More Information -
Useful Links
e-business Guide - An Australian Guide to Doing Business Online
This e-businessguide website provides information and resources about e-business for small businesses in Australia and for those who advise them. It is an initiative of the Australian Government.
Exporting Online - www.exportingonline.gov.au
This site provides information on e-business with a view to exporting online. It includes general e-business information, B2B, e-markets. There are also a number of case studies of Australian companies exporting online.
The rural and regional guide to e-commerce
Introduces e-commerce from a rural and regional perspective
Why Your Business Needs a Website
A Web site is a "must" in today's business world. Not only does it add to your credibility, it will also enable potential clients around the world to learn about your products or services.
Consumers across all age brackets use the Internet and, particularly for computer-savvy users, the Internet is one of the first places they'll turn for information about products and services. The Internet offers an opportunity to introduce your business to consumers exactly when they are searching for it.
There are numerous reasons why even the smallest of businesses can benefit from a web presence, but here are five key considerations:
1. Visibility: With more and more consumers logging onto the Web to research products and services, if they are going to find your business, your business needs to be on the Web.
2. Reach: With a Web site, you are no longer limited to a customer base that is in physical proximity to your shop. Your place of business may be in Adelaide, but your customers can be anywhere in the state, country or world.
3. Customer service: When customers can log onto your Web site and easily find the information they want - when they want it - their satisfaction with your service increases.
4. Competition: A professional looking Web site can level the playing field for smaller businesses trying to compete against larger enterprises.
5. Credibility: When you can point customers, partners, even potential employees or investors to your Web site, it conveys a sense of professionalism.
Important characteristics we consider when designing your Web site
1. Design elements that are related to your logo and brand identity. The visual elements on your Web site and the color scheme should be evocative of your brand identity.
2. Consistent, easy-to-use navigation systems that enable your Web site visitors to find the information they need quickly.
3. Making the site and navigation expandable-easy to add on to, so that your Web site can grow with your business.
4. Preparing the images properly for the Web, to make them clear and quick-loading.
5. Clean, easy-to-understand text content. Write to your audience level when you create your text, so that rushed clients can read and comprehend your message quickly.
6. Search engine optimization. ALT tags, title tags, keyword-rich text coded in HTML, headlines, and META tags. These will help to ensure that your site gets great rankings in the search engines, so that people visiting search engines can find your site.
7. A Web site maintenance and promotion plan. Once your Web site is designed and deployed, it is important to maintain and market the site. There are many ways to do that-ranging from exchanging links with other sites, to in-depth Search Engine Optimization, to including your Web address in your e-mail signature, and most importantly keeping content on your website up to date.
Managing the Content on your website
Your Web site is only as useful as the content is current. The process of keeping the content on your site current is called "Web site maintenance," and it's important to keep both visitors and search engines supplied with new information.
If you update the content on your Web site on a regular basis, potential clients will be drawn back to your site to find out "what's new." The search engines pay visits to Web sites regularly. The catch is that you'll stay in the queue only if you update your site regularly. If the search engines visit your site several times in a row, and don't find anything new, they may decide not to come back-which can be a blow to your search engine rankings.
We provide a number of tools to enable you to keep the content on your website relevant and up to date:
News Manager Module - When you add a latest news story to your website, our News Manager will automatically spotlight any major updates on your Home page as well, so that people will learn of those updates as soon as they enter your site. The search engines will also discover the new update as soon as they enter your home page if you leave a bit of information, with a link to the full story, on the home page. That will act as a breadcrumb for the engine to follow-the engines will follow your link to the full story to learn more about it.
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Website Statistics
You can proactively guide the ongoing success of your Web site by doing two things:
1. Monitoring site statistic reports to learn all the key details about who's visiting your site, where they came from, and what they're doing when they get there.
2. Making changes when you see data that indicates you could get even stronger performance by adding new keywords or perhaps revising some of your messaging.
Information which can be obtained from viewing our website statistics report:
Web site statistics summary details site visits, page views and search engine performance.
Use your website to Build Your Brand
1. Own your own domain name.
A domain name is the "Web site address" where your Web site lives, and it is the last half of your e-mail address. You can purchase your own business name, or a variation of it, as your domain name.
2. Use your domain name for your e-mail address.
You probably already have an e-mail address from your Internet service provider (ISP) that looks something like: example555@bigpond.com. It looks more professional to have the name of your company as part of your business e-mail address. The repetition of your business name will increase your memorability and will help you build your brand.
3. Put your e-mail address and Web site URL on all of your printed materials.
"If you build it, they will come" is unfortunately just not true on the Web. You have to promote your Web site to let people know that it's available to them, and that you have valuable information housed there. The easiest and most immediate way to do this is to add your e-mail address and URL to your printed materials wherever appropriate. Put this contact information on your business cards, printed articles, email, note cards, and other correspondence.
Make sure to include your Web site address on all your company's materials-letterhead, brochures, postcards, catalogs... you name it. The only place it is not appropriate is on envelopes or mailing labels; the postal scanners don't like it!
E-mail newsletters
If your marketing budget is tight, an e-mail newsletter can be a cost-effective way to reach a lot of customers. The first step in the process is to get permission to e-mail your customers and prospects; otherwise you run the risk of annoying or alienating them. There are several ways to collect e-mail addresses; here are a few common approaches:
- Put a newsletter subscribe form on your Web site
- Put a sign-up sheet at point-of-sale locations
- Add a note to the bottom of invoices soliciting signups
Once you have captured enough e-mail addresses and permissions to make the effort worthwhile, it's time to think about what you'll put in your newsletter.
There's a fine line to consider: While the end goal from a marketing perspective is to promote your products and services, e-mail newsletters tend to be most effective with a soft sell approach. If you offer relevant and topical content that people interested in your products and services would care about, then your newsletter will help establish a bond with your customers.
Ensure that your newsletter:
- Looks professional and uses elements of your corporate identity to reinforce your brand.
- Contains content that is both valuable and accessible to your audience. Be sure to give good, quality information in your newsletter or post card, so that people will look forward to receiving it. And write the newsletter with language on your prospect's level-don't use technical jargon if you can avoid it, and if you can't, define the technical terms so that your audience can stay "on the same page" with you.
- Includes a call to action on non-personalized items like the post card and newsletter, and/or an offer such as a discount or special article. These can also be helpful in handwritten follow-up-giving the people that you're contacting a reason to get back in touch with you.
- Offers your potential clients a way to get on and off of your mailing list easily-you don't want to be sending mail or email that's unwanted.
- Is sent out regularly. In addition to letting prospects know when to expect the follow-up, following-up regularly will also show that you do things professionally and in a timely manner.
Primary goals of SEO (Search Engine Optimization):
Search engines average many millions of searches a day and are the most common way Internet users find Web sites.
Basic search engine optimization covers:
- Making sure your Web site includes the same words (keywords) your desired audience is typing into search engines.
- Making sure your Web site is built in a way that allows search engines to find it and read the text on every page.
- Building content on your Web site that other Web sites - especially those that speak to your target audience - will point links to.
Pay Per Click Advertising
Pay-per-click advertising can be an effective way to gain search engine visibility and get targeted traffic to your site.
Advertisers bid on "keywords" that they believe their target market (people they think would be interested in their offer) would type in the search bar when they are looking for their type of product or service. These ads are called "sponsored links" or "sponsored ads" and appear next to and sometimes above the natural or organic results on the page. The advertiser pays only when the user clicks on the ad.