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How to get set up on Google Places for Business

Want more customers for zero dollars and just five minutes’ work? (Thought so.) Google Places for Business is an easy way to make sure your business shows up any time someone searches locally for your product or service, putting your location, phone number, and store hours right at their fingertips. Take a looksie at our new support post on how to sign up to Google Places - it’s free and fast. ...

Get ‘Em Hooked: Why and How to Promote Your Blog on Social Media

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Xero user? Online shop? Free website? Join our pilot!

In December 2013 we launched the integration of our online shop integration with Xero.  With a few clicks it is now possible to connect a Rocketspark online shop with Xero so that invoices for online sales are automatically created in Xero.  Customer records and new products are also automatically created in Xero.   Rocketspark has been approved by Xero as an e-commerce add on partner in New Zealand we’re now looking to pilot our Xero add-on functionality in other markets and be...

How to lay out an about us page

There’s no doubt that website about us pages are important but what are the tricks of the trade to make sure you’ve got an about us page that gets results? ...

Why are my photos different sizes? Cropping and resizing photos.

Adding photos to your Rocketspark website is usually a piece of cake. But if you’re finding that the photos on your site are a mish-mash of different sizes and shapes, it probably means you need to crop or resize your pictures. Our new support post shows you just how easy it is to get your photos looking uniform. ...

How long does it take to appear in Google?

Your new web content won’t show up in any Google search results until it has first been discovered (or indexed) by Google—a process that can take anywhere from just a few hours or several weeks. If you are using a newly registered domain name then you will need to Add your domain name to the Google index. ...

How to use headings correctly on a website

Using headings correctly is a big deal.  Headings on your website are important signposts to Google and different heading types have different weightings of importance.  If you get it wrong, it might mean your website ranks lower in Google (and other search engines) than it should. If you think the “big heading” option on your Rocketspark website is just a bigger font size, think again! Check out our new support post how to know which headings you should use on your website. ...

New Staff Profile: Jordan Foster

Here at Rocketspark we’ve had designs on getting a new designer. (Pun intended.) Which is why we’re chuffed to welcome a brand new designer to the team: Jordan Foster. Jordan comes to us fresh out of doing a graphic design degree at Wintec. His tutor knew we were scouting for somebody with serious design sense and so put him in touch with us. Turns out, we liked him and he liked us. “I just get along with them real well,” says Jordan. “They’re really nice guys.” His role requires ...

New Staff Profile: Matt Elen

Matt Elen is new to the Rocketspark team. Well, sort of. What began last year as a short-term internship has now evolved into a permanent position. So how did he get sucked into staying? “It’s a cool product,” says Matt. “And it’s a good group of working people with exciting plans for the future—that’s why I stayed.” And we’re mighty glad he did. Despite still just being a whippersnapper, Matt brings a wealth of experience to the role, having started building websites in his h...

“Download File”: When to Avoid It and When to Embrace It

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In the Likely Event of an Emergency: 3 Steps to Creating a Data Recovery Plan

We’ve all heard the safety spiel, uttered in preternaturally cheery tones, that begins, “In the unlikely event of an emergency…” Yeah, well, it’s not like that with data loss. Data loss is likely. There’s only one way to have a fire, but there are countless ways to lose your data. Your computer gets stolen in an office break-in. Your laptop smashes to smithereens after you kick the cord. You drop your smartphone in the john. The data just decides to get itself corrupted. Or your har...

Rocketspark at Xerocon 2014

As a recent add-on partner to Xero, one of New Zealand's largest accounting software companies with over 250,000 users worldwide, Rocketspark was invited to attend their annual Xerocon in Auckland, February 19-21. This was an opportunity for us to showcase our product to the 900+ accountants in attendance and to meet and share with the other 25 add-on partners. ...

Welcome to the Party: Social Media for Business (Part 1)

Have you ever given a great sales pitch at a party? Gotten a new customer at a barbecue? Perhaps made a sale pool-side? You probably weren’t there to sell anything—you went to socialise—but at parties people let down their guards and open up. Social media is a party that your business can’t afford to miss. Not convinced? Forbes, citing research by event-promotion company Eventility, reports that a staggering 78% of small businesses get at least a quarter of their new customers th...

Welcome to the Party: Social Media for Business (Part 2)

Sometimes the best way to do business is to get social. And that’s never been more true than with social media, which is like one big party you don’t want to miss. Previously in this two-part blog series, we looked out how valuable social media can be to your business and gave an overview of the major social media sites for business. In this follow-up post, we look more closely at how to go from social nobody to veritable social butterfly. ...

Homepage layout ideas and content suggestions

In a previous post we talked about best practice homepages but there are many different homepage layouts you could choose from and still be colouring between the lines of best practise.  Every business is different, so the layout of your home page should best represent your business while still nailing best practice. Get all your homepage content ready A good place to start when planning the layout of your homepage is to think about the key information and content you want presented on the hom...

Rocketspark’s Free Website Workshop

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New feature - Rocketspark online shops now connect with Xero

We started using Xero as our accounting system in early 2012 and prior to that we used an Excel spreadsheet.  As a former accountant (just 1 year duration!) I'd learnt a fair bit about Excel spreadsheets and as a cash strapped startup we didn't see the value in splashing out on expensive software that would be tied to one computer. With our Excel accounting method I could create a monthly set of accounts that my co-founders could all access via a spreadsheet saved in dropbox.   ...

Featured Website - Grasshopper Rock

Grasshopper Rock is one of the world’s southernmost vineyards, established in 2003 and dedicated exclusively to pinot noir. Now, we’re no wine experts here at Rocketspark but, when you cast your eye over all those awards and reviews you can’t help but realise that Grasshopper Rock must produce a fantastic drop. Grasshopper Rock wanted a website that reflected their brand image, they could use to sell online and was mobile optimised for the new wave of online viewing. ...

New feature - All You Want for Christmas is… a Mobile Shop

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When to use uppercase vs lowercase text and centre aligned text?

Uppercase and centre aligned text are two text formatting styles that are often misused in web design so this post covers the basics of when or if they should be used. ...

Websites for Accountants: a look at Accounted4

We’ve already taken a look at what makes a top-notch website for an accounting practice. Now let’s get specific by putting the website for our client, Accounted4, under the microscope. Here at Rocketspark, we were recently tasked with giving Accounted4’s site a makeover. In this post, we’re going to go through the various key features we highlighted in our websites for accountants page and show you how we incorporated those features into Accounted4’s new site....

How best to display a Google map on your website

Rocketspark makes it really easy to add a map to your website.  Just add a map block and enter the address you want the pin to be centered on.  No need to worry about Google Maps embed codes. ...

What is a call to action & why does my website need it?

Website call to action = Asking visitors to do something. This might be as simple as “call us on 0800 762 538”.  Unless they’ve come to your website specifically to get your phone number, most visitors aren’t going to be ready to call you just yet.  The fruit isn’t ripened.  You need to warm them up to the idea - and do it quickly. ...

Why should I update my website?

Imagine if any time you googled “all blacks england score” the first thing that come up was from way back in 2002 (England, 31 - New Zealand, 28). Or when you searched “most popular christmas gift” the results returned were from the dial-up days of 1998 (remember Furby?). We all know the old Star Wars movies are better than the new ones, and everyone agrees that the Egyptian pyramids are more impressive than the mall downtown...but sometimes newer is better. And that’s often the case ...

How to do cross browser testing

You might not realise it, but right now you’re looking at a browser. A browser is the program on your computer that allows you to view the internet—yep, that thing you’re staring at this very moment as you read this sentence. There are lots of different browsers available, like Google Chrome, Firefox, Safari and Internet Explorer (if you look at the top left-hand corner of your screen, you should see the name of the browser you’re using). Not only are there different browser types, but ...