The HourTown Blog

Importing your HourTown appointments to Outlook 2007 is an easy process for Business and Business Pro account holders. After you spend a few minutes of setup time, your appointments will automatically be imported into Outlook 2007. Both HourTown and Outlook 2007 support iCal urls. An iCal url is a standard file format for calendars, so that different calendar applications can communicate.

Step 1: Copy your HourTown iCal url.

• Log in to your HourTown account (http://www.hourtown.com/)
• Click on the “Edit Profile” link
• Click on the “Publish Calendar” link
• Copy the “HourTown calendar url” address

Step 2: Add your HourTown iCal url to Outlook 2007.

• Start Outlook 2007
• Select “Account Settings” from Tools menu
• Click on the “Internet Calendars” tab
• Click on the New button
• Paste your HourTown iCal url
• Click the Add button
• Enter a label (for example, “HourTown”) for this share within the “Folder Name:” field and click OK button
• Click Close button to close the “Account Settings” window
• To view this data, Select “Calendar” from Go menu. Then place a check mark within the box next to this share name you created under the “Other Calendars” section.

You can drag your “HourTown” calendar to the “My Calendars” section in “All Calendar Items.” Your HourTown calendar will get refreshed regularly, and should refresh each time you restart Outlook 2007.

Importing your HourTown appointments to Google Calendar is an easy process for Business and Business Pro account holders. After you spend a few minutes of setup time, your appointments will automatically be imported into Google Calendar. Both HourTown and Google support iCal urls. An iCal url is a standard file format for calendars, so that different calendar applications can communicate.

Step 1: Copy your HourTown iCal url.

• Log in to your HourTown account (http://www.hourtown.com/)
• Click on the “Edit Profile” link
• Click on the “Publish Calendar” link
• Copy the “HourTown calendar url” address

Step 2: Add your HourTown iCal url to your Google Calendar

• Log in to your Google Calendar account (http://www.google.com/calendar/render)
• In the left column, find the “Other calendars” box
  
• Click on the “add” link and choose “Add by Url”
  
  
• Paste the “HourTown calendar url” address that you copied from step 1
• Click the “add” button
• Click the “Back to Calendar” link
• See your HourTown Calendar in the “Other calendars” box

Google calendar only updates your HourTown events a few times per day. So, it may take a few hours for new HourTown appointments to appear on your Google Calendar.

This morning, I first learned that Bono had become a venture capitalist. Now, from what the New York Times is reporting, Bjork has gotten into the business. I’ve always heard about professional athletes being drawn into venture capital, but never rocks stars. Who’s next?

We occasionally get asked why staff members are not receiving text messages when an online appointment request is made.

At the moment, staff members who are not the account owner, do not have access to log into the service to accept or deny appointment requests that have been made. Only the account owner has the ability to log into the account. As such, staff members receive text messages when an appointment has been accepted and added to their calendar. Staff members will also receive text messages when an appointment that is on their calendar is changed, or is removed from their calendar. The account owner can receive a text message that an appointment request has been made so that they can log into the service and accept the request.

We have received feedback that our online scheduling software would work better if the individual staff members had the ability to manage their own schedules and appointments directly. We’ve heard you and will have some new features around this out soon.

So Stay tuned!

We’ve received some great coverage on our online payment features from some very sharp people in the blogosphere this past week. We’re extremely grateful for the coverage and recommend you discover the fantastic news and commentary Greg and Scott put out each day.

Greg Sterling, the leading local search anaylst (Screenwerk)

Scott Loftesness, payments and technolgy expert (Payments News)

Hi Everyone,

Wanted to let you know about another exciting new feature we recently launched, Calendar Synch. It allows your small business to pull your HourTown online appointments directly from your HourTown account and into your ical supported online calendar. Which calendars play nicely with HourTown?

Apple’s iCal and the iPhone

Apple’s personal calendar that runs on Mac OSX. If you’re a Mac user it’s pretty tough to beat. If you’re using an iPhone, it works on the same set of standards.

Google Calendar

Google has a nifty online calendar that is growing in popularity. It also supports the iCal standards and can be easily setup to subscribe to your HourTown account’s “feed”.

This new feature comes with our Business and Business Pro accounts. It’s easy to setup and is a great way to manage your online scheduling needs more efficiently.

HourTown is proud to announce the launch of an exciting new feature, online payments. Now you can offer your clients the convenience of paying online before their appointment.  HourTown has partnered with PayPal to make the process incredibly simple and safe for both you and your clients.   Glenbrook, the leading payment consultancy firm, has taken notice and commented on the significance of online payments for HourTown on their blog .

We were happy to discover that HourTown was featured today on Feed Growth. It’s a great blog with a unique approach on presenting new ideas to a small business owner. The mission of the site to help small businesses create a “customer feeding frenzy”. This should be required reading for any small business owner who wants more nibbles on their line.

It’s great advice. Something Donny Deutch is famous for saying all the time on his excellent television show. Last week I got a phone call from an inspiring entrepreneur, Tonya R Taylor. Tonya has a thriving newsletter targeted at small business owners which provides inspiration and techniques for “faking it until you make it”. Recently she discovered HourTown and shared it with her community. Take a moment and discover Tonya’s tips. She a very engaging person who has some excellent advice to share with small business owners on her website.

We are pleased to announce that one of first customers, Scot Maitland, has returned to the massage industry and is once again offering the convenience of HourTown online scheduling to his clients. Scot’s happy to be back in Austin, Texas and we have no doubt that Austin is happy to have him back!