Alpha Wave Media Limited has given my business a professional service from our first meeting. They have designed a great web-site and I have had positive feed back from people who have visited it. I am so pleased I have instructed Alpha Wave Media to work further on Search Engine Optimisation. All the advice and designs have been better than I could have hoped for and for this reason I am more than happy to recommend this company.
Phil Green
Partner
Green & Co Accountants
I rarely discover software that I really genuinely like. For every good bit of software, there are 9 that wind me up or do things in such a clunky way I wish I had never bothered. Ever now and then though, you find a gem. Something that’s so exciting your mouth drops with excitement and you go beyond generally enthusiasm into the world of oh-my-god-this-will-change-my-life-and-all-those-around-me-quick-call-the-wife-my-mother-the-kids-the-dog-the-old-man-down-the-road-this-is-epic.
Today was one of those days.
If you are on a mac, stop reading. Seriously. Because this will destroy your love of all things reflective and shiny. This will make you want to go back to the dark days of being a PC user.
I can code, but I am not a brilliant coder. I’m remarkably average, and really quite slow. This is fine, because I don’t do much coding. Why do I bring this up? Because you have to do a tiny, and I mean tiny amount of coding to do this. Don’t worry though, and don’t be put off. It’s quick to learn, and they hold your hand the whole way through it.
And trust me, it’s worth it.
Do you ever find yourself frustrated and doing slow repetitive tasks? Or having to click half a dozen times through Windows Explorer to get to the folder your client’s files are stored in. What about writing out the same thing over and over again?
This software takes care of that. For example, rather than typing out "ben@alphawavemedia.co.uk" I now type "b@a" – and it instantly does the rest. What about a signature? I type "bbb" and it writes my e-mail signature out for me.
As well as that, I now type WIN+W to launch Dreamweaver, WIN+G to launch G-mail and WIN+A to open my Highrise HQ account (more on that later, it’s another epic tool).
WIN+X in Outlook – archives whichever e-mail I have selected. It was worth it for that one alone. Shortcut keys are the way forward. You will speed up your life dramatically if you give this a try.
Ben
Ever thought you could create your own website? Ever decided "sod it, people tell me I’m creative, I’m going to build a website myself".
Please for the love of god don’t. There’s so much more to it than being able to design.
The trouble is, if you’ve decided you’re going to, you probably won’t listen to me. So if you won’t heed my advice, read this: http://psd.tutsplus.com/articles/web/50-totally-free-lessons-in-graphic-design-theory/
Ben
It’s far too easy to end up with a mediocre foreign translation. There’s absolutely no point in going to all the hassle if you end up with a mediocre translation. Worse still, is when you have your site translated into 14 languages – but don’t get the menu’s, text-within-images and other key content translated as well.
When going through your site, beyond text content, make sure you translate:
When all this is done, ask a native speaker to have a brief look at your site. They should be able to tell you very quickly if the tone and style reflects your original language – and if there are any glaring errors or omissions.
Finally, make it clear when your customer service line is English speaking only, or if you only ship your goods to certain countries. Forgetting these crucial steps will drive your customers away, and render all the money you spent translating the text a complete waste of time and effort.
Ben
Google Chrome is awesome. If you spend a lot of time online, Chrome is the browser of choice. In fact, I guarantee you it will speed up your life.
Why?
Not only is it so much faster than FireFox, it has a fantastic little function built in – it checks your spelling as you type. As someone brought up, for a while at least, under fine educational program, my ability to spell hovers around mediocre at best. Normally this requires hoping for the best when speed matters, or copying into Word, spell checking and copying out again when accuracy counts.
Speed up your life and use Chrome. I know I have and I’ve not made a speling mestake sinse….
Ben
Here’s a quick exerice to help you focus your website. After every sentence, item, image or gadget, ask yourself the question "so what?"
It’s so easy to keep adding to your site, or writing more content because you think it’s what’s needed. What really matters is making sure that what’s on your site is having an impact. If it isn’t, then so what?
Ben
If you have a "hit counter", remove it. They are a relic from the nineties, and never, ever serve to impress your users. Conversely, listing the number of subscribers to your newsletter can. See Leo’s blog to see what I mean.
Ben
