June 2018 Newsletter

There are some important changes going on in the world of websites at the moment. Here is a brief update.

 

GDPR – Do you have customers in the EU?

If so, this is important.

General Data Protection Regulation, the EU data protection directive, came into effect on May 25, 2018. The GDPR was created to strengthen the rights of EU citizens regarding the collection and use of their personal data. The GDPR applies to:

  • Any business or organization that offers goods or services, paid or free, to data subjects in the EU.
  • Any monitoring of the behaviour of data subjects in the EU.

If this applies to you, you will need to do the following to help ensure that your website is GDPR-compliant:

  • Make sure your privacy policy makes your collection and use of data transparent.
  • Obtain clear consent to use cookies.
  • Ensure your plugins comply with GDPR.
  • Limit the data you collect and store via form submissions.
  • Make sure mailing lists are Opt-In.

Please let us know if you have questions or need help with this. We can offer a one-off rate of $125 per website. Please note, however, that you will still need a lawyer to confirm whether your website is fully compliant for your business specifics.

 

April/May Focus On: Page-Load Times

Fast page-load times are critical to a websites success. If a website takes too long to load, visitors may change their mind and move onto a new website. Like search engine optimisation, pagespeed is something that needs regular work. The last few months we’ve been going through our managed WordPress websites making changes where possible to improve load times.

What can you do? The main thing to do is to make sure images are only as big as they need to be. They need to be optimised to reduce file size without compromising quality. Less than 50kb is good for a standard image, or less than 200kB for a full screen-width image for desktop. There are various software options that can do this (paint.net is free). Please ask if you have any questions.

 

Latest Website by Weka Web

The Lake Hawea Community Centre asked for a fresh and fun website to best promote the Community Centre for weddings and functions. With over 50% of global web pages served to mobile devices since 2017 (Statista), this website really focuses on mobile devices. It looks very different on desktops (with left-hand menu-bar) to mobile devices (where burger icon is utilised). The website is built on one-page (except for the Gallery), which makes it particularly friendly for mobile devices as it can easily be viewed by scrolling. View Website.

 

Tip of the Month

Don’t take advice you see on the internet without fact-checking it first. Websites will commonly give misleading advice as click bait to get page views.

 

Know a business or organisation who would benefit from a website upgrade?

Put them in touch with us. If we go ahead with a full website design and build, we will send you both a complimentary bottle of Maori Point Pinot Noir or Pinot Gris. (Offer expires 30 November 2018).