A great article appeared in this months' PC Pro magazine by independent journalist Paul Ockenden.   I broadly agree with 95% of it, and feel it might be of use to some of our clients, and potential clients, so I've uploaded a PDF copy here.

A few areas need a little clarification:

• The article discusses the two choices of "Big Agencies" and "Inexpensive Individuals" to develop sites.  As a small team, mtstudios falls between the two, and has more in common with the latter, especially in terms of pricing structure.  However we have separate staff covering the two disciplines of design and development - the importance of which is covered by the article.
  
• The article states that eCommerce solution can cost "tens of thousands of pounds".  Whilst true, it should be noted that mtstudios sell a system suitable for most eCommerce starting a £2,000 - so don't be put off!

Overall, have a read, but please don't think it replaces the value to be had in speaking to someone in person.  We'd be happy to have a chat with you, and never try a "hard sell", we genuinely enjoy assisting businesses in making the right decisons for their online presence.

HowToCreateAWebPresenceForSmallBusiness.pdf (52.67 kb)

Quick one this, Microsoft have finally entered the security software arena with a completely free, lightweight, quiet, tidy anti-virus and malware package called, catch-ily, "Security Essentials".

It has received generally excellent reviews (http://www.winsupersite.com/win7/mse.asp, http://www.sitepoint.com/blogs/2009/10/04/microsoft-security-essentials-review/, http://www.thetechherald.com/article.php/200926/3926/Review-Microsoft-Security-Essentials etc.) and is the first Security product I have ever run.  I urge everyone to download and install it, unless you are a die-hard user of one of the paid-for packages, and arguably even then?

This won't be part of automatic Windows Update for a long while as the big anti-virus companies still carry enough clout to make rumbles about anti-competitive behaviour.

So download it from here: http://www.microsoft.com/Security_Essentials/

I recommend removing any other anti-virus package from your PC first, especially if it's a free one (AVG etc). 

This month sees the revamp of sunprincess.com.mv, home to the boat's - Dream Catcher 1 and Dream Catcher 2.  These luxurious boat's live in the wonderfully intriguing waters of the Indian Ocean and allow their guests to explore the beautiful islands and reefs of the Maldives.  As the blog title says... "I wish I was there!"

The revamp has focused mainly on the design and has lifted the website from its rather pedestrian previous design to something much more in keeping with the service it provides, and its target clientele. But while we were there, we improved some of the tools staff had to manage the site, introduced some great photo galleries and laid the foundations for further search engine and Internet marketing work.

Although the one old one gave us sterling service for the last four years, and attracted a large amount of positive comments it was time to move on - although I'll miss the colourful hypnotic wibbles! More...