Websites free - Westpac and MYOB reveal new venture
There may be no such thing as a free lunch, but there is now such a thing as a free website for Kiwi businesses – for a year, at least.
Westpac chief executive Peter Clare says he would be “lapping up” the free website offer being made to businesses throughout the country.
Kiwi firms don’t have to pay a cent to make a website using GetOnline.co.nz – a joint venture between Westpac and accounting software firm MYOB.
The only cost to build the website and to hold the domain name for a year is the estimated 15 minutes set-up time.
GetOnline.co.nz is targeting the 70% of New Zealand businesses which don’t have a website, according to the April MYOB Business Monitor survey.
Most say cost is the biggest reason they are not part of the online economy. Websites can cost anywhere from $1000 to $20,000 to build.
“If I was a small business I’d definitely be lapping this up,” Mr Clare says.
The offer will help push the country’s small businesses into the 21st century, he says.
When 80% of Kiwis use the internet to learn about products and services before they buy, it doesn’t make sense not to be part of the online economy.
The free websites will be made using the MYOB Atlas product, which can create an online store, a payments page to accept invoice payments online, access Google tools to help the business be found online, choose from customised themes and integrate with social media such as Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn.
MYOB assures businesses they will own the website and the domain name, and can cancel the site at any time.
After the free year, they will be asked to pay about $5 a month in maintenance costs and about $40 to renew the domain for another year.
Westpac and MYOB have set a goal of 10,000 businesses online in the first year.
Hitting that target will be a “real achievement”, Westpac head of business banking Ian Blair says.
“The head space of small business owners is often taken up with thinking about where their next sale will come from, so providing them this tool could really make a difference,” he says.
MYOB research reveals businesses with websites do better.
In the year to March 31, 42% with a website increased their revenue, compared to 29% without a website.
It is hoped the economy will also notice the difference if more of New Zealand’s 457,000 small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have an online presence.
Broader economic benefits could come through greater exporting opportunities and a more nimble and responsive economy.
SMEs provide 30% of all employment in New Aealand and contribute almost 40% of GDP.
Already, 400 websites have been built during a pre-launch phase over the last week.
GetOnline.co.nz follows a similar project between Google and MYOB in Australia.
A snapshot of New Zealand’s online businesses (From the MYOB Business Monitor online survey of 1000 businesses - April 2012)
- Just 32% of New Zealand businesses have a website.
- In the year to March 31, 42% with a website increased their revenue, compared to 29% without one.
- In 2012, 51% of businesses with a website expect revenues to increase, compared to 37% without.
- 30% of businesses have enjoyed increased revenue directly as a result of having a website.
- 35% of businesses with a website say it has made them more competitive.
- 43% report more customer leads and 35% report a better conversion rate.
- 26% have been able to sell overseas as a result of operating a website.
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Comments and questions23
I wonder how many web design companies bank with Westpac and/or use MYOB. Nothing like competing with your customers! I noticed Xero is web company friendly, it has case studies of web design companies as customers.
Congratulations, MYOB, On behalf of the web designers of NZ, I'd like to thank you for attempting to put a lot of us out of business. So much for trying to "help" small businesses - I guess you don't want to help web designers. Still - you get what you pay for... and nothing is ever "free".
Welcome to the real world mate. you gotta stay ahead of the pack to survive unfortunately - Good luck anyway
Bank has Experience, Knowledge, Technology and Money.
In order to get more customers/more money, they are offering free services of another
Industry in this case - web designers.
Bank is not ahead of its own “pack”.
They don’t offering free services on their own product.
They intervene and undermined activity of another industry is it fair competition?
.
What implication it has on social responsibility or Fair Trading Act?
Don't be so negative. This is a great idea. If you go online and follow the links there are only 4 website designs and limited page options. If anything this will give you more business because after businesses have trialled having a website they will realise that they do need one and will be happy to invest getting it designed. It's just a trial before you buy concept.
It's a great idea for MYOB, as all it really is, is a thinly veiled attempt to hook businesses in to their Atlas product. It won't send any new business to established web designers, anyone who takes up this offer will be doing it because it is free - and few will move on to a more sophisticated web presence, because, surprise surprise, decent web design does actually cost money. Most will simply go with the cheap option.
@ Simon: If your customesr percieve value they will engage. If not - well I'm sure you're bright enough to know the answer. I would see this as an opportunity to engage with your existing customers and prospects. If yhou'd done your homework you'd see that the MYOB / Westpac innitiative is a simple starting point (with ecommerce) for SME's. It's by no means all that a website developer could offer. If that simplicity is all the website developer is offering - then they deserve to fail - irrespective of competition.
Difficult to stay ahead of the pack when corporates flood the market with cheap,substandard cr*p dressed as the Next Big Thing. New Zealand is becoming quite proficient at off-shoring pretty much everything these days, web developers are just the next batch of victims. Even our souvenirs are made in China. The joke of it is that many of those businesses that MYOB claim to be helping will probably end up victims of the same cynical attitude that MYOB are displaying to web developers. Yep, it's a funny old world.all right...
Come on now Simon, this certainly doesn't look like cheap substandard cr*p.
Many New Zealand web designers have been laughing all the way to the bank for to long now with their HUGE profits from local businesses.
So please don't be greedy and think only of yourself when it actual fact this will help the majority of businesses.
I say good on them, they have my support.
What a complete load of nonsense. Sure, the big design houses in the main centres won't even talk to you for less than $10K, but the majority of smaller web design houses are relatively marginal. Most charge less than what your local mechanic or carpenter charges per hour, and not many designers last more than a few years without problems. These are the people that MYOB are going to rapidly kill off.
There goes my new business venture. I was planning on offering a hosting service with free business websites.
Just can't compete against this initiative.
Another small business bites the dust.
And what value were you going to offer that no-one else could. If your business idea has no differentiator (or discriminators) you're on a hiding to nowhere. Think about a value add to theis initiaitive by MYOB and Westpac. My understanding is that a lot of SME's can't even use MS Word, or any graphics for that matter. Low cost, high value.
There's an interesting review of the MYOB Atlas service in Australia (which has been running since March 2011)
http://www.megansweb.com.au/myob-atlas-website-review
I'm in the online industry & believe that any initiative that encourages web uptake is a good thing, especially for NZ's small businesses.
Small businesses that aren't on the web, now have a way to get exposed to the online environment. From this some will definitely migrate towards other web services/websites/SEO etc etc...while others will be happy with a free website.
I know it's hard Simon but I'd hang-in there. I live in Chch which business-wise is as broken as it gets yet I've found a small web niche & from it I'm doing ok.
Emcee
Totally agree. Website developers who a moaning about this initiative are the ones that are probably on a slow and painful death roll anyway. I'd say to them, get inovative and stay current. Did you stop to think about the hard copy printers you put out of business because of the your own digital media offering? I bet not. Stop moaning and start creating.
I own and run a niche website in the uk, I am a nzer visiting nz, I drove from whangarei to Auckland and it occurred to me that lots of companies don't advertise their websites on there buildings, so I think free websites are a good idea to improve nzs web presence, I signed up on the atlas offering to see what it was like, it is a very poor offering. I don't think they will succeed even for free. Why has nz got such a poor business web presence?
I disagree. I'm using it. It's a great offering - for now. It got me motivated to think about it. Name one other large business in NZ that has done anything to encourage SME's to get on the web without raking in huge revenue. If this provides the leg up for a number of SME's in NZ to at least hang their sign on the Web - then great! Frankly, those who knock this initiative need to think about why there are so few SME websites; the majority of web developers out there either don't offer the ROI or can't articulate it well enough to win and convert. Simple. Let's think about the larg number of SME's that MYOB are currently supporting through their existing solutions, and today, they're adding even more value. Interesting though - you don't even hav to be a Westpac or MYOB customer.
Bankers competing with entry level web designers?
What next, will Bankers start competing with the supermarket, giving away below cost/free groceries?
Or better still electricity is expensive too, how about free electricity for one year, and following year electrify supply will be below its costs ,
It’s the same as if for an adult go to the kindergarten and compete with kids: look what I build, real house
Any website a small business can get together is a good start to bringing in more customers. You'll soon learn that many customers who were finding you in Yellow book just a few years ago are going straight to Google now. So you really need to be online to be found at all these days.
I'd just add that like free pens and free business cards, the offering from Westpac is very basic. Most importantly, it's a one-size-fits-all approach, without advice or experience on how to best position your business on the web. Whether the Westpac site is effective for you will depend on your industry and competition.
But you haven't got much to lose with the offer (other than a few hours to set it up) so if you don't have a website, just give it a go. If and when you are ready to step up to a full solution, or simply keen to talk to someone who can guide you through the ins and outs of marketing your business on the web, give us a ring.
We can certainly guarantee a big improvement over any free site.
Jeff // CloudWorks Media Christchurch
I am a parent returning to work, about to start entry level web design business,
Sitting preparing my Business Plan
Question 8 is, Identification of competitors and their impact
Competitor: Bank, Impact: Free service
How I compete with free service?
Will the same Bank approve finance for my business, knowing that they the one competing with me (am I looser trying to compete with free service?)
Am I moaning?
Is it predatory pricing,to lower price below average cost ? driving some people out of the market and then to raise price again?
These sites don't rank in Google. They're just not suitable for business use. A waste of time. It's just a cunning marketing scam to get more bank and myob clients. Read http://www.digitalmarketing.co.nz/websites/free-websites-small-biz-saviour-or-a-con-job/
I'm a computer technician in Christchurch and I don't build websites but I have had two customers ask me to setup a free Atlas for them.
I personally think that the only people Atlas are going to attract are people that wouldn't normally have a website because the cost is too great for them. So Atlas is only tapping into a market that web developers don't want anyway because the customers couldn't afford their fee. Also the websites are very basic and a tracert to the website server shows about 19 hops all the way to Asia before it arrives in Australia. So pages are slow to load.
Not to mention all the other issues people seem to have with them.
I think its a great opportunity for you webdevelopers to take advantage of the opportunity to show how much better your own website building is and can do for your customers over a free crappy version.
There's a lot to be said for comparison.
Thats my 2cents anyway.
Ford