Here’s an interesting thing to ponder: Complying with the new EU Cookie Law which comes into force at the end of May (26/05/2012) will cost you money. Is it just costly bureaucratic overkill – even worse – could it lose money for internet businesses? By highlighting web safety, including cookies (which are, after-all, little bits of code stored on a website users’ computer by a website) could we damage consumer confidence and effect internet sales? These are concerning thoughts. No-one wants to pay for something they don’t feel is necessary, nor do they want to lose money as consumers lose confidence in the method they use to operate their business.

Last week the respected industry publication Marketing Week suggested that complying with the new EU cookie law is actually a great opportunity to increase consumer trust in what your business does.  This article, and the debate surrounding it, has had me thinking.

On the face of it this is just the age-old marketing adage – ‘turn a negative into a positive selling point and spin’. Yet I keep coming back to the idea that they make a good point. It will soon be law to tell customers and users on your website all about the cookies you store on their devices. To my mind, the only way to see this is in a positive light. We have to comply and it’s not something we can change. Better to find the positives than dwell on the negatives (monetary and time costs being two significant downsides).

I’ve encountered several excuses that website owners could hide behind for not complying with the new law during my research for WDLs own Cookie Policy document:

Browsers should do it – it’s like a TV, it’s either off or on and the user chooses which; The ICO (Information Commissioners Office) acknowledges that browsers, going forward, should play their part. Browsers need to help consumers make informed choices about what cookies they allow to be stored on their devices in conjunction with website businesses being open and honest about the cookies they are using. So the people interpreting the EU Law for the UK know this argument, have thought about it, and aren’t buying it.

No-one is going to find and prosecute me, I’m only tiny compared to all the other internet businesses out there; – Don’t underestimate yourself or sell yourself short. Present your business well to consumers, as one that is considerate with their data and is completely open about the cookies it is storing on other peoples’ devices.

I’ll wait and see what happens before I take steps to comply because it’s all so confusing at the moment; It’s true – the guidelines, which have been in publication for a year now, are difficult to interpret. However, highly respected agencies, who have the interests of businesses in mind, have recommended that you take action.

The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC)  has published a report on compliance with the new EU cookie law which is easy to read and understand and gives clear guidelines telling businesses what their responsibilities are and what they can do to fulfil them. So there’s no excuse. Furthermore, why not be at the front of the queue to make the necessary changes and be the first to reap the benefits of increased trust from your site users?

What we can do for you:

Step 1: Fill out our FREE online Questionnaire to find out if your site requires a Cookie Audit.

Step 2: Have a Cookie Audit completed for your website. We charge £100+ VAT for this service and will provide you with a report detailing all the cookies used on your website and the actions you need to take to be complaint with the law.

Step 3: Implement our recommendations. Once we have completed your Cookie Audit you are under no obligation to have us complete the work required to put your website on the right side of the law.

We will provide you with a competitive quote to write a Cookie Policy for you and make any code and content changes – the rest is up to you.

If you’re reading this then you may be thinking about creating a new website, redesigning your old one, or developing a new site for a new business. If you’re thinking about it, chances are at some point in the near future it’s likely to become a reality. If so you’ll want your ‘project’ to run as smoothly as possible; want to look good in your boss’ eyes; want to save yourself and/or your company time, money and effort.

As project manager at WDL I and wanted to share some thoughts with you on how to make this happen by choosing the right web company and how to get the best out of them.

Who should I choose to work with?

The first and most important lesson you can learn is that most reputable web companies will expect you to work with them to achieve your business goals. While you might think you don’t have the time, inclination or knowledge to work closely with them, you will need to adapt. Without your cooperation it could be a precarious relationship that’s unlikely to produce desired results.

How can I spot good practice?

If your chosen web company asks you lots of questions, asks to have meetings to discuss your project in detail, and needs your input on (for example) site structure and provision of content, then these are positive signs. They obviously know what’s needed to help you achieve your goals and they’ll most likely deliver a solution that meets your expectations on time and on budget.

How do I spot bad practice?

If, however, they don’t ask you these sort of questions, or just say “OK we’ve got it”, then my advice would be to steer clear. I know I am bound to say this, since I work for this particular company, but in my professional experience, web agencies that don’t ask the right questions are probably not worth working with – they’re more likely to make mistakes, over-promise, under-deliver, go over budget and over time; none of which you need or want.

Why should I listen to them?

A good web company will advise you on good ideas for your site and will highlight the bad ones (your brother’s girlfriend’s dad’s suggestion that you need a flash animation on the homepage).

Even if you don’t like what they suggest, or don’t necessarily agree with them, you need to remember that they are the experts – they do this all day, every day and they want to help you make the right decisions based on their experience. They’ve already made mistakes and learnt from them, they’ve tried and tested any number of different ways of achieving the same goals and they’ve seen the things that work really well (and those that don’t) and measured the impact of these successes and failures.

Finally, any web business should be honest and open with you, and at the end of the day, what does a good reputable web company gain from giving you bad advice?

How do I get the most out of my web company?

If you want to avoid the multitude of mistakes that many people make when trying to get a new website up and running, the points below highlight the requirements you’re going to need to consider at the beginning of a typical web project. Prepare for this, as these are the ingredients for your website.

10 things you’ll most likely need to provide:

1.   Company Information (highlights of your business) – its USPs, strengths and weaknesses; your competitors, etc.
2.   Audience – who is your actual or preferred audience? Who do you want to target with your website?
3.   Design direction – have you got any ideas on what you want it to look like? Colours, layout, what sites do you like/don’t like?
4.   Site structure – what pages do you want on your site? Services, products, contact us, about us, privacy policy, terms and conditions, etc.
5.   Content – what imagery and text do you want for the (above) pages of your site? Take a look at this blog post about Content Briefs to learn more.
6.   Functionality – what do you want the site to do? What do you want your users to do?  E.g. contact forms, galleries, booking options, payments, etc.
7.   Technical – are there any specific technical requirements for your project? E.g. browser compatibility, integration with legacy systems, etc.
8.   Internet Marketing – have you considered how you are going to market your website online? E.g. pay per click, SEO, social media, etc.
9.   Hosting – can you provide hosting details, or do you want your web company to host the site and the site’s email?
10. Support & Maintenance – who’s going to look after your site when it’s built? Think about who’s going to edit and update the site, who’s going to fix any problems that may arise, etc.

If you are not sure about any of the above, speak to your chosen web company during the quoting stage. They’ll be able to offer additional services, consultancy and (at the very least) some guidance on what you need to do, or what they can do for you.

Hopefully, you’re clearer on what to expect, but if you want to work with a web company that’s been doing this for 10 years, contact us at Website Design Ltd and get the ball rolling.

Apparently, the answer is yes. Knowing that there is a place on a computer where the answers are saved will make you do worse than someone who had all of their typing deleted, as discovered by this study (PDF Warning).

Participants in another experiment, also listed on the linked article, were asked to remember two different items: A piece of trivia, and where on a computer the trivia was saved. People had difficulty with remembering the facts, but not where each fact was located.

It turns out that computers, and the internet, could be changing the way that some people’s brains work.

If I were to ask “How many muscles are there in the human body?”, would you know the answer? Or would you think “If I search on Wikipedia for muscles, the answer will be there?”. A lot of people are now apparently in the second category.

Take my latest shopping want: A watch that connects to a phone. After my initial research, I personally couldn’t remember the names of any of the products I wanted, just a vague outline of what the item looked like. But I did know that if I searched for “smart watches guide” I could find a top five article that contains three of the watches I’m debating between.

Now, let’s say I was looking through some products on your own website and I found out that you stock a watch that is perfect for what I want: It has all of the features of your competitor’s but fits into my personal style better than all of the other products that I have viewed.  I then get distracted, go and cook some dinner, watch some TV, and come back to my shopping over the weekend. I remember seeing the perfect item, but because life caught up with me, and because my memory span isn’t that good, I can’t remember your website name so I’m back to using Google. If your website isn’t search engine optimised, I may not find it again during my searches. I also may not remember enough about your website to even know what to type into the search box to relocate your website, especially if I was using complex search terms in my initial search.

If the pages of information I was clicking though to read more about your watch had catching, memorable headlines, I may remember “Oh yeah, the page talked about Windows Phone compatibility” and use that term in Google to try and relocate your page, just because this is something my personal interests are more attuned to than your company name.

Or if I initially came to your website through a Google search I may, if the content is memorable enough, remember the title text I clicked on to get to your page. After all, by moving my mouse pointer over to click on your link, your title text is the very last thing that I’m reading before leaving Google. It may just be the only thing I remember about that page of search engine results.

When I do manage to land on your page, if I can find the information I want, then I am going to locate that watch and bring out my bank card. If I can’t find it fast enough, I am likely to click off your page and buy your competitor’s product, as I personally want to find what I’m looking for instantly, and if I can’t get to it straight away I will go elsewhere.

Although not remembering all of the details of a website may be a unique aspect about me, the researchers in the linked article believe that more and more people are slowly becoming this way, not storing the destination of facts but remembering the journey they took to find these facts. As well as relying on Google to interpret their search results, they are remembering what search terms to use to get the best results from Google.

Without navigation optimisation, without the ability to work out what to search to find your website, it is possible that people may not be able to re-find your website. They may not remember the character string they need for your whole website URL, but if it is Search Engine Optimised, they may remember ways to get to it.

If you think your website isn’t doing enough to be memorable to both search engines and humans, why not take a look at the internet marketing services WDL can provide?

Regulations governing the use of cookies on websites were made law on 26/05/2011. The Information Commissioner has provided a 12 month lead in period to allow businesses time to prepare, meaning that the regulations come into force on 26/05/2012.

We’d recommend having a quick audit of your site to assess the use of cookies. Our audit will provide you with a report to give you a clear picture of how closely your site adheres to the new law, and a cost to implement the correct method for asking visitors’ permission to use cookies. WDL’s cookie audits are a fixed price of £100+VAT for any size of site, and there’s no obligation to have the recommended work completed.

Please fill in our quick and easy online questionnaire, or contact us at support@websitedesign.co.uk to find out how to make your site compliant.

New Law Summary

In summary, the new regulations state that websites that use cookies may be required to gain consent from their users to place cookies.

Those setting cookies must:

•    tell people that the cookies are there
•    explain what the cookies are doing
•    obtain their consent to store a cookie on their device

There is an exception to the requirement to provide information about cookies and obtain consent where the use of the cookie is:

(a) for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network; or
(b) where such storage or access is strictly necessary for the provision of an information society service requested by the subscriber or user.

‘Strictly Necessary’ applies when a cookie is required to provide a service. A cookie used to implement a shopping cart would probably be considered strictly necessary, but a cookie tracking an affiliate, or collecting statistics (e.g. Google Analytics) would not be.

Responsibilities

The responsibility for ensuring compliance with the regulations lies with the operator of the website. Website operators should consider the following steps:

•    Check what cookies are being used on a site and how they are being used (audit)
•    Assess how intrusive the use of these cookies is
•    Decide what solution for obtaining consent is appropriate

Operators must also provide clear information about the use of cookies on their sites, not just as part of a privacy policy. A mechanism for getting user consent for cookies should be put in place if necessary, and depending on the nature of the site could include:

•    popups, splash pages, overlays, header / footer bars
•    terms and conditions, which have to be accepted to use a site
•    settings (e.g. on a forum or membership site)

Enforcement

Enforcement of compliance starts on 26th May 2012, and is policed by the The Information Commissioner who has 4 main options for enforcement:

1. Information notice: this requires organisations to provide the Information Commissioner with specified information within a certain time period.
2. Undertaking: this commits an organisation to a particular course of action in order to improve its compliance.
3. Enforcement notice: this compels an organisation to take the action specified in the notice to bring about compliance with the Regulations. For example, a notice may be served to compel an organisation to start gaining consent for cookies. Failure to comply with an enforcement notice can be a criminal offence.
4. Monetary penalty notice: a monetary penalty notice requires an organisation to pay a monetary penalty of an amount determined by the ICO, up to a maximum of £500,000. This power can be used in the most serious of cases and if specific criteria are met, if any person has seriously contravened the Regulations and if the contravention was of a kind likely to cause substantial damage or substantial distress. In addition the contravention must either have been deliberate or the person must have known or ought to have known that there was a risk that a contravention would occur and failed to take reasonable steps to prevent it.

What Next

We are not lawyers, and can’t provide specific advice about the legal implications of the cookie regulations. We do suggest though that website owners read and understand the implications of the new regulations, and make up their mind about how best to proceed.

We offer cookie audits at £100+ VAT, which will include a quote for the work involved in making websites compliant.

Take the first step by filling in our quick and easy online questionnaire, or contact us at support@websitedesign.co.uk

NB: A practical interpretation of the law is provided on the ICO website at http://www.ico.gov.uk/for_organisations/privacy_and_electronic_communications/the_guide/cookies.aspx – you may want to look at the pdf on the first link in the first paragraph for more information.

How long is your ‘to do’ list? We’re a busy bunch here at WDL and all of us usually have more than one project on the go at any one time. Then there’s the things on the list that have been there a while… generally speaking, it’s something that has been hindered for some reason, maybe a question needs to be answered to complete what needs to be done. Perhaps the task needs a little extra thought and there just hasn’t been the time. There’s always a reason to put some things off.

My job naturally involves some things that could be viewed as a little tricky. If a client has forgotten about an invoice, it’s part of my job to give them a nudge. Putting this off helps no-one. There might be a problem, perhaps – and I hope not – a client who is late paying has a genuine issue that needs to be resolved before they can pay. I can help sort that out, but only if I know about it. Or maybe their ‘to do’ list has started to resemble The Complete Works of Shakespeare and I just need to remind them that our invoice should be in the next act.

Putting things off can be dis-conducive to a healthy state of mind. I always find it easier to complete the tasks that need extra thinking time if I clear the deck of the smaller but lower-priority tasks as often as I can. I’m setting aside half an hour a day this week to tidy up my to do list – will you join me?

I’m Tomasz Czech, and I’m a 24 year-old apprentice web developer here at WDL. If there’s anyone who’s quiet and calm in the company, well, it’s definitely me. I try to be focused and I’m extremely dedicated to my work. In a very short space of time I’ve been given the chance to gain a different learning experience and I’m really enjoying my time here.

A little bit about me and my journey to WDL. I was born in the south west of Poland in a town called Opole. When I was 12 years old I got my first taste of Britain by bravely traveling here for a holiday on my own – 1500km by coach.

I lived in Poland for 21 years and spent 14 years studying there. In 2001 I started my further education at a group of Electrical Schools.

Over the years I’ve undergone various working experiences. I’ve worked in a mechanical parts factory (Tower Automotive) assembling bottom holders for the newest Fiat 500 model and in a print house (Opolgraf), supporting books production.

During my teenage years I developed experience by self-studying computer skills, and I discovered not only how to use a computer, but how to install and configure software packages and hardware maintenance too. This in turn gave me the opportunity to help and assist my friends and colleagues with their computer problems (most of them were successful) whilst boosting my confidence and encouraging me to look forward to a brighter future.

At the age of 21 I was determined to move to England, and straight after I graduated from Upper Secondary School as Technician of Telecommunication, I did. Upon arriving in the UK I began searching for opportunities and E2V came my way. I had the chance to work there as an operator who assembles marine magnetrons – which are used in submarines – as well as the opportunity to learn how to build up and inspect anodes and cathodes under microscope. E2V acknowledged my skills and gave me a permanent contract.

During my free time at E2V I studied an English ESOL Level 1, Level 2 Course and OCR Level 1 and Level 2 course in Adult Numeracy and achieved these qualifications.

Two years later, I no longer felt the same satisfaction with my job at E2V and part of me was saying that I needed to move on. In August 2011 another opportunity came my way. I left England and moved to Spain, where I became a computer programming assistant and gained my first IT work experience. I learned iPhone, iPad touch panel designing skills, Crestron and Lutron devices programming, the basics of JavaScript and elementary Spanish.

I’d been really satisfied with the new job but unfortunately I couldn’t carry on – with extended time off work and the termination of my contract I had to think again.
I finally made up my mind to travel back to Chelmsford, decided not to give up hope and to find another opportunity. I still had the desire to work in the IT industry as I knew this was really my passion, so I applied for an IT/Web Design Apprenticeship and trusted my instincts.

Then I met WDL. My instincts were right. WDL have given me a helping hand and, so far, have supported me all the way. The team at WDL helps to boost my confidence on a daily basis and I’ve been learning and acquiring new skills and knowledge which give me the satisfaction and contentment I need to develop in this industry. With the help and guidance of the supportive and talented team at WDL, I feel that I have gained a better perspective on my career goals.

We now have four employees whose full time job is to write code; Sam, Tom, George and myself. We’re split evenly across back-end and front-end development, but there are big overlaps in the work that we produce. I’ll sometimes dabble into some PHP to get something working for the front-end that I’m building, or Sam might write some JQuery interactions to try out some back-end stuff that he is developing.

It is sound advice (almost gospel even) to ‘always code like you are in a team’. This means having clean, clear, well documented code that another developer can look at and quickly get an idea of what it is, what it does and how they can work with it.

As the development team has grown it has become more and more apparent that we needed a smarter and more central way of managing the code that we write. Recently, we addressed one small part of this problem.

When you work on a large number of projects, patterns in your code are bound to emerge from time to time: the same piece of functionality, similar layout or styling. What is the point in wasting time writing out the same piece of code time and time again when there are a million other things to get done on the project. Sometimes you just want a quick and simple way of inserting something that you, or another member of the team has already written.

Up until a little while ago I had a code library (of sorts) stored in a simple set of files on one of the resources drives in the office. It served a purpose, but it wasn’t very clever. It was only accessible from within the office, it was slow to find what you wanted and slow to get the relevant code into the document that you’re working on.

So, the solution. We needed a central, online storage facility, and a lightning fast way of interacting with it.

We found this provided by GitHub, or more specifically by GitHub Gists. Where GitHub is a repository for full projects, GitHub Gists allows you to store and manage a library of smaller snippets of code. Because Gists run on Git, they are also open to versioning, meaning that we can update our snippets over time, but roll back and access an older version at any point.

The latter is made possible by our new text editor of choice, Sublime Text 2. Words cannot describe how much of a difference this amazing little app has made to productivity. It is a world away from slow, hand holding editors like Dreamweaver. I don’t want my hand held, and definitely do not want slow! I want a fast text editor with a minimal interface and tonne of power under the hood that’s ready to hulk out when I need it. That is what ST2 is, and it integrates with GitHub and (more importantly for this issue) Gists.

The combination of these two tools allow us to quickly create, search for and insert a specific snippet of code at the drop of a hat. Everything is organised and aptly named, is accessible from anywhere, easily updatable and did I mention it’s quick?!

This is just one small step towards a bigger goal of working with code in the most accessible and efficient way, but it is already having a big impact on our work.

If you are responsible for writing/briefing freelancers to write copy for a website, then you could benefit from getting us to produce your Content Brief.

What is a ‘Content Brief’?

A (WDL) Content Brief is a research-based document that helps you to make sure the copy you write for your website is best for Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and for your website’s visitors.

What research is done to produce a Content Brief?

To make sure that the copy on your site is optimal, we first conduct keyword and competitor research.

Keyword research looks into the words people might use to search for the products/services you offer and competitor research investigates tactics and content used by other websites selling the same services/products in your target area.

Why is keyword research important for a Content Brief?

By conducting keyword research, we can find out what keywords your potential visitors/customers will be entering into search engines to try and find the types of products/services that your website offers.

We then tell you this information in the brief so you write about the right things and include the correct keywords in your copy. This ensures that you have placed your website to meet the search engines’ copy needs so you can hopefully rank well for your keywords and get visibility in search as well as meeting your potential customers’ needs for information about your business and services/products.

Why is competitor research important for a Content Brief?

By conducting competitor research, we can see how your competitors write about themselves and their products/services so you can make sure that you are on (at least) a level playing field with them, in terms of the way you sell your business/products/services in your copy.

For example, if you are a caterer and all of your competitors are including information in their copy about their Food Hygiene rating, the competitor research will uncover this fact. This would then indicate that your copy needs to include your Food Hygiene rating because you don’t want the potential customer choosing your competitor on the basis that they include this one piece of information and you don’t.

Your competitors may also be using obscure keywords that weren’t uncovered by the keyword research (for example brand terms) so ensures the research is as informative as possible.

What other information does a Content Brief contain?

In addition to the insights gained from competitor and keyword research, WDL Content Briefs also provide you with tips on how to write good website copy. A typical brief may include information on the importance of correct spelling and grammar in website copy, tips on how to structure your online copy and guidance on future-proofing your website text.

How do I get a Content Brief for my website?

If you would like a WDL Content Brief from our Digital Marketing Specialists, all you need to do is contact us and we can provide you with a bespoke quote. If the thought of writing your own copy is unappealing, even with a brief, we also provide copywriting services.

After a couple of weeks of water-cycling and progressively icky gravel, it was decided to do a full strip and clean of Float Left and Float Right’s tank today. Taking all of lunch (and a little more), the results are particularly satisfying if I do say so myself.

With a shiny fresh tank, Float Left and Float Right can carry on bringing joy to the office by having wonderful fins. And doing that funny mouth thing that fish do all the time.

To clear up some of the haze of uncertainty, we’ve picked  a short list of things to look out for when choosing or deciding to continue with a web hosting provider.

1. Uptime.

The bottom line. If your site isn’t available, your customers can’t interact with it. Most reputable providers will maintain server uptime percentages in the very high nineties, normally 98% plus. Some downtime is inevitable, all servers need updates and upgrades over time which might involve some out-of-hours interruptions. However, if your site disappears every other day for hours on end, it’s time to look for a new home.

2. Backups.

Normally, most hosting providers have Terms & Conditions that specifically put the responsibility of maintaining regular backups firmly in the customer’s lap. However, as a general rule, a genuinely business-friendly provider will be backing up their servers regularly, and will include your sites, databases, supporting files (etc.) in their backups. WDL uses a top-of-the-line drive imaging backup system to protect our servers, but we still like our customers to keep their own backups, for their own piece of mind and an extra layer of protection.

3. Databases.

Any business-grade hosting package should include access to at least one database these days. Nearly all of the common website features we’re accustomed to now require a database to function: blogs, e-commerce systems, content management systems, forums (etc.); the only time a database should be an extra-cost option is if it’s a licensed platform, like Microsoft SQL Server. If your current provider wants to double the cost of your hosting just to add a database (and then take a week to turn it on), you should start shopping around (or just come to us).

4. Shared Server vs Overloaded Hulk.

The most common type of hosting is provided on a shared server – this means you’re renting space on a larger single machine, much like renting a flat in a high-rise block. From a provider’s perspective, running this kind of server is a balancing act between getting a good profit from running a server (lots of sites on one machine) and providing a good service for the hosted sites (fewer sites on one machine). Some providers swing right out to the extremes on numbers of hosted sites per server; we’ve seen as many as 700 sites served by one machine! At this kind of scale, your site would be stuffed in like a tinned sardine, with very little real-time access to bandwidth and resources. This kind of approach leads to slow sites, bounced emails, and a poor visitor experience. There are a number of tools to check this online  - these will show you how many domains are sharing your site’s IP address, giving you a rough idea of the number of sites on your server. If it’s around 200+, you should be paying bottom-end prices, and are probably getting a service to match. Just out of interest, WDL limit the number of sites on our shared servers to 100, and carefully manage the types of sites to prevent resource hogging.

5. Support.

Let’s be honest, when things go horribly wrong what you really really need is to talk to someone who can fix it. A proper, real person, not a ticket system or a livechat window; nothing gets things fixed quicker than bending someone’s ear. Now, that doesn’t mean calling and shouting at people every time some small error or fault appears (see this guy). What we mean is that a decent hosting company will always have an “I have to speak to someone” option as a last resort. It might be at the end of the normal support ticket process, or through a form on the site that pages/texts someone, but the end result will be someone directly helping you with your problem. If you’ve ever spent an hour or so trawling your hosting provider’s website, searching in vain for a phone number that doesn’t make you talk (slowly) to a computer then you’ll know where we’re coming from. In short, if you can’t talk to them, ditch them.

Doubts?

If you’re ever in any doubt as to whether your current provider is up to spec for a new project, give us a nudge. We’ll happily have a look for you and contact the provider on your behalf to talk specs and acronyms with them. We’ll be impartial and honest when we let you know what we think, and our hosting services will always be offered as an option, not a requirement. We like our clients to come to us because they know we’re the best option, and stay with us because we treat them right.