Scan2Donate – Easy QR-Code Donation System

January 26th, 2012

Charities can now use TextBlue’s Scan2Donate QR-Code donation system to quickly and easily collect money from mobile phone users.


Using our QR-Code donation system, charities can select how much money they would like phone users to donate. This donation will then be collected directly from the customer’s mobile phone bill; with no need to enter any additional details.

QR-Codes are a great way for mobile phones users to interact with brands and organisations; not only for marketing purposes but to help charities collect donations in a new, fun way.

QR-Code readers are sometimes built into phones. However, you may need to download a QR-Code reader, by searching for “QR Code Reader” in the iPhone App Store, Android Marketplace or Blackberry App World.

To find out more about TextBlue’s Scan2Donate QR-Code donation system, please call our friendly team today on 01782 450 451 or e-mail enquiries@textblue.co.uk.

Special Leap Year Offers

January 23rd, 2012

In February this year (this being a Leap Year), you have an extra day to promote to potential customers.

To help you, we have some great Leap Year offers available throughout February.

We have reduced the cost of the TextBlue Ultra – software solution – from £199 + VAT to £159 + VAT. This is a one-off cost for your business and provides you with a marketing system you can use for years to come.

Operating on a PC or Laptop, the TextBlue Ultra allows you to send Bluetooth advertising content to up to 7 Bluetooth-enabled mobile phones at any one time (with a range of up to 1000 meters*).

Alternatively, we can also offer you a great deal on a 29 day rental of TextBlue Mini hardware solution, which does not require a PC or Laptop to function.

Designed to be carried around easily, the TextBlue Mini can connect to up to 14 mobile phones at any one time, with a range of up to 100 meters.

Powered by the included lithium battery (for up to 12 hours continuous use) or power supply, the TextBlue Mini has been specifically-built to be a great, portable advertising solution.

For more information on our special Leap Year offers, please give our friendly team a call on 01782 450 451.

iPhone and Android Apps for Estate Agents

January 19th, 2012

iPhone apps and Android apps can be extremely useful for both estate agents and potential home-owners. If a potential customer has your app installed on their iPhone or Android Device, they can browse through your catalogue of properties, easily locate each property and complete a form to book a property viewing.

We can provide you with an App, that makes it easy for potential clients to find out more about your properties and easily find your sales office.

All our iPhone Apps and Android Apps are designed with your estate agency in mind; from a fully branded design scheme to features that help you interact with your clients.

Some of the features we can provide are:

e-Book – You can upload a booklet containing information on all the different types of property you have for sale, which can be updated regularly and sent directly to all phones with the app installed.

Maps – Help people to find your most popular property or your sales office, with an integrated map.

Form – App users can complete a form to book a property viewing or receive a copy of the property booklet through the post. Once completed, the information will automatically be sent to any specified e-mail address.

Photo Capture – Allows potential clients to capture photos of a property they are interested in and share them with Facebook friends or on Flickr.

Instant Message Notifications – Send an instant message to all app subscribers; keeping them up-to-date with with any offers or news. We include 5 monthly Instant Message Notifications as standard.

Geo-Fencing – This allows you to target subscribers, whenever they are close to your sales office or your properties. When the user is a specified distance from this location, they receive a notification. As with Instant Message Notifications, we include 5 geo-fencing notifications a month.

Please click here to view the full list of available features.

In just 4 steps, you can get your App designed, created and ready-for-use:

Step One: Choose Your Features – Firstly, you need to choose which features you would like for your app. We will discuss your requirements with you, in detail, to ensure we have all the content you need.

Step Two: App Design – We then spend time designing your app and e-mail it over to you, for approval, within 5 working days.

Step Three: Build the App – We build the App and will send you over a working demo of what it looks like and does.

Step Four: Demo – On acceptance of this demo, we will submit your app to Apple.

Step Five: Publish – This usually takes around 1 month in total from initial discussions to submissions. iPhone Apps take around 2 weeks to be approved. Android Apps take approximately 24 hours to be approved.

We have broken down our App pricing into two, affordable segments:

Set-up Cost of £250 – Paid up-front, this includes the Android and iPhone App design and the creation of up to 8 features from the full features list. Additional Pages/Features can be included for an additional cost.

Monthly Cost of £79 – Paid monthly, in advance, after you have accepted the demo and we have submitted your App to Apple and the Android Market. Additional Pages and Features will attract additional monthly charges.

Your app will be kept up-to-date to ensure its compatible with any advancements Android and Apple make.

The monthly charge includes 5 managed interactions from the following:

• App Page Changes and Updates
• Proximity Marketing Updates
• Blast App Messages

Additional managed configurations are £15 per configuration.

To find out more about how Estate Agents can benefit from iPhone Apps, please click here. Alternatively, please click here for more information on how Estate Agents can benefit from Android Apps.

New Scan2Win QR-Code Marketing Feature

January 6th, 2012

We have recently released a fantastic new feature for our QR-Code marketing platform, called Scan2Win.


This feature allows you to offer people, who scan in your QR-Code, the chance to instantly win a prize.

At random, the system will choose a winner and the lucky user will see (there and then) if they have been chosen to get a prize.

Unlike traditional Scan2Win campaigns – where users have to enter their details to be entered into a prize draw (which is great for large prizes and we can offer this too) – the benefit of an instant prize draw is that it gets the adrenaline going; as you are waiting for the page to load. Similar to the feeling you getting when playing a slot machine.

How It Works

Step One: Load three adverts and select the odds of them showing. Example, Advert 1 appears  33 in 100 times, Advert 2 appears 33 in 100 times , Advert 3 appears 33 in 100 times.

Step Two: Create a prize and a message that shows when someone wins. This could appear 1 in 100 times.

This all happens completely randomly so, every time a user scans, it’s a surprise as to what will show.

Our QR-Code Scan2Win system costs just £25 per month for up to 20 adverts.

Call us on 01782 450 451 to discuss your requirements.

International SMS Marketing Rates

November 30th, 2011

One of the benefits of SMS Marketing is that you can send text messages to any organisation throughout the world.

TextBlue provide fantastic international SMS rates to help all our SMS Marketing customers take advantage of this effective form of marketing.

Full pricing is automatically calculated, by the SMS Marketing control panel, before you send your message; even if you are sending an SMS to a group that contains mobile numbers from different countries.

International SMS rates apply to the country the receiver’s phone is registered in. This means that, if the phone was registered in the U.K., no matter where in the world that person is, they will only be charged 1 SMS Marketing credit (but the handset owner may be charged roaming fees, depending on the contract with their mobile operator).




To find out more about SMS Marketing and International SMS Marketing, from TextBlue, please e-mail support@textblue.co.uk or call our friendly team on 01782 450 451.

Alternatively, you can register for an account by clicking the button below:




SMS Marketing and Text Marketing

November 24th, 2011

SMS Texting is one of the most popular forms of communication in the U.K.; which makes SMS Marketing a great way of connecting to customers.

As most people read every text they receive, our SMS Texting platform is one of the most cost-effective marketing methods available.

Not only do we give you 10 free SMS messages, to test the SMS Marketing system, we do not charge an administration fee or set-up cost.

This means you only pay for each SMS you send out.

Our current SMS Marketing Price List is:



Signing up for an SMS Marketing account couldn’t be easier… you can do it yourself, online, in a few simple steps.

Click the button below to sign-up for an SMS Marketing account:





Alternatively, give our SMS Marketing team a call on 0800 633 8485.

Promote to Christmas Shoppers

November 7th, 2011

It’s the time of year again, when people venture out, in all conditions, to get their loved ones a Christmas present.

Nearly all Christmas shoppers this year will be carrying a mobile phone.


You can promote to Christmas shoppers, for FREE, using Bluetooth Advertising. Advertising messages can contain an image or animation, to really get your product promotion across.

All you need is a Bluetooth or Wi-Fi Marketing device, such as the TextBlue Mini, which you can rent for just £99 + VAT and use throughout the run-up to Christmas.

SIM cards that add NFC to Existing Phones

September 16th, 2011

Korean mobile network operator SK Telecom has announced an NFC-enabled USIM card that enables existing mobile phones to be turned into NFC devices by simply replacing the existing SIM with one of the new NFC USIMs. The NFC sim cards are expected to cost in the region of £20 to £30 each.

The ‘NFC on USIM’ cards provide standard SIM functions plus a near field communication antenna and an NFC controller — all on one, small chip. The new NFC USIM will be available in October 2011.

As well as payments, the NFC USIM can be used to support peer-to-peer communications. A phone equipped with the new SIM can be used to receive product information in stores, mobile advertisements and coupons, conduct real-time account transfers between handsets, exchange electronic business cards, check-in to hotels, unlock doors and verify the user on PCs.

Google +1 – a new way to get your business noticed

July 28th, 2011

Over a year ago, Facebook introduced Facebook Likes – a feature that allows users to share the things they love with their friends.

Never a company to be outdone, Google have now introduced their own version; Google +1.

Recently launched, it gives people the chance to recommend a website to everyone in their Google network; and also puts the number of recommendations in the search results for the world to see.

The more +1s a website has, the more recommendations it has received.

As part of our new SEO (Search Engine Optimisation service (where we identify and resolve any issues we find with your site), TextBlue can add the Google +1 button to your website.

                                                     

Not only does this allow you to stay at the forefront of technology, you will also be allowing people to spread the word about your site – getting you more traffic and generating enquiries.

If is something you are interested in finding out more about, please feel free to call us on 0800 633 8485 or e-mail support@textblue.co.uk.

Google Panda affects websites that once ranked highly on Google

July 14th, 2011

Earlier this year, Google introduced Google Panda, which caused many businesses to take a dramatic fall from the top of Google search results to the bottom.

The Google Panda/Farmer Algorithm gives websites a negative ranking if they contain a lot of advertisements or content from around the web.

Features such as automatic news feeds, that search the internet for industry-related news, no longer help you get higher up the search results.

Ever since the Panda/Farmer Algorithm was introduced, the only real way of getting your site up the search results is to put unique content on there regularly.

This does, of course, takes a lot of time. Time that many businesses do not have.

This is why getting an SEO-company on board is more important than ever.

Companies, like ours, can write blogs for you and make regular changes to your site, as well as ensuring your search terms are well-promoted.

If you would like some further information about this, or any SEO-related news and issues, please feel free to get in touch on 0800 633 8485, or e-mail support@textblue.co.uk.