Moving your business online may not be as difficult as you think. In fact, you can be confident you’re losing business if you don’t have a presence online. It’s no longer a question of ‘if’ you need to do it, but rather ‘when’. And the answer is right now!

There are a number of steps you need to work through and be sure to enlist help if you need it. We’ve put together a quick-look checklist of what you need to do to move your business onto the World Wide Web as quickly and painlessly as possible.

1. Get a domain name – it’s easy to register and very low cost. You’ll need one for your website if you don’t have one already, and looks much more professional having email addresses @yourbusinessname
2. Get a website – a great website doesn’t need to cost a lot of money nor take a long to set up. Take time to plan it carefully and get a few quotes before making a decision. Keep it simple to start with but it must include a shopping cart element so you can sell your products and services.
3. Work out what you’re going to sell online – Depending on the type of business you have this can be quite easy or take a bit more thought and planning. If you have a range of products you may want to start with a key few and add as you go along. If you have a service based business, you can set up packages or develop products based on your skills and experts like e-books, downloads and audio recordings for example.
4. Take professional quality photos – customers will be making a buying decision based on what you have on your website so be sure to present it in the best possible light. Enlist a photographer to take great images or a graphic designer to create covers, packaging and so on.
5. Get clear on your marketing strategy – how are you going to drive traffic to your website? A few key things you need to include are an opt-in element on the home page for a newsletter or free report to build your database. Set up a schedule for a regular newsletter or email to keep in touch with customers and highlight new products or offers.
6. Set up social media pages – This is an essential part of your marketing plan and helps to grow your database and get customers excited about your business. A great way to highlight new things and special offers. If you’re a bit unsure of this, enlist the help of a social media specialist to help or outsource to.
7. Plan for growth – start out as you mean to go on. Plan for 10,000 orders not 10. Find a fulfilment solution so your lounge room or office doesn’t look like a warehouse. There are a range of options for outsourcing this and it’s absolutely worth every cent in freeing up your time to work on your business and earn more revenue online!

Remember, we are here to help with all your online business needs, all you have to do is get in touch.  At Netregistry we have dedicated account managers that specialise in helping businesses create an online presence.  Call us on 1300 638 734 to speak to one of our consultants and find out how you can start earning online today.