Small Business Website Development

A Small Business Website is your most powerful business generating tool - if done right

About Website Types

Most business websites fall into four main functional groups although there are others as well (online learning, membership sites etc).  The four most common are:

About Website Platforms

Website platforms/development environments fall into the following categories:

Open Source CMS (eg. Wordpress, Joomla)

With the exception of some Hybrid Wordpress platforms, these platforms are open source and there are literally thousands of developers who can work on your site if you have a falling out with the original developer. Open Source means the underlying code is open for anyone to develop new plugins and improve existing ones. This means the platforms stay at the leading edge of web technologies and if you have a unique need a custom plugin can be developed for it if none exists already.

Public Proprietary CMS (eg. Shopify, Squarespace, Wix)

While not open source these platforms are widely used and as a result have a wide range of plugins and there are many developers who can work on your site if you have a falling out with the original developer. They are often USA centric so you do need to carefully consider your needs and whether they can by fulfilled by these platforms. eg. At time of writing Squarespace has extremely limited options for pricing shipping of physical products in Australia.

Private Proprietary Web Builders (eg. Godaddy, Local Search, Crazy Domains)

NOT RECOMMENDED. These platforms lock you in to the company that provides them as they can't be hosted elsewhere restricting your control over a critical piece of your business infrastructure. If you website developer knows you can't go elsewhere there is no motivation to provide the best service.

Web builders provided by hosting companies are diy platforms and not seen as serious business sites by Google’s ranking algorythm.  They also have very limited plugins so the functionality will always be limited.

Custom development (php, Javascript)

These have their place but are not the best choice for most small business websites due to cost and time to build or make changes. Custom coded websites are typically more suited to businesses with very unique needs and bigger budgets. Even then, it is often preferable to use an open source cms and get a custom plugin developed to meet those needs.

Getting Traffic To Your Website

Having a website is one thing but the best planned website in the world is a failure if you can't get traffic to it.  Here are some ways of driving traffic.

Beware Of These Mistakes

1. Don't talk to a website developer until you have a good understanding of your businesses needs.  Download the Website Planning Worksheet and spend time fine tuning your needs list or call us to book a free needs analysis.
2. When registering a domain name many companies will try to add a lot of unnecessary extra products to the shopping cart so your $19 domain name suddenly ends up costing closer to $100.  You don't need that stuff.  By the way, Websites With Purpose includes a free domain name with your first year of hosting.
3. Don't be tempted to use super cheap hosting (eg. "Unlimited hosting for $3.95 per month").  Some hosting companies keep prices down by cramming as many websites as possible onto a shared server.  This not only can make the websites slower but this is also the hosting most likely to be used by spammers and the server address can get blacklisted causing your emails to get blocked. Very cheap hosting servers are also usually based overseas which is not ideal for an Australian business. Not all shared hosting is bad though.  We use shared hosting for most client sites, but only with very reputable, fast and secure Australian server farms.
4. If a website developer gives you a quote before spending time analysing your needs, they are selling off the shelf cookie cutter sites that are unlikely to meet your business needs.  We usually spend a minimum of 45 minutes doing a simple needs analysis before giving a price guide then following that up with a more detailed analysis before starting any project.  We have provided a link on this page to download a free self analysis worksheet to help you clarify your own needs. 
5. Wordpress is the most common CMS today but it is not necessarily the best for your business.  Ask your website developer what platforms they develop in.  If they only use one, beware.
6. Avoid if possible "off the shelf" website themes and templates.  They are often filled with a lot of functionality for different needs and this functionality will slow your website down even if you don't use it.  A serious developer will develop a lightweight custom theme or template for your business.
7. Don't build a business website using DIY platforms like a hosting company's web builder.  Google recognises these as DIY platforms that are not usually used by serious businesses and will not rank them as highly.
8. Don't "go live" with a marketing campaign until you have the necessary analytics or pixels for the marketing channel you are using.  Marketing rarely works well if you are not tracking results and fine tuning the campaign in response.

If you  would like to discuss your website needs without getting a sales pitch, contact us today.