Portfoliositez

More on the Cart

noreply@blogger.com (Portfoliositez.com) — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 16:08:00 +0000

this is just a quick update post. The first round of upgrades are complete and we are still looking good for having everyone updated by tomorrow night (in the order the purchases were made).

I just wanted to take this opportunity to clear up some confusion. The upgrades for the Frida premium are free. This is because the orders were placed for Frida Premium in advance and all clients were setup with the standard until this release. Usually the upgrade fee is $20 which will be how much it will cost to upgrade any version 1 sites to the version 2 sites. The good news is that as a client you will always receive any new template features such as the shopping cart, videos sections, html sites, etc. for your $16/mo no matter how many new features are added. We will be changing our packaging pricing and structure after the version 2 releases that will also change the hosting/backup options and amounts. Any hosting changes are not included (IE if our new more expensive premium package which may include additional space and hosting is launched with a new template you can change to the new template for $20 however your server space/account will not change).

If any of this is confusing please let us know as we want to make it perfectly clear.

This post is going to remain short because we want to concentrate on the upgrades and making sure all our Frida clients are taken care of and that everything goes smoothly. Stay tuned in a few days for newly created Frida sample sites that will show off all the new features!

Release Date Finalized for Frida Shopping Cart

noreply@blogger.com (Portfoliositez.com) — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 15:52:00 +0000

We are EXTREMELY happy to announce that the Frida shopping cart is officially being released Monday, July 21st. All upgrades will begin Monday, and we estimate they will all be completed by the end of Wednesday, July 23rd. We do have a waiting list for Frida Premium upgrades and everyone will be updated according to their purchase date.

There is a beta cart in place so if you have a very urgent need for the cart this weekend we can set you up with it until the full upgrade is released in a couple days. Please email jen@portfoliositez.com if that is the case and I will install the beta version.

The final features include:

integrated cart directly in the proofing galleries
ability to add more then 1 gallery per client
ability to add images to a favorites gallery to reduce the amount of images being viewed
advanced package system that allows multiple packages with or without the same image
ability to add unlimited products and packages for clients to order
ability to create custom shipping amounts per product, per amount of products added, and/or a stand alone shipping price
ability to have currency set to the American Dollar, Canadian Dollar, Australian Dollar, New Zealand Dollar, Pound, and Euro.
ability to add tax amount
ability to add non image related items to cart such as a DVD of images
ability to add coupons that deduct a percent or amount based on the dollar amount ordered
PORTFOLIOSITEZ ORIGINAL - advanced package editing with drag and drop support
PORTFOLIOSITEZ ORIGINAL - Full Client System that allows you to add clients, add multiple client galleries, view statistics, and even create mini websites for your clients to have a personalized experience!
PORTFOLIOSITEZ ORIGINAL - Client gallery statistics!! A simple statistics system that will allow you to see how often a gallery has been viewed and the last viewed date. You will also be able to see the top 20 most visited images and how many times they have been added to favorites.

Client Statistics Page

Image pop-up of one of the top 20 images that was clicked

Pie chart to show total visits broken down by gallery

Column graph to show top 20 images that have the most views and how many times they have been added to favorites.

We did plan on a few additional features that we needed to cut out of this launch. Features that we cut out are being kept in mind for future cart buildouts next year.

COMPANY NEWS:
- Cart is launching for Frida!!! Okay, I know I already mentioned this, but it is such a huge accomplishment! We are so proud of it, it needs to fall under company news too. ;-)
- The Version 2 buildouts for Dorothea, Diego, and Ansel will be starting next week. We do not have exact launch dates of these version 2's yet.
- We want to introduce Tammie to our clients. She is our newest team member and will be helping us maintain the customer support and excellence in service you have come to expect from Portfoliositez. If you have any support issues we would greatly appreciate it if a ticket is submitted so that Jamie, Tammie, and I all can access the support request. This will ensure we are able to give you the fastest response time possible.
- We are in the works of hiring and training an additional programmer to help increase the speed of our build outs. This will be a long process but a necessary step in ensuring we can launch many new templates next year. We have so many ideas and BIG plans and so little time! ;-)
- We will be re-structuring our packages in late August/September after our version 2's have been released. What does this mean for you as a client? Nothing :-) As a current client you do not have to worry about your monthly/yearly cost increasing. As long as you remain a client you will always get the latest template features for the premium price you signed up for regardless of any new pricing.

We have only been in business for 10 months and are so excited to be at the point where we need to expand our team. We cannot thank you all enough for all the support and kind thoughts that you have bestowed upon us. This has been such an adventure so far and with all our plans for the rest of this year and next year it is only going to get better ;-)

have a wonderful weekend!
Jen =)

This And That

noreply@blogger.com (Portfoliositez.com) — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 03:22:00 +0000

We have had requests to continue our 4th of July sale so the sale will be valid through the end of the month! :-)

One month free (premium service)
4TH16OFF

One month free (standard service)
4TH11OFF

$60 off individual template purchase
4THINDVDL60OFF

***revised***
you can use the coupon by entering the coupon code (such as 4TH11OFF) in the 'coupon' area of the order page. :-)

We are nearing the end of the debugging, and cannot wait to finally launch our long awaited shopping cart. We are anticipating being able to begin all premium upgrades at the end of next week if no other major bugs are discovered (fingers crossed!) ;-)

Shopping Cart: sneak peak link

noreply@blogger.com (Portfoliositez.com) — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 18:18:00 +0000

Shopping Cart Beta sneak peak:
http://portfoliositez.com/frida3/index2.php

We are still working on fixing the final bugs that we have found. This system is very complex with the ability to add image products, non image products, packages that require the same image, and packages that are made up of different images. Below are some of the advanced features:

1. ability to add image products
2. ability to add non image products
3. ability to add same-image packages
4. ability to add different-image packages
5. ability to accept (or not) paypal or the order offline
6. ability to add coupons (% or $ off based on amount of the order)
7. advanced favorites system for clients to save favorites through the proofing galleries
8. multiple proofing galleries per client login
9. advanced shipping with ability to add standard ship price, additional shipping per image, as well as additional shipping for individual packages or products.
10. much more...

We want everyone to know that this is a mid-range cart and is completely flash based. This means that any dial-up clients will not be able to easily view their proofs. If our cart has enough features we recommend using our cart as well as the Proof Buddy Cart (http://www.proofbuddy.com/. The Proof Buddy Cart can be used for clients who are not able to access the flash site.

If you need a more advanced cart we recommend The Photo Cart (http://www.picturespro.com/)

4th of July Sale!

noreply@blogger.com (Portfoliositez.com) — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 14:47:00 +0000

It's the fourth of July soon so lets celebrate! Use the coupons below for extra savings:

One month free (premium service)
4TH16OFF

One month free (standard service)
4TH11OFF

$60 off individual template purchase
4THINDVDL60OFF

These coupons are only valid for the correct package/product. In other words 4TH16OFF cannot be used for anything but the premium service.

Portfoliositez.com will be closed on the fourth so we can enjoy some time with our families. If you didn't know Jamie is an excellent cook and will be creating a dessert masterpiece for her 4th of July family BBQ!

Good News for Flash Users

noreply@blogger.com (Portfoliositez.com) — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 14:23:00 +0000

It is well known that flash is not the ideal solution for search engines. In 2004 Google came up with a way to pull some text out of the flash file, but it still was not nearly as effective as html based sites. Now a new breakthrough has been made! Google can now crawl content much closer to how it does html, following links to different pages within the flash site. It can also find links that you have in the flash sites to other pages such as your blog of other vendors.

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/06/google-learns-to-crawl-flash.html

This should help you optimize your sites for search engine placement much better! Hopefully yahoo and the other major search engines follow suit so we can enjoy fully indexed flash sites in the future.

Shopping Cart: Sneak Peak

noreply@blogger.com (Portfoliositez.com) — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 12:47:00 +0000

Below is a sneak peak of our one of a kind package ordering! With this interactive design your clients can easily add images to any packages they would like by dragging images from their favorites into a box representing each product in the package. This interactive design helps reduce the confusion of package ordering when mutiple images and products are involved.

Images shown courtesy of Table 4 Photography (http://www.table4photography.com)

Sneak Peak: Shopping Cart!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Portfoliositez.com) — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 00:02:00 +0000

Okay, so we finally are nearing the end of the shopping cart - we are so excited to show you what we've got! Stay tuned for more screenshots and a live sample soon :-)

A couple common questions answered:
Are there going to be packages?
Yes, your clients can order packages that require all one image, or can contain multiple images

Can there be multiple proofing galleries with one password for the same client?
Yes, there can be unlimited galleries for each client

Can clients save their favorites and return later?
Yes!

Will the shopping cart accept credit cards?
No, not directly. Your clients can have the option to send you the order to be processed offline or pay via paypal (if you choose to let them)

What is shown:
- ability to add images to favorites
- ability to view just favorites from all proofing galleries
- list of products for your clients to order the image directly

Images courtesy of Kristi Eckberg - http://www.kristieckbergphotography.com/

Simply Splash Sale!

noreply@blogger.com (Portfoliositez.com) — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 18:07:00 +0000

I just got an email about a gigantic sale going on at simplysplash.com - 75% off! If you have been waiting to get a splash page, textures, blog headers, or even html websites then I highly recommend looking at http://simplysplash.com/shoppe/

Jen =)

We'd like to introduce....

noreply@blogger.com (Portfoliositez.com) — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 04:29:00 +0000

The talent amongst the photographers who sent us images was amazing. It was hard to narrow down the perfect images for the next couple of launches. Without further ado we'd like to introduce....

LanierStar Photography
real. pure. modern. fun!
Kristen Morgan
lanierstar.com

Table 4 Photography
Weddings & Lifestyle Portraiture
Andrew Chan and Jason Huang
table4photography.com

Picture This by MJ
Michele Jones
picturethisbymj.com

Andrew and Jason's images will be featured in our Frida Premium release, Michele will be featured in one of our version 2 releases, and we have 'big' plans for the new template Kristen's images will be featured in ;-) We are very honored to have such wonderful photography to use in our sites!

We have found our featured artist :-)

noreply@blogger.com (Portfoliositez.com) — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 17:15:00 +0000

Jamie and I are truly amazed at the response we received from yesterday's post. We received so many emails that we decided to pick our featured artist(s) from all the emails we've received so far. We are impressed with the quality of work that has been sent to us, every email we received had work we'd like to feature, unfortunately we just don't have that many templates... yet ;-) This decision is VERY hard!

We have emailed the photographers and are just awaiting a response. Once we have confirmation we will announce them on the blog :-)

Show Us What You've Got!

noreply@blogger.com (Portfoliositez.com) — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 18:24:00 +0000

We are getting very excited about our shopping cart version of Frida! We would *love* to showcase a photographer's work for the launch and are looking for some additional artists to highlight in our sites. If you are interested please email a link to some sample images, or a couple sample images, to info@portfoliositez.com. :-)

What you get:
- a free template, hosting, and premium service for as long as we showcase your work, or at least 1 year, whichever is longer
- A link to your site and credit every time we showcase your work
- Our gratitude ;-)

What we need:
- at least 100 images we can use in the site(s)
- ideally about 30 or more additional images from one event to showcase the proofing galleries and shopping cart

We are looking for all types of photography! We also will be choosing only 1-3 new photographers/artists to showcase so we won't be able to use everyone's images that we receive. We will always be looking for new images as we add more templates so if you don't get chosen this time be sure to enter next time!

You should know that you will not be giving up any rights to the images, and we will not be receiving any rights to the images other then showcasing them online in our sites. You also reserve the right to end the use of the images whenever you would like. :-)

Client Highlight: Bill Houghton

noreply@blogger.com (Portfoliositez.com) — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 21:19:00 +0000

Client Highlight: Bill Houghton Photography

We just love Bill's site. Not only did he use Ansel's ability to change color per image beautifully, his clean simple design really highlights him images. I can just get lost looking at all his majestic and powerful images... I highly recommend just taking a minute or two to look at his site and work!

http://billhoughtonphotography.com/

SIMPLY SPLASH CONTENT - we have a winner!

We'd like to congratulate William from http://www.islandeyesphotography.com/. He has won a new splash page from Simplysplash.com. If you are interested in a splash page, or html template, check out simplysplash.com!

New Add-On - Remote Backup Recovery

noreply@blogger.com (Portfoliositez.com) — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 23:02:00 +0000

We had many requests after this weekend to offer the ability to have a remote backup and cluster server system (so when one server goes down traffic is automatically forwarded to the backup server). We are unable to satisfy the request for the cluster server system as we weren't able to find a way to achieve this without at least doubling our package costs. We are happy to announce our new remote backup option. :-)

Remote Backup Recovery Option: $8/mo

your entire site, and all its content, will be backed up remotely
in case of a catastrophic event (fire, flood, etc) where the server and/or data center is lost we will restore your site to a new server so you will suffer no data loss and it will be back up within 24 hours
If a server downtime of greater then 24 hours is projected we will restore your site to the other server if desired, even if there was no data loss in the end.

We want to make it clear that this is a solution to prevent data loss. It is not a 0% downtime solution in case of disaster. There will be some time needed to restore sites to a new server and propogate the domain name. If the projected downtime of a server, whether it be because of an explosion in the datacenter or a total server failure, is more the 24 hours we will restore your site to the new server to minimize the downtime.

This feature is only available on our newest servers, the first of which will be available by the end of the week. If you are a current client that would like this option we will need to move your account to the new server. Please submit a ticket if you'd like to do this and we will get you taken care of :-)

thanks!
Jen =)

Response to Outage

noreply@blogger.com (Portfoliositez.com) — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 01:20:00 +0000

First we would like to thank everyone for your patience through this ordeal. We would also like to thank the tech team over at The Planet for working so hard day and night to get the servers back online. With such a terrible event we are just happy no one was hurt.

In the last two days we have frequently been asked why we didn't have backups. We do have backups and they are performed nightly. But in a case like this where the data center that houses thousands of servers, including those of popular hosting companies such as hostgator.com, suffers an explosion and a resulting fire the backups are not helpful as the server itself was still intact and working. This is a major data center in Texas which is why this event made news across the country in various tech articles and websites. This is not a common issue at all, as a fire, let alone an explosion, is rare. The Planet also did have redundancy in their power to avoid downtime in a crisis, however, with the fire department not allowing them to utilize their backup generators they were not able to use any emergency contingencies.

The next question we've been asked quite a bit is why we do not have a secondary server in case of emergencies like this, where all traffic could be pointed to another part of the country. This is not a common feature on hosting plans like ours due to the cost of such a setup. We are currently looking into what options we have for providing a remote backup that would limit the downtime in a rare occurrence like this, but so far we haven't been able to find any that would allow us to maintain a reasonably priced package of under $50/mo. Some larger hosting companies may be able to provide this service by spreading the cost over several thousands of sites and many servers, but at this time we are not able to offer this.

For this reason we are offering all clients (until Wed night) who would like to convert their service to an individual template purchase the ability to do so for $100 rather then $250. We will transfer your site as is with all your content to the server of your choice. If anyone has any recommendations for hosting companies that have a remote server backup for immediate restoration of sites in this type of situation feel free to add it to this post so others can see if it is the right solutions for them. The individual template would have the same limitations it currently does, no template switching and $60 upgrades, but you will not need to start from scratch as we will move your template with all your info in it. This offer does expire this Wednesday night, June 4th, 2008.

Our first priority is customer service so we need to make sure all customers are taken care of and do not experience any delays in support due to this past weekend. Jamie and I will be researching all options and data centers this week to determine whether a server switch is necessary. Without being able to offer an affordable package with remote server backups and secondary system there is not a solution that we could have used to prevent the outage. We can, and do, have measures in place to prevent data loss. We also have high quality servers that we do not oversell and that are monitored 24/7 to minimize any downtime caused by the server itself. That being said we have received some recommendations for other data centers that we will be looking into to ensure we have the most reliable system possible. Currently we believe the likelihood of a fire and explosion happening again in our current data center is about as likely as the same thing happening in any data center that could hold our servers.

Server Outage

noreply@blogger.com (Portfoliositez.com) — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 16:36:00 +0000

We are currently experiencing a network issue affecting all of our customers on Sitezhosting 3, 4, 5 and 6. A transformer in our data center caught fire and created a small explosion knocking down three of the walls in the electrical room. Luckily no one was hurt in the fire and there has been no damage to the servers. The fire department did require, however, that our server provider ('The Planet' in Texas) take down all generators - causing (what we've been told) around 9000 servers in Texas to go offline. The fire department instructed 'The Planet' not to initiate their backup generator plan which is what they usually do in a power outage to ensure there is no disruption in service. These are highly unusual circumstances so unfortunately the latest update from the data center technicians suggests the outage may last until Sunday afternoon.

We are very sorry for the inconvenience. Please rest assured there is a team at the data center working around the clock with the fire department to get the power and data center back online as quickly as possible. I apologize for the inconvenience and frustration this has caused. We also will be working all day to keep you up to date with the latest information. We will be posting all updates in our news section of our support center.

---------------------------------

We would like to take this opportunity to address some concerns that have been mentioned to us.

Backup Plan:
After finding that our first server provider was less then reliable and gave us sub-par service we researched long and hard for one that received great reviews, had great customer service, and a reliable data center and servers. Our servers are located in a well known and large data center called 'The Planet' located in Texas. Their facilities have the following:

Power systems at The Planet’s data centers are designed to run uninterrupted - even in the unlikely event of a total power outage. We have, for example, a state-of-the-art N+1 power generator architecture. In the event of any generator failure, back up power systems provide ample capacity to keep servers running.
In an extended power outage, on-site diesel generators at our data centers can run indefinitely. Power generators receive regular preventative maintenance to ensure the will continue to function in any emergency.
Every server is fed with uninterruptible power supply (UPS) that assures service in the event of a power failure. Our UPS power is N+1 redundant with instant failover coverage should the primary UPS fail.
Our data center HVAC (heating, ventilation, air conditioning) systems are N+1 redundant to ensure that in the unlikely event of an entire HVAC system failure, there is a duplicate system ready to assume the load.
The Planet data centers feature advanced fire suppression systems to keep any fires localized and prevent them from spreading..
Preventative maintenance at our data centers is performed regularly by our own highly trained personnel to meet or exceed manufacturers recommended practices. These include quarterly generator maintenance, quarterly UPS maintenance and battery testing, and monthly HVAC maintenance.
The Planet is a member of The Uptime Network, a prestigious knowledge consortium where global standards and best practices are created and delivered to maintain system uptime.
We own and manage highly secure, state-of-the-art data centers which are devoted exclusively to our customers.

There is a backup plan in place with the backup generators, however the fire department is preventing them from initiating the backup plan which is why there is an outage. The fire suppression system worked as intended which is why there was no server or data loss due to the fire. We consider this good news as the small explosion and fire could have resulted in devastating losses that would cause the downtime to be greater, not to mention possible injuries for the 24/7 data center technicians. There are also nightly backups in case of catastrophic server failure so data would not be lost, however since this is a much larger issue then with a server the nightly backups are unnecessary as the servers have not been hurt by the fire.

Quality Servers:
Our dedicated servers have had a 99%+ uptime in this data center. We haven't experienced any outages prior to this that we know of. We use high quality servers, and most importantly we do NOT oversell our server space. It is a common practice to put hundreds of sites on the server because not every client uses the space and bandwidth given to them. Jamie and I do not believe in this practice. This is why we offer what we do - it is the space and bandwidth that is solely yours to do with as you please. This results in servers with low resource strain to allow the best possible performances with low chances of server failure.

Disaster Recovery:
We are researching to see what we can offer as far as a remote disaster recovery plan. There are data centers and service providers out there that can provide a system like this, but they will be much more costly. We are looking for one that meets our standards of customer service so we don't have exact pricing yet, but we anticipate the package costing at least $40-$50 a month to allow the security of little or no downtime in the event of a fire, flood, or worse.

We would also would like to mention that we do have the ability to purchase our templates as templates only. With an individual template purchase you can host your template on any server that meets our requirements for the site to run properly. This way you can choose a hosting provider that suits you best if we do not meet your needs for hosting.

Thank you for your understanding and we will be keeping everyone informed and updated with as much detail as possible

Client Highlight: Nicole Hensley

noreply@blogger.com (Portfoliositez.com) — Thu, 29 May 2008 18:20:00 +0000

Client Highlight: Nicole Hensley

Nicole's highlight is our first for the Frida template. We love how she incorporated the blue and orange throughout the site. If you'd like to check it out go to http://www.nicole-hensley.com/

SIMPLY SPLASH CONTEST:
Just a reminder that anyone who orders a new individual site or service with portfoliositez is automatically entered to win a Simply Splash splash page by Kim. If you haven't seen her work check it out at simplysplash.com. She definitely has talent and can create a splash page that draws your potential clients into your site! :-)
Company News:
- All sites that have been ordered have been setup. We've been having difficulties getting our emails through to @yahoo.com email addresses lately, so if you haven't received your welcome email and have a yahoo email account please email us. If possible please provide an alternate email address we can send your information to.
- Our portfoliositez.com team is growing! We are currently training Tammie who is going to be working with support and customer service. We are trying to stream line our customer service so as we grow we can still provide the level of service you have come to expect. If you have any questions or support issues please submit a ticket through our support system to ensure a fast response from one of us.
- Feedback is very important to us! If you have any suggestions on how we can improve our product or service we'd love to hear from you! Also if you have any suggestions on what help articles and/or videos you would find helpful please share :-)

Company Corner:
I decided I wanted to post some pictures of Rusty... it has been a long time since I hijacked a blog post to dote over our newest addition ;-)

Jasmine, Russ, Rusty, and Rico... my family :-)

have a great week!
Jen =)

FRIDA (standard) Launches!

noreply@blogger.com (Portfoliositez.com) — Fri, 16 May 2008 22:22:00 +0000

Frida has officially launched!

Check out the posts below to see if you and her are a good match ;-) You can order either the standard or premium version directly from our site. All premium orders will be setup with the standard version of the site so you can start working on them and will be upgraded to the premium next month when it becomes available :-)

COMPANY NEWS:
As you all know Jamie and I pride ourselves on being able to deliver fast and friendly customer service. To ensure we maintain the quality of service you've come to expect we are hiring on a new Portfoliositez team member this summer! We'd like to welcome Tammie, she will begin training the next couple months. Because of this we ask that if you have any support issues please submit a ticket at http://www.portfoliositez.com/support/ . This will ensure the fastest response and the ability for Tammie to review all support questions/issues we have for training purposes.

have a wonderful weekend!
Jen =)

Frida, Contest, and More

noreply@blogger.com (Portfoliositez.com) — Tue, 13 May 2008 23:34:00 +0000

Frida example 2: Simply and Upbeat!

http://www.portfoliositez.com/frida2/

Images courtesy of Nick Haskins (http://www.haskinsphotography.com)

MAY CONTEST
Every new client this May is entered into our May contest for a SimplySplash splash page to accompany their new site. If you haven't seen Kim's work over at simplysplash.com check it out, she's got some major talent! :-)

FRIDA:
We are taking orders for Frida which will launch this Friday (16th). Currently only the standard version is available, but if you order the premium you will be upgraded for free as soon as it is done. See post below for all the ordering details!
for current clients: If you are wanting to switch to Frida or add it as an extra template you can do that directly through our order page on our website. There is a link to order extras at the very bottom :-)

SNEAK PEAK: FRIDA

noreply@blogger.com (Portfoliositez.com) — Sat, 10 May 2008 01:12:00 +0000

We would like to introduce Frida (Standard Version).

http://www.portfoliositez.com/frida/index2.php

We will be officially releasing Frida, the standard version, on Friday the 16th. Stay tuned next week as we release the different faces of Frida. She has many personalities!

pre-order link: http://portfoliositez.com/order-frida.php .

The sites will be setup and installed on a first come first serve basis, with the earlier orders being delivered on Friday 16th, the launch day. Below is all the details.

If you are ordering the premium, which will be upgraded for free as soon as it is available next month, you can use the coupon code FRIDA5OFFPREM to get the first month for the standard price.

If you order the standard version of the site and choose to upgrade later there will be a $20 upgrade fee (so if you plan to upgrade as soon as it is available you should order the premium to start with)

Frida - homepage

Frida - gallery

Frida - Calendar

Frida - text section

Frida - contact sectionpictures courtesy of Jessica Price

Frida Features:
- taped corners (option in the admin)
- adjustable image border
- possible color changing background
- ability to upload a custom background
- all standard template features such as music, unlimited galleries, unlimited text sections, etc.

WHAT ABOUT PREMIUM?
So here's the deal. As many of you know I, Jen, lost some time due to my pregnancy. Well, I am officially back. Whoohoo! Now it is catch up time ;-) We decided that it was only fair to release Frida, the standard version, so you can see if this is the right template for you just in case you are waiting to see it to decide what template is right for you. We are still working on our shopping cart which will launch next month. If you like Frida and don't have the need for a shopping cart or video gallery then the standard service is the site for you. If you would like the premium we've got you covered.
You can purchase the premium version of the site, and use the coupon FRIDA5OFFPREM to receive $5 off your first month for the standard price. We will then set you up with the standard version of the site and upgrade you next month for free when the shopping cart is complete. :-)

Two things:
- To receive the free upgrade you must order the premium service.
- The coupon code for $5 off is only good for the premium service.

have a great weekend!
Jen =)

Congrats to Shena Kaye

noreply@blogger.com (Portfoliositez.com) — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 19:37:00 +0000

It always makes Jamie and I happy to hear news from clients! We'd like to congratulate Shena Kaye for her debut in the March/ April issue of Camera Arts magazine. Her image "Missing You" will be shown within the Artist Showcase section of the magazine.

Congratulations! Below is the image "Missing You"

You can also visit Shena's site and additional work at: http://www.poeticimagesstudio.com

Doctor's Orders

noreply@blogger.com (Portfoliositez.com) — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 20:13:00 +0000

I (Jen) just got back from the Doctor's office. Unfortunately I am just not recovering like I should be and my doctor told me that I must rest more, and cut down on work, to get back to good health. For the sake of Rusty and my own health I am going to have to cut down on the hours I spend programming over the next 3-4 weeks which affects the estimated Frida launch date. I am sick of missing my estimated timelines for Frida so I am now just going to say that I am working on it and when we have a solid launch date we will post it. Anyone who knows me knows I really hate missing deadlines so this isn't easy for me. I really appreciate your understanding in this matter.

As an apology we'd like to offer a free setup for any sites sold from Thurs April 10th thru the end of April. You can use the coupon code FRIDAAPLGY . This is not applicable on group buy purchases.

This was the first baby between Jamie and I so we underestimated how much time was required for recovery. We assure you, though, that we are very good at learning from our mistakes so our timing and build out schedules will be much better in the future. :-)

A Formal Introduction

noreply@blogger.com (Portfoliositez.com) — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 16:24:00 +0000

INTRODUCING...
I'd like to formally introduce Russ and I's (Jen's) first child - Rusty. Born on March 21st weighing in at 8 ibs 6 oz. :-) I have a new found respect for parents, we never thought it could be so much work! If anyone has any tips on how we can help Rusty sleep through the night we are all ears ;-)

Russ with Rusty :-)

COMPANY NEWS:
- I am returning to work this week part time. We appreciate everyone's understanding during these first couple weeks as I get adjusted to a new schedule and new lifestyle. If there are any bug issues or support issues that I need to respond to the response time might take slightly longer. Jamie is still on her own for the most part so please submit a ticket if you have any questions or issues so we can respond to you in the fastest way possible :-)

- We are working on Frida, however with the changes this month we are now estimating at the end of April. I would like to emphasize that this is only an estimate at this time since this month's schedule and time are hard to predict. As soon as we can give an actual launch date we will

Stay tuned this week as we get back to posting client highlights, product highlights, and more! :-)

have a great weekend!

IT IS A HEALTHY BABY BOY!!!!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Portfoliositez.com) — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 19:45:00 +0000

Rusty was born this morning, March 21st, at 10:37!

... and what a cutie he is! =) Congratulations to Jennifer Fife for winning the contest! Her prediction was 12:05 p.m. on March 21st.

To celebrate Rusty's birth day we want to give everyone who signs up this weekend their first month free. Please use the coupon codes below.

For a Standard Portfolio: RUSTYBDAY11
For a Premium Portfolio: RUSTYBDAY16

Jen, as you can imagine, will be out for the next week or so. Please read the Support post, if you have not already, so we can keep things flowing nicely while Jen is gone.

Everyone have a wonderful Easter weekend!
=) Jamie

Support

noreply@blogger.com (Portfoliositez.com) — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Hi Everyone!

With Jen going on maternity leave for the next few weeks, I thought it would be good to explain how our support works to avoid any complications while I am on my own.

First Step:

Check the knowledgebase. Chances are the issue you are having is not new and we have an article on it. All of our support articles are public; you do not need a username or password to view them. Click on “Knowledgebase" on the support main page.

You can either browse by category or you can enter the topic, such as email, in the search prompt on the bottom right corner. This will pull up all articles pertaining to your topic.

Second Step:

If you cannot find anything in the knowledgebase that helps you or you are having trouble understanding the article, submit a ticket. Let us know what you didn’t understand so we can fix the article or let us know what is missing so we can create an article.

When you submit a ticket try and give us as much detail as possible. Any error messages you are receiving, what the page is actually doing, even giving us your links and login information will speed up the process. We would love to have all of your information memorized but we are not that good. ;-)

Also making every ticket you submit urgent or high priority will not speed up the process for you. Please use the following to prioritize your tickets to help ensure the system works as smoothly as possible:

CRITICAL, EMERGENCY, URGENT, AND HIGH PRIORITY- please use this ONLY if your site is not loading, you have been hacked, or the server is down
LOW AND MEDIUM PRIORITY - all other tickets

Please note that we try to respond to tickets within 24 hours M-F - usually much faster - no matter what level the priority is set as. :-)

Phone Calls:

Our Phone number is available for clients; however we ask that it only be used in case of emergency, as described above. We are able to answer and debug issues much faster when they are submitted in ticket form and often the phone is an unreliable way to get a hold of us because we do not share an office and I am the only one who gets the phone calls. Tickets are more visible and will be answered faster since both of us check the tickets.

If it is easier for you to learn by having someone walk you through the admin over the phone let me know and we can set up an appointment; this will be difficult while I am on my own but I will try to make time.

Nights and Weekends:

We are available to all of you Monday through Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. MST so please try to keep tickets to a minimum on off hours. We do monitor the servers over the weekend and are available in case a server is experiencing issues or sites are not loading; however all other tickets/issues will be responded to on Monday.

While Jen is gone taking care of herself and little Rusty after what has turned into a complicated last trimester, I would very much appreciate all of your patience. Remember I am on my own, even though Jen is threatening to login from the hospital because it has Wi-Fi. Please help me in letting Jen have her maternity leave by following these steps and emailing me (jamie@portfoliositez.com) instead of her.

Thanks and wish Jen luck!
=) Jamie