Taking your business online – video transcript

In this Taking your business online video, find out how you can present your business online to reach more customers and build your brand.

Moving your business online can help you to generate new income, exploit new opportunities, gain new customers and lower your business costs.

Going online also means you can manage your business from anywhere and give customers 24/7 access to your products or services.

Before you move your business online research online competitors and what works, find out what laws or regulations may apply like privacy, copyright and spam. Plan for potential IT or cyber threats.

You can use this step-by-step guide to help move your business online.

You need to choose and register a domain name to create a unique website address for your business. Use an availability checker to see if the name is available. You can use free or paid services to register the name.

Visit business.qld.gov.au and search 'registering a domain name' for more information.

Next, you'll need to find a web hosting company. Most major Internet service providers host websites. Costs will vary depending on the size of your site and the level of user traffic, storage space and security that you need.

Now you are ready to create your website. When you prepare your content, keep it simple and focus on what you want your customers to do. Use relevant keywords to make your business easier to find online.

You could even consider hiring a professional to design and build your website. Remember, first impressions count. You could also ask them about pre-designed web page templates that can save time and money. It's also important to align your website design to your existing business brand so customers recognise you.

Remember to make your website mobile-friendly. This can attract more users. And make your site easy to navigate with pages that load quickly. You should use large buttons and font sizes. And don't use software that isn't widely supported. You should also check how your site looks on mobiles, tablets and desktops regularly.

Next, plan how to present your products and service. You could use images, dropdown menus item catalogues or booking schedules. You could also include a search tool.

And providing secure payment options is really important so your customers feel safe buying from you. You could also automate responses to customers when they purchase a product or service via email and provide receipts.

If you're offering home delivery, you'll also need to decide on delivery options, costs and returns policies and make these clearly available on your website.

You need to make sure customers can contact you easily.

The next step is to boost your website's visibility. You'll need to learn about search engine optimization or SEO. SEO tactics can boost your site's ranking in search engine results like Google, so customers can easily find your business. You can improve your SEO by using relevant titles and keywords and regularly updating your content.

You can also use paid advertising or search engine marketing to drive more customers to your website. This is also known as Pay per click. You should also use your digital and social media pages to promote your business and website.

So remember to update your website regularly to keep it fresh. Ensure contact details are correct and easy to find. And keep customers informed.

For more information visit Business Queensland and search 'doing business online'.

Watch the Taking your business online video.