|
|
Google launches free live chat service for websites Google have launched Chatback, a free live chat service for websites that gives webmasters the opportunity to offer real time online support or advice to visitors to their website.To use Chatback on a website, you will need a Google Talk account ( if you already have a Gmail account, you will have a Google Talk account). Then it's just a case of copying the provided code and pasting it on pages that you want the Chatback badge to appear.  Visitors to your site do not need to have a Google Talk account. When they visit your site, they'll see the Chatback badge and your online status (available, busy, offline) and, if you're available, they can just click and start chatting. Chatback uses the web-based Google Talk Gadget so your visitors don't need to download anything. It also opens in a new window so they can keep chatting with you even if they browse to other pages. Chatback enters an already crowded live chat market that is dominated by companies like Liveperson who charge a monthly fee for their hosted service starting at US$95 a month.  Such paid services - WhosOn, Boldchat and Sightmax are others in the market - offer a variety of bells and whistles, but there's no doubting that the arrival of Chatback will have ruffled a few feathers.Google Chatback isn't the only player in the market offering a free service. Meebo - which is based in Google's hometown of Mountain View, California - allows users to send and receive messages from a number of different IM services, such as AOL, MSN, Yahoo and Jabber, from anywhere. Its Meebo Me is an embeddable IM window you can drop onto any personal webpage – it lets you chat with site visitors in real time from meebo.com. 28th February 2008 Comment on this article |
Five Questions to find out what makes an internet entrepreneur tick?  "I believe some people have a little something in their head that makes them look at things in a slightly different way. Some people absolutely cannot envisage doing anything but working for somebody else - and that is fine. However I believe entrepreneurs are born and will always find a way to do things differently." Kieron Donoghue, ukoffer.com Take one internet entrepreneur - for instance Kieron Donoghue (pictured above) - and ask them Five Questions. Also in the Five Questions hot seat this month is Victoria Vanstone of yourdeathwish.com. Why niche websites are like flowers George Marshall reckons that niche websites are like flowers and need to be nurtured just as you would a plant. more |
|
© Internet Entrepreneurs 2008. All rights reserved. Please note the contents of this website are for information purposes only. If you are considering investing time and money into a business venture please seek independent advice. |