Many of us would like the freedom of being our own boss and being able to work the hours we choose. It is never too soon to prepare to start a business even though you may not have decided upon the products or services you might provide. For many, one of the major deterrents to starting their business can be a lack of knowledge about business administration.
Now Is The Time To Learn
At Admin Advice we recognize that the first concerns when planning your venture will include bookkeeping and website creation – essentials for all businesses. Our website includes a free seven lesson course on bookkeeping and we also offer free consultation on the bookkeeping procedures that we consider most appropriate to your enterprise.
Your Website Has To Excel
A good website is a must, together with a brilliant mission statement. There is nothing like a professional first impression and that will reflect on your business. Today, the vast majority of customers checkout a business on-line before making contact and I am regularly amazed at the number of businesses included in local advertising magazines without a website address; they are missing out on a lot of business.
Small Business Website Neglect
Is it not true that the vast majority of people ordering on-line today are doing so using their phone or tablet? Yet a survey by PayPal found that only 18% of small businesses in the UK had websites that are mobile friendly! 82% of small businesses could be missing out on orders. Additionally, if a website is not mobile friendly then they will lose out on Google page rankings.
What Does This Tell Us?
We see that many small businesses are operating without a website. Others have not been updating their sites to keep up with technology. This tells us that well-developed new sites will have the edge over the existing competition.
Have The Edge Over Your Competition
Spend time planning your website content, showcasing the professionalism of your business and setting yourself out from the opposition. Whilst planning always remember the website should not be all about you but must focus on your customer’s needs. Why will customers be accessing your site? If you know what their needs are likely to be you can greet them with a question “Are you seeking ……” etc. and if they are answering “yes” immediately upon visiting your site then you have every likelihood of a sale.
Build Your Own Websites
Today websites can be built with relative ease and require no technical knowledge or experience, Being able to build your own websites gives you access to numerous opportunities that exist in today’s digital world. When you start your own business you can build and have day-to-day control over your own website. You can change parts of the website which, perhaps, you are not 100% happy with. You can add to the site as your business grows. Keep your customers informed of offers, new products, changes in menus, special events, showcase recent work, add customer recommendations etc. Then if technology or legal requirements change you can update your site rather than employing and paying your site creator to perform the update.
Opportunities Will Arise
One of the first websites I built was for the sports club where I am a member. Each week I update the site with the match results, forthcoming fixtures and social events. All the members know me as their “website king”. The reputation has spread to other visiting clubs and even to the County Association.
Recently I read about a gentleman who had purchased a new pet and looked to the internet for advice on the best equipment, food, veterinary requirements etc. for looking after his pet. He had difficulty finding the answers and recognized that here was an ideal opportunity to develop an informative website. As he had the knowledge to create websites he went ahead with the project and 21 months into his project he is earning substantial affiliate commissions and has had his website valued at $200,000.
At the start of 2018 an acquaintance wrote to say he had just sold a website he started almost exactly two years earlier. Over these two years he had created 50 pages/posts on his website, so very part-time. Over the two years he earned just under $10,000 and he received a further $12,500 from the sale.
The creator of that site attributes its success to the expert training he has followed.
Start To Learn Now
There is no better time to start learning than now. An earning opportunity might arise at any time. Perhaps a friend will require a website, perhaps you will have the opportunity to start your own business, maybe your current website needs a revamp.
Full details of the expert training I recommend are included in an article I have published entitled Simple Website Tutorials. Accessed by clicking here.
Creating your website is just the beginning. You will want to ensure your site is mobile friendly, fast loading and secure. Your site then has to be hosted on a server, protected from hackers, viruses etc., is regularly backed up, is Search Engine Optimized (SEO) and you will benefit from seeing how many visitors are viewing your site. The tuition we recommend will ensure you master all of these requirements.
Having Websites Created For You
Only recently has the idea of “do-it-yourself” websites been viable. Generally businesses have approached web developers to create a website for them and arrange hosting for which they would charge a monthly or annual fee.
For some small business the cost of having a site developed has restricted the content to a few pages to promote their location and the products or services they offer. Often the cost of a “basic” site would have been several hundred pounds, with the annual hosting fee and an offer of promoting the site within Google for a further monthly sum.
For many businesses their budgets have dictated a basic site plus hosting. Often the sites seen today are untouched from the original creation several years ago. The technological advances of recent years have taken their toll which probably accounts for the recent survey that only 18% of UK small business sites are mobile friendly. Another hidden statistic is the number of businesses that have lost their sites through viruses and hacking as the early versions had little security built in.
Yet another hit to small businesses has been the cheaply created sites which generally load very slowly and were built by people without any understanding of the threats that websites face. Many of these developers have ceased operating leaving site owners stranded.
Data Protection Laws
The final nail for some sites will come with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), approved by the EU Parliament on April 14, 2016, and coming into effect on May 25th, 2018. Alongside this the EU Parliament is debating new, stricter ePrivacy laws.
This new GDPR will set out principles that will impact everyone with an online presence. Many sites will need to show that data they hold is encrypted in order to obtain an SSL certificate. There are a multitude of regulations and in the event of a data breach the business owner must inform the authorities within 72 hours, failure to do so could incur a heavy fine of up to 20 million euros.
Admin Advice Are On The Case
Unlike some website designers, Admin Advice Associates are aware of the forthcoming regulations – GDPR and also the pending quarterly on-line returns that the UK revenue is adopting. Our recommendations take account of the information currently available. Templates for your privacy policy notices are provided by our hosting service.
We would like to think that you will make us your first call for administration matters.
Commence Learning For Free
We have been extremely thorough in researching the website tuition and fast, secure hosting that we recommend to you. You can commence learning for FREE. There are so many positives for commencing your studies now.
My article “Simple Website Tuition” shows in detail the research taken and the full benefits of the training platform which we confidently say is second to none. Please view my article Simple Website Tuition, click here, and I am sure you will understand why we have such confidence in them.
If you have any comments or questions then please leave them in the area below and I will be very pleased to help you out.
Colin