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Key Accessibility Considerations When Building Your Website.

Why Website Accessibility is Important for your Business

Since January 2021, small business have been receiving notices for non-compliance of Web Accessibility. Don’t know what Web Accessibility is and why it matters to you, your business, and the wider industry? Let Rosewood tell you and help you stop getting all those citations. There are some key website accessibility aspects that you should consider.

Web accessibility has become a technical standard. It is extremely important for your business’ website as well as the general internet. Your website provides worldwide access for people to discover and learn about your business. It is often one of the first impressions someone has of your brand. It is critical to your company’s success and growth. So you want to be sure that your website can accessed and browsed by people with a range of hearing, movement, visual, and cognitive abilities. You want your website to welcome its users, not scare them off. Some simple examples to increase accessibility are ensuring that all writing is easily legible and understandable, providing subtitles and captions for videos and audio. In addition, making the website usable with just a keyboard. 

Does your website need to be accessible?

Web accessibility is the basis for an accessible internet, and it means your website can be used by more potential customers or clients. Every website should be accessible for the public. For some businesses it’s also legally required. In Ontario since January 2021, the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) requires that a public sector organization or any business with at least 50 employees must make their public websites accessible. According to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 at compliance levels A and AA.

As a result, they have begun issuing non-compliance notices to business not meeting these requirements. British Columbia is currently finalizing its own accessibility act this year which will have similar requirements. While 2.0 is the current requirement, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) has already released 2.1, 2.2 will be published this September. Version 3 is an early draft. It is a good idea to future-proof your site for these upcoming revisions. Plus it will only make your business’ website more accessible. 

Our Founder Deanna Simone, recommends finding out if your website needs to be accessibility compliant prior to starting the development process on your website.Website accessibility is extremely important for your website’s users, and improving accessibility on your website will also improve its SEO, meaning search engines like Google will prioritize your site.

How can Rosewood help?

Our web-design services will apply their expertise to make your website comply with these standards to provide users an accessible experience. Our team can help you build a new site that’s accessible, functions smoothly, and looks elegant on most of the major platforms. Including WordPress, Shopify, Squarespace, and Wix. While it’s better to design a website as accessible from the start, it’s not always easy or possible to build a replacement. That’s why Rosewood is partnered with AccessiBe. This AI-powered software continuously scans a website for any possible accessibility concerns and updates pages to be WCAG 2.1 compliant. 

Whether it’s from the ground up or a revision, our web design experts will ensure your website’s users have a smooth and welcoming experience.

The above key website accessibility considerations are important for all device types.
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Why Updating Your Website Photos Is Important

A graphic of a man sitting on a stool taking a photo of a women. These will be used to update the website photos.

You only get one chance to make a good first impression with your customers, which is why it’s so important to put the time and effort into updating your website. If you haven’t reviewed your website photos recently, we highly recommend doing as soon as possible. Keep reading to discover the top reasons to update your website photos to keep attracting new customers to your site.

Make a Great First Impression

When someone visits your website for the first time, you only have a few seconds to make a good impression. Outdated images can completely wreck your chance of converting a browser to a customer. This is why you always need to offer high-quality and up-to date-images that are reflective of your current branding and your current products. If you haven’t replaced your images for years, it may be time to make some updates!

Your Website Photos Should Evolve With Your Business

No business should stay in the same place year after year. When you still have the same images up on your site that you did two or three years ago, it’s clear to customers that you haven’t improved your offerings or your products during this time. Your website needs to show growth and evolution, so make sure you keep updating it with images of recent events and changes within your business. Brand photography and videography services can help you to show a clear tone or message through each image on your site, which is important for consistency and to continue evolving your business.

Keep Your Clients Up to Date With Current News and Events

A picture is worth a thousand words, so it’s the best way to keep your clients informed about the changes within your company. Adding new pictures each week or month shows them the recent activity within your business, and can show off your employees’ achievements and the customer service you offer. You could even feature images of happy customers, showing how dedicated you are to offering the best service or product possible to them. A quick and easy way to do this is linking your Instagram to your website so it is seen as a gallery! 

There’s nothing worse than landing on a website which doesn’t look like you’ve spent any time or effort on it recently, so make sure you take some time out in the upcoming weeks or months to update your site as needed.

These are just a few of the top reasons to keep your website photos updated. Your website is an online storefront for your company, and you need to do all you can to stay ahead of your competition. When comparing two different businesses to purchase a product or service from, you’ll find that the images on your site could be the one thing that stops someone from choosing you in the future. If you need help updating your site this year, get in touch with our team today. We have a team of photographers and videographers with a wide range of specialties.

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Everything You Need to Know About Fundraising with Catch the Ace

A graphic of a lightbulb inside of a circle. The graphic is for the blog "Everything You Need to Know About Fundraising with Catch the Ace"

Many people believe that in order to raise money for their organization, they need to invest a huge amount of money to begin with. Catch the Ace is an online charity raffle that offers a fantastic return on investment (ROI) without forcing you to spend a fortune to start your fundraising efforts. Let’s take a look at what you should know about fundraising with Catch the Ace.

What is Catch the Ace?

Catch the Ace, which may also be called Chase the Ace, is a progressive weekly raffle. Participants purchase tickets for the chance to win either that week’s jackpot or possibly the progressive jackpot. The aim is to find the Ace of Spades, which participants try to do by choosing a card from a standard deck of 52 cards. This is a type of online charitable gaming-based fundraiser which helps to raise money for your cause. Your game can run for up to 52 weeks or until the Ace of Spades is found.

Each week a random winner will be selected, and they get a percentage of your ticket sales for the week. The card they picked is also revealed at this time, and this card is removed from the deck for future weeks. The progressive jackpot will roll over so that it keeps growing each week. When the Ace of Spades is found, the winner wins the weekly prize AND the progressive jackpot prize. 

The longer the draw goes = the bigger the prize and the better the odds!

The Benefits of Using Catch the Ace for Fundraising

No Limit to the Number of Entries

There are no limits to the number of times someone can enter and donate to your charity. The pricing model is set in a way that encourages more ticket sales.. When someone purchases multiple tickets, they’ll naturally find their luck increases.

Two Chances to Win for Each Player

Each player will receive two chances to win. They could win the weekly jackpot or the progressive jackpot, which builds up week after week.

The Jackpot Increases Each Week

Each week, the progressive jackpot for the game increases until someone finds the Ace of Spades. While it’s impossible to predict an average number of weeks, some jackpots can build into the millions for some nonprofits.

The Prize Money is Fairly Split to Help Your Organization

One thing that makes Catch the Ace so unique for fundraising is how the ticket sales are split. 20% of the week’s sales will go to the weekly winner, 30% to the progressive jackpot, and 50% to the nonprofit.

The Rules And Regulations Surrounding Catch the Ace

As Catch the Ace is classified as charitable gaming, you need to be aware of the rules surrounding this game. In both the USA and Canada, the game is regulated. You will need a state or provincial license to run the game. This license lasts for up to one year, but the rules will vary throughout the country. In the US, you can find out more through the state’s Attorney General’s office, whereas in Canada, you can visit the Alcohol and Gaming Commission’s website for your province. For Ontario you can visit the AGCO’s website.

Catch the Ace is a very cost-effective way to raise money for your nonprofit. You will need to pay the licensing fee, and you may want to run ads for your raffle on social media and websites. While there might also be some software and payment processing costs, these are minimal when you compare them to other fundraising efforts you may have used in the past.

If you are interested  Catch the Ace to raise funds for your nonprofit, schedule a call with the Rosewood team today for more information. Rosewood is a Licensed Gaming-Related Supplier with the AGCO. 

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