Neil Matthews

Author: Neil Matthews

  • What Are Tweaks?

    What Are Tweaks?

    In my maintenance service package I talk about site owners having a number of tweaks per month over and above the standard maintenance work we do.  These tweaks can be called down as and when required, but what are tweaks?

    In my mind they are small packages of development work to enhance your site.  In this post I want to clarify what tweaks are to potential maintenance clients.

    Example Tweaks

    Probably the best way to show you what a tweaks are is to list out some examples we have done for our current clients:

    Install and Configure Plugins

    We have been asked by our maintenance clients to install and configure plugins that are too complex for them.  We have installed simple plugins like widget logic, up to more complex ones like s2member.

    We have been asked to replace plugins that no longer work as expected, for example one client was using a search plugin that was no longer supported, we swapped that our for Google search.

    Fix plugins that have stopped working; our client spotted that a post rotator plugin was not working after an update to WordPress. We fixed a jquery conflict.

    The list goes one.

    Managing Complex Content

    We don’t look after your normal posts and pages content, but some plugins such as e-commerce have very complex content in them, we have added new products to plugins if our client is struggling.

    Theme Changes

    We are often asked for small tweaks to our clients site theme, we will happily make small changes to css to change colours fonts etc.

    We have also been asked to completely replace themes with new ones.

    Theme Updates

    When a theme has been customised it’s a tricky thing to apply the latest theme update, we will get the latest theme files, apply updates and re-apply customisation.

    Building Development Environments

    We have been asked to clone live sites and build development environment so our clients can test things out without impacting their live sites.

    Errors On The Site

    When a client spots an error on their site and reports it to us we raise a tweak call to fix these too.  Errors such as warning notes appearing, malware reports, missing PDF files.  Again the list of errors goes on and on, as long as it’s an error to your existing site we can fix it.

    Fix Database Issues

    One of our new clients, had an absolutely enormous database due to spam comments that weren’t being deleted we fix that database issue and optimised their database for performance.

    Fix Menus

    We have been called in to setup and fix menus, such as creating new menu areas, adding new menu items or changing text.

    Add Third Party Scripts

    We have been asked to install third party scripts, for example Google Analytics javascript code and Facebook like widget code.

    Consulting

    Client will ask us what is the best way to do X, and with our years of experience we can suggest a solution.

    We Spot Errors Too

    As part of our maintenance work we often spot errors and fix them too, we will raise them and treat them like a tweak but they are not part of your monthly draw down of work.

    Some of the things we have spotted are

    • Backups not working
    • Security issues
    • User permissions wrong
    • Hosting run out of disk space
    • Issues with domain registration

    What Are Not Tweaks

    Anything that involves a large amount of development work such as coding up a plugin, or creating a custom theme.  These would require a separate project over and above your maintenance agreement.

    Just ask us, we will let you know if it is a tweak or not,

    How Tweaks Work

    When you sign up for our maintenance service, over and above plugin updates, backups, WordPress updates, security monitoring and database optimisation, we will give you access to a support email address.

    Send you tweak request to that address and Rod will raise and manage a tweak project and our team will fix your problem.

    Wrap Up

    If you would like to take a test drive of our maintenance service and have us do some tweaks to your site then why not check out our 30 day free trial.  There is no credit card required and nothing to cancel if you don’t want to go forward.

    Sign up for a free trial now>>

    Photo Credit: Elsie esq. via Compfight cc

  • Is Your Email Newsletter Mobile Optimised?

    Is Your Email Newsletter Mobile Optimised?

    Many of us have an email provider such as Mailchimp or Aweber attached to our WordPress sites.

    Are you sending out an image heavy, highly styled newsletter or are you optimising for mobile devices?

    Would it surprise you to hear that a large percentage of your newsletter readers are using mobile devices?

    Are you yourself reading lots of email on a small hand held device, and do you find it frustrating?

    I think it’s very important to optimise your email newsletters for mobile.

    Optimise For Mobile Devices

    What do I mean by optimising for mobile?  I mean that when someone opens your email newsletter on their phone, they can very easily read and understand your message.

    They are not bombarded by huge images.

    They don’t have to re-size and swipe left and right to read your message because your template is too wide.

    It means removing a barrier to entry so your message (be it information or sales) gets to people on whatever device they choose to use.

    Cut The Fluff

    Here are the things that will drive your mobile readers mad:

    • Sidebars
    • Wide formats that requires swipes left and right to read
    • Tiny fonts
    • Huge images taking up all the screen

    Cut out everything that you don’t need in your email, it should be a short message that leads people to a bigger call to action on a blog post, landing page or sales page.

    Test It

    Once you have optimised your email for mobile, please read it on your mobile device.

    Test it, make sure it looks good and is easy to read on a small screen.

    Test it on larger tablet screens too, doe it still look good.

    Finally test is again on a desktop screen, is it responsive to a bigger screen too, you don’t want to alienate the rest of your readers.

    What I Did

    I found out from stats in Mailchimp that over 35% of my readers were on mobile devices, that is a third of people who would struggle to read my newsletter.

    Here’s a screen shot to show the break down.

    click for larger image
    click for larger image

    So I redesigned the template on my newsletter, I cut out the sidebar and the images, leaving only a minimal template that shows off a header, a brief description of my post or offer and link to my main site.

    I also have a call to action to sell my services

    This is plain black and white and shades of grey text, nothing fancy but it is very easily read on all types of device.  Here’s a screen dump of my new template.

    Click for full size image
    Click for full size image

    Remember A Responsive Website

    What’s the point in making your email template readable, but when your reader clicks through to your main site you have an unresponsive main website that they cannot easily read on their phone.

    Select a theme that is responsive or go for one of the many mobile ready plugins such as wp-touch that do the job for you https://wordpress.org/plugins/wptouch/

    What You Should Do

    My advice to you is look at the various templates your email provider has and select a responsive one, Mailchimp and Aweber both have these and I’m pretty sure the other main email providers will too.

    If they don’t there is always the option to have a text only email.

    Wrap Up

    We are moving away from our desktops at a rapid pace, responsive websites and native iPhone/iPad and Android apps are taking over from our websites.  We need to embrace the mobile device or our desktop optimised websites will not serve us.

    Photo Credit: zappowbang via Compfight cc

  • Plugin Review: If Menu

    Plugin Review: If Menu

    I found a really useful plugin last week while working on a problem for a client.  The plugin is called If Menu, I’m going to review the plugin and tell you why it’s so useful.

    Conditional Menu Items

    Using If Menu you can use conditional logic to decided if and when a menu items is displayed.

    This allows you to decide what pages or conditions a menu item is displayed on.

    This is really useful if you want your menus to be different for pages or posts or different site visitors.

    How It Works

    Once installed there is a new drop down on each menu item, you can select which conditional logic to apply to that item.

    This is an opt in, you need to click a check box next to the menu item in question.

    There are two states, you can either hide or show a menu item, and the conditions are:

    • User Logged in / Out
    • Is a particular user level e.g.. admin, editor, subscriber
    • Is the front page – so hide or show menu items on the home page (great for landing pages)
    • Is a single page
    • Is a single post
    Click For Full Size Image
    Click For Full Size Image

    My Clients Requirement

    The site in question is a membership site and certain menu items should only appear for logged in users.  Using If Menu we set those items to “show” if a user is logged on.

    Extending The Plugin

    At first glance I was a little bit disappointed with the range of conditions available, I would have liked to see an option to only show a menu item on a particular page or post, but there is a relatively simple way to extend the plugin by writing your own filter to add new conditions.  It’ requires coding but the logic can be extended.  See this page for details.

    http://wordpress.org/plugins/if-menu/faq/

    Wrap Up

    If you want to control your menu items then If Menu will be a great extension to your site.

    If you want a more complex implementation get a quote from us to write the additional filters.

     

  • Retainer Packages Available

    Retainer Packages Available

    I’m often asked if I offer monthly retainer packages, and the answer is yes I do.

    I’ve never had a formal page detailing my retainer packages so I’m going to write one up first as a blog post then move it over to a full time page.

    What Is A Retainer Package

    It’s when you have an on-going requirement for WordPress development and  support and would like to retain my services for a prolonged period of time.

    I’ll set aside X hours for you per month and you pay a recurring invoice for that number of hours each month until your project is completed.  Tell me how many hours you need and we can setup a recurring payment.

    I Offer This On A Limited Basis

    I only book about 30% of my time out to retainer clients so I have time to manage my team, grow my business and take on one off projects too.

    I limit myself to five retainer clients per month.  I have two slots currently available.

    What Do you Get As  A Retainer Client

    I offer the following benefits to my retainer clients:

    • Discounted rates – because you are buying my time in bulk I offer a discounted rate.
    • Priority On Your Projects – I’ll set aside time for your project.
    • Direct Access to project updates on Basecamp  – I will give you your own secure area on my project management tool where you can send me tasks to do on your site, this will also be the central place all updates will be stored.
    • Access to a timesheet to check on your available hours – I’ll give you a link to my Freshbooks account so you can see what I have been working on and how many hours you have left on your retainer.
    • Free Maintenance And Updates – all my retainer client also get free access to my maintence service.  My team will backup your site, monitor and maintain security.  Update WordPress and any plugins as updates become due and give you a weekly report.  That’s a saving of $39 per month.
    • Skype access so you can ping me about your projects

    Retainer Packages

    I have retainer packages of 5, 10 and 15 hours respectively.  The more hours  you buy the more discount is available, get a quote below.

    Frequently Asked Questions

    Q) Can I have you working on multiple sites?

    Y) Yes you buy a a package of hours not dedicated to any one site.

    Q) What if I go over my X hours?

    Y) You can buy an additional package or I can bill you on a per hour basis, this is all at the same discounted rate.

    Q) Is there a minimum number of months I need to commit to?

    A) No, you can take on a one month retainer and end it after your hours are used.

    Q) Do I pay up front?

    A) Yes it’s like a pre-paid mobile phone contact, you buy X hours and use those until they are done.

    Q) Is there a minimum usage?

    A) I record time in in 15 minute increments I’ve found that allows you to call down small jobs like a plugin install and not burn through your hours too quickly

    Q) Can I roll over hours I don’t use in a month?

    A) No they don’t accumulate, but that being said if you go over your X hours and didn’t use all last months I’m not  going to nickel and dime you for an hour here or there.

    Q) What about when you are on holiday / vacation?

    A) I do take time off, but I will let you know well in advance, and there are other members of my team available to deal with any emergencies that might crop up while I’m away.

    Still Interested in A Retainer Package?

    If you are interested in a retainer package complete the form below and I’ll prepare a quite for you.

    [gravityform id=”90″ name=”Retainer Package” title=”false” description=”false”]

    Image of Don Quixote and His Loyal Retainer Sancho Panza  by Picasso

  • Have You Heard About BuddyPress?

    Have You Heard About BuddyPress?

    There’s a really great plugin out there called BuddyPress which has been active for a few years, but to my surprise not many people know about it.

    I’m going to tell you all about BuddyPress and what it can do for  your site. https://buddypress.org/

    Your Very Own Private Social Network

    Buddypress allows you to build your very own private social network on WordPress.

    Buddypress is a plugin you add to your site and it extends WordPress allowing you to create your very own social network to rival Facebook.

    The plugin was started by the People behind WordPress but it has morphed off into it’s own open source project,but it is still tied very closely to WordPress.

    buddypress_logo[1]

    Why Reinvent The Wheel; Facebook Duh!

    I know you are probably thinking why would I re-invent the wheel with my own social network, when there’s this 500 kilo Gorilla in the room called Facebook already?

    Facebook is okay but there are times when you want Facebook functions without the Facebook baggage.  I’m thinking:

    • Ads
    • Trolls
    • No control over users
    • None ownership of your content
    • Potentially being kicked off for not following their orders T & Cs
    • Policy updates for example limiting users, charging to promote content etc.

    Facebook is good, but Facebook owns the pitches, ball, players and rules of the game, and they can change any and all of those when they see fit.  Having your own controlled social network make sense.

    Features of BuddyPress

    Once you have installed BuddyPress, here are the functions you will get.

    • User  profiles
    • Groups for users to join
    • Activity Steam (think Facebook wall or twitter feed)
    • Notifications of member interactions
    • Forums
    • Friending people
    • Private messaging
    • Share text, video, audio and images

    Nothing radical here is you have used any of the other platforms, but this is on your own site.

    Themes

    One thing to be aware of is that you will probably need a none standard theme for a decent looking Buddypress site because of the new functionality you have added.

    If you look at themeforest.net there is a whole category dedicated the BuddyPress compliant themes http://themeforest.net/category/wordpress/buddypress . It’s probably a good idea to have a look at the sites to see some of the BP features too.

    Making It Pay

    You can also make your new niche social network a paid one.  Membership plugins like s2member or WPMUDEV Membershipo Pro allow you to charge people on a one off or recurring basis to join you

    If you can add member benefits you could use BuddyPress as an income generator.

    The Downsides

    The downsides of BuddyPress are that the documentation is not up to the level of WordPress yet and it is very technical.

    I don’t say that as a criticism of the great people developing BuddyPress, but the less technical documentation that was developed for WordPress hasn’t been created yet.

    You need to be a “code monkey” to extend and make it do anything unusual.  There are plugins but not to the same degree as WordPress.

    How You Could Use BuddyPress

    Here are some of the ways BuddyPress.org suggests you can use their plugin

    • A campus wide social network for your university, school or college.
    • An internal communication tool for your company.
    • A niche social network for your interest topic.
    • A focused social network for your new product.

    Wrap Up

    Looking to create your own niche social network, then you should  check out BuddyPress.org.

     

  • Automating Testimonial Collection

    Automating Testimonial Collection

    I’m a big fan of client testimonials as social proof you can do what you say you can do.  I’ll not rehash the whole subject here, but I wrote a post called the Power Of Testimonials.

    I’m also a big fan of automating repetitive tasks, and typing in testimonials I’ve solicited for clients manually is a big old pain in the backside, so I looked at automating the whole process.

    A Tale Of Three Plugins

    I’m using three  plugins to automate the whole process:

    1) Testimonials By WooThemes

    I’ve selected this testimonials widget over the plethora of others out there because it is compatible with my theme and it’s incredibly easy to add testimonials to pages, sidebar and the home page too.

    Before anyone starts I know there are other testimonials plugins that offer this functionality out of the box, but none fitted with my theme as well as this plugin.

    2) Gravity Forms

    Ah probably my favourite plugin, and so well worth the investment in a developers license all those years ago.  Gravity form does so many automated tasks excellently, like add emails to Mailchimp, adding client details to Freshbooks.  But it also allows us to add testimonials with it’s post creation functionality.

    3) Gravity Forms + Custom Post Types

    This final plugin is the key, it allows the gravity forms functionality that adds posts add custom posts types.

    How It Works

    I’ve set up a form on this page https://dev.neilmatthews.com/add-testimonial using gravity forms, but it is a special type of form.

    When someone adds an entry it creates a draft post on my site, but not just any old post a custom post type of testimonial.  So entering data on that form automatically generates a testimonial entry on my site that I need to review and publish.

    Click for full size image
    Click for full size image

    No more re-entering text, automated testimonials woo-hoo!

    Automating The Ask

    I’ve als0 automated the request for a testimonials.  I use Freshbooks for my invoicing, and there is an automated email sent out to clients when their invoice is paid.  I’ve added the following text.

    If your project is complete and you enjoyed working with me a testimonial is always appreciated, you can leave one automatically here https://dev.neilmatthews.com/add-testimonial

    Automation Rocks

    Whenever I find myself grumbling about a routine task in my business processes I always looks for at three things remove, automate, systematise.

    Can I remove this from my business – answer no testimonials are very important, can I systematise it so it can be outsourced, well yes I could but why pay a VA to add testimonials when it can be automated.

    Results no more tedious copying and pasting of testimonials plus more testimonials coming in because I’ve automated the ask and don’t forget to do it.

    Wrap Up

    What are you automating in your business?  I’d love to hear what you have done in the comments.

    Photo Credit: studentofrhythm via Compfight cc

  • Translate WordPress Dashboard

    Translate WordPress Dashboard

    I’ve come across a number of sites which publish their content in English, but the maintenance of the site is done by someone who speaks and reads a different language.

    In this post I’m going to show you how to translate the dashboard of your WordPress website.

    There Are Two Way To Do This

    There are two ways to accomplish this, you can install a translated version of WordPress or you can use WPML and host multiple languages on your site.  Let’s look at both of these solutions.

    WordPress In Your Language

    By far the easiest way to solve this problem is to download and install a copy of WordPress that has already been translated.

    https://codex.wordpress.org/WordPress_in_Your_Language.

    Once you have your code upload it to your site overwriting the existing files (please take a full backup first I accept no responsibility for crashed sites).

    There are a couple of small downsides to this

    1) 1-Click Installs – if you have used a one click install from your hosting company chances are you have installed the English version, you will have to manually re-install your new version of WordPress, and manually update going forward your 1-Click install update will overwrite with English.

    2) Not every language is available.  The vast majority of commonly spoken languages have been translated, but there are some missing, here is a list of translated languages http://wpcentral.io/internationalization/

    Use WPML To Host Multiple Dashboard Languages

    If you need more than one language for your dashboard, then WPML (my preferred translation tool) may be a good choice.  This is a little more involved but you get more functionality.

    Here are the step to allows for multiple dashboard languages.

    1) Download hte version of wordpress you want to support, in my example I downloaded French from fr.wordpress.org

    2) Extract the files from wp-content/language of the downloaded zip file.

    3) Upload them to your site’s wp-content/language directory

    4) From WPML language, we can scroll down and set the admin language

    5) From a user profile we can set the default admin language at a user level, so a multi author / admin site can have different languages per registered user.

    Here is a video to show this in action.
    [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXvqdkG6L7o?rel=0]

    Wrap Up

    For a bi-lingual team, allowing the admin of your WordPress site in multiple languages makes their job simpler.  Managing a site is already complex enough without having to translate each dashboard menu item.

    If you need help setting up your dashboard in multiple languages, please contact us for a quote.

    Photo Credit: downhilldom1984 via Compfight cc

  • Are Hackers Testing Your Defences?

    Are Hackers Testing Your Defences?

    Are hackers testing the defences of your website right now?

    Do you even know how to test for hack attempts?

    I know they are testing wpdude.com right now, and in this posts I will show you the tools I use to test for brute force hack attempts and how to stop the hacker getting in.

    Security At NeilMatthews.com are Constantly Tested

    There are people out there trying to login to wpdude using a technique called brute force hacking.  They send a login request over and over with a dictionary of commonly used passwords.

    They use the common admin user name along with the password dictionary via scripts to crack your site.

    This happens at wpdude at least once per day, don’t believe me, here are some screen grabs of the hack in action.

    Click for full size image
    Click for full size image

    You would think this person from the Ukraine had more pressing things to worry about than trying and hack a WordPress blog, but as you can see they are a little more sneaky  and are trying to use different combinations of user names.

    Click for full size image
    Click for full size image

     

    My Not So Secret Weapon

    I have a plugin called WordFence installed on all of my own and all of  my maintenance clients site.  This tool monitors for and reports on login attempts like the ones show.

    Using this plugin I can see the attempts and block the offending IP address.  From WordFence go to live traffic -> logins logouts.

    Tightening Security

    So what can you do to protect against brute force hack attacks?

    1. Rename your admin to something more secure, see this post for details
    2. Use strong passwords.
    3. Limit failed login attempts, I use WordFence for this, so if someone tries to login X times the user is locked out for an hour. but you could also opt for login lockdown
    4. Password protect wp-admin.  Personally I don’t do this, but you can get details here if you are ultra cautious.
    5. Add some sort of captcha to the login form so scripts cannot be run.  Captcha on login plugin will do this for you.
    6. Monitor for and block people trying to get in, WordFence has a big old button to do just that.

    Install WordFence Now

    You will be surprised how many times people try to get into your site, go and install WordFence now to see what is happening on your site.

    30 Day Trail Of Maintenance

    One of the things we do for our maintenance clients is a security hardening process, where we lock down WordPress and make it much more difficult to get in.

    I’m offering a 30 day free trial of our maintenance service, why not sign up and get your site secured at no cost. No credit card is required, it could save your site from a hack attack.

    Take a 30 day free trial of our maintenace service today

    Photo Credit: spanaut via Compfight cc

     

     

  • Are You Legally Obliged To Translate Your Website?

    Are You Legally Obliged To Translate Your Website?

    Most of the time I will tell you to create a multi language website to help get your message over as effectively as possible, but sometimes there are legal requirements to make your site available in more than one language.

    Consult A Lawyer Yaddah Yaddah Yaddah

    I cannot give legal advice for your locale so please consult a qualified member of the legal profession to see if you are legally obliged to translate your website.

    As a rule of thumb, if your country or province has a a large bilingual population, there is probably a need to translate your site.

    Case Study

    Here is a case study of a website I’ve worked on where there is a legal obligation to present content in multiple languages.

    UK Government Websites In Welsh

    The first multi language website I worked on was one for the government of the United Kingdom.

    I was working for the National Health Service and one of the services offered is a reciprocal arrangement with other European countries for health services.  Long story short you need to apply for a card to take abroad with you so the government will pay for your medical bills if you fall ill or have an accident.

    A small minority of people in the UK speak Welsh ( approx 3 million of the 65 million+ inhabitants of this small island I live on). This is a tiny minority and the vast majority of those 3 million Welsh speakers are  bilingual anyway.

    We went to a huge amount of effort ( the tools were not available then, this was about ten years ago) to translate the site so we could keep within the legal requirement for a UK government site.

    The bilingual nature of these websites was set into law to force agencies to provide information and electronic services to Welsh speakers.

    Put yourself in the shoes of the Welsh speaker, they should be able to have information from THEIR government in THEIR native language, but many of the agencies exist outside of Wales, and without legislation could I suggest that the Welsh population would be forgotten?  I think they would by English centric parts of the government.

    Wrap Up

    It may feel like the bureaucrats are forcing you to translate for no good reason, but the rules are in place because there is a large enough section of the population to make  this important enough to create the law.

    Does your country or province require multi language websites? Let me know more details in the comments below I’m really interested which areas are trying to preserve minority languages over homogenising majority languages.

    Further reading

    Canadian Site Owners Legal Requirements

    Oh the irony a consultation document about Welsh speakers and I cannot find the Welsh version.

    Photo Credit: SalFalko via Compfight cc

  • Cost Benefits Analysis Of Multi Language Websites

    I’ll be honest with you, multi language websites are expensive.  In this post I want to take you through a cost benefits analysis of a multi language websites to make sure it is cost effective before you start adding additional languages to your site.

    What Is A Cost Benefits Analysis Of A Multi Language Website?

    Just in case you haven’t come across this term before a quick definition is probably in order.  A cost benefits analysis, is where you look at the costs of a project and weigh them up against the outcome or benefits you will receive in exchange.

    This may be monetary such as gaining foreign language sales, or it may be a softer benefit such as clients understanding and spreading your message more easily.

    Here is a more detailed explanation, but in plain non MBA speak, it the cost of making it multi language really worth while.

    Here Are The Costs

    So here are the costs you need to consider when building a multi language site.

    Development Costs

    How much it will cost to hire a developer to make your site multi language?

    They will need to code up your site to accept multiple copies of your copy, make menus translatable, make sidebars translatable. the list goes on.

    Each site is different so I cannot give you a ballpark figure, but contact me and I’ll review you site and give you a quote ;), but you can expect a figure starting at $1k.

    Infrastructure Costs

    If you are hosting your site on bargain basement hosting, you may need to consider an upgrade.

    Multi language comes at an overhead in memory, database space and disk space.Added to the fact that a multi language site will hopefully increase your traffic and that will need more powerful hosting.

    Translation Costs

    This will be a large cost of your multi language project.  As a rule of thumb you can say 10 cents per word for professional translation services.  More obscure languages will cost more as translators can command higher rates, but 10 cents is a good starting point.

    When I’m giving clients a very rough idea of costs I like to use this plugin http://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-word-count/ which counts the site wide words in posts and pages.  This then allows me to give rough costs.

    An example;  say I have 10k words across my site and want translations into French, German and Spanish, a rough costing would be (10,000 * 0.10) * 3 = $3,000.

    And no you cannot use Google translate cheap skate 🙂

    It’s Not Just Copy To Translate

    Don’t forget to factor in design costs for new images or videos.  It’s not just text that needs to be translated but image copy and spoken word in video and audio files.

    Ongoing Maintenance And Translation

    Websites are never static, there is new copy and new functionality all the time, factor in another chunk of cash to keep your pages translated and brining back your developer for maintenance updates when you add a new widget that is not multi language compatible.

    Managing Multi Language Requests

    There are some off-line aspects you need to consider, are you going to have to field custom support requests in new languages too, can you fulfil orders for people that don’t speak you local language?

    Perhaps you need to invest in multi lingual staff to make your multi language expansion work.

    An option to overcome this is to provide copy in language X but tell potential customers all live communication will be in language Y.

    And The Benefits

    Sorry to throw all the costs at you first, but I just wanted to be up front with you.

    Increased Sales

    Will the sales you get from country X justify the cost and ongoing maintenance of your site?

    Just because you get $x in sales from English does not mean X multiplied by two sales when you add French or German, be realistic about your new territory income.  Will it pay for the development costs?

    Equally don’t forget to factor in that the bulk of the development costs are one off and can be recovered over time when you start getting more and more sales from you new language territories.

    Happier Site Visitors

    Then there are the soft benefits to your site visitors which cannot be calculated in cold hard cash.

    • Better understanding of your offering
    • The ability to spread your message in their local language social media accounts
    • A warm glow because you care enough to translate
    • An understanding of local sensitivities if you combine cultural design in your multi language site
    • explanation of often complex concepts in their local language

    These benefits are soft benefits and it is hard to estimate the offset of costs they will make but if these type of benefits out-weigh the costs, then go for a multi langue site.

    Wrap Up

    Getting a rough idea of you expected benefits be they hard benefits like breaking into a new territory or $X increase on your bottom line by selling into country Y make it much easer to justify the cost of a multi langauge site.

    If you can calculate the benefits I would be more than happy to tell you the costs of your build

    Photo Credit: dawn.v via Compfight cc

  • How To Automatically Detect and Change Your Website Language

    Do you know that it is possible to automatically detect and change your website language based upon the local language used by your site visitors?

    In this post I’m going to explain how this can be done.

    How Can You Know What Language A Person Wants?

    Well, it’s very simple really,  when you install software you also set the langauge you would like to use. And the web browser we install has our desired and default language set.  Here is a screen shot of my chrome config, as you can see my base language is set to English – United Kingdom.

    Click for full size image
    Click for full size image

    Using javascript we can get the default language and use that to display our website automatically in their preferred language to that visitor.

    Do I Need To Code This Up?

    You can if you want, but I use a piece of software called WPML on all my multi language builds.  This software has this functionality built right into it.

    From the language setup pages we can set the site to automatically redirect based upon browser language.  Why code your own solution when there is one out there already.

    Click for full size image
    Click for full size image

    Why Do This?

    As with all multi language work the “WHY” is to make your site as understandable as possible to your site visitors.

    Say I speak French and I come to your English language website, already there is a barrier to entry based upon my ability to read and speak English.  If you tear down that barrier and present me with your site in French I’m already engaged more.

    It Will Only Work If You Have The Correct Languages Translated.

    This is not magic, your site will only redirect if you have the appropriate languages installed and translated.

    This means you need the exact language specification, my browser is set to en-gb, so you would need en-gb as a language not en-us or any other version of English.

    This may seem a small point but if you install FR for French and your visitor has fr-ca or French Canadian as their language, your redirect will not work.

    It’s Not Just Languages It’s For Territories Too.

    You can also use this functionality to redirect to a different territory based on their language settings.

    Say I’m a US based company selling into Australia and I have different copy for that market, I could install en-us and en-au as my languages and automatically redirect to a different English version based upon location.  This allows me to add different prices / copy etc to the Australian site.

    Wrap Up

    Getting your message to your site visitor in the most convenient way is the main reason to have a multi language site, why not remove that need to click over to their desired language with an automatic browser detection.

    If you need help automatically redirecting your site based upon language, why not get a quote from us.

     

  • 7 Things Often Forgotten On A Multi Language Website

    When we build multi language websites, the focus is usually on the main parts of our site;  copy, menus, footer, logo, sidebars etc.  But it has been my experience that there are a number of hidden parts to your site that are often overlooked and not translated.

    These missed items are jarring and can impact on a site visitors experience if not translated.

    In this post I want to give you my top 7 list of things that are often overlooked on a multi language website.

    1) 404 Page

    This is the page that is shown if a page cannot be found, it is very frustrating if a site visitor is given an error message that they cannot understand.  A confused visitor will not become a customer.

    2) Images

    If your images contain text, do your site visitors a favour and translate them too.

    Common issues I see are call to action sliders with one language through the site. Go that little further and create multiple copies of your images.  I understand this may cost a little more in graphic design fees, but the rewards of new customers from brand new markets should be factored into these costs.

    Another thing to think about with your imagery is cultural sensitivity.  One image that may be suitable for one market may not be suitable for another.

    An example;  you may have an image of an emergency ambulance, in the west traditionally we use the Red Cross, but in Islamic countries the Red Crescent is the accepted symbol.  I’ll write about cultural sensitivity more in other posts, but be aware one set of images may not be acceptable in other countries.

    3) Specialised Scripts

    If you have special scripts or plugins running on your site, you may need to ensure they are fully translated.

    A great example is a shopping cart script.  Have you been through the entire buying process with the eye of a foreign language customer.  Does you add to cart script translate, is your checkout in the desired language?

    If your customer cannot understand the checkout process, the cart will probably be abandoned.

    4) Downloads

    Are your downloadable media files translated?

    I’ve been working with a company to ensure their PDF downloads are available in multiple languages.  They understand it’s not just the website but all their electronic media that needs to be translated.

    Does that free gift you offer people as an ethical bribe to join your mailing list have different language versions?  It should.

    5) Error Messages

    I’ve touched on this already with 404 pages, but are the error messages your site displays in the appropriate language?

    Imagine you have a contact form that requires people to add their phone number, if someone submits without adding their phone details, and they see an error message they cannot understand, how do they know what to do?

    6) SEO Meta Information

    This is a biggie, if we are spending a l0t of time and effort translating your content, why do people not go that extra step and translate their SEO meta information so they can match their content to the searches?

    The great people at iCanlocalize.com offer SEO meta data translation services, check out their service page for details.

    7) Video

    This is often overlooked because of the cost of video production (I hold my hand up and say my video is only in English).

    Why not get a new voice over or add subtitles to your videos and create multiple versions to show to people with different languages.

    YouTube has a captioning system where you can add subtitles fairly easily.

    Wrap Up

    It’s the little missing pieces that jar with people when visiting your site.  Missing translations and small errors are the difference between a sale or a cart abandonment, show your site visitors you care.

    Do you need a second pair of eyes to review your translated site to find and fix the missing translations? Get a no obligation quote today.

    Photo Credit: Di’s Eyes via Compfight cc – A knotted handkerchief, is a method used in the UK to remind you to do something.