OggChat Live Chat - Blog

Placing the Chat Widget div over a flash element

2011-12-21T05:24:00.000-08:00

We have had a number of customers ask how we can place the chat widget div over a flash element on their web pages. They've run into issues where part of the embedded live chat widget or the proactive chat box has been hidden behind their flash video.

Well the fix for this issue is fairly straight forward and just involves adding a parameter to your flash settings. In the flash parameters make sure you add the parameter as follows:

For embed parameters just add:

wmode="transparent"

to the "embed" tag of your flash.

If you'd like to see a working example, just head over to our home page at http://www.oggchat.com and view the source. You'll see that we've added the parameter to a video on our homepage.

Here's how our embedded chat now looks when opened over the flash player.

Customizing our new Embedded Live Chat Widget

2011-11-28T06:44:00.001-08:00

We've had some great feedback and suggestions for our new embedded live chat widget. One of the most common questions is how to customize the chat widget to change the online and offline text and how to modify the colors and location of the chat. Well, we're happy to say that all of these are configurable right in the javascript snippet that you include in your site.

Here are a couple examples of different colors and text you can use for your Live Chat Widget:

Bottom Aligned, Gray:

Top Aligned, Green:

Top Aligned, Green, Spanish:

Here's the code snippet that we've included in our site. We'll discuss the most commonly modified parameters below:

<script type="text/javascript">

<div id="oggchat"></div>

var page ={/*Modify or uncomment the variables below to customize*/

'tab_align':'top',/*Fixed location of Tab Button, valid values are top, bottom, left, right*/

'tab_margin_right':'45px',/*When tab is top or bottom, the right margin*/

'popup_margin_right':'40px',/*The right margin of popup chat window*/

'popup_margin_top':'30px',/*The top margin of popup chat window*/

'tab_bg_color':'green',/*Tab Background Color*/

'tab_hover_color':'red',/*Tab Hover Color*/

'website':'www.oggchat.com',/*Your Domain Name*/

'p':'30',/*Proactive Chat Timer in Seconds*/

'online_text':'Need Help? Click to Chat!',/*Custom Text to display in tab when online*/

'offline_text': 'Offline - Leave a message',/*Custom Text to display in tab when offline*/

'font_family':'Arial',/*When using text, font to use*/

'font_size':'11pt',/*When using custom text, font size*/

'font_color':'#FFFFFF', /*When using custom text, font color*/

'host':'oggchat2.icoa.com',

'cid':'',

'act':''

};

(function() {function oggchat(){

var base = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://oggchat2.icoa.com" : "http://oggchat2.icoa.com");

var s = document.createElement('script');s.type = 'text/javascript';s.async = true;s.src = base+'/js/oggwindow.js';

var x = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0];x.parentNode.insertBefore(s, x);};

if (window.attachEvent)window.attachEvent('onload', oggchat);else window.addEventListener('load', oggchat, false);

})();

</script>

First, you can change the online and offline messages to whatever text in whatever language you like. Just modify the value of the online_text and offline_text javascript variables. Please make sure that if use single quotes within the text, that you escape them with a backslash.

Next, you can change the location of the chat widget to the top or bottom of the web browser. Valid values for the tab_align key are either 'top' or 'bottom'. You can move the tab to the left or the right by using the tab_margin_right value or the tab_margin_left. These values represent the right or left padding in pixels for the tab layer.

To change the the colors of the embedded chat tab, you can pick the colors you want with the tab_bg_color and tab_hover_color values. You can use either browser supported colors such as 'red', 'green', or 'blue' or choose a Hex color such as '#999999'.

Change the location of the embedded popup chat window by using the popup_margin_right, and popup_margin_top values. These values will shift the chat window from the right margin of the web browser and from the top margin of the browser. You can also use the popup_margin_bottom key to shift the chat widget from the bottom of the browser window.

The automatic proactive chat timer can also be set directly from the embedded javascript. The value should be set as a number only that represents the seconds to wait until the proactive chat request is initiated. A value of '0' will disable the proactive chat invitations.

We hope that this will get you well on your way to incorporating an OggChat Live Chat widget on your website. If you haven't signed up yet, you can sign up for a free trial at http://www.oggchat.com

Your Website needs Customized Proactive Chat Invitations to Engage Customers

2011-05-12T08:08:00.000-07:00

OggChat's customized proactive chat feature lets you send individual customized chat invitations to your website visitors. So in additional to timed triggers that automatically invite customers to chat after a set amount of time on your website, this new feature allows operators to customize their invitations based on context information we provide for each visitor.

For instance, if you own an online store, you can customize an invite based on items in that shopping cart, the particular product that a visitor is viewing, or even on the visitor path through your site.

So if you want to ramp up sales on your website, try OggChat Live Chat to engage visitors when and where they need help.

Canned Messages Right from your IM

2011-01-07T07:47:00.000-08:00

We're happy to announce canned messages from within OggChat. A canned message is a predefined live chat response that a live chat operator can send to a visitor, increasing response speed and efficiency.

In OggChat we call these canned messages Shortcuts.

Here's an example of the Canned Message Shortcut Screen:

Once you create a shortcut, respond with the canned message by typing "/" then the shortcut name. For example, type "/hello" to send the hello message as follows:

The visitor will see the message on their live chat window:

That's it. You're ready to save time and increase sales with live chat!

Try it Today with a 14-Day Free Trial

Chat Widget Hiding when Offline

2010-10-11T06:40:00.000-07:00

With OggChat, you can hide your chat widget button or live chat tab when you're offline. This is a handy feature that allows you additional flexibility when setting up your live chat software.

Here's how you do it. After logging in, select Chat Windows --> Your Chat Widget Domain. Then scroll to the bottom of the page and you will see an Advanced section. Here you can choose to hide your chat widget when offline.

When your are not scheduled or all operators are offline, your button will automatically be removed from the page.

Ready to give it a try? Try OggChat for Free

OggChat's New Live Chat Dashboard with Reports

2010-10-08T05:36:00.000-07:00

We're happy to announce our new and improved live chat dashboard that includes an overview of your recent live chat history, a breakdown by live chat operator and a breakdown of chats by live chat widget or domain.

This handy dashboard gives you a very quick idea of live chats by day, how many live chats you have missed during a particular date range, as well as which operators and which live chat widgets are performing the best.

For more info or a free trial, visit www.oggchat.com

New Wordpress Live Help Plugin by OggChat

2010-06-11T05:52:00.000-07:00

It's now even easier for Wordpress users to integrate live help into their sites with the OggChat Live Chat plugin. You can download it here.

Simply, install the OggChat Plugin

In Wordpress, select OggChat Settings and save your Chat key and a few custom settings.

Sit back, relax, and start chatting with Wordpress site visitors!

Shopify Integration Tutorial - Adding Live Chat

2010-06-07T07:15:00.001-07:00

Including OggChat Live Chat in your Shopify website is easy. Just follow these instructions on including your OggChat Widget in your Shopify Template.

1. Login to OggChat
2. Login to your Shopify Account
3. Select Theme --> Template Editor in the top right-hand side

4. Under the Layouts heading, select "theme"

5. For OggChat Tab Widgets (the default), scroll to the bottom and copy the OggChat Widget code from the OggChat Dashboard right before the end body tag.

6. For OggChat Buttons or Custom Online/Offline Buttons, scroll to the location in the template page where you'd like your button to appear. Copy the OggChat Widget code to this location.

7. Click Save.
8. You're Done! Start answering live chats right from Shopify.

OggChat Live Chat Floating Tab

2010-05-27T07:15:00.000-07:00

We've just released a new feature that allows you to create a floating live chat tab anywhere on your website - top, bottom, left, or right. Now in addition to support for OggChat Live Chat buttons as well as custom uploaded images, you can simply create a Live Chat Tab to place on your website.

This Live Chat Tab is similar to tabs you've seen on Facebook Chat (at the bottom) or Feedback Tabs you've see in other services. This tab will display your live chat online or offline status and can be configured with custom colors as well as custom locations.

Here are a few examples on our site:

The generated script includes the variables below which can be customized to match your website:

bg_color: Chat tab background color to us

hover_color: Color of the tab when hovering over it.

website: the name of your website for tracking purposes

top_margin: For left and right tabs, the pixel distance from the top of the browser window

bottom_margin: For left and right tabs, the pixel distance from the bottom of the browser. Only use top_morgin or bottom_margin, not both.

left_margin: For top and bottom tabs, the pixel distance from the left side of the browser window

right_margin: For top and bottom tabs, the pixel distance from the right side of the browser window

window_height: The height in pixels of the chat window to popup when clicking.

window_width: The width in pixels of the chat window to popup when clicking.

align: Where to position the chat top. Options are: 'left', 'right', 'top', 'bottom'

Just sign up for a Free Trial of OggChat to give it a try today!

10 Reasons to Use Live Chat Software for Business Today

2010-02-22T14:09:00.000-08:00

1. Engage directly with website visitors when they most need help.

2. Give a great first impression of the quality of your customer service by being helpful and courteous to visitors and by answering their questions quickly.

3. Convert casual website visitors into customers by monitoring website visitors as they enter your site and viewing their footprint in your site. Proactively invite them to a chat to help explain a product or service.

4. Live Chat from Anywhere. Answer live chats when and where you want to - from your computer, your iPhone, or your Blackberry. Choose the instant messenger of your choice such as Google Talk, Audium, or Pidgin.

5. Strengthen your brand by customizing your chat window with your logo, your buttons, and your website look and feel.

6. Gain a competitive edge by implementing a professional live chat service on your website.

7. Save money on customer service. Live chat is inexpensive compared to call center support.

8. Live chat is easy to grow. Add operators as your business and live support needs grow.

9. You get a written transcript of exactly what was discussed. Great for both companies and customers.

10. Experience these benefits with an OggChat.com Free Trial

Custom Online/Offline Live Chat Buttons

2010-02-03T06:02:00.001-08:00

As part of our ongoing focus on implementing customer feature requests as quickly as possible, we have been releasing a number of incremental improvements to OggChat.

Today we've enhanced OggChat Live Chat by adding support for custom online and offline chat buttons. With this feature, you can just login to OggChat, upload the images you'd like to use for online and offline live chat presence, and copy your generated code into your website.

Here's a screenshot of the capability:

Live Chat in Multiple Languages with OggChat

2010-01-21T06:03:00.000-08:00

We've just introduced multi-language live chat support for Oggchat that allows businesses to choose the language they want to interact with their customers in. Chat window messages will be localized to the language chosen as well as operator interaction in Gmail or Google Talk.

This is yet another feature that will drastically expand the reach of OggChat Live Chat to businesses around the world.

We are asking for volunteers to help expand our language support. We currently support these languages. If you're interested, please contact us here. We'll respond with a short list of phrases and words that require translation into your language.

OggChat's New Live Chat History Search

2010-01-12T08:07:00.001-08:00

We're pleased to announce live chat history search to OggChat. With the latest release of OggChat, Operators and Administrators have the ability to search all live chat history and quickly view visitor information including geo location on Google Maps, visitor browser details, and chat message text.

This feature enables screen pop capabilities for incoming chats and gives your business realtime access to visitor history through OggChat.

Here are some screenshots of the new feature:

Chat Request that includes Search History Link

Link directly to the search page from the chat invite that comes into your Gmail chat.

Chat History Search Page on OggChat

Dynamically search for previous chats from this visitor. You can search be name, email, ip, phone number, and date ranges.

Here are additional images and details on our site

Google Chrome and Live Chat Software by OggChat

2009-12-08T11:17:00.000-08:00

Now that Google has released versions of Chrome for Mac and Linux, we wanted to announce that our OggChat Live Chat client fully supports Chrome across Windows and Mac. So regardless of which browser your visitors are using, you know that their live chat / live help sessions will work without a hitch.

So if you're looking for a free live chat solution that integrates with Google Talk and GMail, sign up now for OggChat.

OggChat Operator Chat Transfer Improvement

2009-12-08T10:49:00.000-08:00

As we continue to improve OggChat, we will be releasing a series of incremental chat feature enhancements. If you have a feature request or improvement, feel free to send us an email.

Today, we released the latest version of OggChat that includes previous chat history after an operator to operator transfer of a chat.

So now when typing: #transfer , your chat transfer request will be initiated. After the other operator accepts, they'll receive the current chat history including name, phone, and email of the website visitor.

As always, you can view chat history at anytime during a session by simply typing #history in your Google Talk window (or GMail chat window for that matter).

New Feature Released: #bye command

2009-11-25T06:50:00.000-08:00

We are striving to constantly improve the features and service offering at OggChat. Today, we have released a new chat command: #bye

This command will allow operators to close a chat window with a site visitor or customer once the chat session is finished rather than waiting on the user to close the window.

If you have suggestions for making OggChat better, let us know by going to http://oggchat.com and click the "Just click to chat now..." button and let us know about your ideas.

Live Chat for WordPress with OggChat

2009-11-16T12:46:00.000-08:00

With OggChat on your WordPress blog, you can now engage directly with site visitors using OggChat and your GMail account.

WordPress Setup Instructions for OggChat:

Login to the Admin section of your WordPress Site (usually www.yourdmain.com/wp-admin)
On the left-hand side bar, under Plugins, click Add New
In the Search box, type HTML-Javascript Adder and click Search plugins
On the right-hand side, click Install
In the pop-up installer box, click the orange Install Now button in the upper-right corner
This will take yo to the Plugin Installing status page. Once the plugin is finished installing, click Activate Plugin
On the left-hand side bar, under Appearance, click Widgets
In the Available Widgets section, locate HTML Javascript Adder -- 1
Click, Hold, and Drag the widget to the appropriate sidebar on the right-hand side of the screen
Once in place on the sidebar, in the "Your Javascript/HTML/Flash embed code or others" box, paste your Oggchat code and click Save at the bottom
Your OggChat box is now active on your website!

Adding a Blogger Live Chat Gadget with OggChat

2009-11-16T12:39:00.000-08:00

We've had a number of requests from customers wanting to know how to include OggChat in their Blogger.com Blog. With OggChat on your blog, you can now engage directly with blog visitors using OggChat and your GMail account.

Blogger Setup Instructions:

Login to the Admin section of your Blogger Site (www.blogger.com)
Select the Dashboard
Click Layout
Select the Add a Gadget link
Choose HTML/JavaScript
Enter a Title for your OggChat Gadget
Copy and Paste the OggChat Website Code into the Text Box.
Click Save
Your OggChat Gadget is now active on your blog!

How to convert website visitors to customers

2009-10-16T06:47:00.000-07:00

Here's a situation that many website owners find themselves in. Does this apply to you?

You have a product or service you're selling online.
You've set up your online shopping cart.
You've used Pay-Per-Click ads and SEO techniques to bring more vistiors to your website.
You've integrated Google Analytics to watch your visitors grow.

And you still can't seem to convert all of those visitors to customers?

Well sometimes, it's as easy as giving your visitors a little human interaction and spending 30 seconds answering their product questions.

That's where OggChat Live Chat can help. Unlike other Live Chat services, OggChat is affordable for businesses of any size and also offers a totally free version for small businesses and bloggers. What better ROI than free?

Simply sign up, copy your chat button into your webpage, and start engaging your customers before they leave your site. You'll be surprised at how your sales will increase and your overall support costs will drop by adding live chat to your website.

OggChat Pro Live Chat - Great Features for your Pro Chat

2009-10-08T19:39:00.000-07:00

After some great initial feedback on the OggChat Live Chat service, we've decided to offer a one month free trial of the Pro version of the service. This version has some great features not included in OggChat Lite such as multiple operator support, chat transfers between agents using Google Talk or Gmail, department-based routing of chats, and support for multiple domains for a single OggChat account.

Chat Transfers

Say you've accepted a chat from a customer who is having a billing issue and you're in the marketing department. Simply type "#transfer " in your GMail chat window to transfer the chat to another agent in your account.

Department Based Routing

You can create any number of departments in your account and assign individual operators to each topic. Then when a customer selects a department from the drop down list in the chat window, the chat request is only routed to those operators assigned to that particular department.

Multiple Domain Support

If you have multiple websites you'd like to put OggChat on, it's as simple as generating a different widget for each domain. When the chat request arrives to your Instant Messenger, you know from which site it came, so you can respond appropriately.

So go ahead and signup for a free trial of OggChat Pro Today!

Introducing OggChat - Live Chat

2009-09-22T09:00:00.000-07:00

We understand that every business could increase sales and reduce costs by offering inexpensive online support. Internally we had a need for a cost effective live chat solution for our website, but solutions like LivePerson were too expensive and the Google Chatback Badge was too clunky. Therefore we decided to build a solution ourselves to fit our needs as a small business that uses Google Hosted Apps.

OggChat is a simple and cost effective Live Chat solution that offers a popup branded chat window to initiate a session, but intelligently routes chats right to GMail or Google Talk. OggChat is free for one operator, easy to set up, and requires no contract or up-front costs.