Version 4.0 of WordPress, named “Benny” in honor of jazz clarinetist and bandleaderBenny Goodman, is available for download or update in your WordPress dashboard. While 4.0 is just another number for us after 3.9 and before 4.1, we feel we’ve put a little extra polish into it. This release brings you a smoother writing and management experience we think you’ll enjoy.
Google My Business verification is now instant. According to an announcement on their forums, from today you can now instantly verify your business listing if you’ve already verified your business website with Google Webmaster Tools.
Google Employee Jade Wang posted the following:
Good news — starting today, if you’re verifying a page for your business, you may be instantly verified on Google My Business if you’ve already verified your business’s website with Google Webmaster Tools. The verification will happen automatically, if applicable, when you attempt to verify a page for your business.
If you’d like to try instant verification, please make sure you’re signed in to Google My Business with the same account you used to verify your site with Webmaster Tools
Not all businesses with websites verified using Google Webmaster Tools will have instant verification, since not all business categories are eligible. If that’s the case, please use one of our other methods of verification (https://support.google.com/
business/answer/2911778).
In the past verification had to be done via a Postcard. You created your business listing, entered your business address and Google would send you a Postcard in the post with a PIN number that you entered to verify you are where you said you were.
Now this can all be achieved instantly if you have already verified your business’s website with Google Webmaster Tools and if you haven’t, shame on you as it it’s a very powerful tool for all Webmasters.
Make sure you’re signed in to Google My Business with the same account you used to verify your site with Webmaster Tools. Note that some business categories may not be eligible for instant verification.
Once you’ve verified, you may see a banner asking you to review your information and make any final changes.
Click Done editing when you’re certain everything is up to date.
Note that you won’t be able to update the business’s name until the verification process is complete.
Jayfest is a non-profit making, inclusive summer Mountain Bike festival, set in the beautiful Scottish Borders town of Innerleithen. The festival aims to further the sport of mountain biking for riders of the present, and of the future through world class coaching, music and art. Jayfest will bring families together, unite communities and help to nurture new talent through the Jaymie Mart Foundation, set up to inspire young riders to be the very best they can be.
Jaymie Mart was a highly accomplished and successful downhill mountain biker, winning the Scottish Series seven times, and gaining a silver medal at the World Championships. Jayfest aims to celebrate her life which sadly and tragically came to an abrupt end in 2012. In celebration of her life and of her many many successes, it will offer a new, exciting and unique downhill event to the mountain biking calendar in the beautiful Scottish town of Innerleithen.
The Foundation is the financial backbone to this event, and aims to provide two young riders who are able to demonstrate huge promise in the world of downhilling with a means tested grant.
Here’s a video showing last years Jayfest action
Jayfest 2014 is on the weekend of the 26th to 27th July in Innerleithen in the Scottish Borders
There is stacks going on. From an Uplift Service so you can blast down the World Class Downhill Trails in Innerleithen to Coaching, Historic ride around Innerleithen, Talks and a Dance Night to round it all off.
On the 26th & 27th of July at Traquair trail-head in Innerleithen, you’ll find an invigorating combination of downhill mountain biking coaching for riders of all ages and abilities. From the young ‘uns just starting out in the saddle, through those who’ve fancied it for years but never tried. World class professional coaches will also be on hand all weekend to offer the very best of advice on your mountain bike technique & how to improve it.
Camping will be available on site payable on arrival for £5 (2 nights). The campsite is right next to the Jayfest site and in a great area. But please bring bike locks and look after your gear. Jayfest cannot be held responsible for damage to, or loss of property. There will be toilets on-site.
The .uk domain name is a shorter, snappier alternative to .co.uk. It shows your customers that you are located in the UK and as it’s shorter, it’s easier to write and remember than a .co.uk.
This new extension brings us in line with other large country’s for instance .fr for France and .de for Germany. Finally we are catching up with the rest of the world.
Absolutely anyone can register a .uk domain. There are no restrictions which means that anyone from any country can register one, much like a .com domain.
Previously we’ve always recommended customers go with a .com domain as it’s easier to type than a .co.uk but this has all changed now. From now on we will recommend a .uk domain for your business. It will also protect your brand and stop anyone else from registering it.
We are providing .uk domains at £4.99 per annum. That’s £2.20 cheaper than Fasthosts!
You can either call us on 01896 888 235 and we can register it for you or log in to your Customer Account at: clients.digitalessence.net and register through our sign up form.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Facebook Business Page Reach or the lack of has long been a hot topic among business owners. Over the years a lot of business owners have said that their Facebook Reach is down and they are finding it harder to get their content in front of fans. Many also state that it’s because Facebook is deliberatly making them pay to advertise. Well Brian Boland, who leads the Ads Product Marketing team at Facebook has written a Blog post all about why.
To sum up the two key points:
At any one time there are on average 1,500 stories that could appear in a person’s News Feed each time they log on to Facebook. For those with a lot of friends and Page likes this can be as many as 15,000. As a result, competition in a users News Feed, the place on Facebook where they view content from their family and friends, as well as businesses is increasing, and it’s becoming increasingly harder for any story to gain exposure in News Feed.
An infographic by SumoCoupon shows what Facebook’s billion-plus users do in the average minute, such as share 3.2 million posts, send 150,000 messages and upload 243,000 photos.
Rather than showing all possible content and flooding your Feed, the News Feed is designed to show the content that’s most relevant to them. Of the 1,500+ stories a person might see when they log onto Facebook, News Feed displays approximately 300. To choose which stories to show, News Feed ranks each possible story using EdgeRank. EdgeRank basically looks at thousands of factors relative to each person and determines what is most relevant to them. Over the past year, Facebook have made some important changes to how EdgeRank works and what content it chooses to display in your news Feed.
As a result of these changes, News Feed is becoming more engaging, even as the amount of content being shared on Facebook continues to grow.
The next questions is:
Facebook say No.
“Our goal is always to provide the best experience for the people that use Facebook. We believe that delivering the best experiences for people also benefits the businesses that use Facebook. If people are more active and engaged with stories that appear in News Feed, they are also more likely to be active and engaged with content from businesses.”
As always, producing good quality content that people want to read, like and share will increase your Facebook Reach.