top digital industry news – February 2019

home / Archives for February 2019

We share the digital industry’s best news stories, insights and tips from February 2019…

Pedalo & client news

We’ve launched this lovely new website for the British Endodontic Society
We’re offering a Valentine’s present for our followers – refer a client and we’ll give you £100 in Amazon vouchers
Our clients ELGA’s ultrapure water is being used in innovative 3D printing technologies to help heal wounds

web design & maintenance

Here are some of the best A/B testing tools for 2019
Marketoonist suggests we should be worried about the state of user experience design
How to optimise mobile landing pages for lead generation
Have you thought about the ethics of web performance?

SEO

A really useful SEO maintenance checklist
Tips to optimise your keywords for SEO
The best SEO plugins for WordPress
Which SEO KPIs should you be tracking?

marketing & social media

Why social media is important for your brand
How to avoid your marketing emails looking like spam
Ways to bring content to life with videos
How social networks are becoming less and less social

tech & digital

A really useful overview of digital globally in 2019
Face-scanning AI can now help doctors spot genetic disorders
Top digital content trends for the coming year

We do digital differently – offering expert, on-demand services where you only pay for what you need, when you need it. We rely on the quality of our work and customer care to keep clients coming back, with most clients partnering with us for years and undertaking multiple projects.

For tailored digital support, please get in touch and we’ll be happy to help! Also, don’t forget to follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn for regular news and updates.

do I need a website audit?

home / Archives for February 2019

Have you ever looked at your website and wondered whether it’s working for your organisation? Does it lead users where you want them to go? Is it engaging enough? Does it convey your message effectively?

A website audit looks at all of these things and considers whether there’s room for improvement. It explores not only whether your site is meeting the needs of your users, but also whether it serves your organisation’s goals and objectives…

why conduct a website audit?

1) An expert ‘health check’: A website audit gives an expert overview of the technical, UX, functionality and design aspects of your site, including KPIs such as code quality, usability, server configuration, speed, user experience, structure and content.

2) Pinpointing opportunities for improvement: A website audit highlights any problem areas and suggests where improvements can be made. These could be things such as increasing page speed, improving mobile or browser compatibility, changing the navigation menu or layout, fixing bugs, upgrading security or improving accessibility.

3) Rapid, actionable feedback: A site audit is a relatively quick and inexpensive tool to get vital information that can be used to improve site performance and benefit your bottom line.

4) Minimal disruption caused: A website audit can be done using a copy of your site so it doesn’t disrupt your usual work, and users can still visit and engage with your site as normal.

5) Aiding website development: If you’re in the process of building or restructuring your website, identifying potential issues early on in the project is a key way to ensure the best possible user experience and end result.

what’s next?

Following a website audit, you get a comprehensive report outlining a list of identified problems, their severity and how important it is that they’re fixed. We focus on highlighting the changes that will bring greatest results to your organisation and conversions. We also identify other areas for potential improvement, including ‘easy wins’ and longer-term strategic changes.

When you put the recommendations into practice – often with only a few small tweaks in the right places – your site metrics can improve immensely, leaving you well on the way to achieving your full digital potential!

With our technical knowledge and two decades of experience, our expert website audits are tailored to your needs and guaranteed to improve your digital results – get in touch to book an audit now.

pedalo launches new website for the Kusuma Trust

home / Archives for February 2019

We’ve designed this lovely new website for the Kusuma Trust, a family-led trust making philanthropic investments in the community.

The Kusuma Trust gives grants to causes, organisations and people that are making a positive difference in society. It chooses partners based on shared values and mutual interests – creating access to opportunities, improving health and well-being, and investing in communities and the environment.

The trust has invested more than £24million since 2010, working with diverse projects from the Akshaya Patra Foundation, which provides midday meals to 65,000 children in India, to the Zoological Society of London, which is creating an exciting new habitat for colobus monkeys in London Zoo.

We were delighted to work with the organisation, and particularly to share its many life-changing projects from around the world. The new site has a clean, clear and user-friendly design, and enables people to search through all of the trust’s projects with options to filter by theme, location and/or date.

Check out the new Kusuma Trust website at www.kusumatrust.org.

pedalo client referral scheme

home / Archives for February 2019

We’re delighted to launch our exciting new client referral scheme…

A lot of our work comes through word-of-mouth, and we think personal recommendations are the best possible advert for our services, so please get recommending and you’ll reap the rewards! We’re offering a commission of £100 for every client you refer/recommend who ends up working with us.

You can refer as many organisations/clients to us and as long as they sign up for 10 or more on-demand hours of digital support with us, you’ll get £100 for each one. The £100 is offered as either a donation to a charity of your choice or Amazon gift voucher.

Example: you recommend five organisations and three of them start working with us – you’ll get a £300 charity donation or Amazon voucher.

Once you’ve recommended our services to another organisation or potential client, contact us here or send an email to [email protected] to tell us who they are, and we’ll be in touch again with your £100 reward as soon as they sign up to work with us!

GDPR: is your website GDPR compliant?

home / Archives for February 2019

The new GDPR legislation came into effect in May 2018. It’s designed to ensure that only relevant data is collected, that data is processed fairly and securely, and that data is not kept longer than necessary. GDPR laws cover everyone about whom you keep personal data, including clients, members, customers, donors and staff.

Much of the GDPR is the same as the UK’s previous Data Protection Act, however there were some new elements and enhancements so we’re providing this guide to help you make sure your website is GDPR compliant…

what is the GDPR and why is it important?

GDPR stands for General Data Protection Regulation, a European Union-wide law concerning the way data is collected, used and stored. It is applicable to anyone who collects or processes personal data. Breaches of the law not only incur fines of up to €20m but could also seriously damage your company’s reputation.

how can you make your website GDPR compliant?

Update your privacy notice: Ensure there’s an up-to-date privacy notice on your website that tells people when their data is collected, for what purpose it is collected, who data will be shared with, and how long it will be kept for. You also need to mention that people can contact the Information Commissioners Office if there’s a problem or they have a complaint. Your privacy notice should be concise, transparent and easy to understand.
Check cookie policies: Under the GDPR, cookies are considered to be personal data. Therefore, if collecting cookies on your website, you need to inform all site visitors, explain how their data is used, and gain and record their consent.
Be clear on contact forms: Make sure you have a tick box for users to agree to their data being processed, which either includes or links to your privacy notice. The tick box must be unticked by default. You need separate tick boxes if you want users to consent to you sending further marketing communications.
Enable individual updates and opt-outs: Make sure you have procedures in place to keep data accurate and remove any information when no longer needed. Users need to be able to change their information, withdraw consent, or see their data at any time.
Maximise security: Encrypt your site by upgrading to HTTPS to ensure data is transported securely. You should also check you have adequate virus protection and other security systems in place to keep data safe.
Check other systems, platforms and apps: Whether you use email marketing software, databases, Google tools, or have a mobile app, you need to ensure GDPR compliance with these too, as they are also processing your data.

where can you find more information?

For more information about data protection, visit the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) website. Some other useful resources are the ICO’s 12 steps to prepare for the GDPR, the NCVO’s preparation guide for charities and not-for-profits and the main EU GDPR website.

If you’d like any further assistance with website security and data protection, please check out our on-demand website maintenance services or get in touch and we’ll be happy to help!