The 2014 issue of the Maui Golf Review features Shortcut App scannable content specifically geared toward converting Maui Golf Review readers into mobile users of our robust digital information and services. One addition to our digital services is a dedicated mobile site that appears automatically when people arrive at mauigolfreview.com, whether they are on an iPad, iPhone, Android device, tablet, etc. The new mobile site is evolving and an even more robust in-house version will be done before the New Year. Users who scan a page using the Shortcut App are offered a variety of on-device choices preprogrammed by us. “More Options” takes readers from the printed page to our mobile site right on their smartphone or tablets seamlessly. That loads our mauigolf.site.mobi website automatically.
Visitors to our new mobile site can tap their way to many solutions including our automated and live booking system. This dials our new toll-free number that has recorded booking information to help us liquidate our barter, as well as to help steer golfers to those sponsors who use us as a wholesaler. Users tap the first button they see and they are in the automated system, where the first option “0” puts them straight through to Marie, who can share with the golfer what deals and offers she has available. Courses that have barter with us should know it is a very limited thing and once it is gone Marie can steer paying golfers to your venues, so please email her and let her know you want to be in our wholesale program.
Our mobile site lists our confidential barter rates, offers visitors a way to have us easily dial them back, has an eTime form, provides a way for golfers seeking where to play advice to reach out to me, illuminates our business hours, offers an easy way for people to join our SMS Golf Deal Alerts database, provides a “Tell a Friend About Us” option, has a Google map with courses on it, has a path to our YouTube video channel, our Flickr Photostream, our desktop site, our Facebook updates feed into the screen directly, and we even have the site translated into a variety of foreign languages!
The print issue itself is actually “programmed” using an image recognition platform known as Kooaba. Each page has been set up to help readers find a plethora of new digital options available to them, including our new Cover Jigsaw Puzzle Game, which has been fully coded to work on anything from a desktop computer to an iPhone.
The game, which is built utilizing HTML5 instead of Flash, responds to both the desktop mouse as well as the user’s finger on a tablet. It’s a great little creation, and we have another in store for our launch on January 5, called Face Match Game. Our Face Match Game will also work on all devices and takes all of our people on the cover and creates a game that has a timer, and tracks the percentage of people named. We’ll even have a leaderboard!
