For us, 2023 has been a year to remember and a year to forget.
The year started like many others, with anticipation and excitement about new opportunities, building our profile within the creative arts and culture sector, and supporting our clients with their website and digital marketing needs.
10-Years
We quietly celebrated our 10th anniversary, recorded our best-ever financial year, welcomed a new Studio Manager to the team (Jess!) and wished our Operations Director (Kirsty!) a wonderful 12 months away on maternity leave…
We had plenty of work to sink our teeth into as a team, new websites to design and build as well as other exciting projects, such as celebrating one of our longest-retained client’s 30th Anniversary. We decided to make digital accessibility one of Chaptr’s missions going forward, and in doing so we have since partnered with accessiBe. We also reviewed, and are developing, our operations and processes to strengthen and improve our services and efficiency.
We’ve adapted to other changes such as Google Analytics 4 and the 6 major Google Algorithm updates since August! Fortunately, our partnerships with Natalie Arney, who is an SEO genius and Naimeh Zarezadeh from Meditative Marketing are helping us sail these changing tides so that we can best support our clients.
A Challenge Like None Other
Then the real challenge came in late September, with the devastating news of Kirsty’s cancer diagnosis. This sent shockwaves through the Chaptr family, our partners and our clients. We continue to navigate this emotionally and its practical implications for the company. While each of us has been affected by this news, we know one thing – it is more vital than ever that the Chaptr team practice what we stand for; compassion, togetherness, and honesty – and we thank our clients, from the bottom of our hearts, for supporting us with humility, kindness and patience whilst we continue to navigate this unexpected situation.
While it has certainly been a challenging year and there isn’t any way to prepare for something like this. At the end of a challenging year sometimes we just need to rejoice by simply saying “WE MADE IT” – and that alone is worth celebrating!
Celebrating New Clients
We must recognise our wins, and Chaptr has had some strong wins this year. We are so proud of our new business connections, it is an honour to be launching new websites for the likes of MediCinema (nearly there!), Bristol Cathedral, Leeds International Piano Competition and American Friends of Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra, to name a few.
“I just wanted to start by saying a huge thank you to you all for all your hard work. I’m very aware we set an ambitious deadline for The International Leeds Piano Competition project, but you put in a lot of hard work to deliver this for us which is really appreciated. I know that small tweaks and changes are actually difficult and time-consuming to do, so I’d like to thank you for doing all of these so quickly, it really hasn’t gone unnoticed. I am beyond happy with the look and all of the features on the website, which is so much better than anything else in our sector and a real testament to your design and development skills. I can’t wait to recommend Chaptr… Again, thank you so much, you’ve been a joy to work with” David Taylor, Marketing Consultant at The Leeds
Insource Services
Chaptr prides itself on building long-lasting relationships with clients, one in particular has been with us practically from the start. As we are celebrating our 10th anniversary, Insource is celebrating its 30th; 9 of those in partnership with Chaptr! It was lovely to receive some warming words from Insource President, Bruce Hain:
“2023 started out as a memorable year for both of our organizations – a 10th-anniversary celebration for Chaptr and our 30th! As we moved throughout the year, we navigated many challenges and triumphs, finding strength together as partners in every task and project we faced. As we bid farewell to this year’s journey, we eagerly anticipate the arrival of 2024, envisioning it as a year filled with good health, prosperity, and countless opportunities to work together.
The whole Insource team will be sending the best of luck to Joe for his upcoming ride. He is riding for the absolutely best reason we can think of. (we adore you Kirsty, Joe and Lucas) Know that all of your friends in Boston are cheering you on and we know you will crush it with your determination and resilience!”
Accessibility
Chaptr is always looking for ways to become more ethical in how we operate, this year we set ourselves a goal to prioritise accessibility. 1 in 5 people in the UK have a long-term illness, impairment or disability. Many more have a temporary disability (source).
The accessibility regulations quietly came into force for public sector bodies on 23 September 2018. Websites built today need to be accessible to all individuals. Including those with impaired vision, motor difficulties, cognitive impairments, learning disabilities, deafness, or impaired hearing. In the UK, nearly 9 million people have accessibility needs, and approximately 3 million individuals experience colourblindness, which poses challenges when accessing digital services. It’s crucial to ensure inclusivity by accommodating these diverse needs when designing digital platforms. Compliance is required of businesses of all sizes. Many made headlines in high-profile cases, such as Dominos.
To tackle this, we joined forces with accessiBe, a plugin that offers a quick and simple solution for our clients. accessiBe provides the necessary WCAG & ADA Compliance and the accessibility statement and certifications. Check out Bristol Cathedral’s new website to see how accessiBe works.
Going forward into 2024, we are continuing our commitment towards educating our clients on both the necessity and the added benefits of making websites accessible to all users. Whilst accessiBe is a great solution, it represents just part of the accessibility puzzle, and we’re committed to considering accessible principles at each stage of our project from discovery, to UX, design, build and deployment.
Thank You
As we bring 2023 to a close, we must champion those who have gone the extra mile this year as much of our success wouldn’t be possible without the amazing people we are surrounded by…
So thank you to Jessica Hunt for trying to glue everything together amid what’s been a real baptism of fire for a new starter!
Thanks to Connor Ghosh and Matt Gilson for pouring in endless hours and unwavering dedication to deliver high-quality work that our clients love.
A special thank you to Connor for managing a particularly challenging workload for most of the year.
Thank you to Matt Luke for heroically supporting us at the end of the year to help us stick to our project delivery promises.
Thank you to non-exec director Jon Seal for your sage counsel as we traverse these hurdles.
Thank you to Michal Slepko for your unwavering reliability and support with our systems administration and technical development.
Thank you to Jules Bass for being a valuable member of our team and producing beautiful front-end website experiences.
Thank you to Edith Tukendorf and Ciaran O’Donnell for keeping our books and finances in tip-top shape.
And to any others whom I’ve neglected to mention. We appreciate all of your support during these times.
In the face of all the challenges, Chaptr has still seen its most profitable financial year and that is thanks to every member of the team and the contributions you have all made.
Raising Money for Kirsty, Joe and Lucas
Speaking of going the extra mile, I am going to ride 100 of them across the boggy and hilly South Downs Way from Eastbourne to Winchester on the 30th of December. It’s going to be dark, very cold and, let’s face it, probably wet! Please sponsor me!
Kirsty and Lucas
All donations for this ride will go straight to support Kirsty’s Fight With Bowel Cancer, to learn more please head to https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-kirstys-fight-with-bowel-cancer.
Thank you to all those who have shown such generosity with your donations already.
Kirsty, Joe and Lucas, we all love you and we’re inspired by your strength and resilience. Chaptr is here for you every step of the journey.
Thank you everyone, and have a wonderful festive break.
Joe – Founder of Chaptr.