Client Highlight, Contest, and more!

CLIENT HIGHLIGHT: RAQUEL PORTRAIT ARTISTRY
http://www.raquelportrait.com/

We'd like to congratulate Raquel and a beautiful portfolio presentation. The background image she chose to use works perfectly - it's not too detailed so it doesn't detract from her other work, while adding depth to the site. Great job!


CONGRATULATIONS ANITA!
Anita Goodman (http://www.goodmanphotography.com/) was the winner of Simply Splash's (http://www.simplysplash.com/) baby photo contest, winning a portfoliositez.com service/site of her choice :-) Below is the winning image.





PORTFOLIOSITEZ.com CONTEST!!
We have received SO MUCH support and emails of excitement about our upcoming Frida and all the new features including the shopping cart and full client system. Unfortunately the release date is an estimate (which we hate to do since we would love to tell you exactly when it is launching). As some of you know I (Jen btw) am pregnant and due March 29th. Since I am the one programming Frida out this upcoming month holds uncertain downtime that could affect the estimated launch of late March. Jamie and I really *really* don't like the fact that we can't give a hard date as it just isn't fair to everyone who is waiting for this launch. This is why we wanted to run a contest this month to add a little fun while Frida is being finished. :-)

Okay, so without further delay - in honor of little Rusty being born shortly we are holding a simple guessing game on the exact time and date he is born - since it is a time we all should celebrate!! j/k :-)

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TO ENTER: Send an email to info@portfoliositez.com with the subject 'rusty contest entry'. In the body of the email put in a time and date you think Rusty will be born. Simple :-)

THE WINNER: The winner will be whoever guessed closest to the actual date and time

THE PRIZE: You can choose either our service (premium) or an individual template (premium).

Service:
-Your free service would include the setup of any template of your choice, and the hosting for as long as you would like the service while Portfoliositez, Inc. is in business.
- You would be eligible to upgrade/switch templates anytime during this period for the standard $20 setup fee. This will not void your free service.
- You would be eligible to add-on templates for the standard $5/mo (plus $20 setup fee) without voiding the original free service
- You would be eligible for any extras offered with the services for their standard prices without voiding the original free service

Individual Template
- This will include one premium version of any template we offer to be setup directly on your current hosting assuming it meets all requirements for external hosting
- Template switching/upgrading is unavailable

Conditions
1. At any point you feel you no longer would like the website service through portfoliositez the service will be cancelled and the prize will be accepted by both parties as 'paid in full'.
2. The free website does not include a domain name
3. This prize is non-transferable and cannot be exchanged or traded to anyone other then the original winner
4. The prize cannot be exchanged for its monetary value


FACTS FOR YOUR GUESS: The baby is currently in breach and will try to be turned on March 7th. Doctors say there is a slight chance this could cause Rusty to come early. If the turn is unsuccessful a C section will need to be scheduled. Due date is March 29th... okay, probably more information then anyone needs or wants to know, but I always like to give you all the facts to allow you to make the most informed guess possible ;-)

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VENDOR HIGHLIGHTS:
music: check out stock20.com for some reasonably priced royalty free music
splash pages: check out simplysplash.com for custom splash pages to use with your site
blogs: check out flosites.com for some beautiful blog customizations and headers for your blog
albums: check out flashpalette.com for their album viewer software that creates online albums for your clients


COMPANY NEWS:
- Jamie is currently taking a well deserved break until Tues, March 4th. Please send all email inquiries to jen@portfoliositez.com. If you are experiencing any issues with your site please submit a support ticket or visit our support knowledgebase.
- ALL SITES HAVE BEEN SETUP. If you ordered a site and have not received it please email jen@portfoliositez.com so we can resend your welcome email. Emails sent to yahoo and hotmail accounts are commonly blocked from ever making it to the bulk or regular mailboxes.
- Frida... still in the works, will keep you updated :-)


Hope you all are having a wonderful week,
Jen =)

Product Highlight

Product Highlight: FlashPalette's Album Viewer


We've been getting a lot of requests lately about whether FlashPalette's Album Viewer will work with our hosting. It does :-) In case you haven't seen it, the Album Viewer is a cool mini site that you can use to highlight your images for your clients. It turns pages just like an album! If you haven't seen it check it out at flashpalette.com. You can create unlimited albums for your clients as long as they all reside on the same domain for the same photography business. You can link directly out to the stand-alone webpage for the album, or send the direct link on the album to your clients.

If our product/service isn't quite what you are looking for we would highly recommend looking at FlashPalette Web Design. Like us, they pride themselves on putting out an excellent product with personalized and friendly customer service. :-)



Company Corner:
- All sites that have been ordered have been setup and welcome emails have been sent out. If you ordered a site and have not received your welcome email please email info@portfoliositez.com or jamie@portfoliositez.com so we can re-send it. We also highly recommend adding jamie@portfoliositez.com to your email accounts safe list right after ordering to ensure the welcome email is received. :-) We find the welcome emails get blocked or go into bulk mail for many yahoo.com, gmail.com, and hotmail.com email addresses.
- Portfoliositez.com Group Buys are now available. If you have a group of 5-10 people together who would like to purchase a premium site at a discount email info@portfoliositez.com for your group buy code!
- Frida, Frida, Frida... what can I say, perfection takes time ;-)

Share the Love

It is the end of another week, can you believe it is already the second week in February?! We have had many clients go live this week with *beautiful* sites! I know a lot of people are interested to see what clients have done to make the templates really showcase their work, which is why I am encouraging all our clients to share your site link in a comment below for others to see!


FRIDA (estimated launch date of late March)



We have been asked what our next template to launch will look like. If you haven't been introduced, this is Frida. This portfolio site has a tentative launch date of late March. I know, I know, that is so far away! The thing is, this template is going to be revolutionary! Not only will this template be the most elegant template we have so far, it will come with our innovative shopping cart and full client system! It will also include a couple secret features we are not sharing at the moment to ensure we get the honor of launching them first ;-)

Unfortunately features such as these do take time to get right. We would hate to launch a product that wasn't as bug free as possible :-) If you'd like to know all the details about the shopping cart and full client system email info@portfoliositez.com


COMPANY NEWS:
* Jamie and I pride ourselves on our customer service and providing the highest quality templates and hosting available. This is why we have decided to purchase all future servers from a datacenter in Texas rather then our original one in NJ. We found that on more then one occasion the internet pipeline to our NJ datacenter became congested and caused sites to load slowly in some regions. Though this did not affect every site or every visitor it does not live up to our own expectations. That being said, we don't want any of our clients feeling they are not receiving the best service possible. Therefore, if you are currently hosted on sitezhosting1.com or sitezhosting2.com and would like to be moved to our new server facility please send an email to jamie@portfoliositez.com. :-)
* We are working hard on building out the shopping cart and full client system. This will be a long process unfortunately, but let me assure you now it is worth the wait! ;-)



One nice thing about being a small company is the ability to have full control over service, products, and growth. We are very excited about 2008 - stay tuned for innovative features, beautiful new templates, and many surprises along the way!! I just wish we could spill the beans on everything we have planned for you ;-)

have a great weekend!
Jen =)

Server Switch

It has come to our attention that the sitezhosting1.com and sitezhosting2.com servers are experiencing some issues with connections in certain regions. These servers are currently located in the New Jersey datacenter. We have found that the pipeline to access these servers has become congested on multiple occasions. Though this does not affect every site or visitor to your site it does affect enough sites to make this unacceptable. It does not live up to the high standards we expect to deliver our clients. Our current hosting provider is working on the problem to try and fix this for the future.

In light of this congestion occurring more then once we felt the need to move our hosting to a new datacenter located in Texas. We feel this will help alleviate connection problems due to high internet congestion since it is located in a prime location. If you are on sitezhosting1.com or sitezhosting2.com we would like to offer to move you to our new servers in the TX datacenter if that is what you would prefer. If you would like to be moved please email jamie@portfoliositez.com to request to be re-located to the newer servers in Texas. We will move all your files and databases; however this move would require your domain name be pointed to the new server's nameserver addresses, and any email configured in cpanel will need to be re-setup. We do feel that you will see a faster loading site with less possibility of your clients being unable to connect because of internet pipeline issues.

Jamie and Jen :-)

Win a Site :-)

This is just going to be a quick post. Stay tuned later this week for a client highlight with our Ansel template :-)

Would you like to win a free site? Then head on over to http://simplysplash.com/forum/ where there is currently a contest running in honor of little Rusty, who is due on March 29th! Enter the newborn photo contest for a chance to win a free site (either individual or service) of your choice!! Did we mention it is free to register for the Simply Splash forums? :-)


COMPANY NEWS:
* All orders have been setup and completed, so if you have ordered a site and are still waiting please email info@portfoliositez.com and let us know so we can re-send your welcome email.


We would just like to thank all our customers. The response we have gotten since we opened in October has been amazing, and we are so grateful for all our clients! Our customers will always be our number one priority which is why we welcome any feedback or suggestions you have on how we can improve - either in customer service, product, or anything else you would like. We have so many plans for 2008 including some industry changing surprises - I only wish we could program faster so we could offer everything to you immediately ;-)

Happy Tuesday!
Jen =)