Thinking of finally taking your business online in 2022? Here are 5 essential pieces of advice.

Dec 13

If you’re like us, you’ll spend most of January planning and strategizing for the rest of the year. Will you change your brand, will you change your marketing approach, will you pick up some new tools, will you decal your company car. January is often quiet (unless you’re in the winter sport industry) which gives small business managers time to consider their successes from the past year, and make plans for the future.

The Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) tells us that 75% of Canadians research purchases online, but only 41% of small businesses have a website. Our experience suggests that many small businesses are still relying on social media to promote their services and products. Facebook and Instagram are easy platforms and most business owners don’t have a lot of spare time to learn the ins and outs of the World Wide Web. Eventually, however, a growing business will reach a point where they want more control over their brand and representation.

If you’ve come to that point, we have some good startup pieces of advice.

1.

You will need a computer

This is essential. A phone will not help you manage your website. If you are planning to use a tablet, be sure to have a keyboard. Because a big part of your website is content.

If you’re expense-hesitant when it comes to a computer, you can consider a low-cost PC, or even a Google Book - these can be as low as $250. And remember - your computer is a write-off expense for your company.

2.

You will need to schedule time

Plan to spend about an hour a week on your website. Block that hour on your calendar and stick to it. In our experience, business owners who do not spend a lot of time on the internet will often launch a website and then ignore it for months. But if you’re ignoring your website, so is your market.

You could hire a company to pay attention to your site. Goodwin Creative offers a maintenance package. But even if you do that, it’s still important that you, as the business owner, make an appearance now and then. Here are some possible tasks:

Check your website, make sure everything is working properly (this is extra vital with Wordpress sites that tend to malfunction regularly). Check the site on all of your devices. Make notes.
Check your competitor websites - what are they up to?

Check your traffic. Where are your visitors coming from? What pages are they hanging out on? What keywords are they typing into google to find you? If Goodwin Creative has built your website using Squarespace they’ve set up your built-in analytics area. You can also use Google Analytics.
If you’ve been taught how to make updates, go in often and practice. Change the wording, add a phrase or two, add a new page, maybe an FAQ page or new photos in your projects area. Google loves fresh content and you’ll become comfortable managing your site.
Send notes and corrections to your webmaster if required. Do not phone these in - most webmasters are very busy with a million tiny details - if you send them an email, they’ll be able to check back and be sure they’ve done all that you need.

Think of your website like a bricks and mortar storefront. If there’s never anyone there, people will eventually stop coming by no matter how good your product or service looks to be.

3.

Choose Squarespace for your small business build

Yes, Goodwin Creative does build with Squarespace and of course we’d recommend it to our future clients. However, there are many reasons why we build with Squarespace. Jude launched her first website in 1995 and since then Goodwin has built using many different platforms including Joomla, Drupal, Website Baker, Wordpress, and finally Squarespace. We like the look, the ease of use, and the support networks we find in the Squarespace platform. We like that we can design on the fly without the need for templates. We also like that there are no plugins or widgets that need updating, and the site will always look the way it is supposed to. For a small business, Squarespace is ideal.

Squarespace has a lovely store function which is great for courses, subscriptions and other digital products. Do not use Squarespace if you’re planning an online store which requires shipping. We recommend Shopify for this.

4.

Plan to read and reply to emails

If you choose to set up a business presence online, your customers and clients will expect to be able to connect with you online as well. Likely you’ll have contact information on your contact page and Goodwin also recommends having a simple contact form for people who are connecting on their mobiles.

This is another reason why we recommend you have a keyboard. One line, lowercase, text messages are not professional and will not help you build your business. Full email responses are best. Be sure to set up a company signature for your emails. You can list your web address in this signature so everyone you connect with can easily click on the link

5.

Use your website, not your social media

This is one of the main pieces of advice we give to all our clients. Yes, it’s good to have social media! But always always always send your viewership back to your website. Have your website listed in your bio. Say things like ‘visit our website to find out more.’ Don’t link to someone else’s website on your social media. If you want to write about a service, or a friend, go to your website and write a blog post. Link to them in your blog post. Then on your social media, link to the blog post. Always link back to your website.

There are so many more tips and strategies, but if you start with these five pieces of advice, you’re on your way! Goodwin Creative is here to help you get your website up and running in just a few weeks.