Do You Have Questions About…
Small Business Sites?
eCommerce Sites?
Domain Names?
Hosting?
eMail Addresses?
On-Going Costs?
Our Fees?
About Small Business & eCommerce Websites
What is the best website for a small business?
The best website for a small business depends on what you want the website to do for your business:
- if you want your website to promote your business locally, then an information based website is what you will want. Typically, this will be a 5-page website promoting your services together with your contact details and a contact form
- if you want your website to sell your products online, then an ecommerce website is what you will want
- if you want to make money online by restricting the content of your website to paid members, then a membership based website is what you will want
- and so on…
What is the best website for eCommerce?
The best website for eCommerce is one that is best for :
- your customers: it needs to be easy to use ie easy for your clients to find what they are looking for and to order it
- you: assuming that you are the one looking after it eg adding new products, removing products, changing prices,…
For those reasons, we only use WordPress to build eCommerce websites for our clients.
What is the best eCommerce platform for a small business?
There are many eCommerce based websites available on the Internet: Magento, Zencart, Drupal, Joomla,…
But we prefer to build eCommerce websites with WordPress for a lot of reasons:
- it’s free
- it’s very easy to use
- it’s always updated with new and exciting features
- it is easily configurable
- it has lots and lots and lots of themes: free and premium
- it has lots and lots and lots of plugins to extend the functionality of a site: free and premium
- and lots more reasons…
What are the advantages of ecommerce for business? What are the benefits of e-commerce for a small business? What are the benefits of ecommerce to a business? Why ecommerce is important for businesses, or why is ecommerce good for small business? How ecommerce helps small businesses?
In 3 words: money and convenience!
If you have a local small business selling products, then by offering eCommerce on your website, you make it possible for people to purchase your products at your store AND online – 2 streams of income!
And by making it possible for folks to order your products online, then it is convenient for them!
How to start a small eCommerce business?
To start a small eCommerce business we would recommend:
- register a great domain name that reflects the nature of your business
- take out a hosting plan
- install WordPress
- install a simple theme that supports Woocommerce
- install the Woocommerce plugin (among others: backup, security, contact form, cache,…)
- get a Business PayPal account and configure your Woocommerce plugin accordingly
- set up your delivery options in Woocommerce
- add your products to Woocommerce with nice descriptions and photos
- do a test purchase to make sure it all works
This of course is a general outline without going into the specifics.
If you need help with any of this, feel free to contact us.
What is the best Commerce shopping cart for small business?
There are many shopping cart plugins available for WordPress (the Content Management Software we use to build all our websites).
Which shopping cart is best depends on what you are wanting to sell:
- if you are wanting to sell digital products (photos, software,…), then we would suggest Easy Digital Downloads among others
- if you are wanting to sell physical products with a delivery option, then you can’t go past Woocomerce among others.
Which eCommerce platform is best for small business? What is the cheapest eCommerce platform?
The cheapest and the best eCommerce platform is a combination of WordPress and Woocommerce, both free.
Have a look at our answers above to find out why we think it is the best combination.
About Domain Names
What is a domain name?
A domain name is the address of your website. It usually ends in .com or .com.au but not necessarily so. There are many other such extensions eg. .org, .net, .info, .mebourne, … with new ones coming out all the time.
Why do I need a domain name?
As mentioned above, a domain name is the address of your website. So, if you want people to find your website, then you just give them your site’s address ie. its domain name.
When do I need to get a domain name?
We would recommend that you get a domain name as soon as you have decided that you want a website to promote your local business. The reason for this is that, if you wait too long, then someone else may take the domain name you are interested in.
How do I get a domain name?
The process of getting a domain name is as follows:
- you will need to think of a suitable name as your website’s address. It needs to be something on the short side, easy to remember and that ties in with the name of your business, then
- you need to decide what extension you want. For example, do you want .com, .com.au, .net, .org, and so on…? there are many extensions you can choose from, some of which are quite expensive, then
- you need to see if the domain name you have picked is available, and finally
- you need to register it.
Where do I register my domain name?
There are many places on the Internet where you can register your domain name (and see if it is available). Some are affordable, others are seriously overpriced. So shop around, or better still, contact us! We usually recommend an Australian company for domain names, their fees are very reasonable and competitive.
Who can get a domain name?
Anyone can get a domain name. However, some extensions are restricted. For example, in Australia, only registered businesses or people with an ABN can register a .com.au domain name. There are no such restrictions on .com domain names.
How long do domain names last?
Typically, a registered domain name will last 1 year. But, when you register a domain name, the company you do it with may offer you a 2-year, 3-year or even a 10-year plan with reduced fees if you take it for a long period.
Any last advice about domain names?
In fact, we do have some last advice:
- when you register your domain name, make sure you spell it correctly because, once it is registered, you cannot change the spelling. For example, if you register “semple.com” by mistake instead of “sample.com”, then you will need to also register “sample.com”. You will have paid for “semple.com” but it will be of no use to you,
- if you have the money, you may want to register other domain names to avoid a someone else trying to compete with you. For example, if you register “sample.com.au”, then you may also want to register “sample.com”, “sample.net”, “sample.net.au”, “sample.org”, “sample.org.au” and so on…
Need help with domain names?
If you need help on any aspects of
choosing or registering a domain name, pls contact us! We are happy to help.
About Hosting
What is website hosting?
Hosting is about having your website stored on a computer (called a server) that is permanently connected to the Internet.
Why do I need hosting?
As mentioned above, you need hosting so that folks can access your website through the Internet.
Who does the hosting?
There are many companies that offer hosting, some are very reasonable with their prices while others are on the expensive side.
Where can I find a good host?
There are many ways to find a good host: talk to friends, do a Google search,… Or you could ask us who we recommend. We usually recommend one Australian company for our clients, their fees are very reasonable and their support has been fantastic.
What is the best web hosting for small business?
We recommend an Australian company to all our clients. In fact, all our websites are hosted with that same company, so we follow our own advice.
If and when you decide to employ our services to build you a small business website, we will let you know what that company is. All part of our service!
When do I need to get hosting?
You will need to get hosting only when you have decided to have a website built. If you, for example, take out a hosting plan and have your site built 6 months later, then you will have wasted 6 months of hosting. While we would recommend registering a domain name as soon as possible, you can wait to take out a hosting plan.
Are there different hosting plans?
Yes, there are! And it gets confusing as to which one you should take as some of the features mentioned in each plan can be on the technical side. Pls contact us if you need advice on choosing a hosting plan.
Do I need all the extras that hosting companies offer?
Unfortunately, we would say “yes” and “no” as it depends on your level of expertise, who is building your site (they may offer backup and security built into the site as we do), and so on… Pls, contact us about these extras before you take out a hosting plan.
Need help with hosting?
If you need help on any aspects of
choosing or registering a domain name, pls contact us! We are happy to help.
eMail Address
What is an email address?
An email address is like a post box at the post office. It enables you to send and receive electronic mail. An email is made up of 2 parts: the name and the domain name joined together by “@” eg. [email protected] The name “sam” would be like the post box number and the domain name “sample.com” would be like the location of the post office.
What is a good email address for a small business?
A good email address, in our opinion, is one that uses your domain name. For example, if your website is “sample.com.au”, then we would recommend “[email protected]” or “[email protected]”. We feel that using a gmail address, for example, for your business is not professional.
Why do I need an email address?
There are 2 reasons why you need an email address.
- it makes it possible for visitors to your site to contact you by email,
- it makes your business look professional because you are contactable.
How do I get an email address?
You are able to create an email address as part of your hosting plan, usually through your hosting account.
Who creates the email address?
You can create an email address yourself, if you know what to do (your hosting company may be able to help you with that). Else, your web designer can create it for you.
How many email addresses do I need?
This depends on how many people in your business need to be contactable through your website.
Where do I go to create an email address?
As mentioned above, you create an email address through your hosting account.
When do I need to get an email address?
You will need an email address once your website is open for business as it is one way visitors to your site will contact you.
Any last advice about emails?
We would offer the following advice:
- if you are wanting to convey an element of friendliness with your email address, then we would suggest using the name of the person who will receive the email as part of the email address eg. “[email protected]”
- if, on the other hand, you are wanting to stay business like, then we would recommend email addresses such as “[email protected]”, “[email protected]” and so on …
- we would not recommend displaying your email address on your website as spammers will soon find it and you will become a target of their spam. Your email address should only be used in conjunction with your site’s contact form.
Need help with email addresses?
If you need help on any aspects of choosing
or registering a domain name, pls contact us!
We are happy to help.
Our Fees & On-Going Costs
How much does a small business website cost?
How much does it cost to build a website for small business?
The cost of a small business website depends on a number of factors:
- the number of pages you want your site to have
- the number of features you want your site to have eg shopping cart
- if you want a shopping cart on your site, the number of items you want to sell will affect he cost of your site
- and so on…
BUT…
One major factor that determines the cost of a website, is the company you employ to build you the site.
We have seen companies build websites using a very basic template, and charging $1000+ to the client.
How much should a small business website cost?
We, on the other hand, have been told that our fees are very reasonable and in fact too low.
Yes, we are in it to make money but we also take pride in our work and want to provide our clients with a well designed, functional and easy to use website at a reasonable cost.
We work from home and so have much fewer overheads than other companies, which means that we can build websites for you for a very reasonable fee.
Add to that the fact that we ourselves are a small business looking to help and support other small businesses.
Our web design fees are one-off
Our fees are one-off. Once you have made your payment for our web design services, there will not be any ongoing fees with us.
What are your website update fee?
Once we have completed your website, we will always be available for updates you require for your site. This could be changed to the text, updated pictures or prices, adding new pages, … We generally charge $35 an hour for such updates.
Are there on-going costs after the website is built?
Your only ongoing fees with your website will be for your domain name and hosting, which will have nothing to do with us.
Unlike some companies, we don’t believe in having these 2 things under our name. We will make sure that they are under your name which means that they will always be under your control.
