Tag Archive for: websites for small business

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Does Your Website Have Traffic From European Countries?

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.

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Make your Website Faster: The Importance of Website Speed & Performance

Graphic of "How to make your website faster"

Website speed is the number one determining factor for if a visitor will actually see your website. You already did the hard work of directing them to it. Don’t lose out on potential business by having a website that takes over 2 seconds to load.

Here are our recommendations for testing your website’s speed and then improving it.

Checking your website speed 

Web Page Test is a great free tool that you can use right now to check the speed of your site. 

Google Page Speed Insights is also an industry favourite. Just enter your website’s URL and it will calculate the speed for you. 

Are images slowing your website’s speed? 

Oversize images can drastically slow down the speed of your site. A good rule of thumb is that graphic files should be PNGs while image files should be JPEGs. If your images and graphic files aren’t right, then you can always upload them into Canva, and re-download them as the correct file. 

Another great way to change the type of file is by using a file converter, you can find a bunch of these on Google. Rosewood uses Converter & Bulk Resizer

Clearing your Website’s Cache

A cache is a storage location that collects temporary data to help websites, apps and browsers load faster. So when someone is returning to your website, it will load faster, since the cache automatically stored a bunch of useful information about your site on their first visit. Clearing your cache will help to increase your website speed. A great tool to use is SEO Site Checkup, it is free and will check your site’s cache for you.

Outdated Software, Plugins & Apps

Outdated software such as the core wordpress environment, or supporting plugins could also be another reason why your website has slowed down. If you don’t have the time to make these updates yourself, let Rosewood do it for you! Contact us to find out about our Maintenance plans. 

Website speed is a critical determining factor for who actually sees your website content. People won’t wait around for ever. Make sure your website loads quickly, fully and securely for potential visitors.  Your potential clients, and Google, will appreciate it! 

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COVID-19 Government Support for Small Business in Ontario

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 Instagram, Facebook 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!

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Until next time,

Deanna Simone

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