Rotherham Internet and Business

How The Internet is helping Business

Rotherham Directory· Index· News· Internet and Business· Features · Business Links

Do it Online

Your website is an investment. Can you afford not to be 'online' ?
47% of organizations sampled in the U.K., France, and Germany have adopted Internet business solutions, compared with 61% in the U.S.
Organizations adopting Internet business solutions are realizing significant financial returns from their efforts
The advent of broadband has changed the way people use their computers, the Internet is quicker, more flexible and, in many cases, more reliable than many existing channels such as retail outlets, direct mail and agencies
Whether people are looking for their local plumber or solicitor, ordering their weekly groceries, they are increasingly doing it online. Having even a basic web presence can mean the difference between attracting a new customer and losing them to an online competitor.

Source:http://www.netimpactstudy.com/index.html

Your Website and You

If you are in business, a web presence is almost as important as your advertising in the local press and mailshots.

Some facts for you to consider

Despite 'pub talk' your website doesn't have to cost an arm and a leg !
Ask your chosen Web Designer about Web Standards
Ask about the Disability Discrimination Act
Ask about SEO, Search Engine Optimisation.
Be aware of Cowboys, our recent research into the quality and standard of many local websites has dismayed us
In deciding what you want from your site, have a look at your competitors site
If you have to work within a budget, tell your chosen designer

Search Engine Optimisation

Many designers will mention getting your site listed - Search Engine Submission
Just because you have a website, it doesn't mean people will find it. This is where SEO - Search Engine Optimisation is important
A good designer should know
- How Search Engines Rank Web Pages
- About placement methodologies
- How To Use Title and meta tags
- About Link Popularity
- About robots.txt
- About alt txt
- Each time a site is updated, it wants re-submitting.
- Search engines can't search javascript, tables or image files

Disability Discrimination Act

You have probably heard of the Disability Discrimination Act which came into force in October, 2004. You probably do not realise that it does apply to websites.

The Disability Rights Commission made it clear last year that ... It is unlawful for a provider of services to discriminate against a disabled person including ... access to and use of information services ...

Here is not the place to go into detail. This feature might explain more. Below are a few things to note.

There have been prosecutions in The US
You can be sued here in the UK. The RNIB has approached two large companies with regard to their websites. When they raised the accessibility issues of the websites under the DDA, both companies made the necessary changes, rather than facing the prospect of legal action
Your site should comply with W3C specifications
This off site link explains how disabled readers access the Internet

Web Standards and Accessibility

As far as possible, our website conforms to the standards below:

CSS Level 2

This website complies with W3C specifications for Cascading Style Sheets, Level 2 (CSS2), as tested by the validator

XHTML Version 1.0

Display of this icon means that the XHTML mark-up on the page complies with the W3C's standards for XHTML version 1.0, and has been tested on their validator .

This site has been designed to comply with the W3C recommendations for accessibility and has been reviewed according to their checklist.

While this site is viewable in any browser, it is best viewed in browsers that comply with current web standards supporting XHTML 1.0, CSS 1 and 2.

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