Tag Archive for: Website design Newmarket

Graphic of a man and a women touching different parts of the website on a screen. There is another man off the sign holding an EU flag and a megaphone to their mouth

As a website owner, it’s critical that you ensure you are in compliance with worldwide laws regarding website cookies. If your business website has traffic from European countries, take the time to consider whether you are meeting the EU minimum website cookies compliance standards. If not then it’s time to make the necessary updates to your site.

Who Needs to Comply with the European Cookie Law?

The EU cookie law applies to any website which attracts visitors from the EU. Even if your business is located in the US, Canada, or elsewhere in the world, you need to make sure you are meeting the minimum standards when you have EU visitors. In order to remain in compliance, your website should not load or save any cookies until the site visitors confirm their decision via your cookie consent form. This form needs to offer the option to decline cookies entirely, or you will be breaking this law.

When designing your cookie consent form, another part of the regulations in the EU is the colours and sizing of the buttons. You must not force or influence the actions of the visitors, so the accepting and declining buttons must be the same colour and size. Another regulation to keep in mind is that in Austria, the use of Google Analytics to track website usage became illegal in January 2022. At the moment, this only impacts Austria, but there’s a chance we may see other countries follow this trend in the future.

Different Types of Cookies

To remain in compliance with EU law, it’s critical that you are aware of what cookies are in terms of your website. Cookies are text files that contain smaller pieces of data to identify your computer within a network. The data that’s stored within the cookies will be created by your server when you connect, and it’s labelled with a unique ID for your computer. The server can then read your ID and know how to serve you best.

HTTP cookies are created by a web server when someone browses your website. They will then be placed on the device or computer by the user’s web browser, allowing web servers to store information on your device. They can be used to track a user’s activity or save information that they’ve previously entered online.

Another type of cookie that you may use on your website is an authentication cookie. These are used by web servers to check that a user is logged in and the account that they are using. This stops users from having to authenticate themselves on every single page that has sensitive information, offering a better user experience while keeping your site secure. Finally, tracking cookies are used to create long-term records of a user’s browsing history. These are non-essential cookies, and so you will need to ensure you are receiving informed consent from your website visitors for storing these on their devices.

As you can see, it’s critical for website owners to keep in compliance with EU laws when they are attracting visitors from European countries. To help you keep up to date with GDPR cookie compliance, we highly recommend using this WordPress plugin on your site.

Contact us today if you would like us to look into whether your website is complying with the EU laws.

covid-19

Throughout the COVID-19 Pandemic, I have been thoroughly impressed with our government’s responsiveness. Not only are they developing these programs quickly, but they are rolling them out in a very organized fashion.

Because we work with so many entrepreneurs and small businesses, we wanted to put together this COVID-19 Cheat Sheet of Programs available to Small Businesses. We will continue to update this article as more information is released by the applicable governing bodies.

Main COVID-19 Programs Currently Available to Small Businesses in Ontario:

Canada Emergency Business Account (CEBA)

What is it: Interest-free loans of up to $40,000.

To Qualify: Have paid between $20,000 – $1.5 million in total payroll for 2019.

To Apply: Via your online banking with bank/credit union.

Note: Interest-free if paid back by December 31st, 2022.

Quite a few of our clients have applied and been approved for this program. It’s a great relief to have peace of mind and use this when absolutely necessary to keep things moving smoothly and stay afloat. The application process is simple. Log into your normal online banking and there will be an intake form to complete. Once approved the money will deposited into our account within 5 business days.

We recommend keeping a detailed excel document of any uses of this loan, and then creating a payment plan based on when things get back to normal. Ensure you pay back and loan amount by December 31st, 2022 to avoid any interest payments. If you do that you may also be eligible for up to $10,000 in loan forgiveness.

Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS)

This is an incredible effort to keep as many people employed as possible during COVID-19. The responsibility is still on the employer to provide a safety compliant workspace for the employees.

What is it: Subsidy covers 75% of an employee’s wage up to $847/week.

To Qualify: Your business must have suffered a drop in gross revenues of at least 15% for March and 30% in April & May.

To Apply: Apply via your CRA Business account on April 27th.

Note: Be ready to apply; calculate how much you’re eligible for via the CRA website: https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/subsidy/emergency-wage-subsidy/cews-calculate-subsidy-amount.html

We have a few clients who are eligible for this wage subsidy program, Rosewood included. It’s a good idea to use the calculator now so you are prepared for a quick and easy process on April 27th.  You will need to have copies of your payroll statements or your T4’s for individual employees.  It also takes into consideration whether you are an “arms-length” employee or not, meaning if you are related to the business owner.

Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance (CECRA)

Small business owners with brick and mortars have been begging for this program. We have signed petition after petition to have this program made available. Without this, it would be the demise of main street businesses across Canada.

What is it: The Canadian government is partnering with provinces to provide a subsidy program for commercial building owners. The business owner pays 25%, the building owner pays 25% and the federal and provincial governments split the remaining 50%. This in effect will lower rent by 75% to commercial small business tenants. It also includes a moratorium on eviction during COVID-19.

To Qualify: The building owners must give their renters a 75% reduction in rent for May and June.

To Apply: The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation will administer and deliver the CECRA via a rent forgiveness program. Forgivable loans will be dispersed by the mortgage lender. Application details are coming soon and we will update here.

Note: We will update this post once more details are made available. More information is available here: https://pm.gc.ca/en/news/news-releases/2020/04/24/prime-minister-announces-partnerships-provinces-and-territories

We’re trying our best to stay up to date with details on these programs available to entrepreneurs and small businesses in Ontario during COVID-19. We will continue to update this article as new details are released regarding these three programs.

Let’s Connect

Rosewood is a full-service digital marketing agency outside Toronto dedicated to helping entrepreneurs and small businesses grow their online presence. We work with clients across North America and Europe to identify, strategize and reach their marketing goals!

You can join the conversation online on InstagramFacebook and LinkedIn. Or contact us to chat about your marketing goals for 2020 or to discuss how Rosewood can assist you in building your website!

Sign up for our Newsletter to keep up with our latest news!

Until next time,

Deanna Simone

course

Online courses have become huge over the last couple of years. With people’s busy schedules, online courses make it easy to learn from the comfort of your own home at your own pace. Whether your course is meant for your staff members, students in school, or just sharing your knowledge with individuals eager to learn, it is important to look for which platform best suits your needs for what you are offering.

Three of the most popular course creation platforms include Thinkific, Udemy, and Teachable. In this blog, we will be comparing the three different platforms and making our recommendations.

Plan Pricing & Features

Thinkific Pricing & Features

Plans

What Does the Plan Offer?

Who is This Plan Recommended For?

Offers a FREE plan with basic features

  • 3 Courses
  • Unlimited students
  • Quizzes & surveys
  • Content hosting
  • Instant access to your funds

Individuals looking to test the course platform

Essentials Plan: $49/month

  • Unlimited courses & students
  • Coupons
  • Email students
  • Affiliate reporting
  • Custom domain
  • Email integrations
  • & More!

Starters with minimal course creation experience

Business Plan: $99/month

  • Unlimited courses & students
  • 2 Site admin accounts
  • 5 Course admins/authors
  • Private & hidden courses
  • Memberships and bundles
  • Certificates
  • Assignments
  • & More!

For course designers that are building a successful online course

Advanced Plan: $279/month

For advanced businesses ready to build an education realm

 

To learn more about Thinkific’s plans and features click here.

Udemy Pricing & Features

Plans

What Does the Plan Offer?

Who is This Plan Recommended For?

FREE Plan

  • Unlimited Courses
  • Video Lectures
  • Audio Lectures
  • Quizzes/Exams
  • Text Lectures
  • Certificate of Completion
  • Q&A
  • Coupon Codes
  • & More!
For course designers that are building a successful online course

Team Plan: $240/month

  • Branded Dashboard and Custom URL
  • Video Lectures
  • Audio Lectures
  • Quizzes/Exams
  • Text Lectures
  • Certificate of Completion
  • Q&A
  • Coupon Codes
  • Unlimited Courses
  • & More!

 

Small teams of 5-20 users that will be contributing to course

Enterprise Plan: Must Contact Udemy for Pricing
  • Branded Dashboard and Custom URL
  • Create and Host Custom Content
  • Create and Share Learning Paths
  • Custom Categories
  • Video Lectures
  • Audio Lectures
  • Quizzes/Exams
  • Text Lectures
  • Certificate of Completion
  • Q&A
  • Coupon Codes
  • Unlimited Courses
  • & More!

Bigger teams of 21 or more users

To learn more about Udemy’s plans and features click here.

Teachable Pricing & Features

Plans

What Does the Plan Offer?

Who is This Plan Recommended For?

Offers a FREE plan with basic features

  • Unlimited Video
  • Unlimited Courses
  • Unlimited Hosting
Individuals looking to try out the course creator

Basic Plan: $29/month

  • Unlimited Video
  • Unlimited Courses
  • 5% Transaction fees
  • Instant Payouts
  • Unlimited Hosting
  • Unlimited Students
  • Course Creation Training
  • Coupon Codes
  • Integrated Affiliate Marketing and Email Marketing
  • & More!

Starters with minimal course creation experience

Professional Plan: $79/month

  • Everything in Basic PLUS:
  • No Transaction Fees
  • 5 Admin Users
  • Product Support
  • Graded Quizzes
  • Course Completion Certificates
  • & More!

Small teams of 5 that will be contributing to the course

Business Plan: $399
  • Everything in Professional Plan PLUS:
  • 100 Admin Users
  • Manual Student Imports
  • Bulk Student Enrollments
  • Custom User Roles

Large teams of up to 100 that will be contributing to the course

To learn more about Teachable’s plans and features click here.

Which Course Platform is Best?

In our opinion, after investigating the three platforms, we have decided that Udemy is best. We think Udemy is best for several reasons. For us, we have a small team and therefore don’t require the more expensive plans that allow for a lot of team users to build to content for the course. The free courses for Teachable and Thinkific do not appear to have as many features as the free version of Udemy. After reading many reviews online for all three of the platforms, we found that majority of people who used Udemy said that they built up a large following due to the built-in promotion engine that Udemy offers. If you’re a starter, Udemy is definitely the best option.

In Conclusion

While Udemy would work best for smaller businesses, it definitely is not the realistic option for larger companies and corporations that have many contributing team members. It is important to do your own research on different platforms to determine which would work best for you and what you are looking to achieve.

Rosewood is a digital marketing agency outside Toronto dedicated to helping entrepreneurs and small businesses grow their online presence. We work with clients across North America and Europe to identify, strategize and reach their marketing goals!

You can join the conversation online on InstagramFacebook and LinkedIn. Or contact us to chat about your marketing goals for 2020!

Sign up for our Newsletter to be notified when we launch our online course!

Until next time,

Cassandra