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8 Steps To Set Up Your Business Website (in simple English)

Setting up your local business website does not have to be difficult.  Even Alf Stewart is advertising he can set one up in all of his ads for godaddy!  Yet while this may be true, if you do not have any experience in building your own website, consulting a Sydney local business website expert is worth the time.

However, not all website designers are created equal.  The industry thrives on making websites sound very technical and difficult and you are looking at around $3,000 for a very basic website, so it is best to have some knowledge to get the most out of your investment.

Below are 8 things you need to know to get a quality website:

1. What is the purpose of your Website?

If you do not give specific instructions to your web designer you are probably going to get a very expensive digital brochure.  One of the biggest regrets many local businesses have is they get a beautiful looking website that no-one ever finds.

If you want potential customers to find your website when they are browsing the web, you need to communicate this to your web designer.  They are then likely to go into a lot of jargon about SEO and SEM but don’t worry, we will explain what this means below.  For now, just know you need it.

Also, decide what you want potential customers to do when they come to your website.  Do you want them to buy something?  Do you want them to pick up the phone and call you?  Would you them to fill in a form to get more information from you?  Be very clear about what your goal is.

2. What Do You Want Your Website To Look Like?

Before you engage a web designer, browse through google and look at what other businesses in your industry are doing.  You may also have found websites in other industry’s you like the layout of as well.

Ideally, you are looking for websites which are easy to navigate around and make it clear to the reader what they are about.  They will probably have a front page which describes what their website is for, an ‘about us’ page giving some background to the business, a products / services page, describing the products or services the business offers and a ‘contact us’ page, with information on how you can contact the business if you are wanting more information.

Make a note of these website(s) so you can provide them as examples of what you require.

3. Website Content

Now that you have an idea for the website layout, have a think about some basic content for your website.  Picture what your ideal customer looks like, and pretend they are in your store and interested in buying your product or service.  Make some notes on the following:

• why should the customer choose you over one of your competitors
• what questions is your customer likely to ask, and what are your answers
• some common mistakes customers make
• what after sales service you offer

4. Domain

The first step is to get a domain name.  If you are a local business, it is recommended you get a .com.au domain name.  Ideally, your domain should include your business name.  For example, if your business is Green Thumb Gardening, you should get greenthumbgardening.com.au.  You may also want to get greenthumbgardening.com, but it is not necessary unless your future plans are for your business to go international.

You will need an Australian ABN to get a .com.au.  Domains are not expensive and you should be able to purchase it for less than $30 per year.  If you buy multiple years upfront, it is even cheaper.

Two places you can acquire an Australian domain are https://namecheap.com and https://crazydomains.com.au.

If your web designer acquires the domain on your behalf, make sure they register it in your business name, not theirs.  This is a common mistake and if you stop using their services or they go out of business, it can be difficult to change it over to you.

5. Hosting

All websites are stored on special computer servers which allows your webpages to be viewed on the internet.  This service is provided by a hosting company.

Hosting services generally cost between $100 (if you are happy to share a server with other websites) to $300.

Most web designers will arrange hosting for you and connect it to your domain name.  Again, you do not need to arrange hosting yet, just know that you need it and make a note to ask your web designer if they include this service.

6. Get a Website Quote

You are now ready to get your business website quote.  By already having an idea of what you want your website to look like and the content you want on it, your web designer should be able to give you an accurate estimate and timeframe.

Most web designers will be comfortable meeting your needs so far.  It is the next question which will help you decide who to go with.  How will my website be found by potential customers?

If you get responses such as “we do special coding”, or “it is really difficult and takes time” or the price goes up significantly without any guarantees as to your website performance, this is a red flag.

What you want to hear is based upon the content provided, they will put together a list of keywords and phrases which your customers are likely to type into google.  They will build your website targeting these phrases so you can measure how will your website is doing this.  This is the essence of SEO (search engine optimisation) and SEM (search engine marketing).

7. Select Your Web Developer

Once you have at least three (3) quotes, if you are happy with one of the developers engage them.  Make sure you are very clear on cost, what their services include and timeframe.  If you require photos or a video for your site, these can also be additional costs.

You may also want to consider paying 50% upon completion of the website and 50% after say a month to see whether your website is ranking for the search phrases you agreed upon.  I have never seen this done before (and you may get some pushback), but it is a good way to make sure your website performs what you paying for.

8. Website Analytics

It is recommended you set up a gmail account and attach google analytics to your website.  This is a free service provided by google.  Your analytics will tell you how many people have visited your website, how they found your website, for example from google or bing and what search term they used (depending on the visitors privacy settings), and what your visitors did when they came to your website.  For example, did they spend some time looking around and filled in a contact form, or did they leave straight away.

With this information, you can find out if anyone is visiting your website, and whether they are doing what you want them to do.  You can then discuss with your web designer how to improve your website, which is likely to be for an additional fee but this is fair and expected and part of the ongoing business relationship.

Of course, if you would like to remove all of the hassle and rent a website already ranking and designed to obtain quality leads for customers looking to buy your product, contact us for how we can help you.