Let’s welcome May with some new wallpapers! For over twelve years, we’ve challenged you, our dear readers, to create wallpaper calendars for our monthly wallpapers posts. No matter if you’re into lettering, illustration, or photography, the series is the perfect opportunity to create a small artwork and share it with people from all around the world — to brighten up someone’s day, cater for some fresh inspiration, or to put your creative skills to the test. Of course, it wasn’t any different this time around.
In this collection, you’ll find desktop and mobile wallpapers for May 2023, created with love by artists and designers who took on the challenge. They all come in versions with and without a calendar and can be downloaded for free. As a little bonus goodie, we also compiled a selection of timeless May favorites from our archives at the end of this post. Thank you to everyone who tickled their ideas and shared their designs with us this month! Happy May!
You can click on every image to see a larger preview,
We respect and carefully consider the ideas and motivation behind each and every artist’s work. This is why we give all artists the full freedom to explore their creativity and express emotions and experience through their works. This is also why the themes of the wallpapers weren’t anyhow influenced by us but rather designed from scratch by the artists themselves.
Submit a wallpaper! Did you know that you could get featured in our next wallpapers post, too? We are always looking for creative talent.
The Mushroom Band
“My daughter asked me to draw a band of mushrooms. Here it is!” — Designed by Vlad Gerasimov from Georgia.
“Calling all space cadets, it’s time to celebrate National Astronaut Day! Today we honor the fearless explorers who venture beyond our planet and boldly go where no one has gone before.” — Designed by PopArt Studio from Serbia.
“May should be as bright and colorful as this calendar! That’s why our designers chose these juicy colors. We also have other options in our selection of May calendars.” — Designed by MasterBundles from Ukraine.
“Summer chill is a relaxed and carefree vibe that is often associated with the summer season. It is a time when people slow down and enjoy the warm weather. The atmosphere is laid-back and easy-going, with a focus on having fun and creating happy memories.” — Designed by Kasturi Palmal from India.
“The month of May is a moving moment. I’m only writing this to set attention to the letter ‘M’! The ‘M’ inspired me, and my idea for the wallpaper was to make mountains, smooth mountains, of course.” — Designed by Philippe Brouard from France.
“The wallpaper is a reflection on Francisco Goya’s The Third of May, 1808, a painting with a powerful anti-war statement.” — Designed by Bhabna Basak from India.
“Children should have the opportunity to learn, play, and grow in a safe environment and not be forced to work at a young age. As individuals, we can also make a difference by supporting companies that have strict policies against child labor and by raising awareness about this issue in our communities. By working together, we can help to create a world where every child has the opportunity to reach their full potential, free from the burden of labor. So I designed this wallpaper to raise my voice about this issue. Hope you like it!” — Designed by Hrishikesh Shome from India.
From bold to delicate, from minimalist to funny, below you’ll find some May favorites from our archives that are just too good to be forgotten. Which one is yours? (Please note that these wallpapers don’t come with a calendar.)
Hello May
“The longing for warmth, flowers in bloom, and new beginnings is finally over as we welcome the month of May. From celebrating nature on the days of turtles and birds to marking the days of our favorite wine and macarons, the historical celebrations of the International Workers’ Day, Cinco de Mayo, and Victory Day, to the unforgettable ‘May the Fourth be with you’. May is a time of celebration — so make every May day count!” — Designed by PopArt Studio from Serbia.
“In spring, especially in May, we all want bright colors and lightness, which was not there in winter. Our designers decided to convey these feelings in the May calendar.” — Designed by MasterBundles from Ukraine.
“April and May are usually when everything starts to bloom, especially the magnolia trees. I live in an area where there are many and when the wind blows, the petals make it look like snow is falling.” — Designed by Sarah Masucci from the United States.
“We don’t usually count the breaths we take, but observing nature in May, we can’t count our breaths being taken away.” — Designed by Ana Masnikosa from Belgrade, Serbia.
“Edwin Way Teale once said that ‘[t]he world’s favorite season is the spring. All things seem possible in May.’ Now that the entire nature is clothed with grass and branches full of blossoms that will grow into fruit, we cannot help going out and enjoying every scent, every sound, every joyful movement of nature’s creatures. Make this May the best so far!” — Designed by PopArt Studio from Serbia.
“Winter is nearly here in my part of the world and I think rainy days should be spent at home with a good book!” — Designed by Tazi Design from Australia.
“Inspired by a little-known ‘holiday’ on May 4th known as ‘Bird Day’. It is the first holiday in the United States celebrating birds. Hurray for birds!” — Designed by Clarity Creative Group from Orlando, FL.
“May is National Bike Month! So, instead of hopping in your car, grab your bike and go. Our whole family loves that we live in our bike-friendly community. So, bike to work, to school, to the store, or to the park — sometimes it is faster. Not only is it good for the environment, but it is great exercise!” — Designed by Karen Frolo from the United States.
“This month is dedicated to flowers, to join us and brighten our days giving a little more color to our daily life.” — Designed by Verónica Valenzuela from Spain.
“‘As knowledge increases, wonder deepens.’ (Charles Morgan) So I tried to create an illustration based on this.” — Designed by Bisakha Datta from India.
“May is the last month of spring, the weather is getting hotter every day and it starts to feel almost like summer. So, the best thing to cool ourselves and bring summer closer is to… welcome May with an ice cream!” — Designed by WebOlution from Greece.
“The ‘lily of the valley’ came earlier this year. In France, we celebrate the month of May with this plant.” — Designed by Philippe Brouard from France.
“Springtime, especially Maytime, is my favorite time of the year. And I like popsicles — so it’s obvious isn’t it?” — Designed by Steffen Weiß from Germany.
“Lixia is the 7th solar term according to the traditional East Asian calendars, which divide a year into 24 solar terms. It signifies the beginning of summer in East Asian cultures. Usually begins around May 5 and ends around May 21.” — Designed by Hong, Zi-Cing from Taiwan.
Shipfusion is an ecommerce fulfillment solution that provides businesses across the United States and Canada with powerful fulfillment, inventory management, and customer support to assist in building a seamless ecommerce operation.
With additional products in returns, freight, and warehouse projects, you can focus on growing your business with an all-in-one solution.
Shipfusion offers comprehensive features for ecommerce fulfillment that scale to the size of your business. Whether you need shipping for 10 products or 100 products per month, Shipfusion can help you process orders, manage customer returns, and track inventory without the hassle of outsourcing various fulfillment platforms.
Along with Shipfusion’s ecommerce fulfillment platform, its other products and services include inventory management, fulfillment center locations, a returns program, a freight management system, warehouse projects, and a reporting portal.
Shipfusion Health and Stability
Shipfusion was founded in 2014 as a privately traded company with headquarters in Chicago, Illinois. Shipfusion has four investors, including Kanye Anderson Capital Advisors, Vitality Capital, Seek Captial Management, and MER Partners, collectively raising $40 million across four funding rounds.
As of 2023, Shipfusion has hired more than 250 employees across the United States. With a 4.9-star rating on Glassdoor, most of Shipfusion’s current and former employees seem to support the CEO and like the work culture.
Shipfusion Pricing
Unfortunately, Shipfusion doesn’t disclose pricing for any of its products on its website. This is because its ecommerce solution is highly customizable, and Shipfusion wants to work with the user to create a package that works well with their exact needs.
Shipfusion Pricing Structure
As Shipfusion doesn’t disclose pricing on its website, there isn’t much to discuss in terms of pricing structure. However, after extensive research, we found a few users claim that Shipfusion uses a monthly pricing structure.
But because Shipfusion works with you to create custom pricing, there’s a high chance that you can choose a structure that best suits your budget and business.
Shipfusion Pricing Comparison
One of Shipfusion’s main—and most popular—products is its ecommerce platform, so I will compare the pricing for this same product between two competitors. Similarly to Shipfusion, many ecommerce platforms don’t disclose pricing on their website, but let’s take a look at two companies that do.
ShipMonk bases its pricing on how many monthly orders you expect to pack and ship. For example, if you have between zero and 500 monthly orders, you will pay a $3.00 pick fee per order, a $0.75 fee for additional items per order, a $0.20 fee for promotional inserts, and $2.00 for return processing. ShipMonk also offers monthly storage fees that range from $1.00 per month to $25 per month for a pallet.
Easyship offers a different pricing structure, with tiers that range from free to $29, $69, and $99 per month. Easyship’s free plan comes with 50 shipments per month and unlimited ecommerce integrations.
Shipfusion Trials and Guarantees
Shipfusion doesn’t currently offer any free trials or guarantees. However, you can request a custom quote and view a demo for free.
Shipfusion Ecommerce Fulfillment Service Review
Shipfusion stands out for its robust inventory software with incredible fulfillment features. Shipfusion’s ecommerce fulfillment service is flexible, with comprehensive customer support and smart storage.
You will benefit from Shipfusion’s ecommerce fulfillment platform if you are looking for a flexible platform that will grow with your business. If you want to explore other excellent alternatives, check out our reviews of the best ecommerce fulfillment services.
What Makes Shipfusion Ecommerce Fulfillment Service Great
Shipfusion’s ecommerce portal is easy to navigate, with graphs, drop-down menus, and item lists.
Robust inventory software: Shipfusion can help you manage your entire inventory with its robust inventory software. This software automatically updates your inventory data across multiple sales channels in real-time, which allows you to sell products on various platforms simultaneously while ensuring your data stays consistent. Shipfusion’s robust inventory software also allows you to transparently view all stock levels, including SKU continuity reports, back order notifications, and count/adjustment entries.
Smart storage: If you’re looking to reduce storage costs and optimize how you store your products, Shipfusion offers storage solutions that target both areas. Shipfusion strategically designs its warehouses and inventory systems to assign your products to designated areas. And fewer shipment errors will likely result in fewer returns. Shipfusion also offers customized storage solutions, including temperature-controlled spaces and food-grade storage options.
Flexible shipping: Shipfusion works closely with its selected merchants to ensure you get the best rates possible. Shipfusion currently offers ground shipping, which is flexible and affordable for everyone involved. As a third-party logistics (3PL) fulfillment provider, Shipfusion handles the entire shipping process—from warehousing to distribution—and can help you deliver your products in as little as two days.
Comprehensive customer service: Slow customer support is a worry of the past with Shipfusion’s comprehensive customer service options. Instead of only having the options of phone or email customer support, Shipfusion allows you to choose from support tickets, live chat, email, phone, help video demos, and a blog. Plus, every Shipfusion user gets a dedicated account manager for additional support.
Powerful inventory fulfillment features: Aside from Shipfusion’s inventory management options, you’ll also benefit from its powerful inventory fulfillment features that help streamline your fulfillment and shipping process. For picking orders, you can choose from piece picking, which allows you to hand-pick orders, batch picking for bulk orders, or zone picking, where employees are assigned to one area of the warehouse at a time. You also have the option to integrate Shipfusion into your preferred sales channel for seamless order processing.
Where Shipfusion Ecommerce Fulfillment Service Falls Short
Shipfusion offers a seamless fulfillment service with shipment, order, and customer details in one centralized place.
Tracking issues: After reviewing dozens of reviews, I found a small percentage of reviewers who experienced tracking issues while using Shipfusion. They claimed that Shipfusion failed to accurately track their inventory, which led to overselling inventory they didn’t have.
Non-transparent pricing: Most ecommerce fulfillment services don’t disclose pricing on their website, so it’s not an uncommon practice. However, it does make it increasingly difficult for businesses to understand what their budget should look like for Shipfusion’s service. Instead, Shipfusion works with each customer to create a customized pricing plan that will suit your needs.
Sometimes slow shipping speeds: Despite Shipfusion claiming that its ground shipping can deliver products in as little as two days, this doesn’t seem to be the case for a few users. Some reviewers claimed that Shipfusion took up to a week to deliver their products, which caused them to lose money and time.
Shipfusion Ecommerce Fulfillment Service Compared
While Shipfusion is a powerful ecommerce fulfillment service with smart storage and extensive inventory management, the best company on the market today is ShipBob, with reliable two-day shipping and omnichannel support.
Shipfusion is an excellent ecommerce fulfillment service that caters to businesses looking to streamline their fulfillment and shipping processes. With robust inventory software, smart storage, and comprehensive customer service, Shipfusion can help you create a reliable ecommerce operation.
Even though Shipfusion has been in the industry for nine years, the company continues to prove its reliability through generous funding rounds and a 4.9-star rating on Glassdoor.
Rakuten Super Logistics (RSL) was acquired by ShipNetwork in 2022 and now operates under the brand name ShipNetwork. But while the owner has changed, ShipNetwork continues to be an ecommerce fulfillment service you can trust. Admittedly, it’s still too new to vet its current formation. However, the integrations with key partners like Shopify, Amazon, and ShipStation and fast fulfillment promises are a solid first start.
Before the acquisition, ShipNetwork had seven strategically located warehouses across the US and an international network of shoppers. Post-acquisition, ShipNetwork continues to build on its existing resources, partnering with its sister company, FirstMile, to provide users with a full suite of logistics parcel technologies and solutions.
ShipNetwork Compared
ShipNetwork hasn’t made it on my list of the best ecommerce fulfillment services, primarily because of its high minimum order clause and the tremendous goodwill of its competitors. Instead, I chose ShipBob as my top pick, with its 99.95% fulfillment accuracy rate and two-day shipping. Request a quote to get started.
ShipNetwork is a leading ecommerce order fulfillment company that offers scalable, flexible, and cost-effective distribution solutions to your fulfillment problems. It aims to provide online retailers and consumers with fast, accurate, and efficient distribution for truly borderless ecommerce.
With over 250 employees across the country and 20 years of experience in logistics, ShipNetwork is one company you know you can rely on to deliver a positive shipping experience for your customers and uphold your ecommerce store’s reputation.
Aside from order fulfillment, ShipNetwork offers other 3PL services like returns management, subscription boxes, freight, and kitting.
ShipNetwork Health and Stability
ShipNetwork is a privately-owned company with annual revenue between $25 million-$100 million. It has been in the industry for 22 years and offers national fulfillment services and a network of fulfillment centers across the United States, including Atlanta (GA), Chicago (IL), Houston (TX), Las Vegas (NV), and Salt Lake City (UT).
Besides ecommerce, ShipNetwork offers specialized solutions in the transportation, trucking, railroad, and internet software niches.
Upon the recent acquisition of RSL, ShipNetwork and FirstMile owner Devin Johnson mentioned he plans to provide clients with a full suite of domestic and international transportation solutions and technology. All these are positive indications that ShipNetwork isn’t going anywhere soon.
ShipNetwork Pricing
ShipNetwork’s main focus is to provide users with customized and transparent pricing. You’ll have to get in touch with its sales team to learn how much you need to pay to use the ecommerce fulfillment service.
ShipNetwork Pricing Structure
ShipNetwork understands no two businesses are the same. To accommodate each business’s unique needs, it provides potential customers custom quotes based on factors like order volume, SKU mix, average product weight and size, inventory storage, and product handling and packaging, among other factors.
ShipNetwork Pricing Comparison
One can’t really compare the pricing of ecommerce fulfillment services, as most of them don’t have fixed pricing. You’ll have to request a custom quote from each service provider.
ShipNetwork Trials and Guarantees
ShipNetwork doesn’t offer free trials or money-back guarantees.
ShipNetwork Ecommerce Fulfillment Service Review
ShipNetwork specializes in expedited domestic shipping and fulfillment, a promise it can deliver on, thanks to the company having more than 10 fulfillment centers across the United States. Other notable features include next-day shipping, return management, subscription box fulfillment, and tons of integrations.
ShipNetwork boasts an excellent 100% order accuracy guarantee, but it’s important to note the company has only recently been acquired, so nothing is set in stone. However, there are a few caveats, such as the high minimum orders and vague pricing, which after taking into account, I haven’t featured ShipNetwork on my best ecommerce fulfillment services list.
What Makes ShipNetwork Ecommerce Fulfillment Service Great
After getting acquired, Rakuten Super Logistics (RSL) now operates under the brand name ShipNetwork.
Enhanced national reach: The acquisition of RSL resulted in increased volume and density, which is likely to benefit both ShipNetwork and FirstMile clients. The expanded network means ShipNetwork can reach deeper into postal and regional carrier networks, thereby reducing costs and improving service performance. With the company planning to expand its facilities in both the eastern and western regions of the United States, you can expect larger facilities to support larger-scale retail distribution.
Fast and simple order fulfillment: ShipNetwork‘s order fulfillment process is super fast and simple. Once a customer makes an order on your ecommerce store, it’s automatically synced with the nearest ShipNetwork warehouse (currently, there are over ten in the US). The fulfillment center then processes and ships the orders to the customer via ShipNetwork shipping partners. If any items need to be returned, ShipNetwork‘s fulfillment center will follow your prescribed process.
Wide range of 3PL services: In addition to order fulfillment, ShipNetwork offers additional 3PL services to further streamline third-party logistics. For instance, its kitting is great for product bundling, while the cloud-based fulfillment and inventory system gives you complete control over your orders and inventory at all times. Other services include lot tracking, climate control, and project-based solutions to ensure your products are handled accurately and carefully.
Efficient returns management: Customers wanting to return an item because it wasn’t quite what they were hoping for is inevitable in ecommerce. Understanding this, they offer hands-on retail management services, which include restocking returned items to your inventory and discarded and damaged items. While you can work with the ShipNetwork team to plan your ecommerce return management, the company will collect the returns on your behalf and send them to the specific locations on schedule to minimize transit costs.
Tons of integrations: ShipNetwork’s ecommerce integrations include popular ecommerce platforms like Shopify, WooCommerce, eBay, BigCommerce, Magento, and Amazon. It also integrates with other shipping platforms and carriers like FirstMile, DHL, USPS, and ShipStation to streamline the overall shipping process while making it more cost-effective. However, be sure to check whether these carriers deliver in the regions you actively sell to.
Subscription box fulfillment: Another advantage of ShipNetwork is its subscription box fulfillment service, which is great for securing ongoing sales. Generally speaking, ShipNetwork ships the boxes out once a month or at another predefined interval and takes full responsibility for assembling and packing all the required items, ensuring they’re shipped at the right time.
Where ShipNetwork Ecommerce Fulfillment Service Falls Short
ShipNetwork hasn’t published pricing information on its website. You’ll have to schedule a discovery call so that the sales team can give you a custom quote.
Vague pricing: ShipNetwork hasn’t published any pricing information on its website. You have to request a quote from the sales team, which unnecessarily prolongs the process. Case in point—you have to schedule a discovery call with the ShipNetwork team, who will then do a deep dive into your product, shipping, and handling requirements. Then they’ll put together a proposal for fulfillment services based on the information you gave.
High minimum orders: ShipNetwork mainly caters to clients that have about 4,500 orders per month. While it may consider working with smaller firms and startups with potential, the orders should not be below 250 a month. This may not be a feasible minimum for small businesses.
ShipNetwork Ecommerce Fulfillment Service Compared
While it’ll be exciting to see how ShipNetwork’s fulfillment services turn out in the future, ShipBob is currently my top pick for the best ecommerce fulfillment platform.
ShipNetwork is a promising ecommerce fulfillment service that provides fast and cost-effective order fulfillment services, complete with a 100% order accuracy guarantee. A bunch of other 3PL services like returns management, subscription boxes, and freight ensures reliable 3PL services whenever you make a sale.
Shipwire is a third-party logistics (3PL) provider offering end-to-end order fulfillment services. Many growing and established ecommerce brands rely on Shipwire for outsourcing logistics like storage, transport, distribution, and fulfillment.
The company also provides additional services that help you optimize your online sales, from parcel and freight contract negotiation to logistics consulting, procurement, and invoice reconciliation. Shipwire sounds good on paper, but how does it compare against the best ecommerce fulfillment services? Read on to find out.
Shipwire Compared
Shipwire didn’t make our top list of the best ecommerce fulfillment services, though it is a solid service. Instead, our favorite fulfillment service is ShipBob for its high fulfillment accuracy, same-day and two-day express shipping options, and intuitive dashboard for order management. Contact ShipBob for a custom quote based on your unique fulfillment needs.
Shipwire didn’t make our top list, but we still think the brand is established and valuable enough to warrant a standalone, in-depth review. Shipwire is likely to be a viable option for some ecommerce store owners.
Shipwire offers the typical fulfillment services you’d expect from a 3PL provider. The company connects its platform to your sales channel, stores your inventory, and picks, packs, and ships orders to your customers as they come in. Shipwire also offers value-added services, including product inspection, retail partner management, serial scanning, labeling, and ticketing.
Shipwire Health and Stability
Ideally, you want a long-term fulfillment partner that will stick with you. Few things are worse than something disrupting your supply chain during peak season or when you’ve scaled your operation. Fortunately, Shipwire has been around since 2006, with every indication that the company will continue to thrive.
Ingram Micro, a leading ecommerce logistics and supply chain management provider with over 50 global offices, acquired Shipwire in 2013 for an undisclosed amount. Shipwire was successful as a stand-alone company before the acquisition and has continued to be a leading option for the growing ecommerce sector.
Shipwire is truly among the first pioneers of providing ecommerce fulfillment services, previously attracting venture capital from well-known brands like eBay and Newell Rubbermaid. The company has also appeared four times on Inc. Magazine’s list of the 5,000 fastest-growing private companies in the United States.
Shipwire Pricing
Shipwire offers two ways to pay for its service: prepaid and postpaid accounts. Prepaid customers must have sufficient funds in their accounts to cover the cost of shipping orders, with Shipwire deducting the shipping charges of each order from the account’s prepaid balance.
The company also offers Net Terms for postpaid accounts. Here, the company extends a credit limit for shipping orders. Shipwire only ships orders up to the prepaid account’s approved credit limit.
Shipwire uses a standard rate card to charge for its services, with separate pricing for each of its services you can tap into. You can view the charges you’ve incurred in real time in the Shipwire dashboard.
Shipwire charges per item, carton, or container via a receiving fee. However, you’ll pay an hourly rate for non-standard receiving. Non-standard receiving refers to items that don’t match your advanced shipping notice (ASN) description.
Similarly, Shipwire charges a per-unit rate for order returns or rejected orders. Shipwire refers to these chargeable actions as reverse logistics. Shipwire also charges a standard inventory storage fee, and you can also expect additional expenses for long-term storage beyond six months.
Finally, Shipwire may charge miscellaneous fees depending on your shipment or other needs. These can include:
Outbound serial capture
Third-party packing slips and labels
Package inserts
International preparation fees
Non-conveyable packages
Non-compliance fees
Shipwire Pricing Comparison
Unlike some competitors, Shipwire doesn’t provide any pricing details on its website. I had to dig around to find the company’s rate card. Unfortunately, even the rate card offers the bare minimum in terms of the pricing information. You’ll need to contact Shipwire for an accurate pricing estimate.
The public information is sufficient to compare Shipwire receiving rates with close competitors like ShipBob, Red Stag Fulfillment, and ShipMonk.
Shipwire’s receiving costs start at $0.59 per unit or $2.69 per carton. ShipMonk is slightly cheaper at a $2.50 per-carton receiving fee. ShipBob charges a $25 flat fee for the first two hours of receiving and $40 per hour after that. Shipwire’s receiving fee is slightly more expensive than the competition.
Returns at Shipwire start at $3.50 per unit, while ShipBob costs $3 per item. Additionally, Shipwire has a $500 monthly minimum pick and pack fee, while ShipBob’s threshold is just $250. Overall, Shipwire doesn’t offer the most competitive pricing on the market from what I can find.
Shipwire Trials and Guarantees
Shipwire’s software is free for all customers; it’s simply the usage of its facilities and labor that incurs charges. The Shipwire platform’s dashboard can monitor and manage inventory levels, fulfillment locations, order statuses, and sales. You only start paying when your goods arrive at a Shipwire warehouse.
Fortunately, Shipwire offers volume-based discounts. The company also compares rates for each order to find the lowest shipping fees for you during fulfillment. On top of that, Shipwire offers free onboarding to its new users, including assistance with connecting your sales channel to its platform.
Shipwire Ecommerce Fulfillment Review
Shipwire is a renowned third-party logistics provider that leverages its proprietary technology to optimize fulfillment. The platform automatically routes each order based on the fastest delivery route analyzed from over 200 carriers, aided by Shipwire’s partnerships with most of the world’s top carriers, including USPS, UPS, and FedEx.
Shipwire has over 30 fulfillment centers across North America, the United Kingdom, Europe, and Pacific Asia. Its platform supports over 100 retail channels and integrates with over 200 ecommerce connectors. Check out our review of the best ecommerce fulfillment services to compare Shipwire to other popular alternatives.
What Makes Shipwire Ecommerce Fulfillment Service Great
Shipwire’s dashboard is intuitive and easy to use.
Global fulfillment centers: Shipwire boasts more than 10 million square feet of fulfillment space. In the United States, the company has warehouses in 14 different states. Shipwire also has centers in Great Britain, Sweden, China, the Netherlands, Australia, and Germany. The company can ship orders to more than 160 countries and is a terrific partner for ecommerce businesses set for global expansion.
Fast shipping: Shipwire offers same-day and next-day shipping, plus other service levels. Orders that arrive at the warehouse by 5.30 a.m. local warehouse time are shipped the same day, no questions asked. There’s also expedited same-day shipping available for a small fee, where Shipwire promises to fulfill your order if it arrives after the cut-off time or credit the extra fees to your account.
The company also offers best-effort same-day shipping even if you miss the cut-off time. For instance, Shipwire may still ship orders that arrive by 1:30 p.m. local warehouse time, it’s just not fully guaranteed. Finally, the company offers guaranteed next-day shipping if your order doesn’t qualify for same-day shipping, meaning you’re never waiting more than 36 hours for something to get shipped out.
Shipwire Anywhere: Shipwire allows you to integrate your ship-from locations such as warehouses, retail stores, or garages with its platform with ease. You can manage multiple fulfillment locations from the same dashboard, including your dropshipping vendors. Shipwire still follows up with your clients and updates your store inventory and tracking regardless of the fulfillment location. It’s a valuable service for businesses that don’t outsource 100% of their fulfillment or use multiple fulfillment channels.
Comprehensive marketplace coverage: Speaking of integrations, Shipwire provides you with connections to more than 200 marketplaces and shopping carts on its platform. You can easily connect with eBay, Amazon, Target, Walmart, and Etsy, to name a few. Shipwire also seamlessly connects to your marketing, CRM, and customer support tech stack, including software platforms such as Microsoft Dynamics, Salesforce, and Oracle.
Robust developer toolset: Shipwire offers an API for almost anything, including orders, rates, webhooks, stock, locations, vendors, receiving, and products. The platform also provides a sandbox account available on request to test your custom-built integrations. It’s a terrific platform for developers who want to customize how Shipwire connects to their business to match their specifications.
Easy to use: You’ll get expert assistance when first connecting your store to Shipwire and plenty of extra support thereafter. The platform uses artificial intelligence to calculate the most cost-effective shipping strategy based on your settings. The software also has an intuitive dashboard to manage work orders and track order information and transactions. You can generate customized reports for essential metrics like order inventory count, status, cost, carriers, and more.
Custom enterprise solutions: Shipwire offers bespoke services for nearly every aspect of supply chain management and logistics, hence the lack of a clear pricing structure. For example, Shipwire offers experts, technology, and insider knowledge to some users who want to improve transit times, boost customer satisfaction, or reduce shipping costs.
Some of these helpful solutions are an invoice consolidation platform called Parcel Pay, UPS parcel and freight audit software, and a spend management portal. In addition, you don’t have to change your fulfillment company to work with Shipwire. Shipwire can audit your current provider and renegotiate your contract for better rates, terms, and service level agreements.
Where Shipwire Fulfillment Service Falls Short
Shipwire will develop a personalized fulfillment plan for your ecommerce business.
Inconsistent customer experience: Shipwire has many happy customers and more than 40 years of experience in the logistics industry. Unfortunately, there are a good number of customer complaints regarding incorrectly fulfilled shipments. Curiously, the company doesn’t advertise its fulfillment accuracy on its website. Many fulfillment services, including ShipBob and Red Stag Fulfillment, proudly publicize this information.
Additionally, Shipwire doesn’t provide guarantees beyond helping you claim insurance in case your products are lost or damaged. On the other hand, Red Stag Fulfillment offers to pay the wholesale cost of lost or damaged items. Red Stag also waives the shipping fees and pays you an extra $50 if your orders aren’t shipped according to your service level.
High monthly minimum: Most fulfillment services have a monthly order minimum. However, Shipwire requires you to ship at least $500 per month, or else the company may charge you the difference. It’s not a problem for established businesses, but pre-launch brands and startups may struggle to meet this requirement. While ShipBob has a $250 monthly minimum, it also has a growth plan with no minimum monthly order requirement.
Opaque pricing: Unfortunately, Shipwire isn’t transparent with its pricing information. You’ll need to contact a company representative for complete pricing information. It’s frustrating if you are comparison shopping with other potential solutions. Similarly, Shipwire doesn’t offer a pricing calculator to compare prices with competitors. However, you can request no-commitment access to the platform to compare prices and confirm if Shipwire meets your requirements. In addition, you don’t have to pay until you send inventory to a Shipwire warehouse.
Miscellaneous fees: Shipwire charges multiple discretionary fees, including fines, interest, and various charges. So, read the contract thoroughly and agree to the company’s terms. Also, keep an eye on service fees and shipping charges.
Shipwire Ecommerce Fulfillment Service Compared
Shipwire is an established logistics brand, but ShipBob is our first pick for the best ecommerce fulfillment service because of its transparent pricing, affordable rates, and no monthly order minimums.
Shipwire is one of the original ecommerce fulfillment pioneers and has been in business for nearly 20 years. The company’s strategic partnership with logistics giant Ingram Micro offers businesses easy access to international markets with a streamlined supply chain and logistics management. In addition, larger enterprises expanding to new markets will benefit from Shipwire services and presence in more than 160 countries.
Shipwire also offers invoice audit software and services and claims refunds on your behalf. Furthermore, the company helps with carrier contract optimization and transportation intelligence for companies that want to manage logistics costs. However, Shipwire may be too expensive for startups and small businesses that might fare better with a local or smaller ecommerce fulfillment company.
Formerly 3dcart, Shift4Shop offers free, enterprise-grade ecommerce functionality to help you build your online store and start selling. You get nearly all the features to start and grow your online business, including powerful tools like a robust website builder, product and order management functionalities, customer marketing tools, and round-the-clock technical support.
The biggest catch is that the free end-to-end ecommerce plan is only available to US merchants. Moreover, you have to use the in-house payment processor, Shift4 Payment, to get paid, which isn’t too bad as it’s one of the leading payment processing providers. Plus Shift4Shop doesn’t charge you any monthly fees to use its ecommerce platform.
Shift4Shop Compared
Shift4Shop made it on my top list for the best value. While it’s a great option, the best ecommerce website builder is Shopify because of its robust features and tools that provide you with everything to build an online store. Get started with a three-day free trial today.
Shopify — Best all-around ecommerce website builder
Wix — Best for launching an online store in minutes
Shift4Shop is a comprehensive ecommerce website builder that caters to businesses of all sizes and industries. Using its innovative turnkey solution, you can easily build a secure website and leverage various customer marketing tools to boost sales. The company also offers a range of top-notch features, including social media marketing, SEO, and an extensive marketplace with third-party devs, affiliates, and experts.
A global leader in financial technology, Shift4 acquired 3dcart and rebranded it as Shift4Shop. Along with the powerful ecommerce solution, Shift4 also offers Shift4Shop users a seamless online payments platform that makes it easier for them to get paid.
Shift4Shop Health and Stability
Shift4Shop is a private company with hundreds of employees and a stable customer base. And while it may be less popular than its counterparts like Shopify and Wix, you can be sure this company isn’t going anywhere.
One of the main reasons behind this is its parent company, Shift4 Payments. A publicly listed company with over $13.7 million in funding, Shift4 Payments has been doing consistently well in the market.
Keeping all this in mind, I firmly believe Shift4Shop is an ecommerce website builder you can trust.
Shift4Shop Pricing
Shift4Shop’s unlimited, enterprise-grade plan costs an impressive $0. It includes the feature-packed ecommerce platform, an SSL certificate, a domain name, and a huge selection of customizable themes. However, you need to process a minimum of $500 per month with Shift4 Payments through your Shift4Shop store to waive the SaaS fee.
Shift4Shop has conditional pricing, under which you won’t need to pay any charges if you meet their monthly minimum of ecommerce sales ($500 with Shift4 Payments). Otherwise, you need to pay a monthly SaaS fee. Shift4Shop hasn’t published information on its website about how much this costs, so you’ll have to contact its sales team for more information.
Shift4Shop Pricing Comparison
Compared to Shopify, Shift4Shop can be free (if you meet the stated requirements), but you must be based in the United States and agree to use Shift4 Payments to process payments. On the other hand, Shopify has no free plan, and you have to pay monthly or yearly to continue using it.
Wix is another popular ecommerce web builder that offers a free plan and incredibly affordable paid plans. The biggest advantage of Wix over Shift4Shop is its predictability and affordability. Sure, Shift4Shop is free upfront, but if you don’t process at least $500 through Shift4 Payments, you’ll have to pay a monthly SaaS fee.
Shift4Shop Trials and Guarantees
Being a free ecommerce website builder, it makes sense that Shift4Shop doesn’t offer any free trial or refund guarantee.
Shift4Shop Ecommerce Website Builder Review
Shift4Shop’s biggest advantage as an ecommerce website builder is the generous feature offering despite being free. You get an enterprise-level website builder, over hundred themes, tons of SEO tools, unlimited product listings, and more.
The software is also customizable, where you can add products to your store, choose themes, and select payment methods. Even from the buyer’s perspective, the Shift4Shop storefront is easy to navigate, right from product browsing to checking out.
As for the caveats, you should know the zero-cost version of Shift4Shop is only available to US customers, and you’ll need many add-ons to run your store effectively, among a few others.
Shift4Shop offers enterprise-grade ecommerce functionality and features for free.
Large selection of features: Shift4Shop has one of the most generous feature selections, despite the affordable price tag. Ecommerce tools include single-page checkouts, digital downloads, two-factor authentication, recurring orders, and unlimited product variations.
You can also leverage the built-in marketing and SEO tools, discount codes and coupons, affiliate programs, loyalty reward programs, and back-in-stock alerts to drive sales. While the reporting and analytics aren’t as advanced as that of Shift4Shop’s competitors, they get the job done.
Higher level of customization: Shift4Shop makes creating a fully customizable and responsive website easier than ever. Thanks to its design software, you get access to its core template engine, where you can create your own themes, plus all Shift4Shop themes have Google AMP-enabled product pages, deferred JavaScript and CSS, and a conversion-optimized checkout, among other benefits, which is another plus.
Let’s also not forget the flexible drag-and-drop HTML editor and the core theme editor that lets you customize your theme design to your needs, from colors to topography to buttons. Moreover, you can preview every change in real-time, which won’t be visible to your shoppers until you ‘Save’ them, confirming the changes.
Excellent management functionalities: Another benefit of Shift4Shop is its comprehensive management software that allows you to manage orders and products from a centralized place. You get a complete toolset comprising a convenient dashboard, new order notifications, status updates for customers, and advanced automation rules to better manage orders. Further, you can see your new inventory catalog by organizing each product into a list format. Other tools include bulk import and export, videos and dynamic zoom, detailed project reports, and unlimited categorization.
Reliable ecommerce hosting: Shift4Shop’s web hosting is an excellent addition to its ecommerce website builder platform, thanks to a 99.9% uptime guarantee and PCI certification and security. Other features include a free domain name with yearly renewals, monthly transparent upgrades, FTP access to files, daily backups, and a 256 Bit SSL certificate.
Currently, Cloudflare powers all Shift4Shop online stores, which gives you the benefits of its global content delivery network, DDOS attack protection and mitigation, and faster loading speeds by extension.
Mobile-friendly: Shift4Shop makes your online stores mobile-responsive, meaning your website can adapt and adjust to different screen sizes and resolutions. This is necessary to provide shoppers with a seamless shopping experience, regardless of the device they use to visit your site. With an increasing number of people using mobiles for shopping, having a mobile-optimized store can work wonders to secure more sales.
Where Shift4Shop Ecommerce Website Builder Falls Short
Shift4Shop’s end-to-end ecommerce plan is only available to United States merchants currently
Unpredictable pricing: Shift4Shop markets itself as a free ecommerce website builder, but this can change quickly if you don’t meet the $500 monthly payment requirement. Moreover, its modules are expensive, and the free themes are limited. To design a stunning and optimized website, you may find yourself investing in paid themes. Additionally, the zero-cost version of the platform is only available to US users.
Poor customer support: Several customer reviews have found Shift4Shop’s customer support severely lacking, especially for users outside the United States. One user pointed out they didn’t receive a response for days, while another expressed disappointment with a customer service representative’s unhelpful and rude behavior.
Minimal reporting capabilities: Shift4Shop’s reporting capabilities are lacking. While it offers detailed profit reports, specialty customers and inventory reports, and rewards use, you’ll likely need additional reporting tools for more strategic operations reviews and decision-making.
Requires multiple add-ons: When building your online stores through Shift4Shop, be prepared to install multiple add-ons (similar to WordPress plugins) to maximize functionality. For example, if you want to add a shopping cart to your online store, you must install software to make this happen. Similarly, you’ll need to install a ‘Buy’ button on your website’s backend to allow shoppers to check out more conveniently.
Don’t get me wrong—it’s great that Shift4Shop offers these capabilities, but installing too many add-ons can cause your website to run slower than usual or even crash entirely.
Shift4Shop Ecommerce Website Builder Compared
Where Shift4Shop makes a great choice, it does have a few hard-to-ignore caveats. Keeping this in mind, the best ecommerce website builder is Shopify simply because it offers everything you may need to build and run an ecommerce website—all in a single platform.
Shopify — Best all-around ecommerce website builder
Wix — Best for launching an online store in minutes
Shift4Shop offers tons of customization features for its checkout system.
Shift4Shop has one of the most customizable and flexible shopping cart solutions that lets you optimize your checkout to offer seamless, hassle-free experiences to shoppers. They can view, edit, and save carts to purchase later, helping drive sales.
Create single-page or multi-page checkouts, each personalized to your liking. The fact that you don’t need to pay any transaction fees is another cost-saving advantage. Shift4Shop will also auto-calculate shipping and taxes in your customer’s cart to avoid total surprises.
Aside from these, everything we broke down above for ecommerce website building is also relevant to shopping cart experiences.
Here’s a quick look at how Shift4Shop stacks against other shopping cart software solutions on the market:
Keeping in mind the pros and cons, I believe Shift4Shop is an excellent choice for ecommerce website building and adding a shopping cart—provided you’re a US resident. Thanks to its excellent feature offering, customization capabilities, and management functionalities, it really stands out from its competitors. But if you’re an international user, you may want to check out other solutions like Shopify and Wix.
2022 is slowly but surely coming to an end. And, well, could there be a better way to welcome the last few weeks of the year than with some beautiful, wintery desktop wallpapers? To get you in the right mood for December (and the holiday season, if you’re celebrating), artists and designers from across the globe once again got their ideas bubbling and created desktop wallpapers to sweeten up the month.
All wallpapers in this post are created with love and come in versions with and without a calendar for December 2022 — so no matter if you want to count down the days to the last deadline of the year or prefer to keep things rather minimalistic, we’ve got you covered. At the end of this post, we also compiled some December goodies from our wallpapers archives that are too good to be forgotten. Maybe you’ll spot one of your almost-forgotten favorites in there, too? Enjoy!
You can click on every image to see a larger preview,
We respect and carefully consider the ideas and motivation behind each and every artist’s work. This is why we give all artists the full freedom to explore their creativity and express emotions and experience through their works. This is also why the themes of the wallpapers weren’t anyhow influenced by us but rather designed from scratch by the artists themselves.
Submit a wallpaper! Did you know that you could get featured in our next wallpapers post, too? We are always looking for creative talent.
Winter Coziness At Home
“Winter coziness that we all feel when we come home after spending some time outside or when we come to our parental home to celebrate Christmas inspired our designers. Home is the place where we can feel safe and sound, so we couldn’t help ourselves but create this calendar. You can find more designs in our post.” — Designed by MasterBundles from Ukraine.
“Thinking about the holiday season, it is impossible to appreciate all the colors that bring joy. Here, we combined Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer with some Christmas cheer!” — Designed by Suu Ng from Portland, OR, USA.
“Illuminate your problems with Christmas lights and watch them shrink with every twinkle. During the last month of the year, top your concerns with some candy cane and pretend they’re tasty sweets. December is all about endings and beginnings, so gift yourself resilience for the things yet to end and patience for the things to come.” — Designed by LibraFire from Serbia.
“Ho ho ho Christmas is near. PopArt has prepared a December calendar that exudes warmth and smells like gingerbread cookies. Our Santa may look a little grumpy, but be sure he brings the best gifts. Whispering: ‘When the time comes, look under your Christmas tree.’ PopArt Studio wishes you a Merry Christmas!” — Designed by PopArt Studio from Serbia.
“Today’s walk in the forest is a special one! Today you will make a new friend. Follow me into the forest and walk slowly. The weather is amazing today, isn’t it? The snowflakes seem soft and the snow is fresh and puffy! There are colourful speckles of light dancing all around us and the air feels so fresh. Oh wait… there he is! Look ahead! Yes, there he is, our special forest friend that only comes out during winter! Say hello to Franklin, the fluffy polar bear! He loves Christmas and he has some wonderful winter stories to share with you!” — Designed by Creative Pinky from the Netherlands.
Ready for a trip back in time? Below you’ll find a selection of December wallpapers from our archives. Please note that these designs don’t come with a calendar.
Dear Moon, Merry Christmas
“Please visit the Vladstudio website if you like my works!” — Designed by Vlad Gerasimov from Georgia.
“Endings intertwined with new beginnings, challenges we rose to and the ones we weren’t up to, dreams fulfilled and opportunities missed. The year we say goodbye to leaves a bitter-sweet taste, but we’re thankful for the lessons, friendships, and experiences it gave us. We look forward to seeing what the new year has in store, but, whatever comes, we will welcome it with a smile, vigor, and zeal.” — Designed by PopArt Studio from Serbia.
“Since we often yearn for a peaceful and quiet place to work, we have found inspiration in the famous house on the River Drina in Bajina Bašta, Serbia. Wouldn’t it be great being in nature, away from the civilization, swaying in the wind and listening to the waves of the river smashing your house, having no neighbors to bother you? Not sure about the Internet, though…” — Designed by PopArt Studio from Serbia.
“During Christmas season, in the cold, colorless days of winter, Cardinal birds are seen as symbols of faith and warmth. In the part of America I live in, there is snowfall every December. While the snow is falling, I can see gorgeous Cardinals flying in and out of my patio. The intriguing color palette of the bright red of the Cardinals, the white of the flurries and the brown/black of dry twigs and fallen leaves on the snow-laden ground fascinates me a lot, and inspired me to create this quaint and sweet, hand-illustrated surface pattern design as I wait for the snowfall in my town!” — Designed by Gyaneshwari Dave from the United States.
“As a Belgian, December reminds me of snow, coziness, winter, lights, and so on. However, in the Southern Hemisphere, it is summer at this time. With my illustration, I wanted to show the different perspectives on December. I wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!” — Designed by Jo Smets from Belgium.
“A seemingly forgotten world under the shade of winter glaze hides a moment where architecture meets fashion and change encounters steadiness.” — Designed by Ana Masnikosa from Belgrade, Serbia.
“December is all about coziness and warmth. Days are getting darker, shorter, and colder. So a nice cup of hot cocoa just warms me up.” — Designed by Hazuki Sato from Belgium.
“There’s no more special time for a fire than in the winter. Cozy blankets, warm beverages, and good company can make all the difference when the sun goes down. We’re all looking forward to generating some hygge this winter, so snuggle up and make some memories.” — Designed by The Hannon Group from Washington D.C.
“‘Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire: it is the time for home.’ (Edith Sitwell) — Designed by Dipanjan Karmakar from India.
“Santa’s tired of winter (and the North Pole) and is flying to the southern part of the globe to relax a little bit. He deserves a little vacation, don’t you think?” — Designed by Ricardo Gimenes from Sweden.
“Joy to the world, all the boys and girls now, joy to the fishes in the deep blue sea, joy to you and me.” — Designed by Morgan Newnham from Boulder, Colorado.
“December is undoubtedly the family month. As a civil engineer I worked abroad, and this was the only month we were guaranteed to return home to be with our families. I tried to represent this in my illustration, using, naturally, my namesake: Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer. Even he has the right…” — Designed by Rodolfo Henriques from Portugal.
“The year will end, hope the last month, you can do what you want to do, seize the time, cherish yourself, expect next year we will be better!” — Designed by Hong Zi-Qing from Taiwan.
“Family, friends, memories and environment inspired me so much in creating a wallpaper. Ideas for artworks sometimes come out of the blue, so this time, it’s inspired by my beautiful, naughty niece, Shammy. Ho ho ho! Christmas renews our youth by stirring out our wonder, and wondering in it are born our art!” — Designed by Marina Etuci from Malaysia, now residing in Taiwan.
Simply defined, the concept of typographic hierarchies refers to the visual organization of content in terms of their relative importance. In other words, the manner in which we organize the text, the headers, the subheaders, the columns, the paragraphs, the callouts, and others on the page or space signify their importance.
That sounds easy enough, right? Yes, it does. The problem is that visually accomplishing this is more challenging than it sounds, especially for those unfamiliar with the nuances of typography. Everything in typography behaves like a domino effect causing a chain reaction of changes by the designer. That is why when a client asks for a “small change,” it is never small and never linear. Typography is symbiotic. Each element contributes to the other, even in a very small way.
These two words: typographic and hierarchies are not familiar concepts to those outside our field. In fact, even in the art and design field, fellow artists do not necessarily understand typographic hierarchy. The term typographic refers to matters related to typography: type choice, sizes, weights, how far or close we set the letters, and others. The term hierarchy refers to levels of priority or importance: what comes first, second, and third. Thus, when these two terms are put together, we mean to arrange content in levels of importance with the intention of communicating to the reader.
Choosing typefaces, arranging content in terms of visual importance, and organizing elements (title, subtitles, body copy, images, space, and so on) on the page evoke responses from the reader. When things are in competition on a page, we might feel confused. We all have a sense of it, and we can even recall moments of disgust when we see a printed note with bloody type or a website in which the typography is all jumbled up. However, learning to use typography is elusive. It is a matter of constant practice and honing visual acumen.
While it is true that the advent of the computer to our field has expedited the design and printing process, it is also true that typographic proportions do not look the same when looking at things online versus printing. The relationship between the reader and their monitor differs from the relationship between the reader and anything printed, whether hand-held or seen at a distance.
To provide an example, let me share my experience with typography. Before becoming a designer, I graduated with a BA in Art Education. I understood color, research, composition, contrast, drawing, images, sketching, painting, and so on. When I went back to school to study design and specifically graphic design, I was lost.
My biggest challenge was that I could not see the letters as something other than the semantic symbols of language. Questions constantly flooded my mind. For instance, “What do you mean that the letters have a grid? What do you mean I am doing too much? And what is too much? How is this too big?” The questions were endless and excruciating. My beginner’s typography was, to put it mildly, a prime example of what not to do. I did not know any better, but I also did not understand any better.
My “aha” moment came when another instructor explained to me that typography was like auditioning for a part in a play that I wanted really badly. She suggested that I enunciate the words as if I was playing in the theater. Mind you, I had no experience in theater whatsoever but somehow, the idea resonated with me. It was then that I realized, in a very experiential way, that typography was the spoken language in visual form.
That, somehow, the letters, words, titles, typeface choices, size, weight, color, spacing — all conspired together to emanate a visual language. The page was the stage. The letters, words, titles, paragraphs, and so on were performers on that stage. Another instructor used to say that the typographic hierarchy was like a ballet company where only one was the prima ballerina, and everything else bowed to her. Having a cultural background where music and dance were vital, I started to get the idea.
After I made it into graduate school, my exploration of typography intensified, leading to my thesis work. My graduate thesis combined two things that were special to me: dance, specifically ballroom dancing, and my newfound love for typography. To develop a body of work for my thesis, I used one of my classes’ undergraduate projects — Typographic Hierarchies. Since then, I have been teaching typography and hierarchy using this project.
The typographic hierarchies project is based on two books by professor Rob Carter from Virginia Commonwealth University. These books are Typographic Design: Form and Communication and Experimental Typography. The latter is out of print now. The objective of the project is to isolate six basic variables to establish a typographic hierarchy. These variables are:
Proximity or space,
Weight,
Size,
Size and weight,
Color,
Visual punctuation.
When we look at a typographic composition, a poster, a brochure, or a web page, what we see is the application of these variables together. We don’t often think of dissecting the composition in front of us to say, “How many sizes are there?” Even as designers, we are not accustomed to dissecting design work. Imagine a non-designer, even less, right? Yet, when we come to school or start as designers, we are all non-designers and need to retrain our brains to look at content as a relationship of shapes in a context, format, or space.
In this article, we will discuss the variables mentioned above, learn how to look at each differently, and in turn, design pieces by intentionally modifying each variable to create a typographic hierarchy effectively. Let’s get started with proximity or space.
Note: These are studies done in a university class intended to expose the students to a series of compositional exercises. These exercises will provide students with a skill set to innovate and push the boundaries when appropriate. It will also help them to acquire a good understanding of compositional parameters. Therefore, use your discernment and consider the project’s needs when applying and/or breaking these principles and variables.
Proximity Or Space
This variable requires us to briefly discuss the grid. The grid is an underlying tool that helps us organize elements on a page. It is so foundational that there are books dedicated to it. For example, the book by designer and design educator Timothy Samara, titled Making and Breaking the Grid is one of the most eloquent discussions of it.
A Short Discussion About The Grid
A grid is simply an underlying structure used to organize elements in a context. This context can be a page, printed or web, an app, a brochure, a poster, a book, a newspaper, a building, furniture, and so on. Though this article is not a study of the grid, it is important to understand that the variables we will learn work within a grid. A grid allows us to break up the space into modules or smaller chunks like pieces in a puzzle that must come together to create the bigger picture. There are usually two ways to approach the application of a grid: predetermined or improvisational (also known as a visual or linear association).
Predetermined Grid
A predetermined grid is the division of the space into a certain amount of columns. There is even a one-column grid, also commonly called a manuscript grid (commonly seen in wedding invites and perhaps the first page of an article in a magazine).
We can keep adding columns to our grids and have two, three, four, five, and sometimes more. Software such as Adobe InDesign, Affinity Publisher, and others come equipped with the ability to determine what type of grid we want to use. It is usually easy to spot the grid used in a design piece. For example, if we look at a web page, we can usually spot the type of grid used — two, three, or four columns.
Perhaps the best examples of predetermined grids come from Modernist design and the Swiss Typography schools of thought.
Later on, Post Modern typography came along. Characterized by the juxtaposition of graphic elements, typography, and page use in a more organic way, it sought to find alternative typographic organizational arrangements. John Choi, a former student at NYUAD, wrote on the blog NYUAD Types of Art the following:
“Postmodern typography would be born out of the rejection of the modernist idea that certain forms, due to their inherent characteristics, are able to perform certain objective functions such as neutrality or legibility.”
As a result, the grid became a more organic and playful tool.
Improvisational Grid
Alternatively to a predetermined grid, an improvisational grid can be used. An improvisational grid is created when we lay down one element, perhaps in a very large size, and use it to extend its lines to organize elements around it. Thus, visual alignments or associations are emphasized or highlighted by placing elements following invisible lines emanating from them. For example, the image below does not feature the traditional vertical and horizontal modules that are common on a column grid. The image and the pattern created for the Evince Diagnostics logo at the top are the foundation for the organization of the type on the banner.
It is one of the funniest ways to create hierarchy because it allows for playful and unexpected results. However, it calls for attention to detail and sensitivity to the composition as a whole. Thus, it is both easy and difficult to master. It is frequently achieved by a large letter, but it can also be done with images or graphics.
Now that we have a basic understanding of the grid, let’s discuss our first variable or principle of hierarchy — proximity — in more detail.
Proximity
Proximity refers to the relative distance between elements, right? An easy metaphor is to think of friends, close friends, and strangers. The closer the friend, the closer the distance. The stranger the person, the farthest we stand from them. Our proximity or space shrinks or grows depending on our familiarity with things or people. Because it is usually easier for the students to refer to it as space, we will refer to proximity as space throughout the article.
When we discuss or think of space in a typographic hierarchy, we refer to things like space between letters, words, titles, paragraphs, margins, and how and where we place elements on the page.
In order to really understand proximity or space, we need to set some limits:
All type has to be 8-12 point size depending on the typeface;
It all has to be one size (even the titles);
No color;
A grid should be used from two to five columns, or an improvisational grid can be used. Please note that though we discussed the use of an improvisational grid based on size, when we leave elements at the same size, an improvisational grid can be used based on space or alignments.
The goal of this variable is to explore only the distance between any elements we choose and where we place our paragraphs and titles. You might be wondering, “how does space work in relation to typographic hierarchies? To answer this question, we will discuss some examples.
In the example above, we have a set of instructions, How to Fold a Crane, written by Chrissy Pk. As we can see, the columns of text are diagonally arranged. The grid, then, has been set before any other element has been placed on the page. By using diagonals, we create a sense of movement and energy around the composition.
Repetition of the title has been applied to create a sense of framing the page, and it serves to anchor the eye. Otherwise, we might feel that our eyes want to wander away from the page. Having the title repeated creates a kind of loop around the page and helps us keep our eyes contained. The type size is all consistent. The sense of movement and hierarchy comes from the title set in uppercase. To indicate each new step, instead of numbers or bullets, space and upper case letters in the first three words of the sentence are used.
Below are two analyses of the grid. The first one lets us see that the designer has probably divided the page into a four-column grid. In the second example, we can see that the diagonal grid has been applied over the four-column one.
To summarize what we see in this example:
We can use diagonal columns in place of vertical columns.
We can use uppercase to create a sense of hierarchy.
We can add spaces between items that follow a sequence instead of numbers or bullets.
We can repeat one element as long as it supports the purpose and conceptually keeps our eyes and mind focused on the subject.
In my experience, my students find that thinking of only the space or proximity is the hardest aspect of this study. But it is all about looking at the paragraphs, sentences, columns, and pages as shapes. If we think of each component in the example above as only shapes, we will see something like this below:
The page, space, and background, whether two or three-dimensional, is a shape. It can be a rectangle in portrait or landscape orientation or something more circular, or something organic like the shape of a guitar like this one titled MTV Unplugged, First Edition by Sarah Maralkey published in 1995:
The text in one of the spreads follows the gentle curve of the book:
If we consider the area we are using to organize our design as a shape, then the rest is a matter of subdividing that space in interesting ways. Thus, we always need to take the format into consideration.
Here is an interesting example of how to use a simple two-column grid:
As we move forward to the next variables, it is essential to note that how we treat the space will continue to be something we experiment with. We do not leave it behind. Let’s see how only changing the weight (bold versus regular + space) changes things around.
Weight
Weight refers to changes in the typeface as bold, regular, italic, heavy, medium, and so on. In this variable, we keep the sizes all even. In other words, we do not change the size at all.
It is worth mentioning that a typeface with no weight options will not be helpful in our exploration, as well as funky or heavily ornamental typefaces. Those are great for one instance or for display purposes such as a poster. However, in creating a hierarchy, it is best to stick to typefaces with well-proportioned shapes and multiple font options in their family.
In the image above, the layout is more traditional — a two-column grid with the text aligned to the left. The bold weight is used on the word Fold on the title and in the rest of the content each time the word Fold is used. This visual detail helps with establishing a conceptual and visual connection as well as a hierarchy. It is a visual reminder that these instructions are about learning to fold a crane.
In the following example, we have a much less traditional layout. The designer used a circular grid to subdivide the format or the space in the composition. The bold weight is more delicate here since the typeface is also more delicate. The text’s organization resembles a clock. The design requires more participation from the reader as they would need to turn the page around.
In addition to our first summary, we can add the following:
We can use organic shapes to subdivide the format.
We can follow a logical system to establish a visual hierarchy: bold a word and consistently bold the same word throughout the text.
Now, let’s move on to applying size but without weight.
Size
We understand that size refers to, well, sizes. How large or small the font used is displayed. For the purposes of this exercise, we will limit ourselves to three sizes, and we will refer to them in categories:
Body copy Depending on the typefaces’ x-height, anywhere from 8 points to 12. Never over 12.
Titles Here you can have some fun and play with contrast — very, very large. Anything over 14 points is considered a display, but you will find that it is still too small to make an impact.
Subheaders or accents Depending on what sizes you are using for the titles, you can select something in between the body copy size and the titles.
Something worth mentioning: these parameters are not solely mathematical. There is much to learn about how things look (regardless of size) once something is printed.
Along those lines, let’s discuss a note about titles. The best way to think of titles is to see them as a group of little cousins or a group of best friends who are really tight. The spaces (again, proximity) you create between each word on the title affect how the title is seen. In other words, do the words go together? If so, should there be a gap? This will become more clear in the discussion of the examples below:
We can see how the designer decided to create a sense of upward direction by setting the title along the column pointing towards the beginning of the text. The designer not only used size to create emphasis on the word CRANE but cleverly led the reader to the top. The rest is pretty straightforward, as we can see — using bullet points and space between the steps to conform to the sequential nature of the content.
Here we have three sizes used following the expected pattern (title, numbers to indicate sequence, and the text). But, notice how the numbers are not the same size as the text. They are a size in between the title and the text, indicating read the title first and then read in order.
In addition to the items we have added to our summary, we can add the following:
We can set one word of the title much larger than the rest.
We can direct the reader with the title to the beginning of the content by setting the title in an upwards orientation.
We can set numbers slightly larger than the text to indicate the reading order.
Now we will discuss variables in combination.
Size And Weight
We start here by combining two variables and still using proximity to create a hierarchy. We are still limiting ourselves to three size changes. In terms of weight, we can change the weight of words we think need to be seen but are not as important as the title or things like that. We can certainly make a word very large and bold. But, as you are experimenting, keep an eye on the balance of the page. Are things too heavy on one side? Is the page too busy on one side versus the other?
Size and weight experimentation also allow you to start playing with an improvisational grid. When making a letter or word really large, you may use it to establish visual alignments from it.
The example below is a page from a calendar I designed last Christmas holiday. Calendars are a great playground to explore sizes and weights. In this instance, I opted for the number of the month, the largest element on the page, while also increasing its weight, but right under the name — April — is very light or thin, creating a nice contrast between the two. The year is smaller but bold, as bold as the number above it. Though the contrast is sharp, the three pieces together create a nice typographic unit working together to create the focal point of the piece. The right side is the list of the month’s dates in bold. The holidays are stated in lightweight.
Of particular note is that if you notice, the words April and 2022 are tucked in under the vertical line of the number. This typeface has serifs (the little eyelashes at the bottom of the number). I aligned the two words under the number within its serifs. By doing this, I reinforce the visual alignment and implied vertical lines of the number.
In addition to the items we have added to our summary, we can add the following:
We can make a word very large on the page. If you go big, go big.
We can bold the largest element. Though not always necessary, it can sometimes create a nice and juicy hierarchy.
We can create units or groupings by keeping the type contained within an imaginary box.
We can use visual alignments or improvised grids to reinforce the typographic grouping.
With what we have learned so far, we will move on to color.
Color
Discussing color can be an article all by itself. There are many resources available both online and printed about color. Indeed, here are a few Smashing articles by Cameron Chapman covering the subject more broadly:
In this article, however, we will focus on how color enhances or emphasizes hierarchy, how it helps to create a composition that keeps the eye inside of itself, and how it helps the eye navigate the page. For these reasons, when studying this variable, we limit the use of color to two or three colors. By limiting the use of color, we can focus on how it helps to establish a hierarchy in typography.
Factors That Affect The Use And Application Of Color
I do not mean we use color arbitrarily. It is important to read the content to establish a sense of the article. In other words, let’s assume we are designing a leaflet for a school-aged children’s birthday party. We would probably use vibrant colors and convey a sense of fun. Alternatively, if we are designing a leaflet for hospital patients with instructional material, perhaps the colors we use might be less vibrant, softer, and aimed to provide a sense of calm. There are usually three essential aspects to consider when using color and designing in general:
Content,
Audience,
Context.
The audience determines not only how the content is written but also the typefaces, sizes, weights, and overall design of the content. The context of the content also determines how we design: is the content meant to be read at a distance, as in a poster, or is the content meant to be read closer to us, as in a mobile device or a book? Because color affects how we perceive the content, we must become familiar with that content. Thus, reading the content given to us by our clients helps us make smart design decisions.
Now that we discussed factors that are important for the use of color, let’s look at examples of the use of color as it pertains to this exercise:
In the example above, we can see how all the colors and attention have been dedicated to the title. It has also been added to the name of the author of the instructions, but because of its small size, it does not create conflict. The layout takes advantage of once making everything on the title large; it creates a nice pocket of space where the instructions can be easily tucked in. In this way, even though there is no color used on the body copy, it does not matter because we have no choice but to land our eyes on the beginning of the text.
Above, we see how the background has been turned black. Once you read the title and read a little bit of the text, it makes sense. The text has a pessimistic and somber tone to it. Thus, no cheerful colors. With that, notice how the column of text is concentrated to the right side, creating asymmetry, once again creating a sense of visual instability to enhance the text’s meaning.
Below is a greeting card for Mother’s Day in the United States. I designed this card to honor my best friend’s mom. Though I am using a picture, it is used in a way that helps the text come together in the lowercase a. The lowercase a is the largest element on the page. Its bowl or empty space creates a nice place to tuck something in — a picture, pattern, letters, and so on. The rest of the letters are capitalized, but the lowercase a continues to be the focal point. We can also notice that there are four sizes here. I broke the rule of using only three sizes… but it does not feel that there is competition. The colors are vibrant because, in this case, Cuquin was a vibrant person, and the colors are needed to honor her.
In addition to the items we have added to our summary, we can add the following:
We can use color to convey personality and tone.
We can break a rule as long as it works within the system we have established and does not compete with the focal point.
We can create spaces within the letters or words to tuck in text, patterns, or pictures.
Our last variable to discuss is visual punctuation. Let’s take a look at how everything comes together in this variable.
Visual Punctuation
A common question I often hear from my students is, “What is visual punctuation?” We see it all the time but don’t think about it. Visual punctuation refers to the use of lines, shapes, symbols, and other geometric elements to enhance the hierarchy. Remember, the goal is always to enhance the hierarchy and help the reader’s eye move around the space.
Let’s see some examples of how visual punctuation is actually frequently used and applied in typographic compositions:
The example above uses visual punctuation in the form of the crane to cleverly point to the title. Then it repeats the use of white in the text at the beginning of the instructions. The similarity established creates unity, and the word FOLD pulls our eye back to the top. Notice how the designer also bolded the beginning of each instruction. We saw this before in the weight discussion. The use of the bold weight on each instruction helps us move from one to the other sequentially. It also helps to signal each new step without numbers.
The above example was designed to undermine the sometimes unnecessary rules and regulations that we find in places of worship. The point is not to follow all the rules but rather to focus on the object of affection. Here, a visual point is made to emphasize the conceptual point:
Circles are a great way to call attention to something. And so are the dotted lines. In this example, the dotted and playful line is colored in the same color as the circle on the top left. It points to the new number in the address aligned or set on the imaginary line the base of the number 2 provides. The rest of the address is provided following the same color palette. It creates a type of triangular movement from the top left to the middle right to the bottom left. Notice the sizes too. The numbers are the largest item on the card. There is a nice relationship between the numbers and the top left circle.
In addition to the items we have added to our summary, we can add the following:
We can and should use visual punctuation to enhance the meaning, the concept, or the message.
We can use only one color and one shape.
We can also use more than one color to create a hierarchy.
Now that we have discussed all the variables, it would be a good idea to see them all used together.
All Variables In Examples
We have discussed the variables of proximity, weight, size, size and weight, color, and visual punctuation. Take a look at the following examples and see how many you can identify:
Like these, we can find more examples of the variables used together. In fact, they are used and applied so ubiquitously that we don’t really see them independently from each other. When starting out with typography, it is a good idea to isolate what we see. This is true for any discipline: isolate and then combine them. Learn each one well and then start adding and mixing.
The poster below was designed for a youth program called Empowered. It was a research-based project led by Dr. Krista Mehari with the goal of empowering marginalized young teens to make effective and productive decisions. When she asked me to work with them, we had several brainstorming sessions. The Watch, Wave, and Wait is a poster intended to help the kids memorialize the process of dealing with emotions. In this poster, I broke some rules. While still sticking to the three sizes rule, I managed to create a pattern using repetition of the outline words mimicking the internal thought process we engage in when upset: calm down, calm down, or counting or something similar.
Your Turn!
At this point, after reading this article, you might want to give this process a try. If so, I have prepared a simple table for you to use. Below are some instructions:
Pick content that isn’t too long. For example, a two-page editorial would be too long. But a set of ten-step instructions would be better suited. An excerpt from an essay would be good too.
Do not use letter-size pages. Think smaller: eight inches by eight inches format would be best. We do this to focus on the content and not feel strange if the page does not look “full.” Your sketches, which should be small, will also be square.
Always do your sketches. Always do sketches first. It is the best way to literally think outside the box since you are outside the box, that is, the computer. Do as many sketches as you can think.
For each of the variables, sketch several. Maybe think of four options for each.
Then, take the best two or three for each variable and put them on the computer.
When you print, and you should always print to “see” how the proportions are working, use crop marks to cut the page.
Once you have printed them, tape them to a wall away from you. But tape them upside down. It is the best way to assess proportions, space, hierarchy, balance, tension, and so on.
After you do this, revise them on the computer, print them again, and tape them upside down again.
Once you are certain you have attained a good typographic hierarchy, you can make a small booklet out of them. Below you can see the booklet my former student Anh Dang did for her project, How to Fold a Crane. Or you can create a virtual flipbook showing your masterpieces!
And you needn’t stop there. As you get comfortable with the process, perhaps you want to try designing a poster. Or tackle that two-page editorial layout? Give it a try!
Conclusion
So far, we have seen how these six variables can powerfully transform the content in any format. It is all about how creative we are about organizing things within the parameters. After all, that is what design is about — creative solutions within a set of parameters. The more you practice, the better you get at something, right?
This old adage has proven itself to be true consistently. It applies to typography and anything design. Fine-tuning our senses comes with exposure and repetition. Take any opportunity to design and establish a hierarchy. Even small things like a business card can look incredible when you add a contrast of space, weight, size, size and weight, color, and visual punctuation. If we think about it, we are exposed to these variables daily and constantly. We just don’t look at them as isolated variables that can affect the entire composition. But they do. And once we know how to use them, we can push the boundaries and create pieces with more impact and intention.
Below I am listing resources to look at for more inspiration.
When you learn how people around the world use the internet, it can help you understand what your business’s online presence should look like and how users will interact with your website.
In this article, we’ll share the latest internet usage statistics and trends that all business owners and marketers should know.
Key Internet Statistics and Trends (2022)
We’ve split up these internet statistics into several different categories. You can use the table of contents below to jump to the internet stats you’re most interested in.
As of April 2022, there were five billion internet users worldwide, which is 63% of the global population.
China, India, and the United States rank ahead of all other countries in terms of internet users. As of February 2022, China had more than a billion internet users, and India had approximately 658 million online users.
The global internet penetration rate is 62.5%.
Northern Europe ranks first with a 98% internet penetration rate among the population.
The countries with the highest internet penetration rate worldwide were the UAE, Denmark, and Ireland.
From the year 2000 to 2022, the usage of the internet increased by 1,355%.
The Middle East has seen a 6,141% growth in internet usage since 2000.
There are still over 2.7 billion people in the world with no internet access.
The most popular language on the internet is English. 25.9% of the internet is in English, 19.4% is in Chinese, and 8% is in Spanish.
32% of internet users worldwide are 25 to 34 years old.
Internet usage increased by a whopping 1,355% from the year 2000 to 2022. Now, there are 5 billion internet users worldwide, which is 63% of the global population.
With so many internet users on the planet today, it’s important that every business has a website. Otherwise, you’re missing out on a ton of people who could discover you online.
The Chrome web browser is used by 65.52% of internet users worldwide. Chrome is followed by Safari, which is used by 18.78% of internet users in the world. Microsoft Edge is the 3rd most popular browser at 4.3%, and Firefox is 4th with 3.16%.
The three most popular websites on the internet are Google.com, YouTube.com, and Tmall.com, which is a Chinese online retail platform.
The most popular web search engine is Google, with 92.7% of the market share. Google is followed by Bing, which has only 2.8% of the market share.
The most searched words on Google USA in 2022 were weather, Facebook, and YouTube. Other search words in the top 10 were Amazon, NBA, Gmail, NFL, and Google Translate.
The Google Search Index contains hundreds of billions of pages that add up to over 100,000,000 gigabytes in size.
Almost 30% of global web traffic is generated via online search usage.
There are approximately 106,083 Google searches made every 1 second.
According to a Moz survey, 84% of respondents use Google 3 times a day or more.
Search engines like Google play an important role in how users find and navigate to different websites. This is proven by the fact that 30% of global web traffic is generated via an online search.
In order for your website to be discovered by users in search engine results, it needs to be properly optimized for SEO.
Search engine optimization might seem complicated, especially for beginners, but it doesn’t have to be. See this guide on WordPress SEO to get actionable tips for improving your SEO and increasing organic traffic.
All in One SEO, the best WordPress SEO plugin, will help you set up the proper SEO foundations for your site in minutes. Plus, the SEO audit feature will analyze your entire website to detect any critical errors that could be harming your rankings. Then, provide you with easy recommendations for improvement.
Mobile Internet Usage Statistics
Over 90% of the global internet population uses a mobile device to go online.
In 2021, internet users worldwide spent over 54.7% of their time browsing the internet via mobile phones. This is an increase of 5% compared to 2020, when global internet users spent almost 51% of their online time accessing the internet via mobile devices.
Mobile internet traffic accounts for almost 55% of total web traffic. In mobile-first markets such as Asia and Africa, mobile connections account for an even larger share of webpage views.
Mobile ownership and internet usage are forecast to keep growing in the future. This is largely due to mobile technologies becoming more affordable and readily available.
Samsung has 28.76% of the mobile vendor market share worldwide. Apple is in a close second with 27.83% of the worldwide market.
In 2021, the number of cities with access to 5G reached 1.662 worldwide, which is an increase of more than 20% over the course of the year.
The top three countries with the most extensive 5G in 2022 were China, South Korea, and the United States.
TikTok was the most downloaded app globally in 2021, with 656 million downloads.
In the not-so-distant past, you could only access the internet from a desktop computer. But now, it’s clear to see from these statistics that people are loving being able to access the internet on the go.
Over 90% of the global internet population uses a mobile device to go online, and mobile internet traffic accounts for almost 55% of total web traffic.
Because of this, it’s important that your website looks great and is equally functional on mobile phones and tablets as it is on desktops.
See our recommendations for the best responsive WordPress themes. These themes will automatically adjust to the users’ screen size so you can provide the best experience for mobile users.
Website and Domain Statistics
There are over 1.5 billion websites on the internet today. But, less than 200 million are active.
There are currently 370.7 million registered domain names in the world.
China has the highest number of registered domains, with over 8.8 million domain names accounting for 33.80% of the global share.
The US has only 3.6 million domains registered, which amounts to 14.04% of the global share.
More than 43% of all websites are using WordPress as their content management system.
WordPress holds nearly 65% of the CMS market share.
38% of the top 10,000 websites are powered by WordPress.
Every day, more than 1000 new WordPress sites join the top 10 million websites tracked by W3Techs.com.
It’s easier than ever to create a website on the world wide web today. That might be why there are over 1.5 billion websites on the internet. But, less than 200 million of those are active.
At WPBeginner, we always recommend choosing Bluehost. It’s one of the most reliable hosting companies in the world, and they’re officially by WordPress, the best website builder software. Plus, WPBeginner users can get a free domain name, free SSL certificate, and a discount on web hosting!
In the United States alone, we’re expecting to have 300 million online shoppers in 2023. That’s 91% of the country’s current population.
The countries with the leading average eCommerce revenue per shoppers are: USA ($1,804), UK ($1,629), and Sweden ($1,446).
72% of online shoppers are women, while 68% are men.
Millennials aged 25-34 are the largest group of online shoppers in the US.
59% of shoppers say they do research online before they buy in order to make the best possible choice.
74% of in-store shoppers searched online before going to the physical location. They said they searched for information like the closest store near them, in-stock items, hours, directions, and contact information.
67% of users admit to window shopping for fun on their smartphones.
77% of these digital window shoppers make impulse purchases. If they don’t purchase right away, 70% of them will come back and make a purchase from their device within the first hour of seeing the product.
In 2023, there’s expected to be 300 million online shoppers in the United States alone. That’s 91% of the country’s current population!
But, even with so many online shoppers, it can be hard to generate traffic and sales for your online store because there’s so much competition.
Since 59% of shoppers say they do research online before buying something, it’s vital that your eCommerce website shows up in search engine results if you want to compete with the big guys. You can read our ultimate WooCommerce SEO guide for easy tips.
Of the five billion internet users worldwide, 4.65 billion, or over 93%, are social media users.
Over 230 billion tweets were tweeted on Twitter so far this year.
Nearly 27 billion photos have been uploaded on Instagram this year.
Over 2 trillion videos have been viewed on YouTube so far in 2022.
There are over 4.1 billion email accounts registered by internet users worldwide, that’s 107 million more than in 2019. This number is expected to grow by over 4.3 billion by the end of 2023.
Nearly 75 trillion emails have been sent so far in 2022.
61% of consumers prefer to be contacted by brands through email.
99% of email users check their email every day, with some checking as much as 20 times a day.
58% of users check their email before they check out social media or the news.
40% of people 18 years old and under will always open an email on their mobile device first.
Social media and email are some of the most popular activities online, according to these internet statistics: There are 4.65 billion social media users worldwide and 4.1 billion registered email accounts globally.
Instead of waiting for your target audience to visit your website, you should be reaching out to them on social media platforms and via email. This will make it easier to drive traffic to your site and increase sales.
You can check out our social media cheat sheet for tips on how to set up your social media profiles correctly.
The estimated number of IoT devices will jump to 125 billion by 2030.
By 2022, the smart home (IoT) market is projected to grow to $53.45 billion.
In 2021, about 41.9% of US households owned a smart home device. This is predicted to increase to 48.4% by 2025.
Globally, an estimated 127 new devices connect to the Internet every second.
The wearable devices market will be worth $1.1 billion by 2022.
Approximately 70% of new vehicles worldwide will be internet-connected by 2023.
There will be more than 3 internet-connected devices for every human on the planet by 2023.
The Internet of Things, or IoT, refers to the many physical objects that have been embedded with sensors and software and are now connected to the internet.
According to these internet statistics, there will be more than 3 internet-connected devices for every human on the planet by 2023 and the estimated number of IoT devices will jump to 125 billion by 2030.
So, expect to see more smart refrigerators, locks, doorbells, watches, vehicles, and many other devices, in the near future.
That’s a wrap. We hope these internet usage statistics will provide you with valuable insights for growing your online business. You might also want to check out our ultimate list of blogging statistics, or see our roundup of web design industry stats and trends.
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Recently, one of our readers asked if it was possible to create a subscription box service in WordPress?
Subscription boxes are a popular way of selling physical goods that can be delivered on a regular basis. They work especially well in niche markets.
In this article, we’ll show you how to create a subscription box service in WordPress.
What Is a Subscription Box Service?
A subscription box service is a smart way to bring in regular revenue from your online store with recurring deliveries of physical products.
Subscription boxes are more than just a delivery service. They offer a personalized experience of curated products that bring real value to your customers, such as variety, convenience, and saving money. They work well in niche markets and for boutique products.
For example, HelloFresh is a subscription box service where you can sign up to have meal ingredients delivered to your door every week. Other examples are the Dollar Shave Club and Bean Box, which offer grooming and coffee products in subscription boxes.
Subscription boxes are an effective way to make recurring revenue. They usually have a higher profit margin, and over 2/3s of consumers in the United States have tried them. The market seems to double each year.
With that said, let’s take a look at how to create a subscription box service using WordPress.
What Do You Need to Start a Subscription Box Business?
Starting a subscription box company is easier than you might think. You’ll need the following things:
A theme and target audience for your subscription box
Ecommerce and subscription box plugins to create and manage your products and subscriptions
An hour or two to set it all up.
That’s it!
We’ll walk you through every step of the process in this guide. If you get stuck or have any questions, just leave a comment below or see our guide on how to get WordPress support.
Let’s get started.
Step 1: Set Up Your WordPress Website
The best website builder platform to set up and manage your subscription box business is WordPress, because it’s free and gives you maximum control over your site. This is why over 43% of all websites on the internet use WordPress.
Often beginners make the mistake of choosing the wrong type of WordPress. There are actually two different types, which can be confusing.
You don’t want WordPress.com, which is a hosting service that can get expensive and limits the features you have access to.
The one we recommend is WordPress.org, also called self-hosted WordPress. It’s a completely free software that you install on your own hosting and domain. Don’t worry, that’s easier than it sounds.
To get started, you’ll need to get web hosting.
Normally, web hosting costs $7.99 per month, a domain name starts at $14.99 per year, and an SSL certificate costs around $69.99 per year.
This can be a big investment when you’re just starting out.
Luckily, Bluehost has agreed to offer our readers a big 60% discount on web hosting, plus a free domain name and SSL certificate.
Basically, you can get started for as low as $2.75 per month.
Simply click on the Bluehost button below, and the discount will automatically be applied.
Step 2: Create a Subscription Box Service in WordPress
After your WordPress site is set up, there are a few plugins you’ll need to install to create the subscription box service:
WooCommerce, the world’s most popular eCommerce plugin
WooCommerce Subscriptions, a WooCommerce extension for all kinds of paid subscriptions
Subscription Box for WooCommerce, an addon for the Subscriptions extension that lets your customers create their own boxes.
We will walk you through everything, step by step.
If you don’t have an online store yet, then we have a step by step guide on how to start your online store. This will walk you through the first part, installing WooCommerce.
After installing the WooCommerce Subscriptions plugin, you need to install and activate the Subscription Box for WooCommerce extension.
This extension adds features that make it easy to create a subscription box service, such as allowing your customers to create their own boxes and change their box plan.
After you setup these plugins, you will also need to ensure that you have chosen a website template (also known as a theme). There are dozens of pre-made WooCommerce themes that you can pick from.
Alternatively, if you’re looking to make a custom website design for your store, then you need to use a drag & drop builder like SeedProd. It lets you create completely custom WordPress themes without any code.
Step 3: Add Subscription Box Products
Once your website is setup, the first thing you need to do is add a subscription box product to sell in your online store.
You’ll need to select Products » Add New from your admin menu and type a name for the subscription box.
You should also fill in the normal WooCommerce product settings, such as a description, image, price, and shipping information.
Next, you need to configure the settings for your subscription box. You should scroll down to the ‘Product data’ section and select ‘Box Product’ from the drop down menu.
This will add a new tab to the side menu where you can build a box.
You need to click on the new ‘Build a Box’ tab so you can configure the settings for your subscription box and what it will contain.
First, you need to type a number in the ‘Box Quantity’ field. This is the number of items your customers can place in the box. After that, you need to select how often the items will be delivered, such as daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly.
Next, you need to choose a list of products that your customers can select when creating a custom box on your WordPress site. You can select those products individually in the ‘Products’ field, or simply add an entire product category, such as ‘Coffee’ or ‘Fruit’ in the ‘Product categories’ field.
You might like to choose products that have a similar price and weight. This will keep the total cost and weight of the box consistent, which will help when deciding how much to charge for the subscription box and for shipping.
Not everyone will want to take the time to choose products one by one. You can also create a standard box by selecting products in the ‘Default Products’ field.
To add items to the standard box, you need to search for the product you wish to add, type a quantity, then click the ‘Add To Default Product’ button. Simply repeat these steps until your subscription box is complete.
When you’re finished, don’t forget to click the ‘Publish’ button on the right of the screen to add the subscription box to your WooCommerce store.
If you’d like to add more than one subscription box, then simply repeat these steps.
Step 4: Display Subscription Boxes on Your Online Store
Next, you need to display your subscription boxes in your WooCommerce store.
Head over to Pages » Add New on your dashboard to create a new page. Give the page an engaging title, such as ‘Create a Subscription Box’ or ‘Build Your Own Bundle’.
Next, use the Columns block to add enough columns to display your subscription boxes.
For each column, you’ll need to click the ‘+’ button and add a ‘Build a Box’ block.
Using the Block pane on the left, you can choose the subscription box you wish to display from the ‘Selected Box’ drop down menu.
You can also type the other text that will be displayed, including the box heading and name, subscription label, and button label.
Once you’ve added all your subscription boxes, you’ll need to click the ‘Publish’ button at the top of the page to display them on your website.
When a customer clicks on a subscription box, they will be taken to the shop page for that box. Here they will see the list of products that you made available for this subscription box.
They can add individual products to the box by clicking the ‘Add to Box’ button under the product. They can also select how many of those products will be added.
Alternatively, they can click the ‘Add All’ button to create a standard box. Once they do that, all the default products will be added to the box.
Once the customer is happy with the box contents, they can check out.
We hope this tutorial helped you learn how to create a subscription box service in WordPress.
Have you heard the claim that designing for accessibility leads to a better outcome for everyone? Here’s a story about how an accessibility-first approach led to an overall better visual design for a chart.
In 2018, Kent was a founding member of Google Cloud’s first dedicated data visualization team. Kai joined shortly after the team was formed. Early on, we created several prominently featured visualizations in many Google products. Our team, a passionate group of designers, researchers and engineers, also wrote Material Design’s data visualization guidelines. However, as we continued to fulfill our mission, we realized our work wasn’t as inclusive as we had hoped, and as we started embracing new accessibility standards, we realized we had more work to do. We felt strongly that accessibility transcends compliance and that we had an opportunity to create something that is truly useful.
The Need For Accessible Data Experiences
Data Visualizations Are Ableist
Visualizations only work well for those who can fully see. According to the National Federation of the Blind, 7.6M people in the United States have a vision disability. We also know that color blindness affects 1 in 12 men worldwide. These people are typically not relying on assistive technology, like screen readers, to consume web content, and they will be the focus of our case study. For most of these people, the value and insights provided by a chart get lost, and in some cases, the chart provides little-to-no information. As part of our mission of organizing the world’s information and making it universally accessible, it’s our responsibility to be good citizens of the web by making data accessible to everyone.
An Accessibility-First Approach Led To A Better Visual Design
Similar to mobile-first, the accessibility first approach considers accessibility requirements and constraints at the very beginning of the design process. To do this right, we typically validate our ideas with an accessibility testing team, and we codesign our solutions with people who have disabilities. Through this process, we’ve learned a lot, and it has completely changed the way we think about representing data.
There are many ways to make data accessible, but for now, let’s focus on our accessibility-first approach to visual design. Over the past two years, our team has fielded a lot of questions on data accessibility. Believe it or not, the majority of these questions focus on accessible chart colors, encodings, and visual design. This is why we’d like to focus on visual design for now. Our accessibility-first approach ensures that accessibility is a core to the chart’s visual design without compromising focus, sacrificing readability, or adding unnecessary chartjunk.
Let’s compare this approach to a famous piece of architecture, the Guggenheim museum in New York City. In this museum, all of the exhibits and artworks are arranged around a large, accessible ramp that spirals down through the various levels of the building, as depicted in the image below.
This ramp is a core part of how everyone experiences artwork in the building, and it’s inherently accessible. This is light-years better than the experience in buildings with hidden ramps, lifts, and retrofitted equipment for people with limited-to-no mobility.
Now, let’s look at how we can apply this thinking to visual chart design.
The Challenge
Recently we were tasked with the challenge of helping developers understand the overall latency and performance of their apps, websites, and digital experiences. An app’s underlying codebase is often made up of a series of functions that execute in order for its features to work. The more efficiently the code is structured, the faster the functions execute, and the better the overall app performs.
Reducing latency is an essential part of any good app experience. After all, who wants to stare at loading screens all day long? It became obvious that a visualization would provide a glanceable diagnostic view of the app’s underlying code, and it could be used to help developers spot inefficiencies in the app’s code.
Choosing A Chart
To visualize app performance and latency, we considered several chart types. To do this, we wanted to represent each function in the code base as its own chart. For each function, we’d plot the time it took to execute every time it was run.
There are several charts that are meant to show the distribution of a variable. The early exploration in the image below shows all recorded execution times for the same function in the codebase:
After many runs of the function, we can get a sense of how performant the function is, whether it is typically fast or slow, as illustrated here:
Considering Accessibility Standards
First and foremost, we followed the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (hereafter referred to as WCAG) in order to ensure that our visualization would meet the necessary accessibility standards. These guidelines are often used to determine whether or not a digital experience can be deemed accessible by auditors. This enabled us to narrow down our options and choose a general direction. Initially, we considered using a histogram (see above) as it’s a more scalable solution than the previous examples shown earlier.
Considering Low-Vision Users
We knew that the visualization would need to provide at-a-glance insights, even for people with low vision viewing the content at a 200% zoom level. Due to this, the visualization should be scalable and occupy as little screen real estate as possible by default. That way, when zoomed in, low-vision users do not have to scroll to read the chart.
When histograms are reduced in size, it is especially difficult to compare the heights of their bars and map their values back to the compressed Y-axis. In these cases, readability quickly declines. The next image highlights some common readability issues with compressed histograms:
In some cases, we knew we’d want to compare the performance of multiple functions. It isn’t quite easy to compare the heights of bars between two stacked histograms:
Since we would be limited in our ability to reduce the size of the histogram, we also knew scrolling would become an issue. As a result, we quickly eliminated the possibility of using a histogram.
Instead, we considered using a continuous color ramp to represent the execution times recorded for multiple runs of function in the codebase (see image below). We could also stack multiple swimlanes to provide additional insights.
Considering Color Contrast Requirements
WCAG accessibility guidelines require that graphics achieve a minimum 3:1 contrast ratio with their background. With this requirement, our options for color values are much more limited, especially when displaying a visualization on a white background, which is a core part of Google’s current brand. To accommodate this, instead of applying a continuous color ramp that mapped to a continuous range of values, we decided to use a limited discrete sequential color palette.
The colors can be mapped to a set of grouped value ranges or bins. This technique is known as data binning, and it enabled us to apply a smaller range of colors to the visualization. In doing this, we could ensure we were using colors that meet WCAG’s minimum 3:1 contrast requirement.
The next image shows a comparison of the continuous palette and the binned discrete sequential palette:
To achieve the required 3:1 color contrast ratio, we opened up whitespace between each of the heat map tiles. That way, we didn’t have to worry about the shades of color meeting the contrast ratio with each other.
While this update meets the WCAG accessibility requirements, it makes the heatmap more difficult to read. Moreover, the bold nature of this visualization could take focus away from potentially more important screen elements outside of the visualization, such as warnings and alerts.
Considering Colorblind Users
To reduce the dependency on interpreting colors, WCAG requires that something beyond color is used to communicate meaning. This could be a texture, graphical element, icon symbol, or an additional encoding. It’s easy to add any texture, icon or graphical element to meet this requirement. However, it must be done with a lot of care. During several usability studies conducted on accessible chart designs, we found that participants misinterpreted these additions. Oftentimes people felt they represented an additional metric, status, or carried an unintended meaning. In the end, we’d have to choose something that was subtle yet effective.
After careful consideration, we chose an additional encoding. Once we introduced the idea of binning the value ranges, we could think again about using box height to represent the five possible value ranges as depicted in the image below:
With this change, we had absolute control over the ranges in box heights, and we could ensure it would be easy to compare the heights of all the boxes. The image below illustrates this idea applied to the chart:
Sidestepping The Color Contrast Requirement
Now that we had added a second encoding, we wanted to see how we could improve the design. While WCAG recommends that all colors achieve a 3:1 contrast ratio with the white background, we found some ways to work within the guidelines yet use a broader range of values. Since we’re now using multiple encodings (e.g., color shades and box height) to communicate meaning, we realized our options opened up a bit.
To achieve the required contrast ratio, we added end caps to the top and bottom of each box. These end caps are 3px in thickness and achieve a 4.5:1 contrast ratio. We added subtle rounded corners to give it visual appeal and to ensure it fits within the aesthetic of Google’s Material Design system.
Since the end caps’ position varies, and they achieve the required contrast ratio, we could then apply a broader range of shades to the box fills to strengthen meaning and create a more appealing visual design. We could then use light tones that did not originally achieve the required contrast ratio. We can see an example of this in practice below. The addition of the endcaps was a clever way to ensure low-vision and colorblind users could still read the graph.
A New(ish) Chart Type
The resulting graph is part histogram and part heatmap — we’re calling it a heat lane. It uses binned ranges to represent both time and number of events. It’s a heavy modification to several chart types that seriously flirts with becoming its own new chart type.
So why is this a better visualization for fully sighted people?
As human beings, most of us were born with the natural ability to subconsciously spot trends, patterns, and outliers in the environment. We do this through the images we see, and it happens nearly instantaneously.
Imagine you’re purchasing produce at the grocery store. It’s quite easy to spot the moldy produce that likely wouldn’t be safe to eat. This ability, known as pre-attentive processing, has been integral to our survival as a species for hundreds of thousands of years.
Visualizations are graphics that leverage these core capabilities. In our case, we’ve exploited these capabilities through the design of this particular chart. It’s fairly easy to glean insights and value within milliseconds of glancing at it.
In the case of the heatlane, there’s a visual “blobbing” effect that takes place when glancing at this. It even holds up when squinting at it or when it’s slightly blurred. All of the visual design decisions we made in order to meet accessibility requirements and WCAG standards are a core part of the chart’s design. Because these ideas were not retrofitted to an existing chart, we were able to create an accessible chart without adding extraneous chartjunk or sacrificing visual design and polish.
In addition to aesthetic benefits, our accessibility-first approach led to more useful applications of the chart. In order to start, the heat lane visualization can be stacked repeatedly (see below) so people can understand the correlation of different event types in the stack.
As a bonus, we realized this visualization could be readable as a sparkline as well:
It also works well as a small multiple:
Finally, it can show a few or millions of data points. As we started to apply it in our day-to-day work, we quickly realized that the possibilities were endless. In our opinion, the visual polish really shines through in the last few examples.
Conclusion
Had we not considered the accessibility requirements up front, we might have settled on a generic heatmap or histogram and would not have thought about combining them. We would’ve missed out on creating a more scalable and glanceable visualization that worked for everyone. Similar to how the mobile-first movement improved the way we design digital product experiences, an accessibility-first approach can enable us to create fundamentally better representations of data that can provide more insights and value to everyone.
Doesn’t Accessibility Include More Than Just Visual Design?
This is all just the beginning. While visual design is a core part of accessibility, we’ve been rethinking our overall approach to data visualization, and we’ve been focused on representing data in ways that provide value and insights for everyone, regardless of their ability. For example, we’ve been structuring our charts in ways that are easy to navigate using a keyboard for people with limited motor skills.
As we’re building charts, we ensure that we’re following the specifications for creating Accessible Rich Internet Applications (ARIA) by using the correct roles, landmarks and attributes so that all the chart’s elements can be properly interpreted by the browser’s screen reader. We’re also determining better ways to highlight emerging trends, spikes, dips and outliers in the data using text. In some cases, we’re even using sonification and providing insightful audio summaries that surface insights within the data. Stay tuned for more on this in the future.
Resources
To get started in thinking about data accessibility, check out some of these resources:
We’re incredibly proud of our colleagues who contributed to this visualization, including Sierra Seeborn, Jess Klos, Nicholas Cottrell, and Saurabh Kumar. Without everyone’s contributions, we wouldn’t have been able to create, develop and deploy this design as rapidly as we did.
Starting off the new month with a little inspiration boost — that’s the motivation behind our monthly wallpapers series that we’ve been running for more then eleven years now. Every month, we invite you, our dear readers, to challenge your creative skills and submit your wallpaper designs to it. And, of course, it wasn’t any different this time around.
For this edition, creative folks from all across the globe took on the challenge and created beautiful and unique wallpapers to tell their story or, well, just cater for some good vibes on your screens. The wallpapers all come in versions with and without a calendar for July 2022 and can be downloaded for free. Thank you to everyone who shared their artworks with us — you’re smashing!
Last but not least, to make your July even more colorful, you’ll also find a little best-of from our wallpapers archives at the end of this post. Maybe you’ll rediscover one of your almost forgotten favorites in there, too? Enjoy!
You can click on every image to see a larger preview,
We respect and carefully consider the ideas and motivation behind each and every artist’s work. This is why we give all artists the full freedom to explore their creativity and express emotions and experience through their works. This is also why the themes of the wallpapers weren’t anyhow influenced by us but rather designed from scratch by the artists themselves.
Submit a wallpaper! Did you know that you could get featured in our next wallpapers post, too? We are always looking for creative talent.
Melting July
“Welcome to the sweltering July — the month when it’s so hot that even the fruits are edgy. Our ice-creamy, vibrantly-colored monthly calendar is melting as the temperature rises, so make sure to download it as quickly as possible!” — Designed by PopArt Studio from Serbia.
“Our designers can’t live without being affected by the war in Ukraine. Recent escalation and missile attacks on civilian objects made them reflect on that and as a result, they created this wonderful calendar in the colors of the Ukrainian flag. The bird represents the freedom that we sooner or later get through a long struggle. You can find more free calendars in our post. Thank you!” — Designed by MasterBundles from Ukraine.
“I played with a shape looking like a starfish, this one is made with a mathematical formula. Then I put all the shapes on the screen, according to a Poisson disc sampling distribution. Poisson is the french word for fish, it’s also the name of a french mathematician. Finally, all this made me think of a pond with water lilies, a refreshing atmosphere for July.” — Designed by Philippe Brouard from France.
“July is the month where the Buck Moon takes place, also known as the full moon. With the brightest light shining upon Earth’s night and the male deer’s antlers growing at their fullest.” — Designed by Linda Lin from the Netherlands.
Our wallpapers archives are full of timeless treasures that are just too good to be forgotten. So here’s a small selection of favorites from past July editions. Please note that these designs don’t come with a calendar.
“I’m an avid runner, and I have some beautiful natural views surrounding my city. The Smoky Mountains are a bit further east, so I took some liberties, but Tennessee’s nature is nothing short of beautiful and inspiring.” — Designed by Cam Elliott from Memphis, TN.
“Summer is coming in the northern hemisphere and what better way to enjoy it than with watermelons and cannonballs.” — Designed by Maria Keller from Mexico.
“July in South Africa is dreary and wintery so we give all the southern hemisphere dwellers a bit of colour for those grey days. And for the northern hemisphere dwellers a bit of pop for their summer!” — Designed by Wonderland Collective from South Africa.
“The objective of this date is to draw attention to the production and over-consumption of plastic bags worldwide, presenting alternatives to solve this serious environmental problem. It is urgent to change the behavior of all human beings regarding the use of plastic bags. For the preservation of the environment, we should use the same plastic bag for shopping, recycling or use paper bags. In this wallpaper I drew a plastic bag with a turtle inside it, as if it was imprisoned by its own bag, as if the ocean was reduced to a plastic bag, emphasizing the seriousness of this environmental problem, which has tortured both turtles and many others marine species.” — Designed by Carolina Santos from Portugal.
“What’s better than a starry summer night with an (unexpected) friend around a fire camp with some marshmallows? Happy July!” — Designed by Etienne Mansard from the UK.
“It is July and the most awaited moment arrives… Holidays! We pack our bags and go to relax! Happy holidays!” — Designed by Veronica Valenzuela from Spain.
“The car wash down the street. I went to get my car washed for free and when the car entered the tunnel, the soap and the lights created some colorful and gorgeous images. I photographed them all. Car wash businesses remind me of my family. My Dad owned gas stations and my brother used to wash cars when he was young. Plus, back where I am originally from, car washing is done frequently because we have warm weather all year around.” — Designed by Alma Hoffmann from Puerto Rico, US.
“And once you let your imagination go, you find yourself surrounded by eternal summer, unexplored worlds and all-pervading warmth, where there are no rules of physics and colors tint the sky under your feet.” — Designed by Ana Masnikosa from Belgrade, Serbia.
“In times of clean eating and the world of superfoods there is one vegetable missing. An old, forgotten one. A flower actually. Rare and special. Once it had a royal reputation (I cheated a bit with the blue). The artichocke — this is my superhero in the garden! I am a food lover — you too? Enjoy it — dip it!” — Designed by Alexandra Tamgnoué from Germany.
“I enjoy creating tropical designs, they fuel my wanderlust and passion for the exotic. Instantaneously transporting me to a tropical destination.” — Designed by Tamsin Raslan from the United States.
“Snails can be inspiring! If you keep heading towards your goal, even if it is just tiny steps, enjoy the journey and hopefully it will be worth the effort.” — Designed by Glynnis Owen from Australia.
“Make sure you have a refreshing source of ideas, plans and hopes this July. Especially if you are to escape from urban life for a while.” — Designed by Igor Izhik from Canada.
Do you want to accept ACH payments on your WordPress website?
ACH (Automated Clearing House) payments are a bank-to-bank payment method in the United States. ACH payments help save transaction fees for business owners since they are a lot lower than a credit card or digital wallet transaction fees.
In this article, we’ll show you how to accept ACH payments in WordPress.
Why Accept ACH Payments in WordPress?
If your business is located in the United States, then you can lower your transaction fees by a lot when you accept ACH payments on your WordPress site. It’s a perfect payment method if you regularly accept large amounts of money from customers.
For example, the Stripe fee for accepting ACH payments is just 0.8% per transaction, with a maximum cap of $5.
On the other hand, a typical credit card or digital wallet payment fee is 2.9% + USD 0.30 per transaction. Even newer methods like Apple Pay charge a 1.5% fee, nearly double ACH.
Keeping these fees in mind, let’s say a customer pays $100. Through ACH payments, the transaction fee would be roughly $0.80. At the same time, the transaction fee for the same amount through a credit card or digital wallet would be $3.20.
Similarly, on an $800 payment amount, the transaction fee through ACH would be $6.40, and through cards or digital wallets would be $23.50. What this means is that the higher the transaction amount, the more you’ll save in transaction costs.
Another advantage of using ACH payments is getting higher customer retention and reducing the churn rate. Credit and debit cards expire after a certain period, which means that customers will stop doing business until their cards are renewed. With ACH payments, you can overcome this issue and reduce involuntary churn.
That said, let’s look at how you can accept ACH payments in WordPress.
We’ll use the WP Simple Pay Pro version for this tutorial because it includes ACH payments, on-site payment forms, and other features. There is also a free version of the plugin, but it doesn’t have an ACH payment option.
First, you’ll need to install and activate the WP Simple Pay plugin. If you need help, then please see our detailed guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.
Once the plugin is active, it will automatically launch the setup wizard. Go ahead and click the ‘Let’s Get Started’ button.
On the next screen, you’ll need to enter the license key. You can easily find the license key in your WP Simple Pay account area.
After entering the key, you can click the ‘Activate and Continue’ button.
Next, you’ll need to connect WP Simple Pay with Stripe.
Stripe is a popular payment gateway that allows you to collect ACH payments on your WordPress site.
Go ahead and click the ‘Connect with Stripe’ button.
After that, you can log in to your Stripe account and connect it with WP Simple Pay.
Once your Stripe account is connected, WP Simple Pay will show different email options to configure. You can enable emails for payment receipts, upcoming invoices, and payment notifications.
Next, enter your business email address where you’d like to receive these emails, and then click the ‘Save and Continue’ button.
After that, you’ll arrive at the last step in the setup wizard, where you’ll need to create a payment form. Simply click on the ‘Create a Payment Form’ button.
Setting Up a WP Simple Pay Payment Form
You can also create a payment form in WP Simple Pay by going to WP Simple Pay » Add New from your WordPress dashboard.
You will see a number of payment form templates. You need to hover over the ‘ACH Direct Debit Form’ template and then click the ‘Use Template’ button that appears.
You’ll find yourself on the ‘General’ tab of the payment form editor. If you like, you can rename the form and give it a description.
We’ll leave the other settings with their default values.
Next, go to the ‘Payment’ tab in the payment form and enter the price amount and label.
You should also set up whether it is a one-time payment or a recurring subscription.
After that, head down to the ‘Form Field’ tab.
Under the Payment Method section, you’ll notice that the ‘ACH Direct Debit’ and ‘Card’ payment options have already been selected for you. If you like, you can also select any other payment methods that you’d like to use.
Next, you can preview your ACH payment form and then publish it.
To do that, simply click the ‘Publish’ button in WP Simple Pay.
You can now add your ACH payment form anywhere on your WordPress website.
To start, go ahead and add a new page or edit an existing one. Once you’re in the content editor, simply add a WP Simple Pay block. After that, you should select your ACH form from the dropdown menu.
Once that’s done, you can preview your page and publish it.
Now you can visit your website to see the ACH payment form in action. Here’s a preview of what it looks like on our demo site.
Final Thoughts on Adding ACH Payments in WordPress
The above method is the simplest way to accept ACH payment in WordPress without using a shopping cart.
However, if you’re using WordPress for your online store or to sell digital downloads, then most of those eCommerce plugins also support ACH payments.
For example, you can use Easy Digital Downloads to sell digital downloads like eBooks, software, music, etc, and it lets you accept ACH payments.
Alternatively, WooCommerce will allow you to sell physical goods and accept ACH payments.
Gone are the wild cowboy days of rustling websites. To avoid heavy fines, your website must comply with a dizzying number of web accessibility, data security, and user privacy laws. This guide shows you how to become web compliant in our data-driven digital world to avoid breaking the law and the bank.
Information age. Digital Data. People. Put these together and you can find yourself in a whole world of hurt if your website handles its users’ personal data incorrectly.
Whether you own a website or build websites for clients using WordPress, this guide will help you understand everything you need to know to make your WordPress website compliant with privacy and GDPR laws and regulations using plain and simple language.
GDPR can be a Giant Dang Pain in the Rear…unless you follow this simple guide!
Broadly speaking, web compliance refers to all the legal requirements, policies, regulations, and standards your digital presence (e.g. your website) must observe to providers users with:
Accessibility
Personal Data Protection
This guide focuses on the laws, rules, and regulations governing privacy, personal data protection, and the global impact of the GDPR on businesses and websites.
To learn more about laws and regulations governing website accessibility and making your WordPress site accessible, see our comprehensive guide to accessibility and WordPress.
Why Protect Personal Data?
Virtually everything we do nowadays involves the digital processing and handling of personal data.
As exemplified in movies like The Great Hack, large businesses and corporations harvest and leverage personal data for a wide range of purposes.
Most small businesses have also been conditioned to collect as much data about their leads and customers as they can to improve their marketing. Most businesses, however, don’t know what to do with the collected data or how to securely store this information.
Personal data, then, has become a key business asset and the right to protect individuals from having their personal data misused or abused poses a serious risk and concern in the digital information age.
Users have the right to protect their personal data under GDPR and privacy rules. (Infographic: ec.europa.eu)
What is GDPR?
On April 14, 2016, the European Commission approved a privacy law designed to protect the rights of all EU citizens (28 member states) and give citizens back control of their personal data.
This privacy law is known as the General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR, and it has major implications on a global scale for anyone doing business online.
“The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a Regulation of the European Union that protects natural persons (called data subjects) regarding the processing and free movement of their personal data.”
The GDPR was officially published in 2016 as “Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016” and became applicable on 25 May 2018.
It replaced the EU’s earlier Data Protection Directive, which was in place since wa-a-a-a-y back in 1995, when very few people used the internet.
The digital landscape has radically transformed since 1995 and so the European Union decided that something more fit for dealing with personal data challenges in a world of big data and increasing digitization was needed and that it was time to reform the existing framework of data protection rules.
“The GDPR is designed for a single digital market in which organizations that are processing personal data know what they can do and what they can’t do with personal data. This way the digital economy, in which data are essential, should blossom in an increasingly data-intensive world.”
In short, the GDPR offers the regulatory framework designed to accommodate the reality of today’s digital world, while protecting the individual’s right to control his or her personal data.
To ensure compliance with its regulations, the GDPR has the right to enforce fines and penalties on companies and businesses that fail to take appropriate steps to be GDPR compliant.
While the GDPR is meant to protect the rights of European Union citizens, the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) affects millions of businesses all over the world. It even affects individuals, charities, and businesses of all sizes.
If your business has any dealings with European citizens (i.e. they visit your site) and you engage in any kind of personal data processing, including the storage of personal data, gathering and collecting personal data (regardless of means), aggregating, recording, exchanging, analyzing, publicizing, digitizing, enriching, structuring, changing, searching, leveraging, deleting, structuring, destroying, uploading or simply using/keeping personal data, then you will probable be required to comply with GDPR regulations or be liable for non-GDPR compliance.
And that’s just the icing on the cake. GDPR is far more wide-reaching than the above overview.
GDPR Terminology in a Nutshell
GDPR uses a whole range of jargon and terminology. So, before we go any deeper, it’s important to understand GDPR terms and concepts like the ones listed below:
GDPR Terminology
Accountability
The first step in achieving data compliance is to understand and designate who in your business owns data.
Natural Person
By legal definition, an individual human being.
Legal Person
Any individual, company, or entity with legal rights.
Data Subject
The individual the personal data is about.
Personal Data
A person’s data (name, ID, number, location data, online identifiers, or one or more factors specific to the physical, physiological, genetic, mental, economic, cultural, or social identity of the natural person.)
Personally Identifiable Information (PII)
Any bit of information (data) that allows you to identify an individual person.
Consent
Unambiguous indication, permissions, or clear positive action an individual gives verbally or in writing signifying they agree with the processing of their Personal Data. Note: Users must give explicit consent through affirmative action (i.e. not via pre-ticked forms), after reviewing clearly worded information kept separate from other terms and conditions.
Processing
Anything done to personal data is classed as ‘processing’. This includes but is not limited to: recording, structuring, storing, and analysis.
Profiling
When you process data with the aim of making an informed decision about an individual. Namely, to analyze their preferences, interests, behavior, location, or movements.
Data Breach
An incident where sensitive, protected, or confidential personal information and personal data has been accessed, stolen, or used without authorization, potentially exposing an individual’s Personal Data and/or compromising their security. This is what the GDPR aims to prevent.
Data Protection Authority
A Data Protection Authority handles reports of data breaches, mediates issues like data subject access requests and works to educate their country about best practices in keeping digital data secure.
Supervisory Authority
The independent public Data Protection Authority responsible for monitoring compliance with GDPR, helping organizations become compliant with GDPR, and enforcing compliance and conducting investigations in their jurisdiction (e.g. the Information Commissioner’s Office [ICO-UK], Data Protection Commissioner [DPC-Ireland], etc.)
Data Controller
The Data Controller is a person or a group of people that decides the purpose and way in which personal data is processed.
Data Processor
The Data Processor is any person (other than an employee of the Data Controller) that holds and processes data on behalf of a data controller.
Data Protection Officer (DPO)
An appointed individual or legal entity in an organization with the responsibility of ensuring that the organisation meets their obligations under GDPR and processes the personal data of its staff, customers, providers, or any other individuals (data subjects) in compliance with all applicable data protection rules.
Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA)
The way to identify any risks in the methods used to process data.
Data Processing Agreement
If your organization is subject to the GDPR, you must have a written data processing agreement in place with all your data processors (e.g. email clients, cloud storage service, website analytics software, etc.).
Legitimate Interests
This is a grey area and refers to the right a company has for contacting an individual based on their judgement that the individual will legitimately want (or need) to receive the information.
Right to be informed
The Data Subject’s right to receive adequate and clear information about what data is being collected, how it is being used, how long it will be kept, and whether it will be shared with any third parties. This can be stated in a clear, open, and transparent Privacy Policy.
Right to notification
The Data Subject’s right to be notified in writing by a company if they have been hacked and if the security threat exposed their personal user data.
Right to access
The Data Subject’s right to ask a Data Controller for all the Personal Data they hold concerning them – free of charge. Companies will typically request proof of identity before releasing any personal data and have one month to collect and send users this information, although there are exceptions for requests that are unfounded, repetitive or excessive.
Right to rectification
The Data Subject’s right to request that their data be updated if the information is inaccurate or incomplete. As with the right to access, companies have one month to comply with user requests and the same exceptions apply.
Right to withdraw consent
The Data Subject’s right to withdraw their consent to process their data at any time.
Right to erasure (Right to be forgotten)
The Data Subject’s right to request that a company delete all of their personal user data in its entirety from their systems (e.g. database) permanently ‘without undue delay’. Users can request erasure of their data in circumstances such as when the data is no longer necessary, the data was unlawfully processed, or if it no longer meets the lawful ground for which it was collected. Note: This can be somewhat counterintuitive when the database is a suppression file. Currently, there is no clear guidance regarding suppression.
Right to restrict processing
The Data Subject’s right to limit or prevent the processing of personal data. This is an alternative to requesting the erasure of data, and might be used when users contest the accuracy of their personal data or when they no longer need the information but companies are required to keep it to establish, exercise, or defend a legal claim. Note: This does not mean that companies have the right to delete the data, but they cannot do more than store it (and make sure that enough information is kept to ensure the user’s wish to ‘block’ processing is respected in the future).
Right to data portability
Companies must allow users the ability to download their data from their website or digital platform in a machine-readable or structured digital (electronic) format, such as a CSV file. The downloaded data can then be shared with another company should the user choose to do so.
Right to object
Data subjects can object to the processing of personal data that is collected on the grounds of legitimate interests or the performance of a task in the interest or exercise of official authority. Once this right is exercised, the company must stop processing information unless they can demonstrate compelling legitimate grounds for the processing that overrides the interests, rights and freedoms of the individual, or if the processing is for the establishment or exercise of defence of legal claims.
Right to complain
Data subjects have the right to contact the organization or make a complaint to the relevant control authority if, for any reason, they are not happy with the way their personal data is being handled.
Rights related to automated decision-making including profiling.
The GDPR includes provisions for decisions made with no human involvement, such as profiling, which uses personal data to make calculated assumptions about individuals. There are strict rules about this kind of processing, and individuals are permitted to challenge and request a review of the processing if they believe the rules are not being followed.
Special categories of data
Data concerning the racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, trade union memberships, genetic data, biometric data, data concerning health or sex life or sexual orientation of an individual.
GDPR Awareness vs GDPR Compliance
Being aware of the GDPR is not the same as being GDPR compliant, but it’s the first step.
“The first stage in any plan to prepare for compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is GDPR awareness with a special focus on staff awareness as the first step towards personal data protection.”
GDPR awareness involves a whole lot more than just “being aware” that GDPR exists. It means taking steps to understand what GDPR is, what its implications are for your business (and for non-compliance), and how to create a culture in your organization that:
Understands and values the importance of (and consequences of not properly handling) personal and sensitive data
Empowers people to know what they can and can’t do under GDPR
Is able to demonstrate that you did what you could in case there is a data violation or data breach incident
Includes all stakeholders in the creation of a proper strategic plan.
GDPR awareness should lead to a buy-in at the executive level to learn, understand, value, respect, and commit to incorporating GDPR compliant data protection and handling measures into the overall strategic plan of your organization.
This should then filter through to all employees by educating them about GDPR, making them aware of all the areas impacted by the handling of personal data, and ensuring that they too value and respect personal data and commit to observing all the processes involved in protecting and handling it.
Additionally, this awareness must also extend to reviewing and assessing every partner you work with and understanding how they handle personal data.
In short, as far as GDPR compliance goes, protecting personal data in your business is everyone’s business.
Do you need to appoint a Data Protection Officer (DPO)? Use this quick checklist to find out! (Infographic: ec.europa.eu)
How GDPR Impacts Your Business and Website
The next stage after GDPR awareness is GDPR compliance.
This requires assessing, reviewing, planning, strategizing, and implementing a number of processes into your business to ensure compliance including informing, educating, and training everyone in your organization to understand, value, and follow these processes.
This is an area where many businesses struggle, despite being willing to comply with and investing a significant amount of money into GDPR compliance measures.
For example, in the 2019 GDPR.eu Small Business Survey, over 700 small business leaders in Spain, the United Kingdom, France, and Ireland were asked how their businesses were coping with the new GDPR requirements and reported findings like:
Only about half of the businesses surveyed believed their organizations are fully compliant with the GDPR.
Less than half said they describe their data processing activities in clear, plain language to data subjects.
Despite being eager to comply with the GDPR and spending tens of thousands on consultants and IT solutions, many were still confused by the more technical aspects of data security.
A significant number admitted they did not comply with central requirements of the law (such as claiming to use an end-to-end encrypted email provider but being unable to name a service with this kind of encryption built in)
Nearly half said they did not always determine a lawful basis for processing user data before doing so (which is a key provision of the GDPR).
Millions of businesses are still not fully GDPR compliant, despite a significant amount of compliance-related spending. Source: 2019 GDPR.eu Small Business Survey.
With 23.5 million small and medium-sized businesses in the European Union alone, the above findings indicate there are still a potentially significant number of businesses that are not yet GDPR compliant.
Does My Website Need to Comply with GDPR?
There are instances where GDPR may not apply to your business/website, (Remember, we are not lawyers and neither are most of the article writers referred to here, so make sure to consult a proper lawyer if you think GDPR doesn’t apply to you!)
For example, if you don’t operate in the EU and you don’t offer goods and services in the EU and you don’t monitor the behavior of people in the EU and you don’t process personal data of people in the EU and you are not processing unstructured paper records of people in the EU using either automated or manual methods, or you have been granted an exemption, then GDPR might not apply to you.
This, however, is not as clear cut as it may sound.
For example, GDPR does apply to you in the following situations:
You have no office or employees in the EU, but EU citizens can obtain goods and services (paid or free) online from you.
Your website offers payments in a currency used in a EU country (e.g. Euros), or uses a language spoken in a EU country (e.g. Polish), or mentions EU customers or users.
Your website uses tracking cookies on its website to run Facebook retargeting ads and a EU citizen visits your site (so you are inadvertently monitoring their behavior).
Your website records IP addresses, pseudonymized, or encrypted data (all these can be considered to be personal data).
You’re using a computer (or other electronic device) to send an email to a EU citizen (automated processing of personal data).
The filing cabinet in your office or a drawer in your desk contains a sign-in sheet, an employee record, a customer invoice, a contact detail, or a contract from an EU citizen as part of your business record-keeping (manual processing of personal data).
GDPR exemptions don’t apply to private companies. These are generally granted to law enforcement agencies, journalists, universities, etc. to allow them to perform their required activities.
The above suggests it’s probably best to err on the side of caution. If you think your site needs to comply with GDPR, it probably does (and if you don’t think it does, consult a GDPR-savvy lawyer to be sure).
What about Brexit and 2020… is GDPR still a requirement?
After the UK left the EU on 1 January 2019, there was a transition period, during which EU law applied in the UK. When this transition period ended on 31 December 2020, EU law ceased to apply directly.
The DPPEC (Data Protection, Privacy and Electronic Communications) then amended the EU GDPR to create a domestic data protection law: the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR).
The UK GDPR is the UK’s post-Brexit version of the EU GDPR. It is very similar to the EU GDPR, so organisations that comply with the latter are likely to be in compliance with the former.
It is interesting to note that the GDPR has not only affected countries outside the European Union like the UK, it has also influenced countries outside the European Region like Brazil to form their own version of the GDPR (LGPD).
From this, we can expect to see more GDPR-like regulations emerging around the world that will extend to every country and affect how we do business online in the global digital economy.
In other words, if you process personal data of residents of the EU, UK, Brazil, etc. your business (and your website) will have to comply with various regulations like the EU GDPR, UK GDPR, LGPD, etc.
Consequences of not complying with GDPR
In order to enforce GDPR compliance, GDPR regulators in EU member states can issue stiff fines, ensuring that non-compliance with GDPR will be more costly than complying.
The official site then goes on to say that “Any organization that is not GDPR compliant, regardless of its size, faces a significant liability.”
As GDPR applies to all types of businesses from multinationals down to micro-enterprises, the GDPR can impose flexible administrative fines for infringements that scale with the type of firm, and factors like the nature, gravity, duration, intention, and number of instances the organization is found to be in breach of the regulations.
Article 83 for instance, states that companies at the higher end of the scale can be fined for non-compliance with GDPR regulations up to €20 million, or up to 4 % of their total worldwide annual turnover of the preceding financial year, whichever is higher.
Regulators aren’t just going for the big fish either. Smaller fines and penalties ranging from wrist-slaps and warnings to hundreds or thousands of euros are being meted out to businesses of all sizes. Although currently only businesses within the EU are being fined, under the GDPR, businesses outside the EU can also be fined.
Non-compliance with GDPR rules can have serious legal and financial consequences. (Infographic: ec.europa.eu)
What Is A GDPR Audit?
As we have just seen, if your business falls within the scope of the GDPR, there’s a lot of work you must do to become GDPR compliant.
A lot of this work takes place within your business, such as becoming GDPR-aware, appointing a Data Protection Officer (DPO), etc. This can be assessed by carrying out a GDPR Audit.
GDPR regulations require transparency and a lawful basis for all data processing activities.
Organizations that have at least 250 employees or conduct higher-risk data processing are required to keep an up-to-date and detailed list of their processing activities and be prepared to show that list to regulators upon request. The best way to demonstrate GDPR compliance is using a data protection impact assessment,
Businesses with fewer than 250 employees should also conduct an assessment because it will make complying with the GDPR’s other requirements easier.
To comply with GDPR regulations, businesses should conduct an information audit of their data processing activities to determine things like:
The purposes of the processing.
Legal justifications for collecting, using, and storing personal data.
What information and kind of data is/will be processed in the organization.
Who has/will have access to the data in the organization.
How the data will be protected (e.g. encryption).
How the data is being/will be stored securely to protect data subject rights (and all the locations where data is/will be stored).
When and how data will be erased (if possible).
How information about data processing activities will be communicated to users and regulators.
Which third parties (and where they are located) have/will have access to the data
And more!
Performing a GDPR audit, however, is not enough. The business must also be able to answer questions like:
Have we located every digital store of personal data in our organisation?
Are we regularly checking our data for personal or sensitive information?
Are we collecting personal data in a way that supports ongoing data quality management?
Are there any opportunities to minimise our data?
Can we handle simultaneous requests from multiple users for access to information about their data within a reasonable timeframe?
Is there a plan in place in the event of a data breach? Has this plan been tested?
We recommend going through this GDPR checklist to begin the auditing process. If you need additional help with your GDPR audit, you may also want to engage the services of a qualified consultant and a lawyer.
Use the GDPR checklist to perform an audit of your business and assess your level of compliance.
As you can see, making sure your business GDPR compliant requires a lot of work.
Let’s turn our attention now to what you can do to make your website comply with GDPR’s rules and regulations.
Making Your Website GDPR Compliant
Businesses have been conditioned to collect as much data about their leads and customers as they can to improve their marketing.
Most businesses, however, don’t know what to do with the collected data or how to securely store this information.
Additionally, the introduction of GDPR laws with harsh penalties to protect personal user data and privacy rights implies that what was previously considered “best practice” in areas like website design were potentially fraught with opportunities to misuse and abuse user data.
Even though most web developers and web designers don’t work directly with user data collected from a website or digital property they are the ones responsible for creating the website that will handle the data.
New, GDPR-compliant best practices for website planning, design, and development, then, need to be created and implemented.
How GDPR Impacts Website Planning and Functionality
Data protection and privacy by design begins in the website planning phase. (Infographic: ec.europa.eu)
GDPR impacts web design and web development significantly. Websites are now incorporating something called privacy by design to ensure compliance.
“The GDPR has given birth to a new design concept simply referred to as privacy by design. The design principle states that any digital product collecting or using private data must implement strict privacy measures as part of the website design and development process.”
Businesses have been conditioned to collect as much data about their leads and customers as they can to improve their marketing.
Most businesses, however, don’t know what to do with the collected data or how to securely store this information.
Even though most web developers and web designers don’t work directly with user data collected from a website or digital property they are responsible for creating the website that will handle this data.
Designing an accessible and GDPR compliant website that respects the privacy and data rights of all web users, therefore, starts at the website planning stage.
This involves:
Creating an interface design that is accessible, understandable, and usable.
Taking an active role in understanding and implementing data security and privacy in the website and database designs.
Creating a plan to “bake in” data privacy and data security measures into every aspect of the design and development process.
Creating/updating the site’s privacy policy, privacy measures, user data collection, cookie consents, etc.
GDPR regulations require controllers to implement appropriate technical and organizational measures to ensure that only personal data which is necessary for each specific purpose of the processing is processed.
As this obligation applies to the amount of personal data collected, the extent of their processing, the period of their storage and their accessibility, website designers and web developers should ask questions like the ones below when formulating a plan for data privacy:
Zero party data – this is data that customers give to businesses freely and willingly with full consent in order to create a more personalized and rewarding online experience.
First party data – this is unique and identifiable data that businesses collect directly from users using their own online (e.g. website) or offline channels. This type of data includes transactional data, demographic data, behavioral data, information obtained from customer service, etc.
Second party data – this is another company’s first party data that’s packaged and sold to other businesses with no third-party involved. Businesses use this data to build a better picture of their own customer base.
Third party data – this data is typically collected from many sources, aggregated into one dataset, and packaged and sold through a data exchange marketplace.
How will this data be collected?
Typical methods for collecting data include customers entering payment details upon check out or signing up for a newsletter. However, data can also be collected via web analytics tools (e.g. Google Analytics) tracking pixels in emails and newsletters, website cookies and mouse-tracking heatmaps on landing pages, surveys, polls, quizzes, social media events, integrations with CRMs, etc.
With GDPR and other privacy laws, it’s important that data be collected with the user’s full knowledge and consent. For example, the ePrivacy Directive requires that companies obtain consent before dropping a tracker or a cookie on a visitor’s device and tracking online.
How will the site’s data be processed?
Since GDPR compliance requires companies to take every necessary step to protect customers’ data (including data shared with a third party), businesses must inform customers in their privacy policy if a third party processor is used (and all third parties must also comply with GDPR’s rules and regulations).
How will the site’s data be stored?
When building a website, map out a data storage workflow and then make sure to communicate this to users in the site’s privacy policy.
For example, in the screenshot below, this company is clearly informing its users how and where their data is stored and the security measures being used to safeguard their personal data.
Make sure to inform users where their data is being stored. Source: Nederlia.
How long will the data be stored for?
Article 5 section of the GDPR defines limitation principles for the storage of all data collected from users. Compliance requires businesses to ensure they implement data storage processes like:
Not keeping personal data for longer than needed.
Performing periodic reviews to identify and address data stored beyond its intended use (note: businesses can store personal data beyond the initially stated purpose for things like public interest archiving, scientific or historical research, or statistical purposes)
Implementing measures such as anonymization or pseudonymization to safeguard data subject rights if storing personal data beyond its initial purpose and retention period.
How will personal data be handled when it’s no longer needed?
After personal data has exceeded its initial purpose and retention period, businesses can either erase, anonymize, or pseudonymize the data.
Data anonymization protects private or sensitive information by erasing or encrypting identifiers that connect an individual to stored data. Although strict, GDPR allows companies to collect anonymized data without consent, use it for any purpose, and store it for an indefinite time—as long as all identifiers are removed from the data.
Pseudonymization allows business to perform data analysis and data processing but makes data records less identifiable.
What data security measures will the site implement?
One of the key principles of GDPR is to safeguard the personal data of your website users. Data security measures used to ensure the safeguarding of personal data include using secure web hosting servers, firewalls, data encryption, single sign-on (SSO), and two-factor authentication.
What are the risks associated with obtaining the client’s proposed data?
There are a number of issues related to security, privacy, and compliance that businesses need to take into account when obtaining data.
With second party data, for example, businesses need to trust the vendors providing the data and be sure that they have permission to collect and share that data with others.
With third party data, it’s even more difficult to know if the data has been collected with proper consent.
Additional questions:
When planning your website, make sure to consider other questions related to compliance, such as:
If pulling personal data from an API, do all fields proposed by the client need to be filled?
If planning to use geo-location services (e.g. a store locator), does the site really need to use the users’ location?
Privacy Policy
There are two main reasons for having a Privacy Policy:
They are legally required. Global privacy laws require Privacy Policies if you collect or use personal information.
Consumers expect to see them. Make your Privacy Policy easily accessible to users on your website. Link to it from your main menu (e.g. under ‘Legal Pages’), your website’s footer, and anywhere else on your site where you plan to request personal information.
What is a privacy policy?
A privacy policy is a statement that explains in simple language how an organisation or agency handles their users’ personal information.
What to include in a privacy policy
Privacy laws around the world dictate require businesses and organizations that collect personal information from their website visitors to post a Privacy Policy on their site (and mobile app if applicable).
Many third-party services used to enhance website performance (e.g. advertising programs, analytic tools, and payment processors) also require sites to have a Privacy Policy.
Although different legal jurisdictions may differ in their Privacy Policy requirements, most generally include details like:
Organization name and contact details
What types of personal information will be collected and stored
How personal information is collected and where it is stored
Use of cookies
Reasons for collecting personal information
How personal information will be used and disclosed
How users can access their personal information, or ask for a correction
How users can lodge a complaint if they think their information has been mishandled, and how complaints will be handled
If the information will or is likely to be disclosed to third-party data processing partners (and if so, which)
Other information. For example, how long personal information is kept and if it must be scanned.
The process for informing users of any changes to the Privacy Policy
With regards to GDPR, as well as providing clear information about the processing of data and legal justification in the privacy policy, Article 12 requires businesses to tell people that they are collecting their data and explain why.
As stated in the GDPR,
You should explain how the data is processed, who has access to it, and how you’re keeping it safe. This information should be included in your privacy policy and provided to data subjects at the time you collect their data. It must be presented “in a concise, transparent, intelligible and easily accessible form, using clear and plain language…”
In addition to ensuring that your website complies functionally with GDPR regulations, website developers must also work with compliance experts to ensure that the site’s design complies legally.
Let’s take a look at what this means.
How to make it easy for users to request or delete their info
Designing websites to comply with GDPR and privacy laws require user interfaces that allow users to navigate more easily to privacy-related information and that explain clearly what the privacy policy actually means in plain language, so all users can easily understand it.
As we’ll see later, various WordPress plugins can auto-generate GDPR-compliant data request pages. This makes it easier for website owners (no custom development required–just install a plugin) and for users to request access or deletion of their information. Even WordPress core software now includes built-in data export and erasure tools.
You can use WordPress GDPR plugins to auto generate personal data request pages.
Any issues in this area can easily be avoided by adding visible navigation links to a clearly worded Privacy Policy page.
How to deal with policy updates
Web compliance laws and regulations governing an individual’s rights to privacy and data security are constantly changing.
How is your business keeping up with changes to global, federal, state, and local regulations like GDPR, CalOPPA, CCPA, PIPEDA, UK DPA, LGPD, and more?
How do you plan to update your Privacy Policy to keep up with these changes?
This is something that your business not only has to seriously consider, but also implement effectively.
Cyber attacks – Malware, phishing, skimming (capturing and stealing a cardholder’s personal payment information), social engineering (identity theft), etc.
Employee data theft – While some breaches are caused by mistakes, others may involve deliberate misuse for various reasons, like committing identity theft or transferring data to a new employer.
Human error – Most data breaches are caused by potentially avoidable human errors (e.g. attaching wrong files, choosing weak passwords, clicking on dodgy links, cc’ing the wrong person in emails, etc).
Theft/loss of property – Stealing digital devices containing sensitive information (e.g. user credentials)
Although there is no fool proof method to avoid data breaches like the ones listed above, some of the minimum basic security protocols you should be employing include strong passwords, comprehensive security suites and antivirus software across computer devices, secure servers and firewalls, data encryption, SSO and multi-factor authentication, and regularly training employees on best security practices.
How to easily withdraw permissions or opt-out
The GDPR requires making sure that individuals always know they have the right to withdraw their consent and opt out of their permissions, so your site has to make it just as easy to remove consent as it was to grant it.
Cookies are an important tool to help your business gain insight into your users’ online activity and improve their experience on your website.
For example, using cookies from advertising solutions can deliver better targeted ads to your users. Your users are served ads that better match what they are looking for and this helps to improve your conversion rates.
What are cookies?
Cookies are small text files that a website stores on a visitor’s web browser as they browse your site. When a visitor returns to your site, their browser provides the string of information stored in that cookie to your website so certain functions can be performed, such as remembering your previous usage details.
Cookies can generally be easily viewed and deleted by users in their browser’s settings.
Users can modify cookie settings on their web browser (image Google Chrome browser)
Types of Cookie
“In general, there are three different ways to classify cookies: what purpose they serve, how long they endure, and their provenance.”
Refer to the tables below to learn more about each of these types of cookies:
Duration
Session Cookies
These cookies are temporary and expire once you close your browser (or once your session ends).
Persistent Cookies
This category encompasses all cookies that remain on your hard drive until you erase them or your browser does, depending on the cookie’s expiration date. All persistent cookies have an expiration date written into their code, but their duration can vary. According to the ePrivacy Directive, they should not last longer than 12 months, but in practice, they could remain on your device much longer if you do not take action.
Provenance
First-party cookies
Cookies put on your device directly by the website you are visiting.
Third-party cookies
Cookies placed on your device, not by the website you are visiting, but by a third party like an advertiser or an analytic system.
Purpose
Strictly necessary cookies
These cookies are essential for you to browse the website and use its features, such as accessing secure areas of the site. Cookies that allow web shops to hold your items in your cart while you are shopping online are an example of strictly necessary cookies. These cookies will generally be first-party session cookies. While it is not required to obtain consent for these cookies, what they do and why they are necessary should be explained to the user.
Preferences cookies
Also known as “functionality cookies,” these cookies allow a website to remember choices you have made in the past, like what language you prefer, what region you would like weather reports for, or what your user name and password are so you can automatically log in.
Statistics cookies
Also known as “performance cookies,” these cookies collect information about how you use a website, like which pages you visited and which links you clicked on. None of this information can be used to identify you. It is all aggregated and, therefore, anonymized. Their sole purpose is to improve website functions. This includes cookies from third-party analytics services as long as the cookies are for the exclusive use of the owner of the website visited.
Marketing cookies
These cookies track your online activity to help advertisers deliver more relevant advertising or to limit how many times you see an ad. These cookies can share that information with other organizations or advertisers. These are persistent cookies and almost always of third-party provenance.
Make your website compliant with a cookie notice and consent form.
Notes:
The above are the main ways of classifying cookies, although some types of cookies will not fit into these categories or may qualify for multiple categories.
Generally, when people complain about privacy risks regarding cookies, they are referring to third-party, persistent, marketing cookies. These cookies can store significant amounts of information about a user’s online activity, preferences, and location.
Since GDPR laws came into effect, the use of third-party cookies is declining, as accessing data for third-party cookies can get complicated and increase the potential for abuse.
Cookies and The GDPR
In and of themselves, cookies are harmless. However, because cookies can store enough data to potentially identify users without their consent, their use must comply with the GDPR and other privacy laws.
For example, the ePrivacy Directive (EPD), also known as the “cookie law”, states that no cookies and trackers must be placed before prior consent from the user, besides those strictly necessary for the basic function of a website, i.e. that a website has to hold back all cookies, regardless of whether they contain personal data or not, until a user consents.
Although the GDPR is the most comprehensive data protection legislation passed by any governing body up to this point, it only refers to cookies once to state that they qualify as personal data as they are used to identify users, and are therefore subject to GDPR regulations.
As a result, regulations governing cookies are split between the GDPR and the ePrivacy Directive.
The EPD supplements (and in some cases, overrides) the GDPR, addressing crucial aspects about the confidentiality of electronic communications and the tracking of Internet users more broadly.
Note: The EPD will soon be replaced by the ePrivacy Regulation (EPR), which will expand on and encompass data privacy from additional areas like browser fingerprinting, metadata, and new methods of communication.
Cookie Compliance
Under the GDPR, companies have a right to process their users’ data as long as they receive consent or if they have a legitimate interest.
The law also states that sites can store cookies on a user’s device if they are strictly necessary for that site’s operation. For all other types of cookies, sites need to obtain the user’s permission.
To comply with the regulations governing cookies under the GDPR and the ePrivacy Directive you must:
Receive users’ consent before using any cookies except strictly necessary cookies.
Provide accurate and specific information about the data each cookie tracks and its purpose in plain language before consent is received.
Document and store consent received from users.
Allow users to access your service even if they refuse to allow the use of certain cookies.
Make it as easy for users to withdraw their consent as it was for them to give their consent in the first place.
Cookie Notice
Place information about the use of cookies on your site in your Privacy Policy.
WPMU DEV’s Cookies Notice and Cookies Consent button.
The above screenshot provides a good example of the various things you must do to comply with GDPR and privacy laws:
The Cookies notice uses clear and plain language to explain what their purpose is, refers to a list of the specific cookies used to track a user’s online activities on the site, and explains how users can choose to refuse cookies before using the website (and the drawbacks of refusing to accept the cookies)
The Cookies notice is also included in the site’s Privacy Policy.
A consent form notifies visitors that the site uses cookies and asks for their acknowledgement and agreement to the terms of the Privacy Policy before continuing to use the site.
A link to the Privacy Policy is displayed in the form next to the consent button.
“The rules regulating cookies are still being set, and cookies themselves are continually evolving, which means maintaining a current cookie policy will be a continuous job. However, properly informing your users about the cookies your site is using and, when necessary, receiving their consent will keep your users happy and keep you GDPR-compliant.”
There are many ways to notify users about using cookies on your site…just make sure they comply with all legal requirements.
Is WordPress GDPR Compliant?
Yes, the WordPress core software is GDPR compliant.
Update WordPress to the latest version
We recommend updating your WordPress core software to the latest version to ensure it is GDPR compliant.
In version 4.9.6, WordPress introduced the following GDPR enhancements to self-hosted WordPress sites (i.e. WordPress.org):
Privacy Policy Generator
If you log into your WordPress site and head over to the Settings menu, you will see the Privacy section…
The WordPress Settings menu has a Privacy section.
Here you will find the built-in WordPress Privacy Policy generator with an editable privacy policy template (prefilled with WordPress-related data, e.g. the use of Gravatars and information about cookies), a policy guide, and page edit and preview options.
WordPress comes with a built-in Privacy Policy generator.
If you already have a Privacy Policy page you’d like to use instead of the built-in template, you can select it using the dropdown selector.
Otherwise, follow the suggested guide and use the template to add your contact details and additional information like how you process and protect user data, data breach procedures, third party services, automated decision-making, user data profiling, and any required industry regulatory disclosures.
Note: In WordPress, only your site’s registration and login pages link automatically to the Privacy Page. As most privacy laws (including the GDPR) require that your Privacy Policy be easily accessible throughout your entire website, you’ll need to manually link other areas of your site to your privacy page via your menus, widgets, or other integration methods.
Comments Privacy Checkbox
When users leave comments on your site, WordPress stores personal information like their name, email address, and website URL in a browser cookie. This allows WordPress to fill in the user’s information automatically in the comment fields next time they visit.
From version 4.9.6, WordPress displays a comment privacy opt-in checkbox on themes that use the default WordPress comment form.
Many WordPress themes display a privacy opt-in form in the comments section.
If you can’t see the opt-in checkbox on your site, make sure that:
You have updated WordPress to the latest version (must be higher than 4.9.6)
You are not logged-in when browsing the comments section
You have enabled the ‘Show comments cookies opt-in checkbox, allowing comment author cookies to be set’ option in Discussion Settings > Other comment settings.
Make sure to enable the Show comments cookies opt-in checkbox option in your Discussion settings.
If you still can’t see this privacy feature, then your current theme is probably overriding the default WordPress comment form. Contact your theme developer’s support.
Export And Erase Personal Data
In version 4.9.6, WordPress also introduced two handy compliance features that allow you to process users’ data requests and export or delete their personal data.
Both tools can be accessed from the WordPress Tools menu.
Access the Export and Erase Personal Data features from the WordPress Tools menu.
Use the Export Personal Data feature to send users their requested data in a .zip file via email.
Simply enter their Username or email address, tick the checkbox to send a personal data export confirmation email, and click the Send Request button.
The table section lets you view, process, search, and sort user requests. It displays the status and date of the request and a ‘Next Steps’ workflow column.
WordPress Export Personal Data tool.
The Erase Personal Data feature lets you delete a user’s personal data upon request. It also anonymizes data that needs to remain stored in the WordPress database (e.g. plugin data). This is useful because WordPress allows plugin developers to hook their plugins into the personal data erasure feature.
The Erase Personal Data tool works just like the Export Data tool.
WordPress Erase Personal Data tool.
According to WordPress, using these built-in tool is the best way to make sure that users who request access to data really are who they say they are.
As stated on their site…
“We strongly encourage you use the email validation feature built into the export tools. This confirmation process will help safeguard against abuse, such as malicious users pretending to be someone they are not.”
“As this tool ONLY gathers data from WordPress and participating plugins, you may need to go beyond to comply with export requests.”
In other words, these built-in features will help make your site more GDPR compliant, but they are not enough to guarantee 100% GDPR compliance.
Let’s look at what else you can do in WordPress to improve GDPR compliance.
Making WordPress sites fully GDPR-compliant
The GDPR impacts other areas of your WordPress site.
These areas include but are not limited to the following:
Analytics
Contact Forms
Email Marketing
Membership Sites
eCommerce Stores
Media
Advertising
Forums
Directories
Chat
Etc.
Fortunately, most of the above functionalities can be added to WordPress using plugins, and many of these plugins now include GDPR-compliant enhancements.
Let’s look at some of these:
Analytics
If you use analytics tools to gather website stats (e.g. Google Analytics), then it’s highly probable that you’re collecting or tracking personal data like IP addresses, user IDs, cookies, and other data to profile behavior.
If so, you may need to disclose to your site visitors that your analytics plugin may add cookies to the user’s browser, store personal information in your database, or integrate with 3rd-party applications.
Contact Forms
Most websites use contact forms. Users must be informed if your website stores form entries or uses any of their collected data for marketing purposes (e.g. adding their details to an email list).
The very nature and purpose of a contact form makes it a potentially complex minefield of GDPR compliance issues.
For example, some of the aspects you need to consider when using a contact form in WordPress include:
Informing users what you will do with their data and how you will store it, and getting their explicit consent to use and store their information.
Disabling cookies, user-agent, and IP tracking.
Having data-processing agreements with form providers (if using an SaaS form solution) and any third-party providers.
Complying with users’ rights (e.g. right to withdraw consent).
Complying with users’ data-access and data-deletion requests.
Many WordPress form plugins do not store your form entries on their site, but in your WordPress database. In this case, you don’t need a Data Processing Agreement with these providers, just mention this in your Privacy Policy.
In many cases, you can make your WordPress forms GDPR compliant by simply adding a required consent checkbox with a clear explanation.
For example, with our forms plugin Forminator, you can easily add and customize a GDPR-compliant notice when creating your forms.
With Forminator, you can easily make your contact forms GDPR compliant.
The GDPR section will then display on your contact form automatically to visitors.
Forminator adds a GDPR-compliant required user consent checkbox to your contact form.
Email Marketing Opt-in Forms
Just like contact forms, email marketing opt-in forms require obtaining user consent before adding their details to your list.
You can do this by adding a required checkbox that users must agree to before they opt in or by using an email list with a required double opt-in (this involves collecting an email address through a signup form and sending a confirmation email to the user’s address that they must click on to validate their contact information before they can be added to your list).
With our opt-in plugin Hustle, for example, you can create opt-in forms like popups, slide-ins and inline forms and insert a configurable GDPR approval field into your form with the click of a button.
Hustle lets you easily insert a GDPR approval field into your opt-in form.
This will then automatically display a GDPR-compliant notice with a required checkbox that users must agree to and click on.
Hustle’s customizable GDPR-compliant opt-in form notice.
eCommerce and Membership Sites
If you run an eCommerce store or a membership site on WordPress, then it’s definitely important to make sure that your site is in compliance with GDPR.
If you run a WordPress-based membership site, check for GDPR-compliant settings in your membership plugin or software.
For example, one of the most popular membership site plugins for WordPress, Wishlist Member, provides a range of configurable GDPR-compliant settings in its Members > Data Privacy section.
Wishlist Member’s Data Privacy settings.
Media
Using Gravatars, images, and embedded content on your site can potentially trip you up in terms of GDPR compliance.
For example, Gravatars are PII (Personally Identifiable Information).
Uploading images with EXIF GPS location data included allows site visitors to download and extract location data and correlate uploaded media to a particular user.
Embedded content can allow third-party services to collect your user’s IP Address, User Agent, store and retrieve cookies on their browser, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor user interaction with that embedded content, including correlating their interaction with the content with their account with that service (if users are logged in to that service).
Make sure to include information about all the above in your Privacy Policy.
Advertising
If your site uses retargeting pixels or retargeting ads, you will need to inform users about it and get their consent. See the section below for plugins that can help make this process easier.
Best WordPress Plugins for Improving GDPR Compliance
You can automate certain aspects of GDPR compliance using WordPress plugins.
As should be clear from this article, however, no solution can guarantee 100% compliance and that includes plugins. So, be wary of and avoid using any WordPress plugin claiming to make your site fully GDPR compliant.
Here are the best free and paid WordPress plugins we recommend checking out to improve your site’s compliance with GDPR requirements in no particular order of preference:
Complianz offers a fully-featured Privacy Suite that will help your WordPress site meet compliance requirements in the European Union, the United States, and/or the United Kingdom (GDPR, ePrivacy, CCPA, PECR, and more!)
You can use the plugin’s wizard to configure your site for privacy legislation compliance.
The wizard will guide you through all the configuration steps, from deciding which privacy law or guideline you want set as the default for your visitors, through to setting up a cookie policy, privacy statement, and disclaimer, configuring website information, security and consent settings, running a cookie scan, and creating any missing document pages.
Use the Wizard to configure your compliance settings.
The free version of the plugin offers a wide range of features including a conditional Cookie Notice and customized Cookie Policy based on the results of the built-in cookie scan, periodic scans with automatic cookie detection, customizable templates, proof of consent, Do Not Sell My Personal Information Page for CCPA, integration with WordPress Privacy features, export and erase personal data, automatic anonymization of IP-addresses for Google Analytics, 3rd party cookie blocking, and integration with Gutenberg blocks and a wide range of page builders and plugins, including our very own Beehive Analytics plugin.
The premium version adds a whole range of advanced features, integrations, agreements, and support for many additional consent, privacy, and compliance requirements for worldwide coverage and protection, as well as premium support.
iubenda’s GDPR Cookie and Consent Solution plugin for WordPress.
iubenda provides an all-in-one legal document management service to help make your website (or app) compliant with the law on multiple languages and legislations and a free WordPress plugin to interface two services that will help make your website more GDPR and ePrivacy compliant: Cookie Solution and Consent Solution.
These services include a fully customizable cookie banner, blocking scripts, cookie consent management, and comprehensive record-keeping for GDPR purposes.
The WordPress plugin provides an easy interface with iubenda’s online service.
The plugin automatically inserts code into the head of every page of your website to deliver its Cookie Solution, which includes a fully customizable cookie banner, dynamically generated cookie policy to match the services used on your site, and, to fully manage cookie-related consent, including blocking most common widgets and third-party cookies before consent is received, as required to comply with the GDPR and ePrivacy.
The plugin also detects and identifies all supported forms embedded in the website and maintains valid and detailed records of consent using its Content Solution service.
CookieYes adds customizable GDPR compliant features to your website and supports cookie compliance with the LGPD (Brazil), CNIL (France), and California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA).
This plugin includes many features including selecting the type of law, displaying the cookie banner in the header or footer, auto-hiding the cookie bar after delay or scrolling, revisit consent widget, customizable cookie bar options, and cookie button shortcodes.
Cookie Yes Settings
The premium version offers additional enhancements like single click automatic scanning and categorization of cookies, script autoblocking, location based exclusion of cookie notice for EU countries, user consent audit logs, cookie bar preview, cache plugin support, additional layouts and templates, and more.
Cookiebot | GDPR/CCPA Compliant Cookie Consent and Control
Cookiebot is a freemium plugin that delivers a cloud-driven solution to automatically control cookies and trackers, and ensure GDPR, ePrivacy and CCPA compliance.
The service delivers a customizable consent banner to handle consents and allows users to opt in and out of cookie categories, an automatically generated and updated cookie policy and cookie declaration, a Do Not Sell My Personal Information link on the cookie declaration allowing end-users to opt out of having their data sold to third parties, monthly website scans to detect first and third-party cookies, automatic cookie blocking until proper consent has been obtained, user controls for changing or withdrawing their consent, secure storage of user consent information, multiple language support, and more.
Note: The amount of subpages on your website will determine whether your site runs on the free plan or a premium plan.
WP GDPR Compliance assists WordPress site owners to comply with the GDPR.
The plugin integrates with the native WordPress comments and registration forms and automatically adds a GDPR checkbox to those forms with customizable messages. It also allows users to control consent permissions and creates special pages allowing users to exercise privacy rights requests such as ‘Right to access’ and ‘Right to be forgotten’.
WP GDPR Compliance Plugin Settings.
Additional plugin features include a built-in compliance checklist with tips and guides, and customizable settings for a range of compliance features, including Privacy Policy and consents.
GDPR Cookie Compliance can help your site meet some of the following data protection and privacy regulations: GDPR, PIPEDA, CCPA, AAP, LGPD and others.
The free version of the plugin provides customizable and editable settings that allow you to match your branding and theme, configure notices for privacy overview, necessary cookies, 3rd party cookies, additional cookies, and Cookie Policy.
Users have full control over cookies stored on their computer, including the ability to revoke their consent.
GDPR Cookie Compliance Settings screen.
The premium add-on includes additional options like full-screen layout, geo location, ability to hide cookie notice banner on selected pages and block users from viewing 3rd party resources until they accept cookies, export & import settings, WordPress Multisite extension, accept cookies on scroll, cookie declaration, consent log and analytics, language specific scripts and local data storage of user data.
The plugin is optimised for WCAG/ADA compliance and supports all major caching servers and plugins.
Cookie Notice & Compliance combines a plugin that displays a cookie notice on your website to comply with EU GDPR and CCPA cookie laws and consent requirements and a free web application that provides automated compliance features using an intentional consent framework that incorporates the latest guidelines to data protection and consent laws from over 100+ countries.
Upon activation, the plugin performs an initial compliance check of your website and lets you customize your site’s cookie notice message, enable consent on click, scroll or close, set multiple cookie expiry options, enable a link to your Privacy Policy page, plus design controls and options, multiple banner positions, and language localization.
Ouch…my demo site failed Cookie Notice’s compliance check!
Enabling the Cookie Compliance module gives you access to the full suite of compliance features. This includes customizable GDPR & CCPA notice templates, consent analytics dashboard, cookie autoblocking, cookie categories, and proof-of-consent storage.
GDPR Cookie Consent Banner helps your WordPress site comply with a number of privacy laws like the GDPR, UK GDPR, CCPA, the ePrivacy Directive (EU Cookie Law), and the UK’s Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR).
You will need to sign up for a free account and obtain an API key to unlock the plugin’s features, which include automatic cookie scans, a customizable GDPR, CCPA, and ePrivacy-compliant cookie consent banner, automatic cookie consent & preference tracking, legal policy generator, automatic cookie configuration, auto-generated cookie descriptions and cookie categories, autoblocking of scripts, multilingual support, and access to additional policy, disclaimer, and terms and conditions generators.
You will need an API key to unlock the plugin’s features.
The plugin adds a live cookie consent banner and compliant cookie policy to your site that automatically generates your cookie descriptions and categories from a database that is actively maintained and kept up to date by a team of engineers, designers, and data privacy attorneys.
EU Cookie Law for GDPR/CCPA is a light and customizable GDPR and CCPA compliance plugin that lets you inform users that your site uses cookies, with a popup feature and options to lock scripts before acceptance.
The plugin can be easily configured from a one-page settings screen.
EU Cookie Law plugin’s settings page
The plugin also lets you use shortcodes in posts, pages and widgets to revoke cookie consent, show a list of cookies, and prevent cookies.
As stated on their website, Termageddon is “a generator of policies for websites and applications.”
The service allows you to stay compliant for different privacy laws and regulations (e.g. US state privacy laws like CalOPPA, CCPA, DOPPA, VCDPA, Canada’s PIPEDA, and, of course GDPR) even when these laws change, by automatically keeping your Privacy Policies updated through code placed on your website.
TermsFeed provides customized legal agreements and policies for online businesses.
You can access agreements and policies for free using the site’s generators and templates and purchase optional premium agreements with additional clauses for a one-time fee, so you only pay for what you need.
TermsFeed monitors changes in laws, acts, and regulations across various jurisdictions (countries and states) and notifies you if any updates are required for your generated policies.
PrivacyPolicies.com offers an affordable solution for creating legal web documents.
If you are looking for an affordable compliance solution, PrivacyPolicies.com lets you generate, host, and edit a Privacy Policy for your website for free.
Their premium one-time payment service offers additional options like the ability to add various types of clauses and download your documents in various formats (HTML, DOCX, TXT).
GDPR laws and regulations were introduced to protect and safeguard personal user data from being misused and abused in an increasingly digital-driven and internet-connected world.
The implications of privacy laws and the GDPR for businesses are wide-ranging. It requires a radical change of thinking in how you do business online, from planning your website to marketing and promoting your products and services in a global economy.
The above information can help make your WordPress site more GDPR compliant. It’s important to note, however, that although we cover many areas in this comprehensive guide, it’s still not enough to guarantee 100% GDPR compliance for your business or your website.
Full GDPR compliance depends on things like the kind of website you have, what type of data you process and store, having a Privacy Policy on your site that meets all legal requirements in all jurisdictions where you operate, getting explicit user consent for cookies, using GDPR-compliant third-party services, plugins, and solutions (and making this information transparent to visitors), auditing how your site handles and processes personal data and user requests for their data, and so much more.
Ultimately, making your website compliant is not just a requirement by law, it’s also a good thing for all online users. After all, we are all each others’ online consumers and we all deserve to have our personal data valued, protected, and respected.
One final reminder: As stated throughout this article, we encourage you to seek the legal advice of web compliance experts. Don’t assume that GDPR does not apply to your business or website, or that all the measures you have implemented so far are enough to make you 100% compliant.
Privacy & GDPR – Useful References
For additional information check out the links below:
Maybe you’ve already started into 2021 as you’re reading this, maybe you’re still waiting for the countdown to begin. Either way, it’s never too late or too early for some New Year’s inspiration!
For this wallpapers post, artists and designers from across the globe once again put their creative skills to the test and designed beautiful and unique wallpapers to welcome January 2021. All of them come with a calendar, and, in case you want to stick with your favorite even after January has ended, we’ve got you covered with non-calendar versions of each design, too. A big thank-you to everyone who created a wallpaper and shared it with us this time around — you are truly smashing!
At the end of this post, there’s also a little bonus goodie waiting for you: a hand-picked selection of January treasures that we rediscovered deep down in our wallpaper archives. Have a happy and healthy 2021!
All images can be clicked on and lead to the preview of the wallpaper,
We respect and carefully consider the ideas and motivation behind each and every artist’s work. This is why we give all artists the full freedom to explore their creativity and express emotions and experience through their works. This is also why the themes of the wallpapers weren’t anyhow influenced by us but rather designed from scratch by the artists themselves.
Ready for New Adventures
“2020 was a bumpy ride, but we are not to be disheartened. We are entering 2021 with enthusiasm, optimism, vigor, and bravery to face all challenges that come our way, effortlessly glide through all difficulties, and jump over any hurdles that stand between us and our goals.” — Designed by PopArt Studio from Novi Sad, Serbia.
“Hoping for a better year in 2021, we created this warm wallpaper to get you into the Holidays mood. We know it’s been a rough year for everyone, and we have high hopes for the future. Until then, let’s enjoy the winter holidays at home!” — Designed by Ovidiu Pall from France.
What inspired the community to design a New Year’s wallpaper in past years? Join us on a stroll down memory lane, and maybe you’ll spot one of your favorites among the oldies, too. (Please note that these wallpapers don’t come with a calendar.)
Start Somewhere
“If we wait until we’re ready, we’ll be waiting for the rest of our lives. Start today — somewhere, anywhere.” — Designed by Shawna Armstrong from the United States.
“January is the first month of the year and usually the coldest winter month in the Northern hemisphere. The name of the month of January comes from ‘ianua’, the Latin word for door, so this month denotes the door to the new year and a new beginning. Let’s open the doors of the new year together and hope it will be the best so far!” — Designed by PopArt Studio from Serbia.
“The new year brings hope, festivity, lots and lots of resolutions, and many more goals that need to be achieved. This wallpaper is based on the idea of ‘A New Start’.” — Designed by Damn Perfect from India.
“You wake me up to a beautiful day; lift my spirit when I’m feeling blue. When I’m home you relieve me of the long day’s stress. You help me have a good time with my loved ones; give me company when I’m all alone. You’re none other than my favourite cup of hot tea.” — Designed by Acodez IT Solutions from India.
“I wanted to do a lettering-based wallpaper because I love lettering. I chose January because for a lot of people the new year is perceived as a new beginning and I wish to make them feel as positive about it as possible! The idea is to make them feel like the new year is (just) the start of something really great.” — Designed by Carolina Sequeira from Portugal.
“In our country, Christmas is celebrated in January when oak branches and leaves are burnt to symbolize the beginning of the new year and new life. It’s the time when we gather with our families and celebrate the arrival of the new year in a warm and cuddly atmosphere.” — Designed by PopArt Studio from Serbia.
“Kingfishers are called ‘ijsvogels’ (ice-birds) in Dutch. Not because they like the winter cold, but because of the intense blue and teal colors.” — Designed by Franke Margrete from the Netherlands.
“January is the month of a new beginning, hope and inspiration. That’s why it reminds me of an early bird.” — Designed by Zlatina Petrova from Bulgaria.
“Winter can be such a gloomy time of the year. The sun sets earlier, the wind feels colder and our heating bills skyrocket. I hope to brighten up your month with my wallpaper for Rubber Ducky Day!” — Designed by Ilya Plyusnin from Belgium.
“I was browsing for themes when I found this “Festival of Sleep” that takes place on the 3rd, and I’m a big fan of sleep… Especially in these cold months after the holiday craziness, it’s nice to get cozy and take a nice nap.” — Designed by Dorothy Timmer from Central Florida, USA.
“It is great to take shots of birds and think about the freedom they have. Then I start dreaming of becoming one and flying around the world with their beautiful wings.” — Designed by Marija Zaric from Belgrade, Serbia.
Did you know that you could get featured in one of our upcoming wallpapers posts, too? We are always looking for creative talent, so if you have an idea for a wallpaper for February, please don’t hesitate to submit it. We’d love to see what you’ll come up with. Join in! →
The global pandemic has had an enormous impact on large and small businesses alike.
Not only have day-to-day operations had to change for many businesses (e.g. regular sanitation, social distancing), but some are seeing large-scale changes come into effect—and a lot of them may be permanent, such as remote working.
These changes are going to have short and long-term implications for economies across the world. In the United States, one great example of that is in business formation.
For business owners, the way you ultimately decide to form your business is one of the most consequential ones you could possibly make. It determines everything from how you’re taxed and how you seek funding (if you do at all) to the profits you’re able to make and the type of services you’re able to provide to customers.
But with everything that has happened because of the global pandemic, is it the right time to start a business? If so, what’s the best type of business to start in this uncertain period?
That’s what inspired us to write this guide.
We want to go deep into the numbers behind business formations and how COVID-19 has impacted them while giving context to how they’ll impact you. Later, we’ll also give you some resources to help your new business grow, no matter what business formation you choose.
Let’s dive in.
Disclaimer: All of the information we will cover in this article will focus primarily on the United States. Apologies to our international readers! However, if you work with business partners in the United States or you have a client or vendor based here, you will be able to gain a lot more context on the economic and business landscape they’re working in with information and data we’ll provide in this piece.
COVID-19 and Business Formations: 4 Key Pieces of Data
Data is crucial when it comes to your business, helping to guide your business decisions and provide context for the world you’ll be working in.
However, this information only tells part of the story. That’s why we want to give you a few crucial data points about business formation and how COVID-19 has impacted them—as well as reasons for why they’re important.
Data #1: Business formations dropped significantly due to lockdown measures in 2020
In March 2020, the United States was just beginning to come to grips with the fact that the novel coronavirus was a deadly serious issue. When that happened, we saw a rush of new protective measures, as well as mandates from states across the country to lock down and enforce mandatory stay-at-home orders.
When that happened, businesses were forced to make the tough decision to shut their doors, lest they add to the spread of COVID-19. As such, we also saw a significant drop in business formations.
In fact, the United States saw a 20% decrease in new business applications from March 1, 2020 through April 11, 2020 compared to the previous year.
Data from the United States Census Bureau also discovered that different regions of the country were impacted in different ways.
For example, the northeast region of the country saw a 31% reduction of business registrations, whereas the western region “only” got hit with a 15% reduction. Altogether, the United States saw a bigger drop off in business applications than any other time during the Great Recession of 2008-2009.
This depicts a grim picture of business formations. But, it makes sense—after all, these are grim times. And when the number of applications dropped over a “sustained time period” during the Great Recession, they never rebounded to their pre-recession levels, according to the Economic Innovation Group.
So things looked bad across the board at the beginning of the pandemic in spring 2020. But does that mean things have stayed that grim or will be as bad again? Not necessarily…
Data #2: Business formations bounced back in a big way in 2020
As the year went on and summer arrived, people began to get more confident in applying for businesses. By Q3, the United States saw more business applications than it had in the previous 15 years.
Nearly 1,600,000 businesses applied for formation since the year began!
Altogether, 2020 is on track to be the year with more new, high-propensity business applications than any year in recent history. And that’s even with the drop-off in applications in the spring.
Unemployment. Many people lost their jobs in the wake of the pandemic. With no consistent career to go to each day, many might have taken this as an opportunity to start their own business ventures.
Stimulus. The $1,200 stimulus check as well as the Paycheck Protection Program rolled out by Congress in 2020 might have done its job in spurring confidence in entrepreneurs to start their own businesses.
Backlog. Certain states and cities require business applications to go through the courts for approval. When the initial lockdowns happened, that meant that courts needed to be closed as well. When they opened back up, they were likely addressing a big backlog of business applications.
New opportunities. With the pandemic came new needs in the market. Products and services from masks and sanitizers to home deliveries are seeing a boom in consumer demand. Many people might have recognized these demands and gaps in the market, and sought to fulfill it with their own businesses.
Gig economy. This point ties into the first one. There is evidence to suggest that mass unemployment has led to many turning to become independent contractors via services such as Uber, Lyft, Grubhub, and Postmates. Most independent contractors fall under the “sole proprietorship” business formation (though they can be corporations, LLCs, or partnerships, too).
Regardless of the reason, many people should be heartened by the fact that business formations are now on the rise again. In fact, strong business formation numbers are a big indicator for an economy’s growth. It represents more jobs and income for the people within that economy.
Think of the economy right now as a powder keg. Each day, more and more gunpowder (i.e. businesses) gets added to the keg. It’s all waiting for the right time—when the pandemic is over or, at least, when a vaccine is widely available— for us to light it up.
Data #3: Business formations are looking better than the Great Recession
We’ve mentioned the Great Recession already. And it’s a pertinent thing to mention.
The housing market crash of 2008 brought with it a recession that many Americans are still suffering from. We’re seeing a lot of similar impacts, such as mass unemployment and sustained joblessness, due to the current global pandemic.
However, one area where it’s not the same is in business formations. In fact, business formations are doing much better than they were at a comparable time during the Great Recession.
Below is a chart showing the change in business applications through week 45 (November 2-8, 2020):
In 2008, the United States dropped by 16.4% in business applications. However, in 2020, we saw a 14.3% increase in business applications when compared to the previous year.
One big factor that has helped in this (aside from the four points we outlined above) is because the economic foundation of the country is still pretty good. Housing prices are stable, as are most asset classes.
All things being equal, the United States is in okay shape.
The state of U.S. business formation is like a house that is currently going through a very bad storm. Our windows are broken. A tree crashed through our ceiling. And we probably can’t sleep in a few bedrooms. But the foundations of the building are still good, and we will be able to rebuild once the storm is over.
Data #4: Sole proprietorships are popular (and the pandemic likely made them moreso)
Even before the pandemic hit, sole proprietorships were the most popular type of business formations. That’s due to a combination of how easy it is to start and its lack of double taxation.
In fact, you don’t even have to register as a sole proprietorship unless you’re going to conduct business under a different name (i.e., your “Doing Business As” name).
Sole proprietors encompass a lot of different types of businesses. For this data point, we’ll be focusing on freelancers in varying capacities and industries.
Freelancers are often sole proprietors because of how easy it is to get started. You just find a client, fill out a 1099 form, and you’re on your way.
And while we don’t have a lot of hard data on exactly how many sole proprietors have emerged because of the pandemic, we can make educated guesses based on a few factors:
More people are freelancing now than ever before. In fact, 36% of the U.S. workforce is made up of freelancers. That’s an increase of 2 million people since the year before.
Since 2019, freelancers have contributed $1.2 trillion dollars to the U.S. economy. That’s a 22% increase compared to the year before.
88% of current freelancers say they’re likely to keep freelancing in the future. That means there will likely be more sole proprietorships in the future.
Does this mean you should become a sole proprietor or that sole proprietorships are the best method of business formation? Not necessarily. It’s just an indicator of how people across the country have been coping with the impact of the pandemic.
However, it does tell us that there’s a demand for freelancers out there—especially since the vast majority of current freelancers intend to keep doing it in the future. In fact, 75% of freelancers who quit their full-time job to freelance say they earn more now than they did when they were employed by another entity.
How to Form a Business During a Pandemic
Starting a business in the middle of a pandemic is no small task. Heck, starting a business when we’re not in a pandemic is difficult enough.
However, there are plenty of people starting their own businesses right now to great success. So as long as there is demand for your products or services, there will be business for you.
To that end, here are a few tips for you to keep in mind when forming your business during a pandemic.
If you don’t know where to start, start small
There are five different types of business formations your business can take:
Sole proprietorship
Limited liability company (LLC)
Partnership
S-corporation
C-corporation
Some of them require you to file the business with your state or city. However, if you don’t have a lot of startup money or if you just aren’t sure where to start, we recommend you start smaller with a sole proprietorship. It’s the simplest type of business formation and it’s the easiest one to start.
You can get started as soon as you find customers. Plus, you don’t have to worry about filing fees or documents to sign (other than your tax documents).
However, a word of caution: Sole proprietorships mean that you are open to liability.
That means if you get sued by a disgruntled client and you lose the lawsuit, you’re going to have to pay for the damages out of your own pocket. That opens up your personal assets for seizure by courts, including your car, house, or savings account.
That might seem scary, but the chances of that happening are very small. So, as long as you provide good service and treat your clients fairly, you shrink the window of risk for that happening.
Starting small also refers to practically every other aspect of your business, including the website, marketing, and the products/services you provide. In fact, to get a business running you really only need a website and a good way for your customers to get into contact with you (which can be a function of your website!).
It’s no secret that many businesses that were thriving before the pandemic are suffering greatly now. From loss of income and letting employees go to catastrophic supply chain troubles, the list is endless.
However, there are plenty of businesses out there that are actually in fine fettle. In fact, there are many that are doing even better than they were before.
As you can see, those that are experiencing the greatest financial risk and impacted the most by the pandemic are industries like food service, transportation, education, and entertainment.
The ones that are doing well are those such as finance and insurance, company management, real estate, healthcare, and construction.
Does this mean that you should run and start up an insurance company right now? Not at all. It’s just an indicator of the type of businesses that are more resilient than others in our current situation. These evergreen industries last a long time and can persist through bad periods like a global pandemic.
If you’re looking for some inspiration, the US Chamber of Commerce provides a great list of business types that thrive during the pandemic. They include:
Delivery services. From groceries, to meals, to home goods, delivery services of all stripes are in high demand as people stay at home during lockdowns and for fear of catching COVID-19.
Cleaning services. This includes commercial sanitation of offices and other workplaces, along with medical-grade sanitation for medical facilities.
Liquor and wine stores. Crack open a cold one with the boys (over Zoom, of course). Alcohol suppliers of all stripes are doing well as people turn to the world’s oldest way of taking the edge off.
Virtual tutoring/education. As schools shift to online learning, parents are hiring virtual tutors at a high rate. Also, online courses for adults are seeing a boom as people stay indoors and need a way to occupy their time.
Home health services. Looking to avoid clogging up hospitals with non-emergency visits, people are looking to bring healthcare home with home health services. These are medical providers who will consult you online and/or come to your home to assist you. It doesn’t just have to do with physical health either. Mental health providers are also in high demand.
Basically any business that allows your customer to be at home and receive your products or services is a good one for the pandemic.
It’s also worth mentioning that the marijuana industry is also booming right now. With the stress of the pandemic as well as the rise in marijuana legalization, people are turning more and more to Willie Nelson’s favorite pastime. A (legal) startup centered around getting people their jazz cigarettes is one that has the potential to do really well.
(Talk about evergreen business. Am I right?)
Nail your digital marketing
Digital marketing played a big role in modern businesses well before the pandemic. Now, it’s downright essential that you nail all facets of it if you want your business to be discovered and successful.
After all, traditional methods such as subway ads, newspaper ads, and billboards are seeing a dramatic decline due to the pandemic. And while digital advertisements have seen a similar decline, we would argue that it’s more important than ever to know how to position yourself on the internet to draw in more customers.
That’s because when people can’t go out for entertainment, they turn online. If you have a service that they can do from home, your digital marketing efforts will have an impact.
To that end, there are three areas you should focus on to start laying the groundwork for your digital marketing strategy:
Know your brand’s story. This is one of the most powerful ways you can win the hearts and wallets of customers. Being able to effectively tell your company’s story is a good way to connect emotionally with your customers. When you connect with them emotionally, they’re going to be more willing to click through, sign up for a newsletter, or purchase a product. Learn more about developing a brand story here.
Create your marketing framework. This is the overall system you will be building in order to create a sustainable marketing practice. Remember: Your marketing is more than just one campaign or one funnel. It’s an entire framework you build in order to create a sustainable, scalable revenue engine for your business. After all, you wouldn’t start building a house without the blueprints—why should you jump into marketing without a plan? Learn more about creating a marketing framework here.
Find where your customers live. No, I don’t mean literally (unless you want a sweet restraining order). The best way to increase traffic to your website (and, therefore, customers to your business) is by going to where they are online and letting them know you exist. Identify the Facebook groups they like to frequent, the subreddits they subscribe to, or the Quora communities they ask questions on. Of course, that’s not the only way to build web traffic. You can also draw them in by offering great and helpful content on your website using the principles of inbound marketing. Learn more about increasing web traffic here.
Only by developing a good digital marketing strategy can your business succeed in attracting customers in the pandemic age and beyond.
Conclusion
The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has changed the way we form and conduct business. While there is a lot of pain around, there are also signs of good things to come.
The best thing for you to do is to take action on the things that you can control and ignore all the rest. That means creating a business and positioning it for success.
No matter what type of business you choose, Quicksprout is here with the resources to help you through this time. Remember, we’re all in this together. We want to be there for you when you need us the most.
The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has upended the way the world conducts business.
From social distancing guidelines, to limited store capacities, to the regular usage of face masks in public, changes have been made to ensure the safety of people everywhere.
All of this is new, confusing, and a little scary. This is especially true if you’re a business owner whose livelihood is now at the precipice of struggle. You need to keep your business running while making sure that you, your employees, and your customers are protected from the virus.
And if you’re thinking of starting a business now, you want to make sure that you can do so safely while juggling the hundreds of new tasks that come with it. Launching and running a business is hard enough in the best of times—it can seem downright daunting during a global pandemic
That’s why we want to help.
Whether you’re thinking of starting a new business or already in the thick of running one, this guide breaks down everything a small business owner needs to know in order to navigate COVID-19 safely and successfully.
What we’ll go over
Here are some jump links to the sections of the article. Each section covers a different topic, so feel free to jump around to the topic you want to learn more about.
Pro tip: Bookmark this guide so you’ll have it handy when you need to refer to it.
By-the-numbers: How are small businesses doing overall?
Quick answer: Not great.
The massive impact on small business that the global pandemic and subsequent lockdown procedures have had cannot be overstated. For the vast majority of them, that impact has been resoundingly negative, resulting in layoffs and store closures across the world.
In the United States alone, 25% to 36% of small businesses are at risk of permanently closing due to COVID-19. Many of these businesses rely heavily on in-person services where social distancing is difficult to maintain, such as restaurants and gyms. Other industries heavily impacted include tourism and hospitality.
Here’s a graph from McKinsey that illustrates the industries impacted the most by COVID-19:
Small business income is down 12.3% from February 2020, whereas private industry salaries are down “just” 6.6%. That’s nearly twice as much as their private industry counterparts.
It’s also crucial to note that there is a disproportionate impact on marginalized communities. In fact, low wage workers, minority business owners, and those without a college degree are much more likely to experience financial strain due to the global pandemic.
While this looks rather dire, it should be noted that things are getting better, albeit slowly. In June 2020, the Census Bureau discovered that the number of small businesses reporting a negative impact from COVID-19 was at 38%—down from 51% two months earlier in April.
Applications received for new businesses have also jumped since the height of the global pandemic in the spring.
In fact, by the end of August 2020, the United States saw a 47% rise in business applications when compared to the same week in 2019, reaching a historic high point.
Think of the economy as a fleet of airplanes. When the weather is bad—winds blowing hard, thunderstorms raging—the pilots can’t fly. Instead of letting the airplane rust while they all wait for the weather to get better, though, the pilots are going to make sure there’s plenty of fuel in the tanks, the engines are running smoothly, and that the electronics are working.
Once the weather clears, they’ll all be ready for take off.
How to navigate your small business through COVID-19
If you own a small business, you’ve undoubtedly experienced the pandemic’s effect on you, your customers, and your bottom line.
You’ve also had to make changes—some large and some small. All of these changes can be confusing and scary.
To help make it a little less complicated, here are a few tips to keep in mind to help guide your business through this bad weather.
Tip #1: Focus on what you can control (and forget all the rest)
This is one of the most crucial things you can do mentally. And it not only applies to the pandemic, it applies to the rest of your life as well.
It’s easy to get caught up in the constant firehose spray of bad news, doomscrolling until our eyes tire. There are so many things you feel like you need to be worried about that it can be overwhelming.
Instead, you should focus on the things that you can directly control. That might include things like:
Sanitation and hygiene procedures for your store
Switching to remote work
Increasing your digital marketing strategy
Getting loans when you can
Employing curbside pickup
Conducting home deliveries for customers
What that doesn’t include are things like:
Obsessing about lockdown procedures
Obsessing about lessened customer capacity limits in your store
Obsessing about mask mandates
Obsessing about rising COVID-19 case counts
Actually, obsessing over anything really is bad. While things like lockdown procedures and rising cases will impact your business, you should take that news into consideration and then focus on how you can respond to it.
Of course, that’s easier said than done. This is your livelihood after all. And if you have employees, this is their livelihood as well.
By adopting this mindset, you’ll not only be able to help your business adapt to the changing time but you’ll find that it will take you much further than any amount of doomscrolling will.
Tip #2: Move quickly—but carefully
The early bird gets the worm. That tried-and-true aphorism applies to this life-altering global pandemic.
It is crucial to recognize the areas where you have to adapt, and then do so quickly. For example, many businesses—from grocery stores and clothing shops to coffee shops and breweries—began to offer curbside pickup when lockdown procedures were implemented in spring 2020.
In fact, curbside and delivery saw a 145.6% surge in the spring when compared to the same period in 2019.
These businesses recognized the inevitable changes because of COVID-19, adapted, and are now making money because of it.
No, many of them are likely not making as much money as they were before. But some of them are even seeing that their “new reality” is better than what they were doing.
While you should take necessary steps to adapt your business to the changing climate, you should also take care to make the right kinds of adaptations.
Firing or furloughing employees is never easy and it shouldn’t ever be easy. These are the people who keep your business running—they depend on you for their livelihood and, in many cases, they can be your very good friends.
However, when it comes to extraordinary circumstances like a global pandemic, sometimes you need to make the incredibly hard decision to let them go or furlough them to keep your business afloat.
That might mean different things for different businesses. For example, you might discover that you are able to keep some employees on after looking at your numbers. Some of you might need to make the tough decision to fire a lot of people.
The important thing is that you recognize what you need to do and follow through. There’s no use dragging it out and hoping things will change. In all likelihood, that change won’t come until there’s a vaccine. Focus on what you can control now and ignore the rest.
Tough decisions also might involve taking stock of your business as a whole and deciding whether or not to keep it going. That might seem inconceivable. After all, you put your heart and soul into your business.
But, once again, it’s important to be honest with yourself and not drag it on. Not taking earnest stock of the situation might result in even bigger financial problems for you later on.
Tip #4: Enforce hygiene standards (and be strict about it)
This one is non-negotiable. No matter where you are or what business you conduct, you need to enforce hygiene standards—and they need to be strictly enforced.
This pandemic has killed hundreds of thousands of people in the United States alone. You don’t want your business to be the reason that anyone dies or is infirmed. You definitely don’t want your business to start making headlines because it resulted in a super-spreader event.
That’s why it’s imperative to create a COVID-19 policy for your business.
This is going to be specific to you and your business, and will depend on what services you provide. Restaurants need to have different policies than an accountant’s office, after all. You’re also going to need to take into account the regional restrictions your business will have.
Here’s a handy chart that gives you a rough idea of what occupations are most at risk for COVID-19.
Remember: This is only a rough idea. That means what you ultimately need to do will be tailored to your business.
Our biggest piece of advice would be to stray on the side of overpreparing rather than the alternative. It might mean slowing down your work processes to make sure everything and everyone is sanitized—but it’s worth it if it means keeping you and your community safe.
To that end, we’ve prepared something to help…
How to prep your business for COVID-19
The Center for Disease Control has prepared a set of guidelines to prevent and reduce the transmission of COVID-19 among your employees. It is quite long, so we’ve summarized the big points for you below.
However, we highly recommend you read through the entire page yourself in order to get a deep understanding of what you need to ensure your business’s safety.
Keeping your employees safe
Your employees are the backbone of your business. Without them, your business wouldn’t run the way it should.
They’re also people who deserve to be safe and healthy even outside of your business.
That’s why it’s so important that you enforce strict standards to reduce the risk of transmission amongst them. The CDC recommends seven things to help keep your employees safe:
Tell sick employees to stay home. This one is a no-brainer. If your employee has a fever, coughing, or showcasing other signs of sickness, tell them to stay home. The recommendation is generally to quarantine for 2 weeks after they last showed symptoms.
Conduct daily health checks. This can occur in-person or remotely. These health checks should include symptom and/or temperature checks before any worker shows up to your physical place of business.
Identify how employees might get exposed to COVID-19 at work. Consider all of the locations at your workplace where an employee might contract the disease. For example, a grocery store might identify places like the cash register or customer support line as high-risk areas.
Enforce face mask policies. This is another no-brainer. Your employees should be wearing face masks for their own protection and the protection of everyone else at your place of business (including customers).
Separate sick employees. You never know when symptoms are going to hit. As soon as they do, you want to act fast. If an employee starts to exhibit symptoms while at work, quarantine them from other workers and customers. Also have a way they can get home safely. This can be through another employee or a healthcare worker.
Take action if you find out an employee has COVID-19. Though in most cases you won’t have to shut down your business (for example, if it’s been more than a week since the sick employee has been in the facility), it is recommended that you wait 24 hours before cleaning and sanitizing your place of work. Clean any areas frequently exposed to people, as well as where the sick employee worked.
Implement a sanitation policy for your employees. Make sure your employees are aware of the best ways to protect themselves against getting sick. That includes washing their hands, wearing masks, and limiting travel.
Keeping your business sustainable
As a business owner, you’ll want to balance the importance of keeping everyone safe while keeping your business running smoothly and effectively. The CDC has identified a number of areas to help you do just that:
Choose a COVID-19 coordinator. This person is responsible for implementing and creating any COVID-19 policies specific to your business. It is a position you can delegate to one of your employees or take on yourself.
Have a flexible and supportive sick leave policy. Make sure you provide your sick employees as much support as you can give them. This might include policies such as paid sick leave, permitting them to stay at home to care for sick family, or allowing other employees to donate sick leave to one another.
Protect high-risk employees. Immunocompromised and older employees should be supported during this time. That might include minimizing their contact with customers or allowing them to work remotely.
Communicate the new COVID-19 policies clearly and frequently. If your employees speak another language, make sure that your policies are translated for them. Also let new customers/employees know about your safety policies.
Keep the essentials and cut the rest. In order to maintain safe practices, consider paring down your employees to a skeleton crew of the people who absolutely need to be there for your business to keep running. This might mean making tough decisions like cutting back hours, furloughing, or letting go of certain employees.
Plan for if/when absenteeism rises. Whether it’s from sick employees or because your employees don’t want to come in, you need to be prepared in case absenteeism spikes in your workplace. This includes implementing remote work policies or training employees to handle additional responsibilities.
Implement social distancing policies. These are social distancing policies for both your employees and customers. Restrict physical interaction between people (e.g. handshakes). Also, limit areas where people tend to congregate (e.g. break rooms or dining tables).
Keeping your workplace safe
The CDC also provides guidelines for ensuring the physical workplace of your small business is optimized for safety against COVID-19. Below are a few tips they highly suggest you implement:
Improve your workplace’s ventilation. This refers to the amount of fresh air that is circulated throughout your workplace. The more fresh air there is, the better protected you’ll be against COVID-19 as it is primarily spread through air droplets. Some suggestions to do this include increasing outdoor air ventilation through open windows and improving air filtration with a MERV-13 filter on your central air system.
Make sure your water system is safe after shutdown. After a prolonged shutdown, a building’s water system is more susceptible to hazards such as mold and Legionnaires’ disease. Find out how to keep your water system in check here.
Provide access to washing and sanitizing equipment. Make sure your business has plenty of access to soap and water, as well as alcohol-based hand sanitizers.
Clean your workplace often. Make sure that you frequently sanitize your workspaces and provide easy access to cleaning supplies such as disinfectant wipes. The CDC offers a full guide on how to create and maintain a regular cleaning plan.
Sanitize your workplace when someone is suspected or confirmed of having COVID-19 has been there. This includes employees as well as customers.
Restrict travel amongst employees. Cut out any non-essential travel for your employees. If employees are traveling abroad, make sure they check the CDC’s Traveler’s Health Notices for guidance about the country they’re traveling to.
Limit risks when planning meetings. Leverage good video conferencing tools rather than holding in-person meetings with your employees. If your business regularly plans large gatherings (e.g. conferences), you’ll want to cancel or reschedule them accordingly. You might also want to adapt them so they’re mostly or all virtual.
Pandemic resources for small businesses
Below is a list of resources from the CDC that you should have handy. They’ll help you answer any questions you might have about running a small business during the pandemic.
Managing your small business in the middle of a global pandemic is no small task. It requires a combination of resilience, focus, and discipline to make sure that your employees and customers are adhering to the strict standards in place to keep us all safe.
We won’t lie to you: It’s going to get hard. You’re likely going to see your profits tighten. You might even have to make difficult decisions to let go of employees.
But remember to focus on the things you can control and ignore all the rest. That means creating and enforcing sanitation and hygiene policies while maintaining social distancing. Also, support your employees financially and mentally when you can.
That’s because the most important thing at the end of the day is everyone’s health and well-being. With the right resources and systems in place, we’ll all be able to get through this challenge together—and hopefully, stronger for it.
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