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23 November 2007 1 October 2007 In this newsletter we share details of the
exceptional profit sharing arrangement which now makes a passive income
stream available to almost anyone for almost nothing. Check out also the latest businesses joining JustLocal and follow the news on the charity auction. (JustLocal News 19 September 2007) 2 August 2007 Check out the latest edition of JustLocal News. Updates on our innovative approach to raising money for charities and not-for-profit organisations as well as an exciting new opportunity to earn passive income. (JustLocal News 2 August 2007) 12 July 2007 There is so much great news in the latest edition of JustLocal News. We have a New Financial year offer which will rock your socks, share our best advertising secret, introduce the best networking/marketing group, release our exciting project where students can help your business and update you on new (and cute items) on the charity auction. Check it out today. (JustLocal News July 12 2007) 1 July 2007 7 May
2007 7 May
2007 JustLocal News
June 27 2007 Sharon is up for auction. 25
January 2007 The following changes have been made to JustLocal. - The RSS feeds for each post code page has now been combined into a single RSS feed. At this earlier stage it was felt it would be easier to keep everyone updated using a single RSS feed. The feed at the post code level will be re-introduced at the appropriate time. - We are currently trialling a basic search engine for JustLocal. None of the major search engines we reviewed met our needs. The search engine we are using was the one which came closest. Give the search engine a go. If the search engine proves popular, we will add it to the site. www.JustLocal.biz/search/search.php - The first Local Community Guide has been added to the 3106 post code page. The local community guide provides contact information such as emergency numbers, local schools and will be expanded to include local non profit groups. We have set the Local Community Guide up so that others can create one for their area. This offers another way for a business to advertise, and will help the business let the local community know they are happy to do things to help the local community. - Welcome Welcome to Simply Elegant Weddings. If you need help planning that special occasion, contact Simply Elegant Weddings (3083). Welcome also to NWSB - Networking With Small Business (3077). At JustLocal we believe in networking and reciprocal trade. We are happy to help support the efforts of this group. If you are located in the North/North East of Melbourne (or don't mind a bit of travelling) we would highly suggest going to one of their meetings. We will be attending the February 6th meeting and look forward to seeing other JustLocal users there. 11
December 2006 Now when you want, you can get detailed weather information direct from the Bureau of Meteorology's web site. (0000) The total fire ban yesterday also resulted in the question, "can I or can't I have a barbecue?" This link to the CFA site provides an answer. More news available using the RSS feed. 19
November 2006 Put simply think of RSS feeds to be like that column of news items you see in a paper. The one where there is a short title and a brief paragraph. RSS feeds allow us to share information with you which is more dynamic. To keep you informed. With RSS feed technology you can subscribe to these feeds using the built in features of the browser software and get the news you want to know about. In the latest browser use the orange RSS feed button. (For older browsers each post code page now has an RSS feed menu item to show the news items as a simple text list.) We have added RSS feeds to all the JustLocal post code pages. It is a good idea to also check the main JustLocal page RSS feed as well as your local post code page, as we will release news items on the main page of JustLocal which may also cover all post code areas. Our aim is to use the RSS feeds feature to keep you informed about opportunities available to you from the businesses advertising on your post code page. Just as important however we want the RSS feed to be a resource to enable you to find out about community events happening in your area. Whether it be a lost dog, or a local fete, the RSS feed is there to provide news to you that is relevant to your area. Advertisers can use facilities we provide to prepare and submit news items. If you want to let us know about something happening in your area send an email to the local community contact shown at the bottom of the post code page. To us JustLocal is a team effort. Advertisers are part of the team and so are you. RSS feeds now provide you with another way to help support your local community by letting us know of events that you feel others would like to know about. 13
November 2006 At JustLocal we now provide that ability to spell check using the Australian English dictionary files we produce for ALL major web browsers including Internet Explorer 6/7, Firefox 2 and Opera. Details can be found from the main JustLocal page (0000) either on the OpenOffice.org or Firefox/Thunderbird pages. The Australian English dictionary files have now been made available in numerous formats and can potentially be used in hundreds and possibly thousands of applications. Any application which uses Aspell (Eg Opera browser, ClipMate, ieSpell) can now use the files we produce. The files are available free and are licensed under LGPL. These files will remain free and can be passed on to others for free. Please let others know where they can get the latest versions of the files. You cannot charge others for these files, but you can charge a small distribution fee. 1
November 2006 Ever had the situation where you have one Sudoku book and everyone wants to do the puzzles? We have. In the MiniBooks section (available from the main page 0000) we now have a blank Sudoku template in MS Word and OpenOffice.org formats for you to print and use. 20
October 2006 Our latest newsletter (JustLocal News October 20) has two great offers for JustLocal users and advertisers. Everyone has the opportunity to win $50, and JustLocal advertisers can now access for FREE the MyAnswers service valued at $50,000-$100,000, by using the services of other JustLocal advertisers. Read all about it in our latest newsletter. 12
October 2006
7
October 2006 Mozilla,
Firefox, Thunderbird, Australian English spell check 26
September 2006 The Crap that we all have sitting in our cupboards, garages and just about anywhere we can store the Crap. It's not that the Crap is rubbish, it is just that it is stuff we all no longer want or need. We now make available to all JustLocal users our MyCrap software for FREE. MyCrap is a program used to create a list of Crap and produce files ready for the Internet. Combine MyCrap with our instructions, and now everyone can advertise their personal items on the Internet for FREE, zip, nada, zero, nothing. Check out MyCrap from the main page of JustLocal (0000). There is also a serious side to what we are doing. We believe in showing by example. If you own or run a business, we want to show you how easy it is to promote your business on the Internet. Try out MyCrap and our instructions and you will see the mystery of the Internet will start to disappear. Once the mystery is gone, you too can start to take advantage of all the Internet offers. We hope you have fun with MyCrap and enjoy our slightly off beat humour. 11
September 2006 Ben's entry describes him as a success coach. I would describe him as scary. Scary in his ability quickly cut through the detail. If you require a business coach to help you succeed then Ben is a person to consider. Ben can be found on the main page (0000) of JustLocal. Free for Community use As you know part of the design of JustLocal is for us to contribute 5% of our time and effort in supporting the community. Welcome to the Park Orchards BMX club. The current president Pam is passionate about BMX and her actions speak louder than words. Go to the 3106 page for the link to the Park Orchards BMX club. Recently we attended a Young Achievement Australia (YAA) promotion at Jeff's shed. I spoke to many young people and saw three products which took my interest. One person I spoke to was Chitralekah from the i.Ya group. Their product was a novel photo frame with embedded magnets, allowing the frames to be used in many ways and configurations. I offered my assistance to use JustLocal to a number of the groups. Chitralekah took action and now i.Ya is being promoted on the main page of JustLocal (0000). To me passion and action are key ingredients for success. Well done i.Ya. 24
August 2006 We are very pleased to welcome to Quickbeds. Quickbeds is a Flight Centre company and offers last minute accommodation (for the next 28 days) at exceptionally good prices in many cases. Quickbeds has been added to the main page (0000) and most post code pages. Please read the text tip as we have added comments on which item to select in Quickbeds to find accommodation in the area. 16
August 2006 16
August 2006 GST must be clearly stated We have recently seen an increasing trend to businesses quoting prices excluding GST, with GST later being added to the price. We believe pricing should be clear to consumers. JustLocal will not promote businesses which quote prices excluding GST, unless it is made perfectly clear the price is plus GST. It should not be up to the consumer to ask "does this price include GST". If no mention of GST is made, then the assumption should always be that GST is included in the price. Deceptive marketing We wererecently invited to a major hotel chain's presentation of their facilities on the weekend. It turned out we were invited on a false premise. We were really invited to a time share sales and marketing session. We consider that we were deceived into participating. From JustLocal's perspective, it is not acceptable business practice for any advertiser to deceive consumers in the way we were deceived. Any business found using what we consider to be deceptive marketing practices will be removed from the JustLocal service. Many businesses use such practises as a normal part of their business strategy. If your business works in this way then we ask you not to advertise with JustLocal. Every business is entitled to run their business as they see fit. We are simply advising businesses in advance of what we consider to be acceptable to participate in JustLocal. 14
August 2006 We have met some incredible people during this time. We have learned more than we could have ever imagined and we continue to learn every day. When we started JustLocal we wanted to celebrate in a very simple way. JustLocal started as a result of giving and so it made sense to us to start Giveadollarday. A simple act of giving a single dollar to any cause you desire. More information can for found by clicking on Giveadollarday on the main page or going to www.JustLocal.com.au/giveadollarday. Join us on Giveadollarday and have some fun. 14
August 2006 MyAnswers provides JustLocal advertisers with exceptionally low cost solutions to over 1,500 I.T. problems faced by small and medium sized businesses. MyAnswers conservatively contains over $50,000 worth of invaluable information. Even if it took hundreds of dollars in consulting time to solve a problem, the solution is made available for an incrediable $15.40 including GST. We don't want JustLocal to be good value, we want JustLocal to be incredible value. To access MyAnswers click on the following link (www.JustLocal.com.au/myanswers) or visit the main page of JustLocal and click on Rodin's famous statue, The Thinker. MyAnswers solutions are now exclusive to JustLocal advertisers. 8
August 2006 Thank you to everyone who participated. Our aim is to fine tune JustLocal based on real feedback from our advertisers and potential advertisers. As a result we have made a significant change in our money back guarantee. The money back guarantee now last for the period of the lease. We believe JustLocal will generate sales to recover and advertisers leasing fee and thus we now back this with our money back guarantee. (The money back guarantee does not apply to any referral reward that has been paid.) This now means we have simplified the referral reward. The referral reward now becomes due 14 days in the month following the month when the advertiser joins JustLocal and pays for their lease. We always wanted to guarantee results as we believe 100% in the power of JustLocal. Now we are backing our beliefs and the benefit is those who help build JustLocal by referring others get rewarded much sooner. REFERRAL CLARIFICATION We have also made it clearer what is meant by a referral. JustLocal is a very simple concept. Once you have joined JustLocal you know how it works. When you refer another business it can be as simple as showing them the JustLocal site, have them select a lot on a post code page, submit their details and pay for their lease. (They also need to have created an image and submit an image to the right specifications.) Should the business you are referring want to speak to us to clarify some details, or to ask us a question, that is what we are here for. Providing us with a name or simply giving people our telephone number or email address is not sufficient. The referral reward is one of the best we know. We do this because we appreciate your time and effort. Your help frees us up to help others and that helps everyone. Our approach to referral rewards is generous. Where there is a question or doubt, we prefer to award the reward. We appreciate your help and support and we recognise the importance of you as part of the team. 27
July 2006 Thanks to Eric Siao, the director of PSE Supplies Melbourne P/L (3175) for initiating the Dandenong page. The Greensborough post code page of 3088 went live in June. Thanks to George Bonola of Bonola Automatives (3088) for initiating the Greensborough page. Our family has all commented how our car has had the best service in years. Thank you. Welcome We would like to welcome and thank the following companies for participating in the JustLocal service. PSE Supplies Melbourne
P/L (3175) Trial of new colour coding feature For those who are interested we are trialling a couple of new features on the 3220 and 3216 post code pages. The text tips on these pages now appear much faster. In addition we have added the ability to change the background of the text tip. The light blue background means the retailers participate in the Network Card Limited loyalty program. This will enable the thousands of Network Card Limited consumers to quickly locate a participating retailer, enabling them to either earn or spend their rewards. Special thanks We owe our thanks to all participating businesses. This month I would like to highlight two in particular. Thanks to Graeme Ott of Network Card Limited (0000) for promoting JustLocal to the Network Card retailers in the Geelong area. Also the colour coding trial is something which I believe will add incredible convenience to consumers. It has never been so easy for a consumer to identify a particular type of retailer. In this case a Network Card retailer. Thanks for the opportunity to demonstrate this feature. A special thanks to Lyn Gill (0000) who opened our mind up to MonaVie and the potential for JustLocal to help the many small network marketing businesses. We find many people want to purchase products which are only sold via network marketing organisations. Until now the cost to advertise for these small businesses made it prohibitive to be located. JustLocal now provides an opportunity to assist a large number of these businesses. Thanks Lyn and thanks for your support. (We have also added ourselves on to the 3106 and 3088 post code pages as a MonaView distributor, to show others how JustLocal can be used to assist their network marketing business.) First Referral reward We are pleased to announce that Raymond Read of Read's Cartridges & Office Supplies (3223) is the first to receive a referral reward. Well done Raymond and thank you for your support. Look forward also to next months referral reward. Many people have offered their support of JustLocal and we appreciate their assistance. The referral reward is a way we say thanks to others for helping JustLocal. Whilst it is a way of us saying thank you, it can also be an excellent way to earn some extra income. Please feel free to promote JustLocal with a link on your web page. If possible link to the post code page you are advertising on. That way when people go to your post code page, you are also helping to promote other businesses in your area. They in turn will hopefully do the same which ends up promoting your business. The more businesses that link to JustLocal, the more we all rise in the search engines ranking. That makes it easier for people using search engines to find JustLocal and your business. How you support JustLocal is up to you. Whatever you want to do we will appreciate. Tips on saving using JustLocal We have been using quite a few of the businesses on JustLocal. Shopping locally always saves money in petrol. Shopping using the services which deliver can also save money on petrol and car usage. If you share the cost of postage, it will nearly always be cheaper than driving somewhere. So here are a few of the ways we and others have saved money in recent weeks. Quickflix - Free trial of 5 videos. Also $9.95 a month including delivery and return postage for two DVDs a month. You can also keep the DVDs for a number of days and watch them when you want. Make sure you chose the plan you want. Saving on trial DVDs estimated to be $15-$30. Firefly - One of our clients estimate his savings to be around $1,000 a year. Our saving would have to be hundreds of dollars a year. ePharmacy - Purchased around $80 of chemist items saving around $40. A & M Enterprises - Purchased $21 of batteries (button type, camera and watch) savings $48. Shoptopia - Clients purchasing hardware and software saving hundreds of dollars. DealsDirect - Client purchased refurbished notebooks saving $3000 on expected expenditure. Bank of Queensland - Saved $50 to open a second account. Melbourne banks generally charge a search fee. Bank of Queensland didn't. The second account will be used to clear funds from online purchases giving enormous peace of mind. Bonola Automotives - Whilst not a saving as such, the car has had the best service in many years. Click Business cards - Savings of tens of dollars and over a hundred for another JustLocal advertiser. OzLotteries - JustLocal advertiser saves money travelling and also gets advised of tattslotto results. Middle8 music - Sound track for use with firefly music on-hold. Legal music which they provide for free. It should be kept in mind JustLocal is not only about saving money. It is about supporting other businesses participating in JustLocal. We have brought on board many of the above businesses as a bonus for the users of JustLocal. When we see other business helping each other, using each others services and looking for opportunities for each other, that is when we get the greatest satisfaction from JustLocal. We hope you will too. Support those who support you We would like to take a moment to encourage everyone to think of JustLocal as more than an advertising service. We now use many of the businesses which advertise on JustLocal. We want to encourage everyone to use other businesses in their area (preferably JustLocal advertisers of course, but not always necessarily) and look for opportunities for each other. Where we can, we redirect our spending to JustLocal advertisers and suggest to our family, friends and clients to consider using the business of JustLocal advertisers. We ask that no one be put under any pressure, but to do it because they want. (It also helps that there are many bargains to be found on JustLocal. We know of people and businesses that will and are saving thousands from using JustLocal.) Saving money is good, but to us supporting each other is what JustLocal is about. We never thought about it much in the past, but now we ask ourselves "why do we spend money with businesses that would never spend money with us". This has changed our lives and it is changing the lives of others around us. Ask yourself "do the shops near you use your business? Do you use their business? If not, why not?" Next time you need a business in your area, check JustLocal first. Then let the business know you found them on JustLocal. Thanks everyone. Your support of JustLocal is appreciated. 24
June 2006 TIP: Once you know your area is covered the most convenient way to get to your post code page is to enter www.justlocal.com.au followed by a slash (/) and then your post code. For example to go to the Templestowe page we would enter www.justlocal.com.au/3106. In addition you can go to a post code page using the Go to Post Code box on every page and you can also use the area covered page to go to the post code page. If there are a number of areas you are interest in, a good option is to add each area to your favourites list. We have recently added greenpc to a number of pages throughout JustLocal using the "free for community use" lots and we are pleased to be able to offer them our support. 22
June 2006 Where possible we encourage reciprocal trade between JustLocal advertisers and that includes ourselves. We have used Bonola Automotives to service our slightly aging car and all our family noticed the improvement after the service. Well done and thank you. 22
June 2006 Cottage By The Sea is the first of many charities we aim to help by providing free advertising. Thank you Raymond for your support and tireless effort. 23 May
2006 MyAnswers is a database containing an estimated $50,000 worth of consulting effort to develop. It contains solutions to problems people and businesses have been faced with over the last couple of years. Solutions that have been answered by Online Connections. The MyAnswers database is now provides JustLocal advertisers with even more value. JustLocal advertisers now have 50,000 more reasons to use JustLocal. 23 May
2006 As it has not been mentioned previously in the news section, we previously adjusted the referral reward to be a much simpler flat rate of 20%. An excellent reason to refer others to advertise on JustLocal. 20
March 2006 A number of new companies can now be found on JustLocal pages. On the main page of JustLocal we have now added a Feedback item on the menu. 5
March 2006 Welcome and thanks to the following businesses for their support. Fresthtel JustLocal News is our newsletter for JustLocal advertisers. The first edition should arrive in your inbox shortly. 22
February 2006 Expose Our current motto has become "Support those who support you". Where we can, we will be directing our business to these suppliers and we encourage others to do the same. Shortly we will be emailing JustLocal News (our newsletter) to participating businesses. Keep an eye out for it in your email box. We trust you will find it informative. 12
February 2006 We applied the same techniques to JustLocal that we have previously developed for promoting our "Online Connections" website. (A search for Online Connections in Google returns over 90 million results. Online Connections is at the top of the list.) A search for JustLocal in Google places JustLocal at the top of the search list, which was our objective. A search for JustLocal using the Ninemsn search engine, also has JustLocal appearing at the top of the list. - We have now made an important change to the number of similar businesses advertising in a post code area. We want to ensure customers are always presented with a broad range of products and services to choose from. For this reason we are now limiting the number of similar businesses in a single post code area to be two. Businesses interested in using JustLocal should act quickly to ensure they are included in the JustLocal service. Already for a number of products and services there is only one opportunity remaining. 6
February 2006 2
February 2006 Also thanks Rohan for pointing out some of our post code area information may not have been correct. You were correct. We were using a very old copy of the post code data which is available from Australia Post. 1
February 2006 JustLocal™ is a revolution in advertising. JustLocal is the only advertising service where businesses get to share the revenue stream. JustLocal is a revolution in consumer convenience. JustLocal provides TRUE one click convenience to find businesses serving their local area. As we move forward with JustLocal we are constantly amazed at how truly different JustLocal is from all other advertising services in the market place. We know the road is not going to be easy. But the journey will be worthwhile. We are now in the process of marketing the service in the pre-release post code areas. From the 7th of February existing advertisers who can service an area can advertise in that area. On the 14th of February JustLocal goes live. A date we chose to celebrate 40 years since the introduction of decimal currency. Decimal currency changed our legal tender. JustLocal we believe will start the change towards a new approach in advertising. We look forward to the next 40 years. 25
January 2006 Our official launch date for the main page is February 14. Why this date you may ask? If is 40 years since decimal currency came in on February 14, 1966. Decimal currency changed our legal tender. We believe JustLocal will change advertising forever. We felt it was appropriate to celebrate the launch of decimal currency with the launch of our service. The post code pages which will come on line on this date are still in discussion. Everyone should consider the launch date as the unveiling of an exciting now service. We expect teething problems and thank everyone in advance for their patience and apologise for any inconvenience. We feel any minor hiccups will be compensate by this great new service. In fact we are making February 14 our give a dollar day. Each of our family will give a dollar to the first charity or worthy cause they see on that day. It is only four dollars. But you are welcome to join in as well. 19
January 2006 Various approaches were considered such as blogs, feature page etc, but at the end of the day it was felt a news page was the easiest to implement and would do what we wanted. That is, to keep people informed. As you can see JustLocal™ (or at least the publicly visible part of JustLocal™) is getting pretty stable. There is still work to tighten up the system. There is still all the back office systems required to be built. These can and will be done in due course. Thank you once again for those who are already participating. Welcome to Iaian Robertson (Robtel) and Paul Kirby (Del-Monti suits) who have now joined us on the main page. Thanks everyone for your support and encouragement.
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