National Coding week is upon us, and we thought we would ask the most obvious question - what is coding? Well, coding is the process where we take our digital ideas and the instructions we want a computer to perform, and we translate that into a language that the computer can understand. So basically, coding is how we talk to computers.

National Coding Week is a time to bring coding and digital literacy to everybody in a fun and engaging way. Learning digital skills and gaining more knowledge about it helps us make sense of the rapidly changing world around us. And it’s not just for children, age isn’t a barrier to learning something new!

To help drive awareness during this week, one of the things you as an individual or business can do is use the hashtag #NationalCodingWeek when posting on social media and highlight how you got into coding / a digital job to help inspire others. There are also initiatives for schools and teaching resources to promote coding and digital skills.

So why is this relevant to my business you may ask? Let’s look at this in the context of your website for example. Poor coding will affect its performance, and this can play a big part in search engine optimisation (SEO) - which is the process of getting your website to rank favourably in a search – and obviously, you want it to be easily found by potential customers.

If there are bad instructions in your code then this may lead to inactive links, slow loading pages, and potentially lead to a poor customer experience on your website.

Poor coding could also affect website security, potentially leaving the site at risk of being attacked by criminals. The adoption of secure coding practices is important because it removes commonly exploited vulnerabilities and prevents cyberattacks from happening. By ensuring the website is well coded for security measures it reduces the chances of longer-term costs which may arise if an exploit takes your website offline or results in the leak of sensitive information of users.

Therefore, it is a worthwhile exercise to review your website. Whether that is to assess what your customers’ experience is, or to ensure whether there are any security flaws.

The WCRC offers a first-step web assessment and more in-depth vulnerability assessments for small businesses and third-sector organisations. These are systematic reviews to identify weaknesses in website security and the report will also include suggestions on how to remediate any vulnerabilities found. If you are not sure if this service is right for you, we can talk you through your options.

The WCRC also has a range of membership options depending on what level of support businesses need. Free ,Core membership provides businesses with access to a range of resources and tools to help them identify risks and vulnerabilities, as well as providing guidance on the steps they can take to increase their levels of protection.