Set up a website

A website allows you to conduct and market your business 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Its ultimate aim as a business tool is to make it easy for users, business partners, customers,

visitors, suppliers and distributors to do business with you.

You can achieve this by creating a website that:

• has an appropriate design for the business

• is quick and easy to navigate

• is customer focused

• provides content and features that interest users

• offers relevant information, e.g. contact details, product details and services offered

• provides numerous opportunities for two-way communication including email, weblogs, chat lines

• provides a variety of convenient ways of ordering and paying for information, products and services

• entices people back

• is regularly updated.

How to create your website

When you develop a clear idea of why you want to set up a website, what you expect to get out of it,

and what benefits you want from it before you begin, you're more likely to develop the website that

you want. Other benefits may include the ability to improve productivity, share information, open

new markets, project a favourable corporate image, communicate with customers, increase sales,

generate income and cut costs.

Register a domain name

The first step in creating a website is registering a domain name. The domain name is the part of a

website address just after the 'www', e.g. www.business.qld.gov.au is the domain name of this website.

You generally find that an internet service provider (ISP) or web-hosting company can register the

domain name for you for a fee, but it is quite simple to do yourself.

In Australia, look at domain name registration at either the AusRegistry or the auDA. For a global

domain name, research the ICANN. It is important to check both Australian and overseas websites,

as different criteria apply for the various types of domain names. The easiest way to register a name,

or to check whether it is available, is to go to these websites and follow the instructions. All of the rules

about how to register a domain name are on these sites. But briefly, to register a domain name in Australia:

You will need to pay a fee.

The domain name you want to register must not already be registered. This can be a shock to some

companies that find they have missed out on the most obvious domain name for their company.

If you are a non-profit organisation, educational organisation, association, government body or other

non-commercial organisation, you may be better advised to register a domain name ending in .org.au, .

edu.au, .asn.au, .net.au, .gov.au.

The name can be made up from consecutive letters that are in the company name or registered trading

name. For example, if your company's name was Joe Blow Engineering, any of these would be acceptable

domain names—joeblow.com.au, jblowengineering.com.au, blowengine.com.au, jbengineer.com.au.

You cannot register a name which generically covers an entire industry. It's unlikely the company above

would be granted the right to register engineering.com.au.

Ensure your chosen domain name does not infringe someone else's rights. If it does you may be sued.

Check the Intellectual Property Australia.

The following are recommended:

• Think of a domain name that is easy for users and customers to remember.

• Don't use uppercase letters in domain names, as internet users generally do not expect this.

• Don't use hyphens and underscores as they are difficult to type.

• Don't make the name too long or too difficult to type correctly.

Once you have registered a domain name, you don't actually need to set up a website straight away.

Your registration will prevent other companies registering the same name, whether your own website is online or not.

When you come to setting up your website, you can delegate the domain name to the web-hosting

company (or of course, to yourself if you are setting up your own server), and they can publish the domain

name on the internet, so that computers around the world will be able to find it. If you need to change your

web-hosting company, you can re-delegate the domain name to the new company, and your website visitors

 will never know the difference.

Find a web-hosting company

All of the major ISPs or web-hosting companies can host your website on their computers. These

companies offer web-hosting services to their customers, generally including hosting the website,

hosting the domain name and providing multiple email addresses.

You may find there are a range of monthly fees depending on how large your website will be and how

many hits or visits it is likely to receive. If you require very advanced features—e.g. photographs for a

catalogue—or have very high use rates on your website, you may find that the web-hosting company will

charge higher fees. It is a matter of deciding what the value of these services will be to your company.

The web-hosting company will probably include as part of its package the provision of detailed statistical

information on how often your website pages are being visited. This information can be extremely valuable,

and can include details of how often your site is visited from various countries around the world (very

important export information), which pages inside your site have been looked at (helps you to understand the

most popular areas of your website) and the websites the user visited before they clicked onto your website (valuable information for online referrals). There may or may not be additional cost to receive this information.

While some ISPs allow you to set up and host a simple website for free, this would not include your own

domain name.

Find a website developer

There are literally thousands of companies that create websites, for prices ranging from $500 up to $500,000.

The steps below can help you make sense of this.

• You need to have a very clear idea of why you are setting up a website, what your business objectives

• are and what you want to get out of it.

• Work out, if you can, what you think the website will be worth to you, and therefore what you are prepared

• to spend to achieve these potential returns.

• Research other websites and find one that you like. Information about the website developer is usually at

• the foot of pages in a website.

• Look towards the future and try to build a long-term business relationship with a website developer. That

• way, if you plan to provide additional features later on, you have a developer who understands your business.

• As you would do with any new supplier, try to determine if the developer has been in business for a while

• and is likely to be there in a year's time to help you with changes to the website.

• Strive for professionalism—your website will represent your company as much as street signage,

• letterhead or brochures, and therefore needs to be professional in appearance. At the same time,

• don't pay a fortune for slick, animated graphics and 3D modelling if that isn't the normal business style.

• It is very difficult to be prescriptive about what you might pay for an initial website design. Research

• shows small businesses pay around $2000 for a reasonable site.

Things to consider

• Have you checked with IP Australia to ensure your domain name does not infringe any trademarks?

• Have you allocated a budget to developing a website?

• Have you considered involving customers and suppliers in the design and development of your website?

• Do you have material to put on the website?

• Have you considered the load time of your home page? (this can become slow if you are using video images)

• Have you thought about fonts, bolding, colour, text and alignment?

• Is the website dynamic and easy to use?

• Is the website able to interact with the buyer and collect demographic and profiling information?

• Have you investigated, with your bank, options for your customers to pay their bills electronically on the website?

• Will the website be fully integrated with your:

1. accounting systems software?

   B    inventory management system?

• What will be the daily, weekly and monthly costs of maintaining the site?

• Have you considered software which enables you to carry out your own website enhancements as your business grows?

• Do you have a web-based marketing strategy that is fully integrated into your business plan and processes?

• Do you have the appropriate marketing, graphic design and technical expertise in-house to construct a web-based marketing strategy for your business?

• Is the website address on all corporate stationery, business cards, facsimile and other promotional material?

• Have you included a search facility to help users navigate your site?

• Have you subscribed to search engines, browsers and online directories in an effort to attract prospective clients to your site?

• Have you established links with complementary product or service providers?

• Does your website have online ordering, email and information retrieval facilities for your customers' ease of use?

• Have you included contact details, such as names and telephone numbers, for your business during office hours?

• Have you tested your website to measure its capacity for carrying multiple users? Is your system's capacity only designed to cope with 100 users, or can it cope with up to 10,000 users just as well?

• Have you planned a website launch with media coverage?

• Have you provided client feedback mechanisms on every page, e.g. your email address?

• Are there service guarantees on the website?

• Have you included a Privacy Policy or Security Policy at the bottom of every page, explaining how you capture and treat email addresses and the level of encryption provided?

Privacy and confidentiality

Carefully consider the privacy and confidentiality issues when developing and implementing a website.

The Privacy Act 1998 (Cwlth) requires website owners who collect personal information online to take

reasonable steps to ensure the customer is aware of who is collecting the information and how it will be used.

Because the Privacy Act also requires firms to protect people from unauthorised access and disclosure of

personal information, business owners also have to address data security issues. Firewalls, passwords and encryption technology are some of the more appropriate ways to ensure the safety of information sent electronically.

The National Privacy Principles are displayed at the Office of the Privacy Commissioner.

Google Adwords

You create your ads

You create ads and choose keywords, which are words or phrases related to your business. Get keyword ideas

Your ads appear on Google

When people search on Google using one of your keywords, your ad may appear next to the search results. Now you're advertising to an audience that's already interested in you.

You attract customers

People can simply click your ad to make a purchase or learn more about you. You don't even need a webpage to get started – Google will help you create one for free. It's that easy!

Google AdWords offers you:

Targeted reach

Now you can advertise to people searching on Google. Even if you already appear in Google's search results,

AdWords can help you target new audiences on Google and our advertising network.

Greater control

You can edit your ads and adjust your budget until you get the results you want. You can also display a variety of

ad formats and even target your ads to specific languages and geographic locations.

Measurable value

There's no minimum spending requirement or time commitment. And with the cost-per-click option, you're only

charged if people click your ads. This means every dollar of your budget goes toward bringing new prospects to you.

Concerned about costs? Don't worry – AdWords puts you in complete control of your spending.

Set your budget

There's no minimum spending requirement – the amount you pay for AdWords is up to you. You can, for instance,

set a daily budget of five dollars and a maximum cost of ten cents for each click on your ad.

Avoid guesswork

We provide keyword traffic and cost estimates so you can make informed decisions about choosing keywords

and maximizing your budget. (Estimate keyword costs)

Pay only for results

You're charged only if someone clicks your ad, not when your ad is displayed.

Payment options vary by country and currency

You create your ads

You create ads and choose keywords, which are words or phrases related to your business. Get keyword ideas

Your ads appear on Google

When people search on Google using one of your keywords, your ad may appear next to the search results.

Now you're advertising to an audience that's already interested in you.

You attract customers

People can simply click your ad to make a purchase or learn more about you. You don't even need a webpage

to get started – Google will help you create one for free. It's that easy!

Excel

Excel 1

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