Since the start of August, the Marketing and Communications Team have been hard at work building a brand new website for the society. The website will bring significant improvements to its predecessor both in terms of content and functionality, enhancing the experience for the end-user and designed to help the charity achieve its core ambitions. 

The Fab Five

There are five notable feature improvements to look out for:

Mobile first

With around 70% of our website traffic coming from people using their mobile or tablet, ‘mobile first’ was a key goal in the site building process, crucially, without compromising the look and feel for a desktop. You will now find the new website is easy to navigate, no matter what device you are viewing it on and there are no hard to find sub-menus, which makes for a much better and more natural user experience.

Improved search functionality

With the new search facility, you will now be able to find the page you are looking for much quicker. Just click the magnifying glass at the top of the page (this is in the menu bar on a mobile or tablet) and type your search query, you can then use the filters to select a page, event, FAQs, news, blog, appeal or a fundraiser. You also have the added option to search by most relevant, recent or oldest pages.

Online donations

If you have ever wanted to make a one-off donation to us or wanted to set up a regular commitment you now can simply click the ‘Donate’ button at the top of the page and you will be directed to a form, where you can make your donations simply and transparently, without any hidden costs to you or the charity. Continued support to the charity in this way, empowers us to achieve our ambitions.

Fundraising pages

Whether you are planning a cake sale or running a marathon, you will now be able to create your own fundraising page on the site, allowing people chart your progress towards your fundraising target, add comments of support or encouragement and make donations directly on our website. You will also be able to update the page when you reach significant milestones and achievements.

So, if you are thinking about fundraising for the charity please click here and create your page. Where possible, we may highlight your page on our social media channels.

‘In Memory Of’ pages

For those who have sadly lost a loved one to drowning, you will be able to create an ’In Memory Of’ page for them. Creating a memorial page is a bespoke way to celebrate the life of a loved one, tailored by you, while also helping to save lives from drowning. It gives you the opportunity to create a central, online space, dedicated to celebrating their life and their legacy, to the share their story with others and allow donations.

If you would like to set up an ‘In Memory Of’ page please click here.

Better site, more byte

With the size and scale of our website and the extent of its functionality, there will inevitably be some initial turbulence at the start. 

We’d like to encourage our dedicated members to help us fix any teething problems by reporting any issues you experience to: bit.ly/RLSSUKWebsiteFeedback.

By working together, we can all contribute to making this the best site for everyone.

We hope you like the new site and look forward to working with you on its development over the coming months!

James Soley, Digital Marketing Executive for RLSS UK.