Archive for the ‘Business News’ Category
Monday, December 5th, 2011
On Friday, Google announced a new development which is of massive importance to anyone that uses Adwords to promote their business and includes a phone number in their advert. In the coming weeks, Google is introducing ‘click to call’ functionality, so that phone numbers displayed in AdWords ad text will be automatically converted into a Click-to-call number.
This means your 08 number becomes even more powerful because as well as being incredibly memorable, it will be easily accessible at the touch of a smartphone’s screen. Which means that potential customers can be talking to you within seconds of seeing your advert.
Currently when advertisers enter a phone number directly into their ad text instead of using Call Extensions, the phone number is not clickable and will not generate a call. This can be a frustrating experience for mobile users who attempt to initiate a call to this phone number.
The new Click-to-call enhancement ensures that all phone numbers shown in AdWords ads are clickable and allows users to easily place calls from their mobile device. If your ad text includes a phone number, you will begin to receive clicks and calls on this number once the enhancement is enabled in your account.
Don’t think that this is free though. Just as you pay for clicks from the advert through to your webpages, clicks on the phone number will be chargeable too.
Measuring results
Google is claiming the measurability as a major benefit for this service, but as an 08 number user, you’ll already be used to seeing your call stats whenever you want them, via 08Direct’s customer portal.
Nonetheless, Google is offering some useful information. You’ll be able to review how many calls you receive on the clickable phone number listed in your ad text for each campaign, ad group, keyword, which will help you to monitor the effectiveness of each advert and campaign.
We’ll be monitoring this development with interest. Let us know how you get on with it and if you need extra 08 or 03 numbers for your adverts, do remember to give us a call on 0844 504 4000.
Tags: 03 number, 03 numbers, 08 Direct, 08 number, 08 numbers, 0800 free phone number, 0800 freephone number, 0800 number, 0800 Numbers, 0844 number, 0844 numbers, 08direct.co.uk, Adwords click to call, auto attendant, Call Forwarding, fax to email, free fax to email, freephone number, Google, Google Adwords, Interactive Voice Response, IVR, national 0844 number, non geographic numbers, non geographical numbers, number translation services.
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Wednesday, October 26th, 2011
New Nokia smartphones
Way back in February we blogged about Nokia, the once dominant mobile handset manufacturer, joining forces with Microsoft to try and revive its ailing fortunes. Or as Stephen Elop, Nokia’s chief famously put it, they were standing on a burning platform surrounded by dark, cold, foreboding waters.
He also said that part of their demise was because they hadn’t been delivering innovation fast enough.
With competitors outstripping them at every turn they had to make a choice and they chose Microsoft. (more…)
Tags: 03 number, 03 numbers, 08 Direct, 08 number, 08 numbers, 0800 free phone number, 0800 freephone number, 0800 number, 0800 Numbers, 0844 number, 0844 numbers, 08direct.co.uk, auto attendant, Call Forwarding, fax to email, free fax to email, freephone number, Interactive Voice Response, IVR, Lumia smartphones, Microsoft, national 0844 number, Nokia, non geographic numbers, non geographical numbers, number translation services., Stephen Elop
Posted in Business News | No Comments »
Friday, October 21st, 2011
We’re a nation addicted to our mobiles (something I wrote about on our sister site recently) despite the fact that, there has been constant speculation about the health risks that we may be exposing ourselves too.
However the results of a huge piece of research have been published suggesting there is no link between mobile phones and brain cancer. (more…)
Tags: 03 number, 03 numbers, 08 Direct, 08 number, 08 numbers, 0800 free phone number, 0800 freephone number, 0800 number, 0800 Numbers, 0844 number, 0844 numbers, 08direct.co.uk, auto attendant, Call Forwarding, fax to email, free fax to email, freephone number, Interactive Voice Response, IVR, mobile health risks, mobile link to brain cancer, mobile phones, national 0844 number, non geographic numbers, non geographical numbers, number translation services.
Posted in Business News | 6 Comments »
Thursday, October 20th, 2011
David vs Goliath
David and Goliath. The FA Cup third round. There are plenty of examples of small triumphing over big, but in business, it is generally accepted that larger is better. Bigger budgets, more resources, greater power and higher profile brands are all the things that most small business owners have traditionally coveted.
But this situation may be changing as it seems the big guns are turning to the little guys for inspiration. (more…)
Tags: 03 number, 03 numbers, 08 Direct, 08 number, 08 numbers, 0800 free phone number, 0800 freephone number, 0800 number, 0800 Numbers, 0844 number, 0844 numbers, 08direct.co.uk, auto attendant, BBC, Call Forwarding, fax to email, free fax to email, freephone number, Interactive Voice Response, IVR, national 0844 number, non geographic numbers, non geographical numbers, number translation services., Pepsi, PepsiCo, SMEs, start-up business
Posted in Business News, Uncategorized | No Comments »
Wednesday, October 19th, 2011
Is your glass half full or half empty?
In the last 24 hours the news has been full of more economic doom and gloom. Inflation has hit a 3 year high at 5.2% and Argos, that stalwart of the high street, has reported dreadful financial results with its profits plummeting more than 90% in the last six months. As we’ve come to expect from the media, it sounds like everything is going from bad to worse for anyone in business, but it seems that many people, including elements of the press, share 08Direct’s view that to survive this downturn you have to be positive and not allow yourself to be talked into the depths of despair.
Take the recent Business of the Economy debate in Leeds which featured a panel of heavyweight business and economy experts including a former member of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee, the head of a leading accountancy group, a leading economist and a financial services expert.
According to leading regional news provider, The BusinessDesk.com , ‘it was refreshing to hear all four panellists being very bullish and honest about their thoughts for the prospects for both the general economy and the prospects for individual businesses – it makes a change’.
Clearly, everyone is getting fed up with constantly hearing the economy being talked down. TheBusinessDesk.com continued…During a discussion on confidence and the role the media has to play in the ongoing recovery, a special mention was given by chief economist Dennis Turner of Robert Peston, the BBC’s Business Editor. “We are emerging from a difficult period and it’s easy to take the economy down and Robert Peston is leading the charge,” said Turner. The murmurs of agreement from the audience said it all.
So, there you go. The experts are telling us that there are reasons to be cheerful and even the media is fed up of reporting negativity.
Let’s keep a positive outlook and raise our half full glasses to a brighter business future. Cheers!
Tags: 03 number, 03 numbers, 08 Direct, 08 number, 08 numbers, 0800 free phone number, 0800 freephone number, 0800 number, 0800 Numbers, 0844 number, 0844 numbers, 08direct.co.uk, auto attendant, BBC, Business of the Economy debate, Call Forwarding, fax to email, free fax to email, freephone number, Ian Briggs, Interactive Voice Response, IVR, national 0844 number, non geographic numbers, non geographical numbers, number translation services., Robert Peston, TheBusinessDesk.com, UK economy
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Friday, October 14th, 2011
Dennis Ritchie
Steve Jobs’ passing was rightly lamented in the world’s media, but I wonder how many people will note the passing of Dennis Ritchie? Far fewer, I’ll bet, but arguably he was many, many times more important to IT innovation than the Apple founder.
Ritchie’s software creations and their direct descendants run pretty much everything we use online today, including Jobs’ own devices like the iPhone.
When you visit a website and your PC asks you to run Java…that’s based on Dennis Ritchie’s C programming language, a shorthand of words, numbers and punctuation. Successors like C++ also build on the ideas, rules and grammar that Mr. Ritchie designed.
He also came up with the Unix operating system which has similarly had a rich and enduring impact. Unix and its free, open-source variant, Linux, underpins nearly everything online. It powers many of the world’s data centres, like those at Google and Amazon, so much so that 70% of all web servers use it. Its technology also serves as the foundation of operating systems like Apple’s Mac OS, iOS on your iPhone, Android on your smartphone, the base system in your wifi router at home …
So, you may not realise it but Dennis Ritchie’s inventions touch your life every single day and although he may not be as well-known as Mr Jobs, his IT legacy will live on for many generations to come.
Requiscat in Pace, dmr.
Tags: 08 Direct, 08 Number News, 08direct.co.uk, Apple, apple ipad, business advice, business startup, C+, Dennis Ritchie, non geographic numbers, non geographical numbers, non-geographical number, number translation services., Small Business Advice, unix
Posted in Business News | 7 Comments »
Wednesday, October 12th, 2011
Blackberry is under pressure from all angles
BlackBerry users now find themselves facing a 3rd consecutive day of service disruption.
As a result, RIM, BlackBerry’s maker, whose recent financial results have disappointed investors (we blogged about it here ) is now under further pressure as it faces the prospect of losing subscribers who are disgruntled due to service quality. (more…)
Tags: 08 Direct, 08 number, 08direct.co.uk, android, Apple, apple ipad, blackberry, business advice, business startup, non geographic numbers, non geographical numbers, number translation services., RIM, small business, Small Business Advice, telecoms
Posted in Business News | 3 Comments »
Thursday, October 6th, 2011
If you’re a regular visitor to the 08Direct blog, you may have noticed that we’ve just added some buttons to our posts so that you can share them more easily via Facebook, Twitter etc.
Give them a try and let us know how you get on.
Hope you find them useful!
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Tags: 08 Direct, Facebook, Sharing, Social media, Twitter
Posted in Business News | No Comments »
Thursday, October 6th, 2011
Steve Jobs
It was with great sadness that I heard the news this morning reporting Steve Jobs’ passing.
Regardless of whether you are an Apple devotee or not, it is undeniable that Steve Jobs’ vision, creativity and innovation has had a dramatic impact on our personal and business lives. His inventions were always way ahead of the world’s technology companies and each one has spawned countless imitations .
There will be a lot written about Steve Jobs in the wake of his death but the definitive tribute and therefore the last word in this blog should come from Apple.
Tags: 08 Direct, 08direct.co.uk, 1955-2011, Apple, apple ipad, iPhone, iPhone 4s, iPod, RIP Steve Jobs, Steve Jobs, telecoms
Posted in Business News | No Comments »
Wednesday, October 5th, 2011
So, there’s a new iPhone, but it’s not the one the world was expecting. In fact the iPhone 4S is really just a slightly enhanced version of the existing model. It has the same look and feel as the existing iPhone 4, which was launched 15 months ago, but boasts an improved camera, longer battery life and some new voice recognition capabilities.
There has been widespread disappointment following the launch with avid Apple fans feeling underwhelmed. Shares in Apple fell by almost 5% within minutes of the eagerly anticipated launch, with analysts saying that investors and Apple fans had expected the latest version to be a more radical. (more…)
Tags: 08 Direct, Apple, iPhone, iPhone 4s, small business, Small Business Advice, Sprint, telecoms
Posted in Business News | No Comments »
