Last May a law was passed stating that all websites dropping non-essential cookies on visitors’ devices have to declare it publicly and ensure visitors acknowledge and agree with them to continue browsing the website. If you/your business resides within the EU, you have until the 26th May 2012 to implement your solution on your website(s). The most important thing to know is that if your website doesn’t comply with the new law, you can potentially be fined up to £500,000.

Is the law associated with me or the location of my web host?

The law is linked to you/your business, so even if you have a .com website with an American audience, you still need to comply with regulations if you/your business is based within the EU. The law applies to all domain name extensions regardless of their association with a particular country or region.

My website is a personal site, do I still need to comply?

Even if your website is non-commercial, you should still comply with the EU cookie law if you drop non-essential cookies.

Where can I find out more about the law and how websites are implementing it?

• ICC’s UK Cookie Guide
• SilkTide’s great guide to the cookie law
• AboutCookies.org’s information on the new law
• MyCustomer.com’s The final countdown: Four tips to comply with the EU cookie law in time
• Econsultancy’s EU cookie law – three approaches to compliance
• Econsultancy’s solution to EU e-privacy directive compliance

What are the exceptions to the new law?

Pretty much every site drops cookies of some description. If you have Google Analytics installed, your website drops cookies. If you have any affiliate links or use Google Adsense or any other advertising networks, your website drops cookies.

The law only applies to ‘non-essential’ cookies that aren’t required for your website to function. So, for example, if you run an online store and cookies are used so your customers can add products to their basket and checkout, you don’t need to conform to the new EU cookie law regulations. However, if you track visitors via a tool like Google Analytics as well, you will need to explicitly tell your visitors that cookies are in use on your site.

Some of the likely exceptions to cookie compliance are provided below:

Taken from ICO’s Guidance on the New Cookies Regulations PDF.

So, what steps do I need to take for my websites?

There’s no one solution to comply and the guidelines that are provided are quite vague, causing a lot of confusion and more difficulties for website owners who want to comply but are unsure what to do. Because there are so many types of websites using unlimited combinations of cookies, there’s no one size fits all solution. It all comes down to what kind of website you have and what cookies are in place.

It’s not enough to simply update your privacy policy or terms and conditions. A user must explicitly accept cookies in order for you to legally use non-essential cookies on your website.

1. Check the cookies in use on your website

If you aren’t sure about the cookies you use on your website, check out the detailed information provided in ICO’s PDF or use one of the many third party tools available, such as:

• Attacat’s Cookie Audit Tool
• CookieLaw.org’s Cookie Audit
• CookieCert
• EU Cookie Directive WordPress Plugin (shows the cookies in use within the admin panel).

Please be aware that you should check every page of your website and that not all third party tools are completely accurate.

2. Implement a solution

There are plenty of solutions on offer; we’ve done the work for you and found several easy to use free solutions:

Cookie Control: One of the easiest options we’ve found is a little widget called Cookie Control (there’s also aWordPress version). You simply add the code to your website and it shows up as a noticeable but unobtrusive triangle in the bottom corner of your website.

Whether you implement one of these solutions or opt for another one entirely, the message should appear on every page of your website. If you have a static website that isn’t run on a template or CMS, you may want to look into adding it via a PHP include.

In addition to these methods, you may also want to update your privacy policy and/or terms and conditions. Tint Network has an easy to read privacy and cookies policy which they are happy for people to use as a template.

Digital ideas created the web application and handles the SEO and online marketing of clubstohire.com and are delighted that they won this award.

Paul McGinley’s golf club hire operation, ClubstoHire.com, has won the ‘innovation’ award for ‘best service’ at the golf industry awards in Germany hosted by the prestigious Golf Magazin.

The annual ceremony, held in Hamburg last Friday (February 17) attracted more than 300 people and was given extensive media exposure in Germany.

Ireland-based ClubstoHire.com has been trading only since July 2010, when it opened its first outlet at Faro Airport – and since then it has opened six further stores with more planned for 2012 and has saved more than 25,000 customers an estimated €900,000 on airlines’ excess baggage charges.

MicGinley was unable to attend the event as he was competing in the Avantha Masters, in New Delhi, where he ultimately finished tied 14th. But his fellow ClubstoHire director, Tony Judge, was on hand to pick up the award.

He said: “We are thrilled to receive the award as Golf Magazin is truly representative of the German market. It is a great fillip to us to know that German golfers appreciate our service and that we were up on stage with some of the biggest names in golf such as TaylorMade and adidas.

“We will not rest on our laurels – we will continue to provide the best possible club-hire service for travelling golfers and we will also continue to expand to ensure that ClubstoHire.com operations are available in as many golfing destinations as possible.

“We anticipate that 2012 will be another good year for us as we have several new store openings already scheduled and are in discussion over several more. We’re fighting a David vs Goliath battle against large airlines who continue to increase their carriage charges for sporting goods, but like David we believe we – and by virtue, golfers – will win in the end.”

A broad equipment range is offered by ClubstoHire from just €35 per week, with options available from TaylorMade (including R11S and the new RocketBallz), Callaway, Wilson and MD Golf; all clubs are offered – left or right-handed, ladies and men’s – and hire is available from just one day to a full four weeks. For those wishing to travel extra-light, shoe hire is also available.

The service couldn’t be easier to use – just order on-line ahead of travel and pick up the hire set at the destination.

■ Bookings for Antalya, Alicante, Murcia, Dublin, Malaga, Edinburgh and Faro can be made online at www.clubstohire.com.

We created an on-line  integration with their in-house Kerridge  k8  business system which relays in realtime stock and prices direct from the warehouse to all of their agents.

In addition we also integrated the Husqvarna electronic catalogue system (EPC) from Sweden.  Additional features include support sites all integrated into the web application for all their distribution partners. The system allows their agents to order off a number of different sources and relay all information back to to their in-house business ordering system.

A very robust magento website with a neat design.

The site features some great custom background programming linking the magento interface with the shops epos system. Products and stock quantity are updated in real time. Orders in store are updated to the magento store in real time  and vice versa.

A very robust website with a neat design. Digital Ideas wish cupcake every success in their on-line magento store.

Why use Facebook to promote your business?

Facebook is one of the world’s largest social networks. Boasting over 260 million world-wide members, there is a good chance that your customers (or potential customers) are already spending a significant amount of time on Facebook. Finally, as ubiquitous as Google has become in our daily lives, Facebook is quickly catching up to the search engine in total monthly traffic.
Beyond traffic, Facebook is a great choice for businesses looking to promote themselves online:

• Advertising platform puts your ad in front of the most qualified traffic through advanced demographic and behavioral targeting
• Easy to set up and maintain, low cost solution for a web presence
• Facebook “Insights” provide in-depth look at the age, sex and location of your fans, as well as help you identify the type of content they enjoy interacting with

Why use us to set up and manage your Facebook campaign / business page ?

Up keeping a popular Facebook page takes time and regular work, We will handle all the posts, competitions and comments on your Facebook Business page.
We have vast experience in setup and running Facebook ad campaigns
We have been maintaining a number of business pages since Facebook started using them, so we have good understanding who it works and what people like on Facebook. We almost even act as you customer service rep on occasions.

Contact us to find out more about this exciting new area of our company