How to get your small business started online

With the rapid increase in online shopping, spurred on by the 2020 pandemic, many SMEs are now realising that a website should be one of their immediate business goals. Tapping into this growing pool of online shoppers is a quick way to expand your target audience and grow your revenue. But where do you start?

Here are five steps to getting your small business online as quickly as possible.

1. Leverage your strengths

For your online business to be successful you need to solve people’s problems or provide a service they need. With an existing business you should already understand the pain points your services or products address, but for your website you need to clarify these so that you can finetune your target market.

2. Purchase a domain name

If you can purchase an exact match domain name for your online business then that’s great, but it’s not always possible. In this case, select a domain name that is short, easy to remember and related to your business. If you purchase an Australian domain name (yourdomainname.com.au) then you also need to register this domain name through a registrar or listed reseller (you will need an ABN or ACN for this registration).

3. Choose a website developer

A professional website developer will design a website that perfectly matches your brand and your brand messaging. It will have all the functionality you need, high resonance images and content that engages your customers. Your website also needs to be optimised for search engines (SEO), needs to load quickly and be mobile friendly.

4. Select a hosting provider

All hosting providers are not the same, so you need to make your selection wisely. You need a very reliable hosting provider with servers in Australia, providing sufficient bandwidth so that your website suffers a minimum of downtime. You will need to decide whether you are happy with a shared or dedicated server, as this will make a huge difference to the amount of server resources that are available to your website. Some website developers host their client’s websites on their own servers, providing 24/7 help for any website or server issues.

5. Design a digital marketing campaign

When your website is launched, you will need to create a digital marketing campaign to increase traffic to your site and even your physical store. This is a strategy that takes skill and experience, so it might be wise for you to engage a professional online marketing specialist to design and run these campaigns for your business.

There are also other steps you need to take to protect your business and ensure that it’s compliant with consumer law, privacy laws and merchant accounts. You may also need the help of legal experts to write your website’s Terms and Conditions, as well as formulate a plan to address the privacy of customers personal data. It’s essential that you invest your time in obtaining the best advice possible, as this will help to ensure the success of your online business.

Your insurance adviser is also able to provide advice as your business grows and expands, helping you to protect your business, assets and employees. To decide what type of insurance policies are suitable for your business, contact Lewis Insurance Services on 07 3217 9015 or send us an email by clicking here.

This article was published by our AFSL Licensee, Insurance Advisernet Australia P/L, www.insuranceadviser.net

Disclaimer:
This information and any accompanying material does not consider your personal circumstances as it is of a general nature only. You should not act on the information provided without first obtaining professional financial advice specific to your circumstances and considering the Product Disclosure Statement.