Creating an online presence is no longer an option for small businesses it is a necessity and there are a few essentials which will help you to get up and running online in no time at all.

Setting up a business Facebook page only takes a few minutes and is relatively simple to do, just can visit the official page, watch the tutorial and follow the steps.

Getting a company website up and running is one of the areas which seems to take most people the longest and in particular creating content for the website. The best idea is to hire a professional content writer, don’t even try to convince yourself that you will do it, because when you are starting a business – you have so many other things that you need to do. Hire a professional content writer to write all of the content that you need for your website before you even look for a web designer.

Content is the biggest source of delays on web projects including images, find a ‘start up’ pro photographer or even a keen amateur to help you take photos of your business or buy stock photos online from shutterstock.com – don’t be tempted to take images from Google as this is illegal and can land you with some hefty fines.

When you are choosing a web designer, you need to choose between a small company, a large company, a freeelancer or even doing it yourself. The problems with large companies is that they will usually be working on many other projects and take time to reply to your emails or make the changes you need. Their charges will usually be higher as their overheads are higher but they often have access to more resources, it is a case of judging your requirements. You can hire a small company or a freelancer, but you should be aware that anyone who has a remotely good reputation is usually booked up months in advance. Then there are the options of ready made websites from Wix and Weebly, I would advise everyone to stay away from these as they will limit your options severely for future growth.

If you need to get your website online quickly and start driving traffic to make sales, the best way would be to choose a basic wordpress website which can be got up and running quickly and then further developed as your business grow. Make sure to also choose a hosting company with a good reputation and don’t be tempted to buy the cheapest hosting that you can find as you may encounter problems as your online business grows.