Red Hot Site of the Day !

Over the weekend WhosOff was the 'Red Hot Site of the Day' on Redorbit.com -

RedOrbit.com, based in Texas,USA has become the premier internet destination for space, science, health, and technology enthusiasts around the globe.

New Reviews

A couple of reviews have been posted recently which I think really capture the essence of the Whosoff service.

Steve Anderson's 'Keep track of who's off'
and
John Reardon's 'Tracking Time off the easy way'

Thanks to both of them for taking the time to mention Whosoff on their blogs.

WhosOff currently manages the holiday and vacations of tens of thousands of users worldwide -across thousands of companies and organisations both large and small.

Happy Birthday !

# Happy Birthday to us...#

On 1st July 2007 WhosOff celebrated its first year as the internet's first and only free to use Online staff holiday and vacation planner...

Back in July 2006 we really had no idea how popular a service like this could be and have been surprised at the take up, not only amongst SMEs but also departments of some 'very' large businesses around the world.

Our aim is to make WhosOff the first choice for business and other organisations to manage staff holiday and vacation.We aim to keep the site friendly, easy to use and give first class support.

After favourable reviews on sites such as Techcrunch.com, Webware.com, Killerstartups.com and recently downloadsquad.com we can see the word is spreading.We can now boast a considerable
and continously growing user base !


Thanks for all those who came on board and who support the site.

Who's blogging Whosoff ?

Being second is no longer 'second best'

Hi my name is 2 - You've probably heard of me, but not so long ago I used to be just another single digit, the second best, just number two,
you would n't even have looked at me twice, am I right?

In the old days everybody just knew about number 1, wanted to be number one, the first, the one and only, the 'numero uno' and for me and the rest of the guys..well, we never got a look in...

How things have changed! - now its my turn - everybody's talking about me ! Number 2 ...ok...I've got 'point zero' tagging along but wow! its great !
Number 3 is soooo jealous - anyway I expect his turn will come.

But for now, its me in the spot-light 2.0 , I'm the belle of the ball 2.0, in fact anything 2.0 is the biggest, bestest thing...ever...

Just add me after any noun, yes any noun, and it'll be appearing all over the web 2.0 in a jumping-jack-flash 2.0 second... how about Pizza 2.0 ? or Drawing Pin 2.0 ? or even Teapot 2.0 ?...Sounds great doesn't it ?

Is it just a 2.0 buzzword or am I really going to be on top of the World 2.0 ?
How long will it last and is number 3 coming over hill 2.0 ?

Watch this space 2.0

A smart solution for one office problem - Free

Business, particularly SMEs, are being inundated with promises from the likes of Google and Microsoft, of online delivered web applications.The current buzz words being 'Web 2.0' and 'Saas' (Software as a Service) and 'On demand'.

There are, of course, the many spreadsheet,word processing, personal calendar,Networking offerings but what real advantage do these online services have over our traditional desktop applications and how many business are really buying into this type of on-demand software?

I'm sure people running day to day businesses would n't mind getting a handle on what this whole 'Web 2.0' really means and how it can help their business in particular.One answer lies, for a lot of SMEs, in having one of their daily problems solved by one of these web 2.0 offerings.

www.WhosOff.com is an online workplace leave management service that makes organising time off easy. It is simple to use and solves an enduring office problem that every SME has.."who's off ?" And what's more the service is Free!

WhosOff.com is also a story of modest entrepreneurship - proving that you do not need to be in Silicon Valley or backed by millions in venture captial to get a project off the ground.

Techcrunch reviews WhosOff.com

The start of another week and another review of Whosoff.com
has been posted. This time, Duncan Riley of Techcrunch.com -
one of the web's best known blogs on the topics of new internet
products and developments.

You can read the article here and also view the
comments left by others

Recent Reviews

This week WhosOff.com has been appearing round the world on some significant blogs.

Read the review on webware.com - Rafe Needleman says..."I am a big fan of simple Web tools that make annoying tasks easier. One of the latest tools in that vein: WhosOff, a free Web service that helps you coordinate vacation and out-of-the-office times for people in your company"

Read the full review here

Thanks Rafe !

Also blogged recently

In Spain on GenBeta.com and wwwwhatsnew.com
In Japan on 100shikki.com
In USA on appscout.com , Itlnet.net , webware.com

BT Business Blog

Thanks to Simon Dickson for his piece about our site that
appeared on the BT Business blog this morning,

Read the full article here:
http://blog.btbroadbandoffice.com/archive/doing-business-online/one-uk-firms-modest-approach-t.php

Google Adwords - Science or Black Art ?

Since launching WhosOff.com in the summer of 2006, we have have been continuously studying the science of Google AdWords.We are drawing to the conclusion that it is not a science but a black art!

Like everybody else, I suspect, in the beginning, we just loaded up our AdWords with what we thought were useful words and phrases and expected the whole of the world to be knocking on our door for 2 or 3 pennies a shot.

But of course Google did not become an over night billion dollar business with this scenario - You have to hand it to them... no matter what your budget is - you can always be tempted to spend a little more.

So what have we discovered...so far..?

After nearly a year of statistics, trial and error,refining, and conversion tracking, we have discovered our best value phrases and words. We have chopped out a lot of under-performing or expensive words to be left with the cream of the crop.

The best performing words at the right price. In brief - Less is more. And...don't be seduced by the occasional expensive conversion!

Website improvements

Some new features have recently been added to Whosoff.com :

The bulk update facility now lets users update the current year and
the following year in the same line.

In employee administration, the employee's approver is shown

Users can now view half-day absence

Notes are viewable on ALL types of requests (Holiday/absence/out of office)
and in the calandar views

Whosoff.com is free and easy to use. Click here to sign up today

Other Blogs

Thanks to Joe Drumgoole , CEO of PutPlace.com in Ireland, for
taking the time to mention WhosOff on his blog.

It has also been picked up by Darrenbarefoot , a writer and technologist, living in Vancouver Canda.

Thanks guys

WhosOff.com

BBC Radio 2 Website of the Day

Thank You to BBC2's Miles Mendoza for making
WhosOff.com one of his websites of the day.

Lets all keep listening to Steve Wright in the afternoon
next week (20th Feb 1645hrs) to see if we get a mention!

Thank you to all WhosOff.com users for helping to make
our website a success.

Welcome to the WhosOff blog

If you are a WhosOff user, please feel free post any comments
you have about WhosOff.com.

What best describes WhosOff.com; Staff Leave Planner, Staff Holiday Planner, Planner or even Year Planner is WhosOff.com the right name?

Let us know what you like about WhosOff.com and what additional
features you would like to be considered for future upgrades.

Because WhosOff.com is a free service offering a broad fit to
many different types of business, many companies have found
ways to cover their own staff holiday planning issues, please
share these ideas with other users so they may make best use
of the system in its current format.

If you want to, tell the community about your business,
add a link to your site, or tell us all a little more about how
you use WhosOff.com to manage your HR issues that would
all help.

Many Thanks
Whosoff.com