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Tell us about your Spot!

Tue, 05 Feb 2008 04:01:00 GMT

Some of our users have made their InstantSpot sites their company home page, some for personal blogs, and some for photo galleries. Others are focused on bringing awareness to specific causes, creating an online professional resume, eBay stores, and others just for fun.

Do you have an interesting Spot? Tell us about it using our Contact form.

Help us spread the Spots!

Fri, 01 Feb 2008 19:57:00 GMT

Let's get it on! Now that the dust has settled after making the move to the brand spanking new release of InstantSpot, we need your help. Are you enjoying InstantSpot? If so, help us spread the love. Take a minute and go invite one of your friends or family right now!

Now you can Twitter on InstantSpot!

Fri, 13 Apr 2007 13:33:07 GMT

Twitter is being hailed as the new darling of silicon valley, allowing people to post 140 character messages to their Twitter account to keep their friends updated on what they are doing. What makes Twitter somewhat unique and has drawn many people to use it is the fact that they allow posting from anywhere - from their site, from your phone, and now... from InstantSpot!

If you are a Twitter user and want to let people know that you just updated your blog on InstantSpot, you can now update your Twitter status as you make your blog entry.

In your blog entry editor, you will find a new link above the editor that says "Update my Twitter status" as you can when you click the thumbnail image below:

When you click on the new Twitter update link, you will see a new form that allows you to enter your email address, password, and updated Twitter status message as you can see below:

As you submit your blog entry, we update your Twitter status with your new message. It is as simple as that!

New Feature - Google Talk Gadget!

Wed, 11 Apr 2007 16:56:46 GMT

Greeting faithful Spotters!

The InstantSpot development team rolled a brand spanking new feature into InstantSpot today that we wanted to make you aware of. You can now add a Google Talk Gadget instant messenger right into your Spot! Wherever you want the Google Talk Gadget to display on your page, simply type: [googletalk] into your page editor and you have a nifty way to communicate with your friends without having to install any Google Talk software.

Here is an example!

Please note that for the time being this will not be implemented into blog posts, but you can add it into any page. Go try it out!

Keep an eye on your friends!

Tue, 03 Apr 2007 20:12:17 GMT

Today the InstantSpot team released an update to an existing feature on our Spots.

On every Spot, there has been a "Friend Activity" page, which can be viewed from a link on the "My Friends" page or from the "Friend Activity" link which is disabled by default in your Navigation Manager. This page shows the 20 most recent blog entries from your Friends.

Until today this page showed just a shortened, unformatted preview with a link to the full blog entry on the Friend's blog. One of our users made a strong case to us for expanding this to be the full blog entry, including formatting and embedding of videos, code samples, etc. just as we do in full blog posts. The request was also for this view to include a comment count and a link on each entry for visitors to be able to post a comment.

Here is a sample of the new look:

Dave Shuck's Friends' Activity

See? We really do listen to you guys!

Yes, even YOU have a Shoutbox on your Spot!

Tue, 27 Mar 2007 20:28:06 GMT

Recently in a long announcement of cool updates to InstantSpot, we referred to what we call the "Shoutbox", which is a way for you and your friends to leave messages on each other's Spots. As we mentioned previously it is possible to set those conversations to be private only among your Friends, but by default they are visible to all visitors of your Spot.

We had a few people contact us after that post (not naming names!) that were not only confused a bit by the concept of a Shoutbox, but were wondering what they had to do to get one of those thingamajigs!

First, we felt that a visualization might come in handy for those that were having a tough time picturing this so-called Shoutbox. To the right is a screenshot that we grabbed from one of the InstantSpot creators/devlopers, Aaron Lynch. Click on it to see the full size view. As you can see, this is a great way to have a discussion among Friends.

Now, how do you get one? You already have it! If you look in the Navigation section of your Control Panel you should see a link to "My Friends" that you can enable/disable. You can name this link whatever you want, but by default it is labled "My Friends". Make sure that is enabled and the Friends page will be displayed on your Spot.

Don't have anyone to talk to? Go add someone that you find interesting and strike up a conversation. Or go invite your friends and family to join InstantSpot. We want to meet them just as we have enjoyed meeting all of you guys/gals.

As always, feel free to contact us with any questions.

Note: If you are one of our earliest members that were helping us test in our early beta-testing days and you have trouble accessing your Shoutbox (or any other features), make sure to contact us so we can get you taken care of!

Now you can send messages to your friends!

Tue, 27 Mar 2007 16:25:56 GMT

Since the birth of InstantSpot in the fall of 2006, we have wanted to add the ability for Friends in the network to be able to better communicate with each other. After all, what good is a network if you can't network!

Moving further towards that goal, we are pleased to announce that on Monday (March 26) we added what we feel is a GREAT addition to InstantSpot. Now you can send private messages to other InstantSpot members that have added you as a friend.

There are two ways two send messages. First, on every Spot, you will see a “Send a private message!” button in our browser bar at the top. When you hit this, a small form will display at the top of the page. If the owner of that Spot has added you as a friend, you will see them first in the drop-down list of recipients, followed by every other Spot that has added you as a friend. Choose the recipient, enter your message, hit “Send” and your Friend will be notified via email of your message, which they can view in their Inbox.

Alternatively in your Control Panel, in the “MyFriends” section you will notice two new links: “Inbox” and “Compose new message”.

The Inbox is where you will be able to read and reply to you your messages. Obviously the “Compose new message” link takes you to a form to be able to send a message, which works in the same manner as the forms on the top of each Spot.

If you want to send a message to someone who has not yet added you to their Friend list, look “Request to be added” button either on.

Another cool feature that we added is a new message notifier, that appears on any Spot you are visiting as soon as you receive a message. You can click straight from there to your Inbox to read your messages.

As we have said all along, we are building these features for you, so if you have suggestions on what we could do that would make it more comfortable for you to use, please let us know. If the idea is good enough (but not too good!) we might even give you credit!

Lots of new features on InstantSpot!

Thu, 22 Mar 2007 14:15:34 GMT

Greetings all! Your InstantSpot development team has been hard at work on continuing to push InstantSpot forward adding several new features. Much of this new code was rolled last night and we wanted you to be aware. Additionally, at the bottom of this email you will see that we are looking for feedback on things that you would like to see. Let us know what you want out of your Spot!

UPDATES:

Blog Comments/Subscriptions
Subscription/Unsubscription from blog comment threads. It was brought to our attention that there was a bug with unsubscribing from blog comment threads that was keeping some people from being able to stop receiving notifications of new comments. Considering that we didn't have the option for not subscribing to a thread when you left a comment, this was a problem! We fixed this problem at two levels. First, we addressed the bug... we don't like bugs. We want bugs gone. Now this one is. Secondly, you will now see a checkbox on the comment form that allows you to opt out of receiving future notifications of comments that are posted in that thread.

“How do I become a friend?”
If we had a dime for every time that question was asked, we would be posting this entry from our floating office aboard our mega-yacht somewhere in the Greek Islands rather than this cramped little office! First a little background... Our 'My Friends' feature is a work in progress. We have lots of features in store for it, but rather than wait until all the development work was completed, we made the decision to roll it out pieces at a time as the code became stable. Taking this approach has helped us by getting feedback from you guys and gals about what you liked and disliked, and has helped guide our development. With this release we are further down our path towards our complete ideal for Friend features, but we have more in the works that you will see soon.

So, back to the “How do I become a friend?” question... Until about midnight last night the only way you could request to become a friend was by accidentally running into them on the street, recognizing them from their headshot photo, and saying “Hey, can I be your friend?”.

We thought it might be worth expanding this feature! With the newly released code, when you are visiting a site that you would like to add you as a friend you should see a button that says “Request to be added”. I say should because it is possible for you to default to decline all requests which takes the request button away (more on this later). When you are on someone's Spot and you hit the request button, one of two things will happen.

1) If the owner has chosen to manually approve all requests, they will receive an email with your request. Once they receive that request, they will be able to add you through a link in the email. If you receive a request you wish to decline, just ignore it. The non-Friend continue to stay as such.

2) If the owner has chosen to automatically accept friend requests, you will immediately be added.

“So I am a Friend... what now?”
For the time being, there are basically three things that happen as a Friend. First, your headshot and link to your Spot will appear on their 'My Friends' page. This will give you good visibility and will allow more people to find you. Also, as a Friend you will be able to post messages to your Friend's Shoutbox on the 'My Friends' page. This is a pretty cool feature that has been underused so far, mostly due to the difficulty of becoming friends. We hope that this new request feature changes that!

Additionally, as you post new blog entries they will appear on the 'Friend Activity' page of people that have added you as a friend. Once again, this is a great way to get more visibility! This is also a good way for you to keep track of all that your friends are doing by just going to your own 'Friend Activity' page.

New Control Panel Features
First, you will notice the navigation looks slightly different on the right hand side of your Control Panel. A couple of things have changed. First we have collapsed the categories so that it no longer scrolls off beyond the visible screen when you open it. I suppose it isn't a bad thing to have too many features! We have also moved the most used features (Blog and Page editing) to the top to make it more accessible when you log in.

In addition to moving the navigation around a bit, we created a new section 'My Friends'. Currently there are two options in this section (with more on the way very soon!). On the 'Manage Friends' page you can see who you have added as Friends and go straight to their Spots. You can also remove Friends from this page by checking their Spot and hitting 'Delete'. If only real life was this easy, huh?

On the 'Friend Page Settings' page, there are currently two actions you can take. First, you can decide how you will deal with Friend requests. You can choose to always decline requests, always notify you to add the new Friend manually, or always accept requests. On this page you can also choose whether your Shoutbox on your 'My Friends' page is visible to the entire public, or whether it is visible to just your friends. We feel that this is a good solution for those of you that have asked for the ability to have private discussions without the entire world reading them. Let us know what you think.

“What's next?”
Nothing... we're done.

HA! We never quit... we never sleep... we never stop Spotting! We have a number of things in the works. As we alluded to above, we have more stuff in the works for Friends, including the ability to send private messages through the system to your Friends, both from the control panel and from their pages. We are also planning on adding a way to manage subscriptions in the control panel. Currently there is no way to see which Spots you have subscribed to, so this is an obvious point that needs to be addressed, but none of you have actually mentioned this!

Another piece we plan to address soon is the file management that allows you to upload pictures and add them to your blog/page entries and to add them to your gallery. Currently this piece is a bit clunky and we would like to streamline it and make it easier on you.

We are also looking at allowing you to add a forum to your Spot! We are still in the planning stages on this piece, but we plan on implementing that in the near future.

Another thing we are kicking around a bit is a good way for you to be able to offer products for sale on your Spot. We are investigating a number of ways to add commerce functionality. We may be surveying you soon as we have considered a number of directions for this piece, so keep an eye out for an email from the InstantSpot staff.

Tell us what you think!
We mean it. This is your Spot. We are building this as a home for you and all of your friends. We want it to be everything you want it to be. What do you want to see? What would you like to see changed? We are always open to new ideas, and we don't bite... hard. You can always contact us through this form.

As always, thanks for making InstantSpot your Spot!

Slight change to your Control Panel

Wed, 14 Mar 2007 16:24:47 GMT

We have recently noticed a few (ok a lot) of our users have not realized that they can change/delete/reorder/etc their navigational links on their Spot.

In an attempt to make this feature more noticeable we have separated the link to this section into its own pod named "Navigation Manager" (on the right hand side of the control panel).

To read some more about this feature you can see a previous post on this topic here .

Chris Rutherford wins the iPod Nano

Fri, 09 Feb 2007 13:30:01 GMT

If you are reading this, you probably know that InstantSpot had a contest in the month of January in which we were giving away a free iPod Nano to the InstantSpot member that referred the most new members. After tallying up the records, we found that Chris Rutherford came out on top. Thanks to Chris and we hope you enjoy your new Nano! Thanks too, to each of you that have made InstantSpot your spot on the internet.

New partnership with CodeShare and Contest Reminder!

Tue, 23 Jan 2007 15:56:49 GMT

Techies, listen up! (non-techies, more for you below!)

We have been working with the developers at EverFro, who have created a great a way for developers to share code with each other with a tool called CodeShare. Posting code in InstantSpot blogs has always been an admittedly cumbersome task and we are working to make that a simpler process. We have completed the first step of that, by creating a new tag that allows you to display code in your entry or page using their service. If you wish to publish code, go create an account at CodeShare and upload your code. Once you do, you will have a share ID associated to your code. Then you can paste it is like this:

[ codeshare YourCodeShareId] (without the space before 'codeshare').

When you do this, you will have a nicely formatted codeblock positioned at that point in your blog entry.

We are working further with EverFro to make this an even easier task, allowing you to upload your code directly from your InstantSpot control panel, and will make an announcement of that capability as soon as it is ready, but at least you can get started using CodeShare today!

So now for the techies and non-techies alike. Today is January 23. That means that you have about 1 week to win that iPod Nano! The contest is still running and no one is a clear winner at this stage. Don't forget to to send your friends and family the referral link in your control panel! With a little effort, the iPod could very easily still be yours!

As always, thanks for using InstantSpot. We are glad to have you here and if there is anything we can do to make it a better Spot for you, our inbox is always open.

InstantSpot Design Exchange opens its doors!

Thu, 04 Jan 2007 22:23:51 GMT

This was announced on several blogs the past week, but it would be remiss of us not to do so ourselves!

A very enterprising and hardworking developer named Todd Sharp has created a place for InstantSpot users to create, upload, and download styles for the Spots! A couple months ago we opened up the ability for our users to have direct access to the CSS of their Spots and we have already seem some really cool designs come out.

Here is your chance to show off your designs and help build their library, or browse other people's creations and apply them to your Spot. If you create an account with them there is a feature that actually allows you to preview what your Spot would look like with any of the designs!

Go check out: www.isdx.net

A couple other items of note...

It appears that a number of our users may have missed the initial message about the iPod contest! We are running this contest until January 31, so it is not too late to get started. If you have no idea what I am talking about, go read about our Free iPod Nano Giveaway .
We have some really cool features to announce the next week or two that will help you keep tabs on what your friends are doing on InstantSpot. Stay tuned for more on that very soon.

As always, thanks for making this your Spot on the web!

Free iPod Nano!

Tue, 02 Jan 2007 14:37:56 GMT

Happy New Year from the InstantSpot staff! We hope you all had a prosperous 2006 and are looking forward to 2007 as much as we are. Since our birth four short months ago, InstantSpot is now chugging along and growing every day. The maturation of InstantSpot is due in large part to all the people that have been faithful users and have provided us with suggestions and feedback as we try shape and mold InstantSpot into exactly what our users want and need.
So how can we thank you? How about a Free iPod Nano!

We are going to try our hand at having a contest. Keep in mind that we are programmers, not marketers, so this is new territory for us! But here is how the contest will work:

Starting today, when you log into your control panel you will see a referral link on the landing page. The link will look like this:

http://www.instantspot.com/referral?c=[yourcode]

We want you to send this to all your friends and family, and see how many new InstantSpot users you can generate. At midnight January 31, 2007 this month's entries will be closed, and shortly afterwards we will tally up the number of *active* new Spots that each Spot has referred. The Spot with the most active referrals will receive an iPod Nano compliments of InstantSpot. In addition, we will put your Spot on the main homepage throughout the month of February and show you off! As you send referral requests to people, let them know that as soon as they join they are included in the contest as well, so they have an opportunity to win the iPod Nano too.

You may have noticed we used the term *active* in the text above. At the time of this posting, that means people that have not only created a new InstantSpot site, but have activated and began adding content to it. We reserve the right to interpret and redefine "active" as we see appropriate at anytime during the contest to ensure that the intent of the contest is safe from abuse.

Also, please keep in mind that we don't want to become notorious for our users spamming people they don't know. We will immediately disqualify people that take this approach, so be on your best behavior and don't make us look bad!

However, here are some good suggestions for getting your link out there:

Put the link in your email signatures (ex: Free iPod Nano!!! http://www.instantspot.com/referral?c=[yourcode]) and send emails to all your friends and family begging them to help you get your iPod.
Create a new page on your Spot with your referral link begging people to sign up!
Add it in your blog postings.
Add the link to signatures in forum postings across the internet, or post it where it is appropriate.
Rent a billboard along a major highway.
Two words: Forehead tattoo!

Well, you get the idea...

So, now that you know the rules, run - don't walk - to your control panel and get your link. If you have any problems or questions, you can always contact us using the form on this blog and we will respond as quickly as possible.

Big things afoot at InstantSpot!

Wed, 27 Dec 2006 15:36:08 GMT

Hi all! Hope everyone had a nice Christmas and is looking forward to the new year. The development team at InstantSpot has been hard at work and wanted to update you on some of the things going on.

First, we have subscribed each user account to the InstantSpot Staff blog, so that we finally have a good way to communicate with you all and let you know what is going on. Make sure to check in whenever you receive an update notification as we will continually discuss new features, helpful tips and other goings on here at the Spot. If you received an email notification and want off the list, well... sorry. No, just kidding. If you really want off, check the bottom of the email you received and you will find a link to unsubscribe from this blog and miss out on all the good content we will provide! :)

So with that out of the way, let's cover some cool stuff that has been going on. For some of you, this might not be entirely new information, but much of what is below are cutting edge features you might not be aware of. *DO NOT MISS THE LAST ITEM!!!*

Enhanced Friend Support!
One of the comments we have heard time and time again about InstantSpot was that while it's really cool, there is no way to communicate with other users besides commenting on their blog entries. What if you just want to give them a shout? Enter "The Shoutbox"! Now on the Friends page, in addition to seeing the headshots to your friends, you and your friends can now post public messages to each other. This is just one of the friend features that is in the works, but it is the first part to go live.

Easier Blog Commenting
So, raise your hands if you haven't been at least occasionally annoyed by the pop-up blog comment window. That's what we thought. We now have one-click comment posting for members, with no more having to type the random characters in addition to your information. For non-Spot users (bless their poor souls), they will receive an activation email containing a link they will have to click in order to publish their comments after posting them. If you receive any complaints from your readers about having to activate their comments, just tell them to create their free InstantSpot account and they will never have to activate them again!

Customizable CSS
You can now completely control the look of your Spot. We have opened up the entire CSS styling to our users, and have already seen some really creative looks by some of our users. For those of you that are not content with our packaged color combinations at sign-up, don't be afraid to get in there and start tinkering with your layout. You will find this in the Style Manager in the control panel If you come up with something really cool, let us know so we can show you off to the other Spotters.

Customizable Ad Colors
Before you read this, you *do* know you can have your own Google Ads on your Spot right? OK then, for those of you that have modified your CSS you have probably noticed that your ads may no longer match your page. Now you can pick the colors to match your layout and hopefully sway a few more people to click on your ads and help you earn money from your Spot. You can manage this in the Style Manager.

Subscriptions now really work!
Since our launch, we have had some issues with allowing people to subscribe to your blogs. This has been on our list for sometime but was recently addressed in early December. Now, not only can people subscribe to your blog, but you can invite them as well. Under the Site Manager in the control panel, click on "Invite Your Friends".

Flash Photo Galleries
In a recent update to InstantSpot, we added a *very* cool photo gallery feature. After uploading files using the Photo Manager, you can create a gallery in the Photo Gallery Manager.

Improved Stats Tracking
Since early on, InstantSpot has supported the ability for you to monitor your traffic using several tracking services such as Google Analytics, BlogBeat, MyBlogLog, and Ice Rocket. We recently added a new service called Site stats from Feedburner. We had an inside track on this one, as the feature is not yet publicly available from Feedbuner, but as soon as it is, we will update you.

More Rocket Fuel
OK, there is no real way to show you guys this one, but we worked too hard on it not to mention it. We have done some pretty dramatic work on performance lately. Speed is a real obsession of ours, so know that this is something we will always work on until we squeeze the last bit of performance out that we can.

Now... for the moment you have been waiting for:

InstantSpot wants to give you an iPod Nano!
If you are like us, you woke up on Christmas morning to find that Santa apparently didn't think you had been good enough for that Nano. That leaves you only two choices. Either mope around and wait for one next year only to be disappointed yet again, or make it happen! Starting in January, InstantSpot will be tracking how many people you refer to sign up at InstantSpot. We will soon be sending you a referral link that you can attach to your emails, put on your Spot, give to your family, etc. At the end of January we will be tallying up the active users that have been referred by other Spotters, and will be sending the top referrer a brand new iPod Nano. The complete details of this contest are under final review and might change slightly before we roll the contest, but stay tuned and good luck!

So that about wraps up most of the new happenings here at InstantSpot. We love hearing from you guys so if you have feature requests, things you would like to see different (or not at all!), or if you just want to tell us how much you love your Spot, feel free to contact us anytime.

Yes it really is a FREE website! FREE blog! FREE photo gallery!

Sat, 16 Dec 2006 03:27:16 GMT

We had two seperate people tell us today that they thought InstantSpot was cool, followed by "How much is it?"

Apparently we are not getting the message out well enough. So here it is:

InstantSpot is

FREE!!!!!!!

Yes we think it is pretty ridiculous to make all this stuff and offer it for free too.

Free website with infinite design customization
Unlimited pages on your site
Unlimited blogging
Cool Flash photo gallery
Events calendar
more........

But that is the way it is. Make your Spot now and enjoy the freeness!

If anyone has any ideas for helping us get the word out, don't hold back. We want everyone to hear the word.

Thanks to Ryan Everhart!

Wed, 06 Dec 2006 21:29:24 GMT

The InstantSpot development team want to publicly thank Ryan Everhart for his donation to InstantSpot. Make sure to go check out his Spot!

InstantSpot interview on the ColdFusion Weekly Podcast

Mon, 04 Dec 2006 15:09:11 GMT

Do you want to hear about InstantSpot from the mouths of the creators? If so, go check out this week's episode of the ColdFusion Weekly podcast. Hosts Matt Woodward and Peter Farrell asked us to come on and talk about InstantSpot and we eagerly obliged!

For the non-techie types that just want to skip to the interview, it starts at 44:48 minutes in. Thanks ColdFusion Weekly!

New Code! New Features! New Cool!

Mon, 13 Nov 2006 13:59:03 GMT

The InstantSpot team pushed up some pretty big code changes this weekend.

Customize your CSS! For those of you asking for more styles, we have a solution. You be the designer! We have exposed the CSS code that controls the layout of your Spot. You are no longer limited to the set of design templates we provide. For a good example of a site that has already made use of this, check out Chris' Spot.
Get Stats on your traffic! InstantSpot now supports a handful (initially, but more will be added) of tracking scripts to give you a handle on how many people are visiting your Spot, who is visiting your Spot, and where they came from. Currently we are supporting Google Analytics, Blogbeat, Ice Rocket, and MyBlogLog.
Multiple Categories! Your Spot can no be a part of multiple categories in the directory. Choose up to 3 categories to be a part of.
Better control of blog categories - You can now control which categories your blog posts reside in. This isn't an entirely new feature but there were some issues with this in the previous release and they have been resolved.
Lots more invisible betterness! Along with this version we included some pretty significant architectural and performance enhancements. No... sorry... you can't see them but you will all sleep better at night knowing they are there!

Go login in now and see the changes, or if for some reason you don't yet have a Spot... seriously... what are you waiting for?

InstantSpot in the news

Mon, 23 Oct 2006 12:11:31 GMT

We issued a press release over the weekend to try and spread the news about the 'Spot.

New Social Networking Site Launched by World Wild Web Systems, Inc.

World Wild Web Systems, Inc. announced today that their new social networking site http://www.instantspot.com is now available to the public. They are also making the framework available to other companies who want to offer the same functionality to their members and associates.

Dallas, Texas (PRWEB) October 22, 2006 -- World Wild Web Systems, Inc. announced today that their new social networking site http://www.instantspot.com [Instantspot.com] is now available to the public.

Instantspot.com allows individuals and/or small business professionals to set up their own customizable, multi-page web sites with blogging capabilities. Each site has its own integrated calendar of events and visitors can subscribe to blog feeds through RSS syndication or by email. Each site can also be easily monetized by using the individuals very own Google Adsense account.

The social networking framework that Instantspot.com is built on is ideal for any organization, association or club that wants to interact with it’s members and provide them a low-cost, high-tech alternative to pricey web site programming.

World Wild Web Systems, Inc. has engaged Ken Partain of Infinite Prosperity Group, LLC to promote and market this social networking framework to institutions throughout North America.

“We feel that this is the next step in bringing easy-to-use web site and blogging tools to the masses,” said Dave Shuck, co-founder of World Wild Web Systems, Inc. “We are very excited about the possibilities before us!”

About World Wild Web Systems, Inc

Founded in 2005 by Dave Shuck and Aaron J. Lynch, World Wild Web Systems, Inc. specializes in programming web-based applications for small to mid-sized firms throughout the United States. Additional information can be found at their web site at http://www.worldwildweb.biz [World Wild Web Systems].

About Infinite Prosperity Group, LLC

Infinite Prosperity Group, LLC was founded by Ken Partain in 2005 to provide marketing services to small business owners and independent professionals in the Dallas – Ft. Worth Metroplex. Infinite Prosperity Group, LLC specializes in integrating online and offline marketing strategies to present a consistent marketing message across all mediums. Additional information can be found at their web site at http://www.wemakemarketingeasy.com [Infinite Prosperity Group].

Here is a link to the actual release.

InstantSpot Developers Hard At Work

Mon, 16 Oct 2006 15:34:16 GMT

One of the main goals we have for InstantSpot, is to continue to add features (and improve upon existing ones). In an effort to remain on target with this mission, we have rolled out a nice new set of enhancements of the past week.

NEW FEATURES

Google Adsense: We have given the InstantSpot user the ability to monetize their 'Spot using Google's Adsense. You will notice in the control panel, a section titled 'Ad Manager'. All you need to do is supply your Google Adsense key and decide where on your site you would like the ads to appear.

Upload A Custom Header Image: In order to allow the user to put their personal stamp on their 'Spot, we now allow the user to upload a custom image that is placed in the header area of their site.

Some sites with cool header images:

http://ajlcom.instantspot.com

http://daveshuck.instantspot.com

http://ravenewworld.instantspot.com

http://wendy.instantspot.com

http://ev.instantspot.com

Title/Description (display,hide): One of the things that was born out of the new custom header images, was now the user wanted to hide the site name and/or description from that area of the site. In the site detail section of your control panel, you can now choose to display or hide the title and/or description.

Domain Aliasing: We offer the ability for InstantSpot users to use their own domain name for their 'Spot. Instructions for adding your own domain are located in the control panel under 'Host Header Management'.

Some sites using this feature:

http://www.AaronJLynch.com

http://www.DaveShuck.com

http://www.cfguy.com

http://www.ProvidenceScrapbooking.com

Event Calendar: Every 'Spot now sports its very own event calendar! From within your control panel, you can add events and designate them as Public, Network, Friend, or Private. If you choose to not use the calendar, you can go to the 'Manage Links' section of your control panel and disable that link (as you can with any of the pages/blog/etc). See an example here.

Public- Anyone can see the event.

Network – Anyone that is an InstantSpot user can see the event.

Friend – Anyone that you have added as a friend, can see your event.

Private – Only you can see it, keep your own schedule on your 'Spot.

Major Performance Enhancments: Some of you may have noticed your site slowing down as our traffic increased. This was due, in large part, to the performance of Reactor (our ORM framework). You can read more about that on Dave's blog .

Blog (Categories,Draft,Comments): Your InstantSpot blog now sports multiple categories, publish or draft modes (you can save an entry and not have it published until you are ready), and you can allow or deny comments on each entry.

COMING SOON

Photo Gallery: Each InstantSpot site will soon have its own photo gallery. Stay tuned for more info on this up-coming feature.

Enhanced Friend Support (messaging,approval,etc): One of the things we feel is important for any social-networking site is robust messaging between friends. There will soon be among other things, broadcast messaging, private messaging, and friend approval/rejection.

Multiple Sites Per User Account: Want more 'Spots but don't want to use multiple email addresses/user accounts? We are soon going to offer the ability for you to add multiple 'Spots.

Multiple Categories Per Site: Want your site to be in our directory under ColdFusion AND Business AND Offroad? Soon my friend...soon.

Tagging: Pages, Blog entries, Sites, etc will soon be taggable...stay tuned for more info on this feature.

UNDER DISCUSSION

Enable/Disable Comments Per Page: We are toying with the idea of allowing comments per page on your 'Spot. Perhaps some sort of a throwback to a guestbook, or maybe a mini-forum on each page?

“ShoutBox” on your My Friends Page: What about some sort of shoutbox feature on your My Friends page where only your friends can post or view the messages?

PLEASE!!! let us know what you think about any of these features. Also, if you have an idea for a cool feature that has been addressed let us know about that also.

Thanks!

~InstantSpot