As a business owner or self-employed individual, having an online presence, including a website and corresponding email address, enhances your professionalism and ensures customers can easily locate you.
Here’s a guide on establishing your business’s online presence and avoiding common errors.
A website serves as your shop window, retail outlet, information centre, and marketing tool. Your online presence remains accessible to customers worldwide 24/7.
Every business, regardless of its size or nature (part-time, self-employed, start-up, or large staff), cannot afford to be without a digital presence.
Obtaining your own domain name, which is your unique online address, can also provide you with matching email addresses. Research demonstrates that customers place greater trust in emails that match the business name, compared to generic email addresses. For instance, sales@johnservices.com is more trustworthy than sales.johnservices@gmail.com.
Consider the purpose of having a website. To keep costs manageable, ensure that your site fulfils your specific needs. Reflect on the following aspects of your business:
- Is your business local or national?
- Are you targeting customers on a national or international scale?
- Do you operate in the retail sector or provide services?
Additionally, consider your target customers and ask yourself:
- Who are my ideal customers?
- What are their expectations from my website? Are they looking to make inquiries, gather information about products or services, or make purchases?
The answers to these questions will help determine the objectives of your website, which may include:
- Marketing your products or services
- Generating sales leads
- Facilitating product or service sales
- Expanding your business’s reach to customers beyond your local area or country.
How to research your market and competitors
When selling to customers overseas, it’s important to note that you are engaged in exporting and must adhere to the relevant exporting regulations.
What you need to know about exporting
E-commerce: online selling of product overseas — Ministry for Primary Industries
The first step is securing a domain name, which is a unique online address, before establishing your own website and branded email addresses. Ideally, the domain name should reflect your business name or be relevant to your industry. For self-employed individuals, it could include your own name and profession, such as Johnservices.co.nz.
To acquire a domain name:
Use our ONECheck tool to verify if a domain name matching your business name is available, then register it. (Perform an online search to find a suitable provider.)
If you intend to establish your online presence internationally or attract overseas customers, consider a domain name ending in .com or a country code specific to the targeted market, such as .com.au or .co.uk.
If you haven’t already done so, it’s a good opportunity to contemplate your company’s brand and business name.
Beauty of email
For years, Susan has been using the email address susan21@hotmail.com for both her home and her beauty products company, Natural Beauty. However, as her business grows, Susan realises that she needs more professional-looking email addresses for work.
To address this, she registers the domain name organicbeauty.co.nz and creates separate email addresses for sales (sales@naturalbeauty.co.nz), administration and invoicing (accounts@naturalbeauty.co.nz), as well as for each of her staff members.
In addition to setting up a website at naturalbeauty.co.nz for local sales, Susan also registers the domain name naturalbeautynz.com for future sales to customers around the world.
Discover tools and helpful tips for conducting business online.
Seek advice that works for your business.
Creating your first website doesn’t have to be expensive. If you’re self-employed or have a small business, a simple, clear, and visually appealing homepage may be sufficient to begin with. Various online services offer free or low-cost templates that are ideal for websites with a few pages of information and images.
As your business expands, your online presence should grow as well. When the time comes to build a new site, such as one that can handle orders or quote requests, consider involving professional developers and designers. Clearly communicate your site’s requirements and budget before they commence their work.
Irrespective of your site’s size, it’s beneficial to follow certain rules that will be appreciated by your customers and search engines:
- Keep all information up to date.
- Regularly add new content to maintain a fresh website – search engines like Google prioritise such sites.
- Ensure your content is useful, avoiding making everything an advertisement for your business.
- Utilise high-quality images showcasing your products or services, avoiding generic stock photos.
- Use concise and effective wording – it may be worthwhile to hire a professional writer.
10 common website mistakes — Digital Journeys
Creating online classes — Digital Boost
Ensure that important information, such as your contact details, is prominently displayed.
If your business provides after-hours services like emergency plumbing or IT support, ensure that you feature a call-out number on your homepage.
Social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram provide excellent opportunities for small businesses and self-employed individuals to engage with their customers. These platforms allow you to reach a vast potential audience in a more personal way than your website. It’s no surprise that businesses, both big and small, use social media to establish their brand.
Social media can assist you in:
- promptly conveying essential information to customers, such as promotions, offers, or product recalls
- obtaining instant customer feedback
- quickly expanding your customer base
- selling products or services through a business account, such as on Facebook.
Plan how you intend to use your social media account, such as promoting daily specials or driving traffic to your website. Additionally, consider the amount of time you or a staff member can devote to it, like posting once a day or a week.
Take into account the appropriate tone of voice for your social media posts. For instance, a law firm might adopt a more serious tone compared to a party planning company.
Posting too many company updates or unnecessary information may come across as intrusive, so it’s important not to overuse social media.
Remember that everyone can see the feedback posted by your customers, both positive and negative. Additionally, if you collect and store customer information digitally, there may be obligations and responsibilities to fulfil.
Protecting customer and employee information
Avoid immediately deleting negative comments on social media. A business page without any complaints can raise suspicions among customers.
However, demonstrating that customer complaints have been effectively addressed can foster trust and credibility.
Step-by-step: Handling complaints on social media
Websites that are mobile-friendly rank higher in search results.
When designing your website, consider both desktop and mobile users. Think about what actions they will take on your sites, such as quick visits to find contact details or longer sessions to compare products.
It’s crucial for customers to easily find you online because if they can’t, your competitors are just a click away.
- Check your stats: Google Analytics is a useful tool that helps you understand how people navigate your website, which pages are most popular, and who visits them. It’s user-friendly and free to use.
- Review and tweak: Ask your customers about their expectations from your website, what they appreciate, and what they find unsatisfactory. Be ready to make changes based on their feedback.
- Promote your website: Seek opportunities to showcase your domain name to customers. You can leverage Google’s Places for Business service to promote yourself or your business by featuring your website, address, and opening hours.
Are you struggling with accounting and business management for your business? We are here to help! Get in touch with us to discuss how our expert services can support your business’s success. Contact us today to schedule a free consultation and see how we can add value to your operations.
