Google to provide Australian businesses with free websites
Google has announced a major initiative which will see it work with Australian business software company MYOB to provide small and medium sized companies with their own free websites.
The Getting Aussie Business Online project follows a similar initiative in the UK which launched a year ago.
The project – which raises a major challenge for existing domain providers such as Melbourne IT and Net Registry – will see businesses able to obtain a free .com.au site address and use MYOB tools to build their own basic website.
The move also creates a challenge for digital agencies in the business of building basic sites for small businesses.
Sites, and URLs, will be free to any business with an ABN number. The businesses will be able to create their site using MYOB’s tools. The sites will cover basics such as product information, locations maps and contact details.
The domain will be free for two years, and $30 for the next two years after that.
Google’s Head of local business Claire Hatton said: “Every day in Australia there are 12,000 Google searches for builders, but fewer than one in four businesses in the construction and trade industry has a website. We want to address this gap by removing common barriers like cost and time to set up a website. We also want to make it easier for Australians to find the information they’re looking for online.”
Tim Reed, CEO of MYOB, said, “Our initial goal is to get at least 50,000 businesses set up with a free website this year. We’re thrilled to be collaborating with Google on this initiative.”
After the first year, businesses can choose to pay $5 per month for their site to continue to be based on the MYOB platform.
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shocked this is the first comment
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can already get a free website, and most small businesses are already there. it’s called facebook
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Whilst I do agree with the assertion that almost every business needs to be online (far to few are) and that it shouldn’t cost the Earth to do so … I also feel it prudent to remind business owners that you generally get what you pay for with “free” template business websites.
It’s a little like saying that you can run your business using an Excel spreadsheet (I did for a year or so as a single-operator myself). Sure you can, but MYOB’s 1 Million plus customers realise that this isn’t the best way to do things either.
Same thing with the “free” websites being offered here and other places … They will get your business online just fine but they may not represent your brand/business very well or you may outgrow them quite quickly.
Don’t be afraid to try the free stuff though … and if/when it becomes necessary then look for a more professional solution to suit your needs.
A simple small-business website built by a professional who takes the time to understand your needs often costs somewhere in the $1K to $2K range. That’s a good price to pay for a good branding and marketing tool.
I had this conversation with MYOB’s Tim Reed and Tony Palmer from C4 a couple of weeks ago on Sky News Business channel’s “Technology Behind Business”.
We all have slightly different points of view but there might be some good ideas in it that are appropriate to your small business, if you have a few minutes to watch the discussion.
https://www.youtube.com/CreativeIntersection
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@ken totally agree, this is less about getting small business online and more about stalling businesses from building effective websites on Facebook – which doesn’t index well for Google search results. Just a strategy to protect search results i.e. Adwords revenue.
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wix has a great free flash based builder for websites thats super easy to use – the money you save using that rather tahn paying someone to do it could go towards a paid hosting instead – makes much more sense
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Didn’t we have this conversation last year, Tim?
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I’ll be interested to see the take up of this offer, as I dont think the reason most of these businesses do not have a website is not due to the cost. Other factors like poor understanding, the belief that they are too busy and dont need ‘more business’ – they are too concerned with managing their current workload.
Most small scale builders and tradies struggle with the basics of bookeeping so Ijust dont see them building their own website. They would probably struggle with what to even put on it.
Imagine the spelling and grammar!
This could even be a good thing for many web designers if it prompts webless businesses to develop a website, they cock it up and realise it isnt as simple as it looks so will turn to the experts to fix their mess. Most businesses who have developed a website for free or very little $ are often very unsatisfied with the results.
Agree with Henry – a great way for Google to get more adwords dollars.
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Great points Ian – i see it as a side step from the yellow pages really, although it may encourage more advertising via adwords. Certainly it’s not a bad thing for a small business with no online presence yet, but for most businesses, they should be leveraging the web to drive them sales and grow the business (nice marketing talk, I know!).
Spending a few grand and getting something done properly, with advice from experts will be wisely spent marketing dollars in most industries.
Always surprises me that the owners of a lot of these smaller businesses owns a near new BMW, doesn’t bat an eyelid at a 2k advert in the newspaper or spending 15k on a tvc, but a 5k website is an “unbelievable” expense.
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Do you really think a builder is going to bother setting up their own website. No matter how easy the tools are to use they still won’t want to do it themself.
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This is pretty pointless when our internet speeds, costs and free options are still 5 years behind the rest of the world!
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Not really a surprise, since you are getting a guaranteed audience with the advertising, but a website you are not.
But i agree that the investment in a good site is worth it. However this initiative is also great for consumers.
Countless times ive been angry when I cant find a menu for a restaurant Ive heard of because it doesn’t have a site? They dont really need a involved one (yet) but having a menu online would do wonders.
Websites are a good investment, where spend is easily worth the rewards, but for the thousands without, there is nothing wrong with starting small.
Google are being really smart here, providing businesses at the grass roots and when they develop they will remain loyal to the next B2B product Google can on sell.
Good business is investing in companies whilst they are small, and helping them grow to a point where they can buy your bigger inventory.
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@ Emma
Your quote – “Most small scale builders and tradies struggle with the basics of bookeeping so I just dont see them building their own website. They would probably struggle with what to even put on it.
Imagine the spelling and grammar!”
Ouch.
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wow EMMA…. might want to see a mechanic and find out how much it would cost to get your head removed from that far up your arse…?…seems you’ve had quite the collision….. . yeh – those tradies…. what would they know…?…its amazing they can even do the paper work to launch an ABN, build houses, residential and those strange commercial blocks that people who wear suits work in… weirdly on top of this, they are probably pull more than you per annum…. i doubt they even know how to turn a computer on… i wonder where they all live?.. not in those big houses by the beach surely!!!!!
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agreed Emma that was a low blow that is a generalisation to the Building Industry. I know that I certainly don’t have the smarts to build an entire home…do you????
You need to be aware of what the income some of our good builders are earning. I’m positive it’s more than what your pulling in sweetheart.
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For at least six years I have seen companies pursue the supposed holy grail of “making it easy” for businesses to have a website. They all had success to some extent or the other.
People, especially the ones who think that a Flash based SME website is a great idea, search a generic term related to such a website, e.g. “builders” (used in this article) and see if such a site shows up in the first 10 pages.
Seriously, if you are a small business owner who doesn’t have a website and are about to get one, find a competent SEO in the Yellow Pages online and get them to build you one. If you get a freebie on the basis of “it can’t hurt because it is free”, let us know on Mumbrella six months later how many customers it brought you.
And did anyone else look up “builders” in the G Keyword tool to check where Claire Hatton got her figure of 12,000 local searches? I make it 368,000 exact match searches per month in Australia.
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“Would you like fries with that?”
Supersize me strategy in the making……
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Could not agree more with Ian. There are sites out there already that are near free. We build websites for small businesses and we target Yellow Pages as our competition.
Is this more of a marketing exercise for MYOB? Yes this will go well for them but at the end of the day it’s about making the phone ring for small businesses it’s not about having a website. A website without a purpose or strategy is a bit like a brochure that sits under your desk. If no one gets to see it why have it?
Does this concern me as a small business website developer? Yes, I’d be ignorant to ignore it, but on the other hand it has a kicker when businesses soon realise these sites don’t work without some purpose and knowledge of how to drive them.
You have to love living on the cutting edge of technology. It’s a constant moving feast.
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Gee – who would have thought my comment would inspire such rage from all the anonymous posters of the world…?
Of course plenty of small business owners are savvy and can spell. But I have also come across plenty of others that I could easily say would simply not build a website themselves. And my comment re spelling and grammar was not related to any particular occupation (hence the stand alone paragraph), but just my experience of the general population. The comments in this thread prove that.
And since when was income an issue? I bet they do make more money than me but since I don’t want to build houses I couldn’t care less. There are always plenty of other occupations around that make more money than all of you but it isn’t all about the cash is it.
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I set-up my-domain.com.au specifically to address this market. With a little know-how, google apps is an amazingly powerful SME tool…
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i dont see so much a rage, as i see a cluster of people pointing you out for being the goose who came out swinging the bat of generalisation across an entire industry of SME ‘builders’ …
On that note; I’d perhaps take the liberty of suggesting caution prior to hyperlinking back to your humble co. if you are going to swing a sword through such a large body on a public platform…
re: income… so i suppose your in the M&A industry to ‘make a difference’ and cure our various media channels of all the worldy ills you expertly identify?… I wish i had such a tall horse… that would be awesome…
at the end of the day, he/she with the most toys and treasure WINS!…. its called WINNING..!!!
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Yeah, its about winning. I am a winner!!!
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the suit – its not a generalisation just an observation. Prove me wrong I’d be happy to hear of a builder who constructed a website instead of a house.
And I have no issue hyperlinking as this is an industry site and I am not afraid of having an opinion.
And no I cannot ‘cure any ills’ I am not so arrogant – I just enjoy what I do!
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EMMA: “I’d be happy to hear of a builder who constructed a website instead of a house.”
what does this even mean?!!! DOUBLE RAINBOW!!!!!
I’m sorry Emma, you’ll have to charge me with 1st degree stupidity because i just can’t for the life of me think why a ‘tradie’ would elect to build a website instead of a HOUSE…. this would be a little like contructing a fish pond for a horse me thinks. The fish pond i presume would feel small and a litle inferior for the horse and i think the horse would just be fucking confused. It just doesnt make sense. I can see why one might construct a fish pond within their horse barn, or perhaps a website whilst building a house. This makes a little more sense to me…
Oh and Emma, if you adopt the WINNING attitude im sure down the track you might just cure a few of the ills found dwelling within the halls of this pretty world they call media… back yourself!…
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@Jack
It’s not download speeds any more – you will be pleased to hear we got a new connection for Time Out this week and measured 61Mb/s down and 54 Mb/s up. And that’s in Glebe!
This is a great marketing idea by Google – clear benefits for them and hopefully it gets a few more small businesses onto the web.
I prefer Google Weddings- that’s a really cool sell of Google Apps- http://www.google.com/weddings/
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