Akira Studio blog - Web Design London Ontario

When you first set up your website, you may not have given your hosting much more of a thought than the price. However, there is a lot more to hosting than just a monthly fee, and as with most things in life, you get what you pay for.

As Ontario reopens under Stage 2, many business owners will be giving a huge sigh of relief and opening their doors to customers again. When that first customers pays in person, it may be the first sale they have made in months.

For other businesses, it’s a start of a new era where their bricks and mortar business runs alongside their new online e-commerce business. That online business may have been created out of necessity during lockdown, but it’s now very much part of what they do. It’s also made their business stronger, and better equipped to serve customers in the future.

If you’ve been thinking of setting up online, or only managed to do the basics such as click and collect ordering during lockdown, now is the perfect time to set up a fully functioning e-commerce store.

If you’re in any doubt about the importance of clear communication with your customers, look at governments around the world and how they inform their citizens.

Those with leaders who make it clear what is required have succeeded far better than those who muddle with either too little information, too much, or worst of all, contradicting information. (1)

The same applies to your business. 

Want to get your agriculture business online? Here’s how to get the government to pay for your website!

As many agricultural businesses have realized in the current COVID-19 situation, there are major advantages of being able to sell products and services direct via an e-commerce website. For many smaller producers in our area of Ontario, it’s made the difference between staying in business or going under.

The good new is that the Governments of Canada and Ontario have realised this too, and are supporting agriculture, agri-food and agri-products with e-business opportunities. The aim is to help businesses and organizations quickly expand their produce and products into new markets that are eager to buy online.

There won’t be a business in the world that won’t have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

For some, it’s been a rapid learning curve in adapting.

For others, the lockdown has exposed deep cracks in their business practices, leaving them vulnerable to both current and future disruptions.

That’s why forward planning is crucial, and that includes taking steps now to secure and maximise your business’s online capabilities as we move into the ‘new normal’.

Our new series of articles look at what your business can do now to make sure your online presence is robust, flexible and most of all, adaptable.

This won’t be the first upheaval your business will need to weather, so time spent on reviewing and securing your online ‘estate’ is time very well spent.