Miggle.co.uk are looking for a web producer with strong editorial skills and extensive experience in the online market in Ireland to work on a prestigious contract with one of its major clients.   Working for one of the world’s top web brands, your extensive knowledge of current affairs will ensure that you provide users with content covering the most important stories in Ireland and beyond.

Based in London, this a high pressure role and you’ll often be working alone monitoring multiple news feeds and covering breaking news, so it’s vital that you can work effectively on your own in a fast-paced environment.

You will also be required to improve the overall user experience for Irish users, adapting UK specific pages to your market by leveraging your knowledge of the local online landscape. This coupled with your impeccable grammar, spelling and punctuation will ensure that only the best available content reaches the clients massive high value audience.

Person specification:

• Experience of content writing for websites, magazines or newspapers in Ireland
• Impeccable grammar, spelling and punctuation
• Excellent news judgement ability
• A broad interest in current affairs. You will need to be able to talk about the latest in news, sport, lifestyle, money and entertainment
• Extensive experience of uploading content on to a website and using a CMS
• Good experience of Photoshop or similar
• An ability to work well under pressure in a fast-paced environment
• A clear understanding of major online publications’ audiences, product offerings and business models
• The job will be based in London.  The ideal candidate will have recent experience of having lived in Ireland

This role is offered on an initial six month contract, with a break clause at 3 months.  The hours will most probably be 37.5 hours a week across weekdays, but there may be some requirements to work mornings, evenings or weekends, as either part of the regular hours or as overtime.  There will be opportunities to work overtime hours from home.

To apply, e-mail your CV with an indication of your pro-rata salary expectations to: opportunities@miggle.co.uk.  When applying, please indicate where you heard about this role.

No agencies please. Really!

Based in Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, contact miggle.co.uk for website development, content management and online media services in the UK and worldwide.

With the year drawing to a close I’ve been taking a look at some of our search traffic over this year, as well as how our blog has performed. The two are quite closely linked. Why? Because a blog post, which is written with relevant keywords in mind, as far as titles, excerpts and content goes is a great way of getting traffic into the site. As a business, we may not have found our niche yet as to what we want to blog about, but it’s clear some things work better than others. So what are they?

Sharing knowledge

Ian has written a couple of posts this year on his experiences with both Cufon and BuddyPress. These have attracted a lot of traffic. They help establish a level of authority in an area and they open up an opportunity for dialogue. We should do more of this sort of writing.

Commenting on current events

Two of the most successful posts we’ve written this year are on the back of two pieces of news, neither of which are directly related to our business. The issue of whether businesses need TV licences for their PCs and the effect of Swine Flu on business continuity. When there is interest in a specific area, weighing in with our opinion adds to the overall commentary and again encourages a dialogue.

Establishing our own voice

Blogging for miggle is not really a core activity. Yes, there’s a real value in it, but it’s part of what we do to talk about our work, our business, our opinions and experiences. All stuff which is good to write about, but which needs to find its rightful place alongside getting client work out of the door. So, finding our own voice as part of that takes a while, especially when we have more than one contributor to the blog. However, when we’ve written from the heart, the posts have done well. Like when I wrote about the person who tore down our sign!

Our traffic from search (well, we only looked at Google….)

In terms of what insights our search traffic has given us as to what potential customers are looking for, there are two big things we’ve seen, each of which have been supported by enquires coming directly into our office.

Monetise my website!

Firstly, site owners want to find ways of monetising their web traffic and online audiences. There’s a big ‘moon on a stick’ element to this in that they want ‘A list’ advertisers via a solution where the inventory is sold directly on their behalf in a way that gives them control over copy. Even so, its a legitimate business objective which there is a big demand for.

I think I might plan my next bit of web development!

Secondly, the number of businesses that are showing a desire to understand their audiences and align their product requirements against the market objectives they uncover via a process which plans iterative developments is growing.

And finally….

The best, completely unrelated search term, on which we got a click this year was ‘Where can I find a bedroom in Hove I can rent by the hour.’ It’s reassuring to know, that if miggle were to go belly up, that there is a business opportunity here I can investigate.

Beyond that, our ten most popular blog posts this year have been:-

1. .tel domains: time to get excited (We’re still waiting for that excitement!)

2. Part time Production Assistant (Blogs are a great way to get company news out like this)

3. Building .tel websites

4. Why needing a TV licence for your work PC is a nonsense (a follow up post ot a bit of news that could affect businesses like miggle)

5. Recycling your audience (One of a series of web tips from miggle – althogh it got traffic from people looking for recycling websites)

6. Peopleperhour – the good the bad and the ugly

7. Building social networks in open source CMS

8. Use any font on your website with Cufon

9. Vacancy for a web producer

10. Online advertising space

Thanks for reading and commenting.

Based in Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, contact miggle.co.uk for website development, content management and online media services in the UK and worldwide.

Did you know that if you have a computer at work connected to the Internet then it’s possible that you might need a TV licence? This would even apply if you were using your laptop or mobile phone in the office and it was plugged into the mains, because once it is, then it’s no longer covered by your home licence. If however you don’t use your computer or phone to stream live TV then you are exempt, but how the TV licence bods determine whether you do or don’t, I don’t know.

This law just strikes me as a nonsense. As an employer, unless I find some way of restricting my staff from accessing live TV streams then it would seem clear that I’d need to buy one just in case one of my team decides one day to catch the latest on a breaking news story, rather than focussing on their miggly endeavours!

The thing is, it was never ‘our’ decision, as business owners, for broadcasters to start streaming TV content online. It’s inevitable that they would and I’m really glad that they do, but then to decide that this now means businesses need a TV licence too places just another unnecessary cost on firms.

On Radio 5live this morning they had some chap on from the licensing gestapo and he said the process for catching unlicensed businesses involves sending out letters, and then if these are ignored, visiting the premises with a view to proving that computers are being used for this. I really wonder how they’re going to get this proof. Unless they actually catch someone in the act of watching a live TV stream, I don’t think they can have any actual rights to start looking at the histories of browsers on machines, or to demand business owners demonstrate how they restrict this content from being viewed.

Of course, they make out they will catch you, and, of course, they don’t disclose how. But I don’t think there is a how which is definitive enough to stand up against all arguments, although by maintaining this stance proprietors and directors will of course just get the licence anyway. Which of course we all should, if its the law – and let’s be clear here, I’m not advocating we break it either. That doesn’t change the fact though that its a stupid law, and the confusion over it is just another reason why convergence of media makes it harder to keep the licence system running. TV licenses will go the same way as Radio ones… In general, if a law is easy to understand, then it’s a law that makes sense. Murder is against the law. Easy. When laws are shrouded in confusion, it generally a sign that it’s a lousy law, which has, at best, a tenuous reason for existence. In this instance, as an additional tax on businesses.

If a licence fee is justified for being able to watch broadcast TV on a PC, then maybe the TV Licence authority should ask to get a law passed which makes all broadcasters have to run a pre-roll message before any TV stream which states the need for a licence. Or even to check your right to watch that sort of content via some kind of database and a sniffer that determines location, hardware type and if its connected to the mains or not. The point being, somehow, on an open web, it needs to be made crystal clear to users when they are just about to break the law.

Of course this won’t happen, but until then, I don’t think any business need fear a visit – but if you do get a knock, pull your power lead out of your phones and laptops, use Safari with Private Browsing turned on to stream your content on all other PCs – and if they demand to look at your PC’s settings to see what you’ve been up to just refuse.

Based in Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, contact miggle.co.uk for website development, content management and online media services in the UK and worldwide.

It was great to see Yahoo! launch their new version of the home page in beta last week in the UK. Here at miggle, we work closely for Yahoo! on their ‘Front doors’ day in day out, so clearly we’ve got a vested interest in saying the page is great. But that’s really what we think.

During my time at Yahoo! homepage launches were a big part of my life – this is the fourth one I’ve been involved with in one way or another and so I’ve seen first hand how it’s changed and the reasoning behind the changes.

A brief historical functional overview of the Yahoo! homepage, which up until at least the start of 2009 was the single most visited web page on the planet, goes something like this – and in many ways mirrors the history of the web:

• At the start, it was all about links in the directory, which dominated the page
• Then the directory became searchable
• Rather than drive traffic to competitors, Yahoo! started building and acquiring its own products like Yahoo! Mail and Finance
• Yahoo! started publishing latest news on its homepage
• With so many people on the site daily, the media value of the page soared. Yahoo! led the way in offering advertisers truly unique opportunities on its homepages worldwide
• As the web broadened, Google Search became ‘the killer app’ – portals no longer could offer the same standard as the pure plays, for example, everyone knows eBay – but do you remember Yahoo! Auctions?
• Entry points to the web changed. The Hotmail homepage was a more valuable destination than the MSN homepage, because more people started their web sessions there. Internet toolbars became so important that companies like Microsoft started to embed search functionality into the chrome of the browsers and desktop.
• Thus, a page like yahoo.co.uk had to have value as a product in its own right. Editorial engagement became more important as homepages became the place to find out about what cool stuff was happening on and offline. The directory disappeared.
• Web2.0 and social networking took off. The web became a more customisable place. Mobile phones became more important as a platform. The personal assistant on the last version of the Y! homepage showed where front page evolution was heading.

And now, in 2009, we have a Yahoo! homepage that allows users to see the news headlines from the Guardian alongside its own news product. A page that actively encourages users to add their favourite sites to the left hand nav bar rather than big up its own portal offering. Yahoo! has recognised that setting your online status is a key part of any user’s identity when going for a surf on a highly personalisable web – even though its as easy to update your Facebook account from the Y! page as it is your own Y! profile.

Is this simply Yahoo! admitting defeat? I don’t think so. I think this is a good strategic move on their part, allowing users to create their own ‘starting point’ on the web. If Yahoo! ever had a raison d’etre, wasn’t this always it? Is the new homepage evolution or revolution? Let us know what you think.

The new home page still does everything that Yahoo! has always done well – pointing users to fresh and interesting content and brilliant products such as Y! Finance and Mail – but also recognises the fact that the Internet has moved on from the dominance of portals. That in itself gives every web publisher the opportunity to think about how it can leverage Yahoo!’s audience to drive engagement in its own products. If you want to think about how that could work for your business then drop us a line.

Based in Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, contact miggle.co.uk for website development, content management and online media services in the UK and worldwide.

I’m not at all sure it is. I’d say, from the BBC’s point of view it’s a great distribution deal. But if I were trying to provide a competitive service, I’d really wonder how I was able to compete. What are ITN supposed to do in the face of this? Give their content away? Maybe they won’t even be able to give it away. For example, if I was head of content at one of the newspapers which is now aggregating BBC video, why would I need ITN’s content? And, if to compete, ITN needs the distribution, then surely it pays newspapers for it.

I would have also have thought that the BBC’s intention to make its content available to other UK based websites isn’t something it’s chosen to do. I’d say it’s something in which it has no choice. What it gives away free to the big four groups it has done today, surely it has to do for everyone – nationals, regionals, TV, radio and mobile. If I start up miggle news tomorrow, surely I’d be entitled to it too?

Don’t get me wrong. I think the BBC is magic. Its content is fantastic and it does some brilliant things online. It’s got a fantastic, well known and trusted brand. We all own it, we all know where to find it. That to me is all there should be to it.

In terms of content there is only really, in the UK, one credible competitor to the BBC. The newspapers that are associated with that group, who’ve recently suggested that their content online is something they might charge for, were not included in today’s announcement. Why is that I wonder?

Based in Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, contact miggle.co.uk for website development, content management and online media services in the UK and worldwide.

OK – I’m not trying to panic anyone here, or be a doom monger, but now that the UK’s Chief Medical Officer has said that by Autumn, this WHO declared, level six pandemic, could amount to 10,000 new cases a week, then its probably time to think about what your contingency plan is as a business when swine flu strikes. It’s not a case of IF your office will be hit – but WHEN!

After all, lets face it, we Brits are not the most resilient bunch when illness strikes. I can think of plenty of times in my working career where I’ve been able to see the tumbleweed blow through offices, as a mass bunch of sickies get thrown, with staff self diagnosing the sniffles as flu. So, it’s key you have a plan to cope. Many businesses will have a good BCP in place. However, if you are reading this thinking ‘What’s BCP?’ then read on. And then when you’ve finished, go and see your boss and ask him how your company’s BCP will handle a drought of fit and able bodies in the office. If he/she looks at you blankly, then here’s an opportunity for you to score a few brownie points.

In layman’s terms BCP, or Business Continuity Planning, is all about what processes you have in place to address the fact that what can go wrong, will go wrong. Because worst case scenarios rarely happen, few businesses take the time to consider what they’ll do when disaster strikes. A solid BCP plan should cover many areas – and how to cope when your business is suffering from staff shortages due to sickness is definitely one.

I remember in a past life putting the basics of BCP in place when we realised that the Queen Mother would not go on for ever. Operation Fishbone it was called, Her Majesty having had what was past form for choking on bones and us being aware that the next one could be one heimlich manourvre too far. As it was, she soldiered on for another six months, but a few days after we’d devised the plan, two planes flew into the World Trade Center. We were well prepared to cover the event editorially. Judging by the speed at which our competitors sites went down, we were probably one of the few that were.

The point of this little anecdote is this: Even if you think the panic over swine flu has been blown out of all proportion, that’s not a reason not to think about BCP. After all, a process that works for the flu will also cover you when snow falls in London again and no one can get to the office. This winter just gone, the current clients for whom we provide a BCP service via migglepublishing were able to pick up the phone and know that we’d be able to kick in with coverage when the bad weather ground everything to a halt.

We’re able to provide that coverage because our clients see the value of investing some time and money into ensuring continuity of service and they can thus rest assured that there are people across various locations who have access to publishing tools, training in how to use them and a good understanding of what sort of content works for your business – these FAQs will give you some idea of how that process works. If you want to find out more about how we can help you with being a cog in your BCP machine just get in touch. And if you don’t, be prepared anyway. Nothing stays the same for ever – its the nature of impermanence. Disaster is imminent. Make sure you can cover it, not be swept up by it.

Based in Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, contact miggle.co.uk for website development, content management and online media services in the UK and worldwide.

A client of ours asked us if we could produce the product photos for her miggle designed and developed ecommerce site, due to launch in July. What does she sell? Tiny, shiny body jewellery – the sort that smudges if you look too hard – and lots of it. A fiddly job if ever I’ve come across one.

Ever willing to rise to a challenge, I dredged up what remained of my studio memories from back when I studied Editorial Photography here in Brighton many moons ago. With various members of the team drafted into polishing and blu-tak duty we set up quite a functional little studio in a corner of the office with a lovely pink backdrop to match her site design and give the body jewellery some ‘zing’. After plenty of experimentation, we’re pretty chuffed with the results. What do you reckon?

Based in Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, contact miggle.co.uk for website development, content management and online media services in the UK and worldwide.

Buddypress screengrab

>> What is BuddyPress? See Alick’s previous post.

Before starting to install BuddyPress you need to use WordPress MU. Once uploaded onto your server you will be guided through the installation. This includes the standard email and database details but you are also asked whether to use sub-domains or sub-directories for each user’s blogs, e.g. blog.example.com or example.com/blog.

On the first install I went for sub-domains, everything installed correctly. We could have multiple users and access each control panel but there was a problem trying to access everyone’s blogs. As I installed WordPress MU onto a shared server blog.example.com gave a ’shared ip’ error. You will only be able to use sub-domains on a dedicated server.

Once re-installing (you can just delete wp-config.php!) I chose sub-directories, wow! Huge breakdown. WordPress MU gave a redirect loop error, I couldn’t even access wp-login! After searching through a few forums I started to find this was a common error.

The solution:
Many forum users say to ‘clear your cookies’ which in a lot of cases seems to work. Other people suggest modifying the SECRET_SALT so WordPress generates a new code – SECRET_SALT is auto-generated by the install for wp-config.php.

But the one I found to work was by bradleyland.net. Basically just delete wp-config.php and do the setup again. From what I can tell this resolves both the solutions above so if you have tried one and it didn’t work, try the other too.

Installing BuddyPress
Once WordPress MU is up and running BuddyPress is fairly simple, I didn’t have any errors getting this to work first time. The read-me.txt file is useful but it doesn’t tell you every step, I would suggest following their online guide.

We get quite a few requests from prospective clients looking to build social networks. It often turns out that the plans are like a house of cards. Give them a prod while asking ‘What’s the business model / your budget / hook to get people to sign up?’ usually brings it all tumbling down. At the heart of a lot of these requests is the desire on the client’s part to either own a community or engage customers on their network. As such, ownership of the customer is key and that can potentially rule out using certain off the shelf social network content management systems (CMS) because there are always issues over who owns the user. So, to combat this, the route proposed is often to build it from scratch. This in itself is often impractical as what budget there is then goes into re-inventing wheels as we go about re-writing blogs/forums/groups/etc from scratch.

End result of all this is that everyone who’s come and asked us about building social networks has ended up re-thinking their ideas as a result of either a) not wanting to invest in building a plan up front or b) realising that the lack of robustness in their business plan means that the self build route will be a quick and effective way of losing a lot of money very quickly.

So, as a result of this, we’ve been quite excited by the idea of BuddyPress, and as such we’ve installed a version of it on our test server of which you’re free to sign up and have a play and see what you think. I don’t know how long we’ll keep this up for, so if this link here isn’t working, you’ll know we’ve taken it down.

So far, the biggest criticism of it is that it’s got no privacy settings and is without a lot of key social network features. But, it’s got a Facebook style wall (the wire) and Groups (which with no privacy, are really just a twist on profiles) and email based messaging. And, because it’s based on WordPress it’s got blog functionality which is something we know we can skin pretty easily.

I actually think the BuddyPress control panel is a bit confusing and we’re yet to dig into this enough to see how much we can change this. That I think will require more than skinning – it strikes me as there are some core IA issues that need to be resolved. But I guess for the WordPress team, this is work in progress and if BuddyPress is anywhere near as successful as WordPress it’ll surely be of great use to clients looking for a potential candidate for building social networks which are feature rich, give full ownership of the user and provide lots of opportunities for design customisation.

We’ve now deleted our test install of BuddyPress. If you want to learn more about what we can do for you with Social Media just get in touch.

Based in Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, contact miggle.co.uk for website development, content management and online media services in the UK and worldwide.

I was minding my own business, just cruising the Web for miggle-ish links and webby news to feedback to the team, when I came across a curious gem: Who do we farm out at miggle?

It appears the miggleblog is being rewritten by translating software that fancies itself the new Anthony Burgess. Whilst I don’t usually approve of random sites ‘borrowing’ our content, any entity that can transform ‘a great graphic designer’ into ‘a marvy ingenuous core decorator’ surely deserves some applause.