Recently, a new initiative was launched by MYOB and Google called Getting Business Online. It is a very simple website creation tool called Atlas from MYOB… or is it too simple? The websites that are created by Atlas are to be frank, UGLY, and look like they have come right out of 1995. Doesn’t your small business need something better than a website that looks the same as every other one created with this tool? Yes, there is some good about the service – it is backed by MYOB and Google so it is getting reach to exactly the people that need it – small businesses that probably use MYOB to do their books and still think the Yellow Pages is the only way to reach their customers, and it is quite cheap at $60 per year after the free first year of website (plus the cost of the domain name after 2 years).
I fully agree that every business in Australia needs a website, but is having a website that has no ability to extend it to use e-commerce (yet), email marketing, SEO tools, or even just using your business’s font is definitely NOT the way to go, when there are so many other options out there.
Having to learn about Domains, DNS, MX Records, SEO, Email Marketing, CMS, HTML, and any other acronym you can think of, is a bit overwhelming to most small business owners just dealing with trying to pay the rent and staff each week. But is having a website where the only way to buy online is to download a PDF and fax it back more detrimental to your business than not having a website at all? (yes, that is one of the sample sites on the MYOB Atlas site, and another of the 3 sample sites has a spelling mistake on it’s home page).
So what is the answer? I don’t have a simple answer, because unfortunately there is no magic bullet to get you online and get great Google search results and get huge numbers of orders or new clients via the web, without understanding a little about how this all works. If you don’t take control of the process and understand what is required you will end up giving some unscrupulous website or SEO marketer thousands of dollars for a crap looking website and no impact to the bottom line.
Having a discussion on Twitter today about this, with @paulwallbank and @chieftech lead to a few interesting links. Paul has a book coming out soon to help small businesses understand the world of the Web, and runs Workshops to help small businesses get online. James gave us links to http://www.digitalbusiness.gov.au/ and a cool homepage creation site called flavors.me (probably more suited to those who have a solid business look or who are confident with design).
For me, I’m still a huge fan of WordPress.com teamed with Google Apps for Your Domain for a simple web presence and business email solution – So much so, that it’s what I use. It is quite simple to set up, as it takes the hassle out of the DNS and Email setup for you – and for US$12 per year (+ domain name costs), it is a bargain. It has hundreds of themes to choose from that require no web skills to set up, but for the adventurous, for an extra US$15 per year you can do unlimited customisations. Now there is no e-commerce available in WordPress.com, but if you are serious about doing e-commerce, you need to get serious about creating your whole online presence, and it’s outside the scope of this post (but see my portfolio showing a simple e-commerce website created in WordPress.org).
I have also done a series of posts about creating a web presence for your community group, and the tips in that series could be easily translated into your small business requirements.
So overall, my advice to small business is, take control of the process – spend some time learning some basics about how the web works, and don’t get caught out by apps that make really bad looking websites, or shonky web marketers that will rip you off.
I’m in NZ and have just setup an MYOB free Atlas website.
Our Westpac Bank adverts say you can setup a free website in as little as 15mins.
I think that’s a load of rubbish. Also I wondered why the pages take so long to load. (I have cable broadband at 15mbps download). I did a tracert and was surprised that not only did it take nearly 20 hops to get to its destination, I was suprised to see the route goes all the way to Asia! Many people post many issues on MYOB communities. Its a free Atlas website really better than nothing?
Interesting, as this article about the American equivalent seems to say that it’s a worldwide campaign initiated by Google: http://blumenthals.com/blog/2011/08/25/googles-free-get-your-business-online-soon-to-roll-out-nationwide/. Strange that they’re not mentioned in the NZ one, especially as the “partnered with Google” was made into such a selling point for the Australian one, with implications that they must be great for SEO (which is, of course, bs). Maybe someone figured out that ‘partnered with Google’ just means an opportunity for Google to make lots of Adwords revenue.
Oh wow, now NZ is getting in on the act… This time MYOB are partnering with Westpac. I wonder why their partnership with Google did not stretch to NZ?
Here is the press release http://getonline.co.nz/media/get-online/
Hi Jodie,
Thanks for this article. I just published a review of the MYOB sites myself after having just lately noticed quite a few local businesses taking them up. I only just saw this article of yours now. I think I was a little kinder than you in some ways, but I think they’ve cleaned a few things up since the scheme was first launched. Thanks for the link on the extra prices for e-commerce and to choose your theme – I had totally missed that (so I’m sure many business owners would also get caught out and think it was only going to be $5/month after a year,which gets you not much at all). Some of the themes you can choose are not too bad, but the standard one you get for $5 a month is butt ugly, and I’m sure many people setting it up wouldn’t realise they wouldn’t be able to keep the look they’d set up without paying extra $$. Anyway, here’s my review:
http://www.megansweb.com.au/myob-atlas-website-review
It’s interesting to see that MYOB Atlas now offers a package for $15/month that allows e-commerce plus the ability to choose a theme. Wow, what a rip-off! $60 / year extra over the e-commerce options to choose a colour. Who are they kidding? Here are the details http://myob.com.au/products/small-business/web-hosting/myob-atlas-1257829045398?productArea=FeaturesAndBenefitsOptions&category=1257829337615
Hi Genevieve,
I added a comment above about a web app that helps you set up a shopping cart. I haven’t worked with it but the review is from a friend of mine. http://chieftech.com.au/goodsie-what-myob-googles-atlas-could-have-be
It really depends on your budget and the features you need in a shopping cart. Feel free to give me a call if you want to chat further about your requirements (I’m not going to try to sell you anything).
Hi Jodie,
Thank you for such an informative (and entertaining…sorry if there are spelling issues) thread.
I like many others are in the process of starting up my own business and have been struggling with the decision to use the hugely cost effective (albeit it seems that it is only effective as a basic entry point) option provided by MYOB/Google and setting up a more ‘customisable’ site.
.
Wordpress was going to be the platform used, however as I will be selling items on the site, I was wondering if it was going to satisfy the e-com requirements and was wondering if you had any thoughts, or could recommend a better e-com platform that I could put some research into?
Thanks,
Genevieve
Hi Paul
Thanks for sharing that story. That is a great way for a person who is willing to “do-it-yourself” to get up and running. At least you know now that it is not the answer and you will be moving onto a more suitable platform for your business.
Just one or two small points. If you are paying a monthly fee for Dreamhost you are probably paying for Web Hosting (or Email Hosting) or something other than Domain Hosting, as Domain Hosting is just a flat yearly fee (or 2 years for .com.au). If you are already paying for Web Hosting that is great, you can just set up your WordPress or Joomla on that hosting. You should never need to pay for Email Hosting as you can get Google Apps for Your Domain for free (and you get a lot more than just email). Have a look at my blog posts setting up Community websites where I discuss hosting and Google Apps.
Depending on what you are going to do with your site, I would strongly recommend WordPress – about the only thing I would not consider it for is a full Dell style configure your PC e-commerce site. But anything more basic than that, WordPress can handle it and handle it well.
Your MYOB Atlas site looks great. It looks clean, professional and simple. Taking that approach into your next site will serve you well. Good Luck.
Jodie
Hi Julie,
Great article (only just found it). Just thought I’d let you know my experience so far with MYOB Atlas.
I’ve just set up my small business under the governments NEIS program after being made redundant. MYOB allows for a very quick method to set up a web presence for virtually $0.00 giving you a .com.au domain and associated advantages (e-mail addresses etc)
I have also got my .COM domain (for free!) from an OZ/US host (Dreamhost) which is currently redirected to the MYOB .com.au. This means I can now work on my full website at leisure, whilst maintaining a web presence and I have both .com and .com.au domains for nothing (I do pay $5.00/month to host the .com)
As you note with MYOB Atlas there are no SEO tools, and very limited options for e-commerce or additional pages, which as my business and ideas grow is becoming increasingly frustrating!
As a low cost stop gap measure, it has given me a free domain and hosting, and a website that took 2hrs to set up. This has given me the valuable time to get my head around WordPress, Joomla, SEO, etc, etc and design my full site, and IMHO been brilliant for my brand-new small business.
So hats off and my thanks to Google and MYOB, for this excellent tool that has got me started, but its huge limitations means I will soon be transferring to bigger and better sites.
(it does allow you to set a redirect to another domain)
Keep up the good work, us new small business owners need all the help we can get!
Just found this one – Maybe it’s now an option to not even set up a website to do e-commerce – you can now do f-commerce right from within Facebook. See http://www.bigcommerce.com/socialshop2/. ht:@dynamicbusiness
I took a quick look at the site you suggested. They have a note in the text that they don’t have colour and size set up yet and to email the colour and size. I had to go to the Home Page to get the contact details and that wasn’t intuitive, would have been easier if they’d added an email address to the catalogue page. All in all, pretty good for free. MYOB do offer design services if you want to pay.
Thanks for that update Colleen. Here is the information about selling products via Paypal with Atlas. http://myob.com.au/products/small-business/web-hosting/myob-atlas-1257829045398?productArea=FeaturesAndBenefitsOptions&category=1257829315007. I found at least one site that has the cart set up – http://www.peskebabencrafts.com.au/gallery. It looks quite straightforward and quite basic, I just could not find out where to put the note about what size I would like to order before finalising the payment. So at the moment it’s a bit limiting.
05/09/11 I’ve just got back from the MYOB 20th anniversary conference in Brisbane. I’ve finally seen first hand that the target market for MYOB Atlas is those small businesses that have no web site and no expertise to get a web site up and running. Free for 12 months with no fixed term contract, seems like a pretty good deal to me, especially now that E-commerce is added to the soluition. Even MYOB accept that it is a basic product at the moment but they are keen to have all small businesses experience the power of the web and get connected with their customers.
Thank you Jodie for offering an alternative and informative perspective on what it takes to set up a website when you are a small business and a tech amateur. I have been sent emails by the business department of ETC saying how great this 15 minute MYOB website set up is and yet they don’t know what services my business provides, nor my target group, and therefore, offer no analysis of whether this offer is appropriate for my business. I found your advice very useful and will follow you on twitter!
Hi Sharon,
Feel free to contact me for some specific advice related to you.
The good thing is that Atlas does not own your domain name, you can switch domain providers at any time. See my post on Domains to see if that helps http://jodiem.com.au/2010/05/10/domains-for-community-groups/
If you need a basic online shop then try Goodsie – see the review of it here http://chieftech.com.au/goodsie-what-myob-googles-atlas-could-have-be
You are right, however, that it does take a bit of knowhow to get set up online, but it is not difficult. I hope some of the posts on my blog can help people to get started with apps like WordPress.com and Google Apps for Your Domain without too much difficulty.
Interesting Jodie. I was very excited about my first site & have spent hours setting up the gallery. Disappointed with lack of ‘shopping cart’ + limitations. Trying to figure out now what to do without loosing the domain name. Bit of minefield when your not fully up with IT stuff.
OK, I just thought I’d let these comments through to see what would happen. Thank You for both for being nice and not troll-y (oh, I’m going to get picked up on that not being a word now :)). But we’ve all had a bit of fun now, so I won’t post any more comments on any more spelling and grammar mistakes in this post. :).
Touché
@Colleen – While you’re at it, what about spelling “possessive” correctly?
OK, Good Point, thanks for picking that up :).
Was looking for some feedback on MYOB Atlas. Although I set up MYOB financial software, I have no particular interest in what platform businesses use for their web sites but I do have an interest in spelling and grammar when the pot is calling the kettle black. The its you’ve used in this sentence : “has a spelling mistake on it’s home page” is used incorrectly. The it’s in this situation is a possesive pronoun and doesn’t require an apostrophe. It follows the same pattern as his, hers, theirs etc.
Hi Mark, that does not surprise me at all. You can transfer your domain at any time to another domain provider for no charge. I would strongly recommend starting with a WordPress.com site as they handle the DNS and make the connecting to Google Apps a breeze. See my post about linking WordPress.com and Google Apps http://jodiem.com.au/2009/11/10/wordpress-com-for-your-domain/
I was put onto the Myob idea from an accountant that saw this at a seminar. Just starting my business I thought this was a great idea..What a mistake I wanted to use Google apps for email hosting with my new domain name but it is impossible to verify your domain because of the lack of options myob atlas has. Seem pretty dumb considering this is collaboration between Myob and Google. When I called technical services at Atlas and ask how can I upload FTP information to do Google verification the guy said if you know what ftp is, this product is not for you. Technical help suggested I source a new registrar, I don’t know who is paying for the domain name registration but someone is loosing money.