All three team members completed the ride successfully, and there was even enough time to fit in a quick stop at the pub.

The main event, a 54 mile bike ride in aid of Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance, is taking a place on Sunday 20th May, and the team will have a final training session next week.

If you would like to sponsor the team’s efforts you can do so at www.justgiving.com/somersetwebservices.

Their 35 mile route took them through Taunton and its surrounding countryside towards Bishop’s Lydeard.

The main event is now only two weeks away – if you would like to sponsor the team you can do so at www.justgiving.com/somersetwebservices.

The 1-0 away win placed the team 17th in the Non League Division One table.

The team has been training regularly – our latest training session last night being an exhausting 30 mile route.

If you are feeling generous and would like to sponsor the team (all proceeds going to Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance), you can do so at www.justgiving.com/somersetwebservices.

The team enjoying a hard-earned break at the Boat and Anchor, Huntworth

Sponsored by Coca Cola Enterprises, the meeting gave local businesses a chance to share their plans for the Taunton leg of the relay, which takes place on 21st May this year.

The spectacular event will see the official flame of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games paraded through Taunton’s High Street. The day is set to include plenty of other fun activities, including a live band and games for children.

Below you can see Nigel Finch, Somerset Web Service’s Managing Director, already getting into the spirit of the event as he poses with a torch from the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics.

In April 2007, Somerset Web Services designed, developed and launched the Creech St Michael website at no charge to the Creech Parish Council. Somerset Web Services maintain and regularly update the website, again at no charge, as part of our Corporate Social Responsibility policy.

Over the years the website has been extended with many new features. Nigel described some of the recent enhancements, including:

Ask A Question
Many questions are regularly asked about Creech from people all over the world. The very popular AAQ section allows anyone in the community to give answers. A recent question concerned a lady from Mexico who found a wallet in EuroDisney belonging to Creech resident. She enquired whether the wallet made its way back to its rightful owner. Yes it did!

Hall of Fame
We felt it was important that individuals who had made outstanding contributions to the community of Creech should be recognised in a Hall of Fame. Typically there are many unsung heros in life. The Hall of Fame provides such individuals with a permanent recognition and thanks for all their efforts.

Gallery of Creech photos
The website has a gallery of over 200 photos with some going back to the 1920’s. It provides a useful reference point for the history of Creech St Michael.

Real time news feed from County Gazette
Interesting articles published in the local newpaper website relating to Creech and Taunton are dynamically displayed on the home page.

Statistics
The website is very popular and receives over 1,000 visitors per month and over 3,000 hits per month.  90% of visitors are from the UK. The next most popular countries to visit are USA, Australia  and Canada. Strangely, the site appears to be popular for five visitors from South Korea who frequently read pages. Perhaps past Creech residents now living in South Korea?

Twitter integration
To provide a real time feed of page updates we developed an automated post mechanism with the Creech St Michael twitter account @creechstmichael.

The 1-0 win over Didcot Town was the Peacocks’ first in the league since defeating Paulton Rovers on 20th February – a winless run of 8 matches.

The win takes the team to 17th place in the league. Everyone at Somerset Web Services wishes them the best of luck for their two remaining games.

Nick, seen below with Managing Director Nigel Finch, was rewarded with a certificate and a gift.

Nigel commented on Nick’s outstanding contribution over the last five years, saying “he is a very dedicated and committed employee, and everyone enjoys working with him.”

Web Designer Nick Shaw, left, with Managing Director Nigel Finch

Whilst browsing the web at a later date, you happen to see a copy of your article on someone else’s website. Having put in the hard work to produce the content yourself, it clearly isn’t right that this other website is using and benefitting from it without your permission.

Sadly, this is a situation that can happen in the online world. Thankfully, there are a few things you can do to help prevent it.

The Copyright Symbol (©)

Many instances of copyright theft occur simply because the culprit is unaware that the content is protected. These situations can help to be prevented by placing the copyright symbol in a clear, noticeable location that will remind viewers that they cannot use the content without the owner’s permission.

The power of JavaScript

A user’s ability to copy content from a website can be thwarted using JavaScript. For example, right-clicks can be ignored, and copy and pastes prevented from working. This technique is only effective against non-technical users; being a client-side script, JavaScript can easily be disabled/bypassed by those with technical expertise. Even if it is not the most effective strategy, JavaScript can at least help to prevent some thieves.

Watermark Images

Perhaps one of the most valuable techniques at preventing image theft is watermarking – i.e. placing a partially transparent logo or symbol over the image, enough to tarnish its appearance and effectiveness without blocking its content. Anyone that tries to take and use a copy of the image won’t be able to get rid of the watermark – and will instead have to contact the owner to obtain permission and a non-watermarked version.

A variation on this technique is to place an ‘invisible’ image over the top of an image (using the ‘Z-index’ CSS property) – should someone try to right-click on the main image in order to copy it, they’ll actually be clicking on the invisible image. Again, those with technical skills will be able to bypass this, but it will help against the average user.

Creative Commons License

Obtaining a ‘Creative Commons’ license is a great way to legally protect content. There are six different licenses available, each with different rules on how the general public can use the licensed content (for example, whether it can be used for commercial means). Obtaining the correct license will protect the owner’s content in the way that they want.

A call to action’s effectiveness at enticing users is determined by many factors. The following simple tips will help to make any call to action as successful as possible.

Give the user a reason

It doesn’t matter how strong, large or obvious you make a call to action on a website; if the user isn’t shown how it will benefit them by performing the action, they will ignore it.

Take a look at the popular VoIP service Skype. Their call to action (a button to download the software) has a small paragraph of text directly above it, reminding users exactly what they’ll be able to do if they download the product. Small things like this can make all the difference in persuading a user to perform the call to action.

Limit the number of actions

Though this might seem an obvious point to make, a website shouldn’t overload its users with too many options at once.

Having too many buttons and links on screen is confusing to users, and will lead to important calls to action being missed or ignored. A better approach is to only show one or two at a time, as this allows the user to be guided through the site step by step and ensures they don’t miss anything.

Use appropriate language

Calls to action should be made as obvious to the user as possible. Including eye-catching, powerful words such as “Buy”, “Register”, and “Login” will help the call to action stand out to the user, as well as immediately describing to the user what it will do.

Positioning

A call to action should be placed somewhere where it immediately catches the user’s attention. Well-situated examples tend to be central within the page, and ideally towards the top.

White space is also an effective tool at highlighting calls to action. The more space around an object, the more it will stand out to the user.

This is but a brief summary of some of the important points to consider when using calls to action. By following the points raised, as well as others described on the internet, you can help to ensure your calls to action are as effective as possible.