn to form Fueled Media.

Whilst we still offer all the same services we respectively always have, it now happens on a much more collaborative basis.

Much more than just Design!

Out of this strategic partnership there has been a realisation that Fueled is much more than just a design agency. Fueled is very much geared toward providing a very holistic ‘brand support’ style of service.

On a very broad basis our services incorporate the following:

Corporate Branding
Web and Online Business Technologies
Social Media (Twitter, Facebook, etc)
Strategic Marketing
Print and Graphic Design
Copywriting

Introducing Strategic Marketing and Julianne Janbroers

As our business continues to evolve we have noticed an increased need for specialist expertise in strategic marketing. The need for someone who could identify, interpret and communicate specific target markets, and their needs, was imperative. We also released that this person also needed to be able to take the technical components of design, print, and online business technologies, and apply those components in a way that would most effectively engage our client’s target markets.

As of July 2010 we welcomed on board our new and very talented Marketing Manager, Julianne Janbroers. Julianne joins Fueled with degrees in Business and Marketing, as well as an impressive track record in her own businesses. Julianne has wasted no time in commencing the development of powerful and effective strategies for both Fueled and our clients.

New Feature: InContext Editing has arrived!

Tue, 27 Apr 2010 23:06:00 GMT

Our newest feature - InContext Editing - is now available in the Administration area and ready for use.

It's a next generation tool that gives business owners greater control over their websites. You can now make changes more easily without compromising the overall design of your website. Some of the main benefits include:

The ability to set editable regions within any web page to limit scope of change and preserve design quality
Content editing is more intuitive - you edit "InContext" on the page rather than having an editor pop-up as was the case with Sitewalk
The new InContext content editor is much more robust compared with the Sitewalk text editor

Please note that InContext Editing will be in Beta for the next 12 weeks during which Sitewalk will continue to remain available. When the Beta period ends, Sitewalk will reach end-of-life and will be removed from the Administration area.

During the Beta period for InContext Editing we will continue to make small improvements.

Contact us to learn more about this exciting feature.

Store Locator/Google Maps: Zip codes added for Brazil, New Zealand, Japan, France, and Spain

Mon, 22 Mar 2010 06:09:00 GMT

As part of our enhancement to Web Apps back in Apr 2009, our Store Locator functionality now has full support for addresses in Brazil, New Zealand, Japan, France and Spain to the system.

Click here to learn more about this functionality.

Social Media Revolution

Wed, 21 Apr 2010 03:05:00 GMT

Online Business Console - Blog Improvements

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 02:37:00 GMT

As part of the improvements we are making to our blogs functionality we've added the ability to categorize your blogs posts. Categorizing blog posts is simliar to tagging however it is more structured. To learn more and to categorize and/or tag your blog posts go to Website->Blogs. You can create and manage your list of categories via Admin->Manage Categories.

Once you've categorized your blog posts simply drop {tag_blogcategorylist} on your blog layout. You can customize your blog via Admin->More Customization Options->Blog Layouts.

We have a number of other exciting blog improvements in the pipeline which we will be rolling out in the coming weeks.

New Payment Gateways Added for Netherlands, India and Puerto Rico

Wed, 29 Apr 2009 00:23:00 GMT

Our Online Business Platform now supports 3 new integrated payment gateways. In Netherlands we've added Mollie. In India we've added EBS and in Puerto Rico we've added Banco Popular. Customers in these regions can simply enter in your account information for one of these gateways in eCommerce->Payment Gateways and start collecting payments instantly!

Customer Service Ticketing: Set your availability

Thu, 16 Apr 2009 01:11:00 GMT

If you are using the new customer service ticketing feature in the system you may have noticed a new option in the ribbon in the Admin (top-right near your name). This new option appears if you are a user who handles customer inquiries through our new ticketing feature. It allows you to easily put yourself in Available or Unavailable modes which dictates whether you receive customer inquiries or whether they are routed to other members within your organization.

Exciting News : European data center is now live!

Tue, 07 Apr 2009 08:12:00 GMT

We're pleased to announce that our European data center ( for clients using our Online Business Platform) is now live and ready to host new Online Businesses. This means we now have data centers in North America, the Asia Pacific and Europe, delivering a faster and more responsive service to our valued clients. This falls inline with our objective to provide comprehensive online business development services to small businesses around the globe.

All of our data centers are located in Tier 4 facilities, meaning they have:

Multiple cooling and power distribution paths for stable systems
Multiple active power distribution paths to prevent down time from blackouts
Redundant components for fault tolerance
99.995% Uptime for connectivity and power into our machines

Web Apps: Exciting Improvements - Store Locator/Google Maps integration

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 02:00:00 GMT

This is a really exciting enhancement to our Web Apps framework. Now you can create Store Locator functionality with just a few clicks of the mouse.

For any web app you can enable the "Address Input/Search" option which enables you to add or import an address for an item. You can then
utilize the Web Apps Search Form to allow anyone to search for items within a certain vicinity of that address. Additionally we've developed
2 new modules that allow you to plot web app items on a Google map!

Click here to learn more about this exciting new feature. Once you are ready simply use the Module Manager to add the relevant module to a web page in order to display a list of web app items on a Google map. Alternatively you can use the appropriate module to display web app items on a Google map when using the search feature.

Skype App coming to iPhone on Tuesday, Blackberry in May

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 00:56:00 GMT

twistori.com

Mon, 30 Mar 2009 08:15:00 GMT

Twistori is a cute web app based on Twitter which filters the live twitter feed based on the term you select (ie 'Love', 'Hate' etc). Try it out!

Customer Service Ticketing: Now handles web form inquiries

Thu, 26 Mar 2009 02:04:00 GMT

We've just added support so web form inquiries can utilize the new Customer Service Ticketing framework. This means regardless of whether your inquiries are coming directly via email or customers are filling in a web form on your website, you can have a consistent process for dealing with them. To take advantage of this enhancement go to Modules->Web Forms and choose any web form. Then from the Workflow drop down box choose the relevant Customer Service Ticketing account.

New Feature - Customer Service Ticketing

Wed, 25 Mar 2009 10:00:00 GMT

We've just released a major new feature called Customer Service Ticketing. This feature turns any email address (whether it's hosted with us or elsewhere) into a full ticketing system. With this you can better manage incoming customer inquiries, automatically assign them to the relevant people within your organization and build a knowledge base of past customer inquiries. Best of all you can continue to use your favorite email client such as Outlook or Thunderbird when communicating with customers whilst everything is tracked.

For an online business to be successful it needs strong sales, service and marketing functions. With this feature we strengthen the support aspects of your online business and ensure your customer inquiries are handled in a timely fashion. Click to read more about this feature in the Online Business Wiki.

eCommerce - Customize your checkout for different countries

Wed, 17 Dec 2008 21:12:00 GMT

Are you selling to a global audience? If so then you can now customize your checkout for each country that you sell to. To use this feature simply go to: Admin->More Customization Options->Online Shop Layouts. Select any checkout step and choose the country for which you want to customize it.

QuickBooks Integration - export your sales!

Tue, 09 Dec 2008 20:11:00 GMT

It's been in the works for some time but our first release of QuickBooks integration is now live and running. This new feature allows you to push all your online sales and related customer information directly into QuickBooks as required. To learn more please refer to the QuickBooks article in the Wiki.

Hola, Bonjour, Hallo!

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 07:24:00 GMT

We've just released the Administration interface of our Online Business Console in Spanish, French and German languages. This means our friends in these countries can now use our unique system in their own language. Please keep in mind that this launch is in beta and there are a few minor issues which we hope to resolve in the coming weeks. We will be adding a number of other languages to the system in early 2009!

You can change the language via the ribbon at the top-right of the Administration area.

Now supporting the Cybersource payment gateway

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 21:58:00 GMT

We've just added support for the Cybersource payment gateway. This payment gateway is unique since it'll allow you to process payments in many different countries without having to setup different merchant accounts for each country. To learn more abou this payment gateway please contact Cybersource directly.

We are now PCI Compliant

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 20:08:00 GMT

Payment Card Industry (PCI) compliance is a complex and ever evolving subject affecting millions of businesses – acquiring banks, Independent Sales Organizations (ISOs), processors, hosts, shopping carts, e-commerce and retail merchants and other merchant services providers. Our system now meets the strict guidelines set by the Payment Card industry and ensures our processes around the use of credit cards meets their strict requirements. Being PCI compliant is important as many payment gateways around the world now require compliance for those wishing to process payments in real-time on their websites.

AVG 8 and Triangle Plugin from Business Catalyst

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 06:28:00 GMT

Any web developers currently using Business Catalyst's Triangle plugin for Dreamweaver should note a problem encountered when downloading the new version 8 of AVG Internet Security. I have found that once the new AVG was installed that i was no longer able to connect using Triangle. After hours of stuffing around with the firewall settings i finally discovered if you disable the 'Web Shield' component of AVG (nothing to do with the firewall), presto, Triangle connects once again. Am currently investigating why this is so, and will update you as soon as i find out some more info from the powers that be.

Some recent projects...

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 07:48:00 GMT

What do they say about the mechanic's own car? I can certainly relate when it comes to our website.

Given we are so slack at updating our own site, in particular our portfolio, i have listed below a few of the projects we have recently completed:

Stay tuned for an updated portfolio - promise ;-)

Internet Marketing Don'ts

Mon, 31 Mar 2008 05:32:00 GMT

We sometimes come across customers who think they know best when it comes to developing their web site. We are often left to wonder why they have come to us in the first place. Thankfully we have just enough money in the coffers to pay our electricity bill (in order to keep the computers cranking) that we mostly just refer these messiahs of online business to our competition. Check out the following article on internet marketing don’ts, it’s worth a read.

The Internet Marketing Unlist: 49 Things You Probably Are Doing But Shouldn't

Our Passion for Small Business

Mon, 31 Mar 2008 00:14:00 GMT

We predominantly develop websites for new, small, and boutique business. Whilst we do work with some SMEs, assisting them with everything from design right through to application development, our passion really comes into its own when we get to work with other small businesses.

Nothing gives us more of a buzz than having the opportunity to work with likeminded people, who have a passion for what they do, and the drive to succeed.

If you are a small business person with a story to tell, or perhaps you have started a new business and have some questions, we’d love to hear from you. Interesting stories and noteworthy advice will be profiled on our site regularly. If you are new to doing business online and need some help or tips, contact us for some free advice.

whereismycoffee!

Sun, 24 Feb 2008 04:46:00 GMT

Coffee lovers check out whereismycoffee.com. An Australian based site containing all sorts of coffee goodness, including a nation wide cafe guide.

Random thought of the day

Tue, 12 Feb 2008 04:47:00 GMT

A clever person solves a problem.
A wise person avoids it.

Albert Einstein

Coffee Geek

Sun, 10 Feb 2008 09:41:00 GMT

Anyone who knows me is well aware I am an absolute coffee addict. At home I use a Saeco automatic machine which, all in all, makes a pretty decent coffee.

My favourite coffee beans would have to be either Allpress or Campos and I was absolutely delighted when I read recently that Campos have now opened in Brisbane (Fortitude Valley). Anyone who hasn’t experienced Campos you really should do yourself a favour and drop in to either Newtown (Sydney, Australia) or Fortitude Valley (Brisbane, Australia), you won’t regret it.

It’s definitely on the agenda to take myself along to a Barista course later this year and it will be 'Thanks for coming Saeco, hello shiny new commercial machine'.

I came across the Coffee Geek site today and, although it doesn’t win any design awards, it does have some good info. Check out the ‘Guides & How Tos’ section.

Bonne Année

Tue, 08 Jan 2008 01:08:00 GMT

Let me start by wishing everyone a very Happy New Year. Here’s to a good one for us all.

If, like me you have overindulged this festive season to the point where you are wandering the house in a Caftan, you will no doubt have made a new year’s resolution to shape up and generally be much healthier this year. Unfortunately it’s a sad fact that most of my resolutions rapidly become the victims of violent crime, in this case rum truffles and left over pudding. To all those who have commenced post gluttony detox, may the force be with you!