This is probably more of an experiment but one of my Aussie sites, CouponIce has just undergone the latest update with some major changes.
The reason? To simplify absolutely everything and make it easier for the visitor.
First and foremost, single coupon pages have gone, that's right - removed completely. They provide the visitor with no real value especially if it was an expired coupon referred by Google and as a plus, this should also make Googs happy too.
* All coupons are sortable between active and unreliable.
* Extra coupon information normally found via the single.php is now available as a simple drop down (no need for a single page for each coupon anymore)
* Comments have been enabled for every store page using Disqus. Log in via a social network and you are done.
There are a few resident bugs, mostly due to the current 301 redirection to a coupons store page for every single coupon listing, but for now it appears to be working. Permalink conflicts appear to cause a loop so I have spent a heap of time cleaning out garbage like tags.
There are also a couple of design bugs, but nothing major, the next step is finishing a responsive theme for this site. This theme will be then used as a template for my other sites in the future.
Valve Community Finally relaunched
When I learned Phillip of PlanetPhillip fame was closing down Valve Community I just couldn't resist the opportunity of keeping the site alive. If you are a fan of Valve and Steam in general, ValveCommunity was always an excellent source of websites and communities dedicated to the creators of Half Life, Portal and Left 4 Dead.
After a chat on PlanetPhillip in this post, I finally bring you the:
Valve Community Relaunch
Valve Community 2010
RocketTheme Drupal Theme Club launched
The most powerful Open Source PHP CMS now has themes available from the best designers in the business, RocketTheme. In the past Drupal has always suffered from a limited choice of paid themes and those that were available were never in the same class as what you could find available for Joomla and WordPress.
As a starting point for creating your own unique website, Rockettheme has always been a fantastic starting point, not just for their unique template features but also for the extensive documentation and the massive power of the forum community. If you have a problem, the forum will likely solve it almost immediately.
Our Drupal themes are based on existing Joomla templates providing you with the ability to create a stunningly unique site design to enable you to stand out from the crowd.
Check out RocketThemes new Drupal themes right here.
Drupal Theme Club features
Access to all Drupal themes in the RocketTheme Drupal club portfolio
Access to all new RocketTheme Drupal themes released during your membership period
Theme usage based on number of entitlements you have accrued
Unlimited non-profit use
Access to the RocketTheme Drupal Community Forums
Ability to remove branding and user-facing copyright
Access to RocketTheme video tutorials
Top Australian Affiliate Networks
If you have an Australian based website and would like to monetize it, there are a number of great Aussie affiliate networks to work with. Matching related advertising to your audience is a must, there is no point in marketing a US online shop when most of your traffic is Australian based.
In no particular order here is a selection of the best Aussie networks to join:
Commission Factory
The newest major affiliate network in Australia, Commission Factory was created to fill the growing need within Australia for an network that is committed to merchants and affiliates, and their forever growing need for fast, reliable and simple interfaces that allow them to maximise their earnings and potential.
Commission Monster/ Viva 9
Founded in Melbourne ( Australia), the Company has been providing excellent proprietary Commission Monster Technology and infrastructure tools and services to advertisers and advertising agencies since 2003. Commission Monster® meets all of your online advertising needs providing a fully developed pay-for-performance service where you determine the performance criteria. One of the best Australian orientated networks to join with some big clients.
clixGalore
ClixGalore is one of Australia's biggest Affiliate Marketing networks which makes it easily build and start your own 'sale - CPA', 'lead - CPL', or 'click - CPC' based Affiliate program. clixGalore works seamlessly with 99% of all shopping carts and stores.
OneNetworkDirect
Digital River's oneNetworkDirect affiliate network, developed with the goal of being a top affiliate network, specializes in the software and digital marketplace. It doesn't matter where you live or who your audience is, software can be bought globally and OneNetworkDirect has some of the biggest software clients and features the largest selection offered online today.
For more networks dedicated to Australians, please check out ozaffiliate.com.au which also lists smaller networks and Stores with their own in house affiliation program.
OzSource Australia Update
You may have noticed all the non Steam content has evaporated from the site ozsource.org, That's because I have split the site and moved the media aspect to www.OzSource.com.au
ozsource.org will now remain a Steam fan/info site just the way it has always really been. Ozsource Australia will now be focused on alternative and future Media, something I have always had a passion for.
I came across this excellent resource of various Theater Signs whilst visiting AVS forums. What can you do with these? Checkout this AVS forum post and finish off your home theater room with some professional looking wall posters. You can even create an impressive desktop background or Collage for your HTPC screen using these images.
Is a more expensive HDMI cable better? In most real world cases, the answer is a definite no. As long as the cable you are buying conforms to the HDMI 1.3 spec you will be fine in today's consumer devices. There is a common saying on the internet in regards to buying HDMI cables
ITC Processing has been available on ATI graphics cards since Catalyst 9.2 though it can have a positive or negative impact depending on your display device. I posted this on my blog at aaronwhittaker.com a while ago though I have yet to see any significant difference with having this option enabled.
If you have a Windows based HTPC this little baby is an awesome addition to your Home theatre Centre. Offering two distinct operating modes: A media mode (see pic) and a cursor mode, this portable keyboard offers pretty much everything you require for a lounge room PC based perspective.
As highlighted with our previous XBMC introduction article, I have been using XBMC since it's transformation from XBMP (Xbox Media Player) and was the sole reason I purchased the original xbox. This day and age the focus is on High Definition formats and the original Xbox just doesn't cut it in terms of horsepower.
Available now for pre-ordering and finally arriving on the 3rd of September (Tomorrow) in Australia, the PS3 Slim is a hot piece of hardware. At long last Sony have got the pricing almost perfect on their current generation console. From the vast majority of stores, it looks as if it will retail for around AU$500
Popular web hosting company reviews
A lot of the time when searching for a host you'll most likely come across a "Top hosting provider" site like our very own HostSocial, which basically provides a full list of hosting providers within certain countries or regions. The site usually has a few features so you can filter what you'd like to choose from a hosting provider, such as "US providers" or "UK providers" - you can also specify the amount of space/month transfer and how much you'd like to pay for a hosting package.
The best thing you can do when visiting such sites is to take a look at their user ratings and customer feedback. Their ratings will be displayed next to the hosting provider in a list with ratings from 1 star to 10 stars (10 stars being the best rating possible and 1 being the worst) which users and customers have "rated" that specific company.
If you are a customer of that specific hosting company you can register on the top hosting providers website and leave feedback next to that hosting companies name - the much more and better feedback a company gets obviously means that the hosting provider offers a decent service and is most likely worth a try.
You may find that some of the best and most popular hosting providers are usually on the first page of search engines as they have spent a lot of money on advertising and promoting their website and business thus most likely a professional business that is committed to the industry.
There are still tonnes of web hosting companies out there that have not yet been discovered completely by the public so it's always worth searching forums and search engines for less popular but reliable hosting providers so you get better speeds at brilliant prices.
