A Sole Trader’s Guide to Building a Website  

Being a sole trader and running your own business means there’s always something to do, but one thing that shouldn’t be delayed is setting up your website. These days you don’t need to be an IT wizard to set up your page, with plenty of user-friendly systems and educational guides available. 

We’ve packed our guide with some of the basic tips and tricks to keep in mind when setting up your sole trader website, keeping things easy and stress-free. 

What should my sole trader website contain? 

Every sole trader business is different, with its unique needs, products, services and stories to share. These are some of the base pages that you may want to look at including when starting out and building your website. 

• Home page– this is a snapshot of your sole trader business, and includes all the key details, like your business name, logo, what products and services you offer, where you are located and a little bit about who you are 
• Product and services pages- Go into greater detail about what products and services you sell. You want to make this is easy for customers to find and access, these pages are showcasing your bread and butter. Try and include all the key details of what your business has to offer and some photos/videos can help to bring it to life too. 
• About page- this is where you can talk about who your business is, what you do, your back story  

• Contact- you want to make it easy for customers to get in touch with your business so make sure you clearly display the details of any email addresses, contact numbers and address of your business.  

Choosing a platform for your site 

There are plenty of different types of websites to select from when building your sole trader business website. They all offer various types of features and functions, so doing a bit of research first can help to ensure you pick the right kind of site to suit your business needs. 

This is an overview of some of the popular platforms that are available: 

• Shopify– this is an e-commerce site, so it is more suited to businesses that are selling physical items. It is a one stop shop that includes everything like marketing to payments and getting your products into the hands of your customers 
• WordPress– this is a pretty common platform that has many templates that can be customised to suit a variety of different types of businesses. There are plenty of plug-ins and apps that can be added to the site to help with the types of functionality your business may need. 
• Squarespace– focusing on e-commerce, this site is easy to use and has some pretty impressive templates to help you get your sole trader business online 

What are some of the benefits of building a website? 

With more people jumping online to find answers to their needs, it makes sense to make your business visible and active in the online market place. Getting exposure online helps to drive traffic, customers and interest to your site, generating sales. Something every sole trader business owner is a fan of! 

Here are some of the benefits of building a website for your sole trader business: 

• It gets your business out there, brand recognition 
• Makes it easy to connect with potential customers, they can email/call/ connect straight away 
• If you are selling products, your online store is open 24/7 

• It’s a space to share testimonials, these help build your business’ reputation and trust 

A website can help streamline your processes 

From balancing the books to getting your orders sorted and remembering to post on socials, running your own business is also a bit of a juggling act. The plus side of having your own website means that a lot of the functions of your business can be integrated and talk to each other. 

Things like your customer relationship management system can capture customer information to help build mailing lists for marketing campaigns, while your accounting software can be plugged in to capture details about your sales.  

It’s little things like this that can help you save precious time when you need it most. 

Building a website from scratch for your sole trader business doesn’t need to be a mammoth task, neither does getting your business insurance arranged for your sole trader business*. BizCover offers business insurance solutions to help all kinds of sole trader businesses from Public Liability* to Tool Cover and protecting your bricks and mortar with Building and Contents insurance* too. 

Visit bizcover.co.nz and get insurance for your sole trader business without drama so you can get on with your day. If you’d prefer to pick up the phone and chat you can find us at 0800 249 268. 

*This information is general only and does not take into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. It should not be relied upon as advice. As with any insurance, cover will be subject to the terms, conditions and exclusions contained in the policy wording. © 2023 BizCover Limited.