Dr Michele McVie came to Topcatt with a simple project in mind. She wanted a quick and easy web presence to direct clients to with a strong SEO focus – ensuring she was found by anyone searching for her.
To do this we built a ‘squeezepage’ style website designed to rank well on Google for certain keywords. We chose a simple layout and design to keep development costs down. The site came with email addresses and tested contact forms. Dr McVie now enjoys regular website traffic, comments from clients and ranks on page one for all the keywords identified in the brief.
Finding a web development company can be a challenging process. Most people find their web company by going on the referrals of friends. Not surprisingly, most of our clients are word-of-mouth referrals. Website companies are a lot like restaurants, they all seem to offer food, but that’s about where the similarities from one to another stops! We differentiate ourselves from other companies through our processes and ability to change the developers we use according to the job ou client requests. Where most companies will have a full-time team of web developers, graphic designers, tech’s and the like (or just one guy in his bedroom) we have networks of developers, graphic designers, film productions crews, mobile application experts, marketing and branding specialists and more. We are often asked to work with a companies existing IT team or existing web development company. That’s fine by us, provided we think they are the best equipped for the task at hand!
We don’t believe clients should be restricted by the team they choose. We believe our clients are looking for experts to help facilitate the development of their web or software needs. Once we understand the scope of the project in full, we find the best people to do the job. We work with you to make sure your vision is moved to reality. We strive to get it right first time.
Our areas of specialty are Cosmetic and Plastic Surgery, Appearance Medicine, General Medical, Beauty, Hair, Fashion and Music. We have clients in other industries also, but feel our talents are especially useful to clients in these markets.
Let’s get together and find out what opportunities are there for you and your business and how we are able to use the latest internet technologies to grow your business.
Website Company – What makes a good one? August 3rd, 2012Admin
fdRx is a medical supply company based in Auckland, New Zealand. Topcatt were brought in to develop a sharp, modern eCommerce website that was easy for clients to use without any online shopping experience. It had to contain rich media, and handle a large amount of products and categories. We were also responsible for logo design and content writing. We are currently working on SEO and other social media.
It really is a beautiful online store…be sure to check it out!
Leontine Musso contacted us when after investing in an eCommerce site built by MyWork, she found the site wasn’t generating any revenue; a distressing situation for an eCommerce based fashion enterprise. After investigating other development options we elected to continue with MyWork as the development team, with us making sure the build was completed to Leontine’s requirements. We also manage her Facebook page increasing her likes to over 350 in two weeks. Within one week of relaunching her site Leontine was listing on page one of Google for several search terms including listing higher than some of her suppliers!
We continue to work with Leontine who now finds her website drawing a significant income and growing steadily every week. She has also started stocking her unique women’s clothing in many physical stores throughout South East Queensland and Northern NSW. Take a look at www.ganidesigns.com.au
Sonya Ferguson came to Topcatt initially for some consultation regarding her Facebook page. She was also concerned with her online presence because as part of a larger clinic, she only had a dedicated page and not a website. We see this all the time, clients losing business to competitors whose online presence boasts rich content that is mobile friendly and integrated with social media and all their online efforts.
We devised a complete strategy for Sonya including an online store based website using wordpress and woocommerce which opened a new income stream for her and meant her regular clients were weasily able to stay on their prescribed skincare regimen and weren’t lost to supermarket and pharmacy products, social media integration with facebook, google+, youtube, twitter and linkedIn that keeps her network of clients engaged and continues to grow and an SEO campaign including mobile advertising and keyword targeting that has assisted in getting her website to the top of page one.
She now enjoys a modest income from the website (which means its paying for itself), an increase in new business as clients are finding it easy to find her, and a more professional online presence which brings her public appearance in line with her Appearance Medicine credentials and reputation. Sonya is now spreading into blogging, creating rich engaging content for the web and improving her search engine rankings!
Face Doctors Remuera employed us to do everything from scratch. This included creating logo’s, branding brief documentation, building websites, creating their social media network, running a complete online campaign for their launch and managing their ongoing SEO and online marketing activity.
We started by immersing ourselves in their existing branding and business vision. We then tested several branding concepts through their market demographic before selecting the design that resonated most with their audience. The results have been very well received. Contact Face Doctorrs Remuera for a testimonial or referral regarding Topcatt’s work!
Shooting an iPhone video with your fiends just got a lot more interesting. Meet Vyclone, a social video creation, collaboration, and sharing app for the iPhone and iPod touch.
Available Thursday, the app lets two or more users create a collaborative video with others who are also shooting an iPhone video in physical proximity to them even if you’re not friends with or even aware the other people are shooting a video.
The result is an almost instant multi-angle video of an event that you’ll swear was created by a professional video editor.
“Working as a musician for years, I noticed that people were always taking video of their favorite
moments of each concert, but there was no way for them to share their different viewpoints with
each other,” said co-founder and chief creative officer Joe Sumner. “We created Vyclone to
solve that problem and the result is something that goes far beyond concerts to finding a new
medium for expression.”
To do its magic, Vyclone uses the GPS in your iPhone to determine your location. If you’re recording a video with the app at the same time and place as another person, then the app will automatically edit together your two videos into one ultimate video mix. Bring four people together in the same spot and Vycone will combine all four video streams into a single synchronized mix.
Filters such as sepia and black & white can be added to videos while you’re shooting them to give them a unique look.
Once you’re done recording -– videos are currently limited to one minute in length — you’ll have the option to make the finished product available for just your crew (people you’re linked to on Vyclone), the Crowd (people who were around you when the video was recorded), or Everyone.
Finished videos can be shared in one tap on Facebook and Twitter as well as saved to the camera roll on your iPhone or iPod touch.
You can upload your video clip with tags or a comment. Uploads can be done right after you’re done shooting over your phone’s data connection, but can also be saved within Vyclone to upload later when you’re connected to a Wi-Fi hotspot or have a more reliable data connection.
Once uploaded Vyclone will find people who were near you at the time of shooting and automatically edit together your videos into one multi-shot completed video. If you don’t like the automatic edit, you can also manually adjust it with Vyclone’s built-in video editor.
Much like you can with other video and photo sharing apps, Vyclone also has a gallery of videos created by others on the app you can browse through, allowing you to see at a glance what videos are popular at the moment, as well as what videos Vyclone has decided to feature.
All public videos can be re-edited by alone. So, if you see a video and think you could do a better job, you have the option to do so.
If you’re at a concert or event, a nearby feature on the app will let you see what other Vyclone movies have been created near the space you’re in. The feature could also come in handy if you’re traveling somewhere new and want to get a sense of what’s going on around you.
Vyclone is currently available for iOS only, and is available now for free from the App Store.
If you’re on the market for a new phone — don’t buy the iPhone 4S just yet. The sixth-generation iPhone is on its way, according to Japanese tech blog Macotakara, a popular resource for pre-production news.
The resource successfully predicted the iPhone 4S release in 2011. The August reports stated the iPhone 4S and iPad 3 would publicly launch in October that year. The iPhone 4S did, in fact, launch in mid-October. The new iPad, however, launched a few months later in March 2012.
After personally using the Samsung s3 for a couple weeks before returning to the fruit, I would have to say it better impress because Samsung is far ahead at the moment!
With these babies you could see what a concert looks like from the bands point of view, while watching them from the crowd! Love it. C’mon Apple – whatcha got?
Google Glass
Google co-founder Sergey Brin dropped jaws at the company’s annual developer conference in San Francisco Wednesday morning with an enthralling demonstration of Google Glass, the company’s ultra-intriguing wearable computer project.
In case you missed it, here’s what happened: a team of skydivers logged into to a Google+ Hangout and jumped from a plane then sailed down to the roof of the Moscone Center where Google I/O is being held. Via streaming video, viewers watched the descent from the jumpers’ point of view in real time. As stunt bikers pedaled across the roof then rappelled down the side of the building and entered the conference hall, we saw all that from their eyes too.
It all raised a fascinating question: What about “real” sports? You know, football, basketball, baseball and the like. How could lightweight, POV cameras worn by players transform sports broadcasts? And how could products like Google Glass worn by fans at events revolutionize the spectating experience?
Changing the Game
Instead of watching a television broadcast of a game, imagine watching it via streaming video and picking your vantage point from traditional wide angle shots to feed delivered via camera glasses worn by different players. This isn’t as far-fetched as it may sound. TNT impressed NBA Playoff viewers with Overtime, a multi-angle streaming service, and Rajon Rondo of the Boston Celtics tried to play a game in sunglasses earlier this year. Baseball players wear shades all the time, so eyewear isn’t necessarily considered too cumbersome.
Google Glass’s still somewhat mysterious augmented reality features would really kick in when the devices are placed on fans’ heads — although there’s also the ethical conundrum of athletes being able to leverage information delivered by AR.
Eric Smallwood of the sports marketing agency Front Row described to us a scenario of fans sitting in the stands at a Major League Baseball stadium wearing glasses that project constantly updating pitch-by-pitch stats without forcing users to look away from the field of play. Augmented reality could also direct fans to nearby vending services.
“This would be a really unique opportunity,” Smallwood said, cautioning that it’s nowhere near practical today.
Ever wanted to be a rock star? June 28th, 2012Admin
Further to our recent story on SquaredUp’s awesome mobile banking device comes PayPal’s reply:
In 2009, Square revolutionized ecommerce with their mobile credit card reader, and is now processing $6 billion a year in payments from more than two million Square users.
But now Square has competition from PayPal — it boasts 110 million users worldwide and more than $118 billion in transactions last year — which is preparing to introduce the PayPal Here mobile payment service.
We compared the two services to help you decide which one is right for you and your business.
The Apps
The Square app comes in two flavors. There’s the mobile app and then there’s iPad-exclusive, Square Register (There’s also a basic iPad app, but Register has many of the same features and more). The smartphone app is fairly bare bones, letting you enter a description, a photo and a total price. Unfortunately, itemized receipts are not available, so you’ll have to list multiple items as one description and charge a lump sum.
For a more complete storefront experience, Square Register lets you create a catalog of items with different prices, descriptions, photos or icons. Items are shown in alphabetical order or your most popular products can go on the Favorites tab for easy access. And, yes, this one spits out an itemized receipt to email, text, or certain models of receipt printers.
The PayPal Here app is the best of both worlds. It runs on a smartphone, but also lets you create a catalog of products, complete with description and photo. The items can be arranged for ease of use on the iPhone, but for now the Android version only shows items in the order they were added.
Currently, PayPal Here is optimized for smartphones only. Though it works fine on the iPad, it’s not full-screen. According to Anuj Nayar, senior director of global communications at PayPal, the company has “near-term plans” for a dedicated iPad and Android tablet app.
Payment Types
Square accepts credit and debit cards, but can also manage cash transactions. If your customer has the Pay with Square app loaded on their mobile device, they can send payment from within the Square network. No matter how they pay, you can send an electronic receipt, plus Square adds the transaction to an integrated sales history feature so you can track inventory and spot consumer trends.
Turnaround for payment is fast, with transactions processed before 5:00 p.m. available in your bank account the next day.
Like Square, PayPal handles cards, cash, or customers with the PayPal app installed on their mobile device. Unlike Square, though, the app can snap a picture of a personal check and submit it to PayPal, too. Every transaction gets added to an in-app sales history, and you can send a receipt via text, email, or a hard copy from a network printer.
For most transactions, the money is available in your PayPal account within minutes. Coupled with a free PayPal Debit Mastercard or the PayPal app, you can use the money almost immediately (plus earn 1% back with the Mastercard). Or if you prefer to use your own bank account, a card transaction is deposited in two to three days, but checks have to clear first, which delays the deposit up to six days.
The Fees
Both services offer a free card reader by mail, but only Square’s reader is available in more than 7,000 nationwide retail locations, including many Walgreen’s and Wal-Mart stores. You pay $10 if you buy it in a store, but once you activate it you’ll get a $10 credit to your account.
For each swipe of a card, Square takes 2.75% of the transaction total, with no monthly fee, which is a lot better than most traditional merchant accounts. If you don’t have your reader, you can type in the card number, but the rate goes up to 3.5%, plus a .30 cent transaction fee. There’s no fee for tracking cash transactions.
PayPal charges a slightly lower 2.7% transaction fee, with no monthly fee. You can key in the card number, but your mobile device’s camera will also scan the front of card to input the numbers and expiration date, eliminating typing time and fat finger errors. The fee for non-swipes goes up to 3.5%, with a .15 cent fee tacked on. Like Square, tracking cash transactions is free.
Getting Started
To setup a Square account, just head over to Squareup.com with your bank account information and you’ll be ready to go in minutes. However, the service is currently only available in the United States. They are looking to expand internationally in the future, but these partnerships are not in place just yet.
Signing up for PayPal Here is as easy as going to PayPal.com and logging in with your existing account. Unfortunately, the demand has been so high for the service since it was announced in March, that they’re working through a backlog of more than 300,000 eager early adopters. PayPal’s, Nayar says they are continuing to ramp up distribution of the card readers, which should allow them to have the wait list knocked out in the next few weeks. After that, new requests will be addressed more quickly. The good news for international customers, is that PayPal Here is available in the U.S., Canada, Hong Kong, and Australia, with Japan coming soon thanks to a partnership with the country’s largest telecommunications company, Softbank.
What do you think? Can PayPal’s household name recognition knock out Square? Or is Square already too far out in front to lose? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below!
Paypal Squaring Up! The smackdown begins… June 27th, 2012Admin
