Yes, there has been a change at SmartyHost. MYOB has acquired the SmartyHost business and we are looking forward to working with you.

For those who do not know about MYOB, we provide accounting, payroll and retail software and real-time business management tools to more than 700,000 businesses worldwide. For over 17 years, MYOB has been a trusted provider of business solutions to Australian business owners. We are also a supplier of web hosting, email hosting and domain registration for Australian businesses.

Smarty Host is an established supplier of web hosting and internet marketing services to Australian businesses and adds strong online marketing experience to MYOB’s web hosting business formed in February this year via the acquisition of Ilisys Web Hosting. Today there remains a great opportunity to help more businesses to establish their web presence – essentially a domain name and website. Combining the strengths of the MYOB and SmartyHost businesses will help achieve our goal to web enable Australian owner operated businesses.

You can be rest assured that MYOB will be evaluating the current SmartyHost business and investigating where we can improve service. It has always been our policy to offer the best service possible to our clients.

From your point of view, very little will change as a result of the change in ownership. MYOB will continue conducting business using the SmartyHost brand. Over the next 6 months we will integrate SmartyHost into MYOB’s organisations. Gradually you may begin to see some visible changes such as the MYOB logo appearing on future documents, including your invoices and receipts. We will begin to get to know you, our new clients, over coming weeks, and ensure you have transparency over any changes we make to the product, service and support offerings we supply you.

If you have any questions or need more information, please contact our Sales or Technical Support Team on 1300 721 465.

Alternatively, if you would like to see what MYOB is all about visit www.myob.com.au

Thank you for your support of SmartyHost. All of us at MYOB are looking forward to continuing to work with you.

The SmartyHost Team & MYOB

It has been a little while since my last post. I have some news that I would like to share with you.

I started SmartyHost a number of years ago with nothing more than a vision to provide great innovative hosting services and deliver them with real value. SmartyHost success has come from our cool technology platform and our focus on the customer.

With tens of thousands of customers and services currently under management, SmartyHost is now ready for its next leap forward.

Today, I am happy to announce that I have sold the SmartyHost business to MYOB (www.myob.com.au), providers of business management solutions to Australian small businesses. MYOB's strategy of helping their clients grow through online initiatives is completely consistent with where I think SmartyHost needs to go next. MYOB also have a great reputation for looking after their clients. The web hosting landscape is set for reshuffle and I believe SmartyHost and MYOB have what it takes.

This was not a quick or easy decision. I believe that MYOB has the vision and values to take SmartyHost forward and do great things for the clients of SmartyHost. I've been impressed with the culture at MYOB - like us they have a real focus on getting it right for their clients and also have a real focus on delivering great products.

What’s next? I am now going to focus in what I do best - starting and growing a new company. My focus will be on a new initiative called Vigabyte (www.vigabyte.com.au) of which I will be the CEO and have already put together a talented team of engineers and a strategic investor. We are planning the launch of an exciting range of new ‘cloud computing’ services.

I want to take the opportunity to say thank you for your business and support. It has been an incredible experience! I'll continue to help MYOB for a period of time while I get settled in Vigabyte.

Thanks once again, and I wish you all the best in your online endeavours.

Every SmartyHost customer and all of our Reseller customers receive a $50 Google AdWords advertising voucher. Collectively that’s a few million dollars worth of free advertising credits for our customers. For more information on the Google Voucher please go to: http://www.smartyhost.com.au/googleadwords.php

This voucher can be found in the customers control panel and it is automatically generated and available.

We have just secure a special deal for our Resellers!
Every SmartyHost Reseller not only gets a free $50 Google AdWords voucher for each customer that hosts with SmartyHost, they ALSO receive 10 x $50 Google AdWords vouchers ($500 in value) to distribute as they wish. Resellers can use these vouchers to value add to their existing services or they can simply use it to attract new business.

For more information on the offer: http://www.smartyhost.com.au/reseller_googleoffer.php

When you launch a new business one of the first things to do is register a domain name. Even if you have not built your website it is important to buy a domain and secure your online brand to avoid disappointment later. The challenge with every new business is creating the first website. Do you build it yourself via web design software or do you outsource to a web designer? What are the cost of building it and the cost of ongoing maintenance?

We have come up with an easy solution that addresses these issues, it’s called 'The 40 Buck Website'. The 40 Buck Website includes:
1. Domain of your choice including .com.au
2. Free web hosting
3. Free email hosting with ability to integrate with Outlook, Webmail, Anti-spam, Email forwarding and Email Auto responders.
4. Full Web hosting control panel to manage your account
5. Easy to use Web based Site Builder with over 500 professionally designed templates.
6. ...all for just $40 per year (free setup).

Our engineers have created the tools for all these features to be created on the fly once you order. You can see more information about the package at;
http://www.smartyhost.com.au/40buckwebsite.php

The package is a great way to give life to your idle domain names and create a professional web presence. Creating a website takes only minutes and you don’t need an IT degree to do it. We have released 11 flash tutorials that shows you how to create a website in just 5 easy steps: http://www.smartyhost.com.au/smartydesign_tutorials.php

If you have already purchased a domain name you can upgrade to the 40 Buck Website. Depending on the type of domain and price you paid you may be able to upgrade for free or at worst pay the difference between your domain cost and $40, a nominal fee. Our engineers created an automated systems to allow you to upgrade automatically with a click of button. As soon as you activate the 40 Buck website package in your Domain Name control panel the package is created on the fly.

Click Here to see the demo of how quick it is if you had paid $40 for your domain, then upgrade to the 40 Buck Website is free.

Click here to see the demo if you have to pay the difference between the cost of your domain and $40.

We also have a couple of upgrade options including our 250 Buck Website and 400 Buck Website which includes 500MB of web space, free domain, ecommerce, and much more: http://www.smartyhost.com.au/webdesign.php

SmartyHost is only a few companies in Australia participating in the new .asia domain extension established for individuals and companies in the Asia-Pacific region, which includes Australia and New Zealand. The Asia-Pacific region has the largest internet population in the world.

The .asia domain is now live and open to all Australian companies and individuals. Even if you don't have a presence in Asia, it is important to protect your online brand as the .asia domain extension also includes Australia. The .asia domains are now available and you do not need an ABN to register. SmartyHost is charging $40 per year. To see if your .asia domain is available go to http://www.smartyhost.com.au/dotasia_new.php

The Australian Innovation Festival is comprised of hundreds of events ranging from seminars, exhibitions, trade fairs and workshops to increase public awareness of innovation in Australia. The Festival is increasingly recognised as the major national platform to celebrate, promote and enhance the value of Australia’s innovation. There are over 500 events held around Australia and over 400,000 people attend each year.

The Australian Innovation Festival has been running since 2002 and SmartyHost has been a supporter and partner of the event along with AusIndustry, National Press Club and others since 2004. You can find information about the events in your local area by visiting their website at: http://www.ausinnovation.org. SmartyHost provides Free Dedicated Hosting to the Australian Innovation Festival to help support this important event.

Max Design Workshops provides hands-on web design workshops. SmartyHost has secured a special price from Max Designs to offer our customers and resellers a 10% discount on the latest workshop and also $150 credit voucher.

The latest workshop is provided by User Experience expert, Donna Maurer, and CSS expert, Russ Weakley.

Over two full days you will build detailed websites layouts from the ground up - starting with page layout, navigation and form design; and ending with clean markup and elegant styling using XHTML/CSS.

To register please go to:
http://maxdesign.com.au/workshop2008/index-smartyhost.htm

(Note: SmartyHost does not receive any financial benefit from the workshop and is not in anyway affiliated with the program)

SmartyHost is only a few companies in Australia participating in the new .asia domain extension established for individuals and companies in the Asia-Pacific region, which includes Australia and New Zealand. The Asia-Pacific region has the largest internet population in the world.

The DotAsia Registry was launched late last year and only open to government & trademark holders which resulted in over 30,000 registrations.

The DotAsia Registry will go live on March 26 and available to everyone to register.
However you do have an opportunity to secure your .asia domain name before March 26!

Between February 20th 2008 on 12:00 Noon UTC and ending on March 12th 2008 on 24:00 Midnight UTC you can apply for your .asia domain name. However all .asia domain names receiving more than one application will be auctioned between the applicants in an equitable process handled by the DotAsia Registry.

If your application is uncontested, your .asia domain name will appear in your SmartyHost account with no further action required on your part. If, however, there are other applicants for the same .asia domain name, you will be invited to participate in an auction for the domain.

If you are outbid or do not wish to participate in the auction and thus do not successfully register the .asia domain name, then your registration fee will be fully refunded.

To secure your place we recommend applying for as many .asia domain names as possible. We will refund the .asia domain names not registering.

SmartyHost is charging $80 per 2 years (MelbourneIT is charging $519.50)

To register your .asia domain name please go to:
http://www.smartyhost.com.au/dotasia.php

We about to launch our new TV commercial on Channel 7, 10 and Sky News nationwide. Let us know what you think.

Smartyhost has signed an agreement with Google. The deal provides every new web hosting customer and every existing customer that renews their web hosting account and a $50 Google AdWords advertising voucher free. Customers can find the voucher inside their SmartyHost web hosting control panel.

The $50 Google Adwords voucher is also available to all of SmartyHost reseller’s customers as well. SmartyHost expects to give away a few million dollars worth of free advertising credits over the next 12 months.

For more information:
http://www.smartyhost.com.au/googleadwords.php