How to get funding for your small business website
Many businesses need to get a website up and running urgently at present in order to start selling or promoting their services online in order to keep operating during the COVID-19 shutdown. However, with financial uncertainty, businesses may also be concerned about how they’re going to afford to get a website built.
GippsTech’s mission is to make world-class digitisation and innovation accessible to regional businesses and startups. We feel that financial accessibility is very important during this time in particular, so we’ve created this guide to help businesses understand ways they can access funding for technology services to help them stay in operation.
There are a range of government grants that can be used to fund development of a website, digital marketing campaign, or software integrations to enable your business to deliver services remotely. These grants can also be used for our innovation consulting package, where we work with you to develop and test new services that there may be increased demand for at this time.
If you’ve never applied for a government grant before, we can talk you through the process and provide quotes and project proposals to help you get your application in quickly. We’ve assisted over 30 businesses to apply for grants over the years, with a success rate of over 70% (50-60% is considered a good success rate for grant applications). While a government grant is never guaranteed, we’re happy to make our experience available to support you at no charge via our free consultations.
We also offer payment plans (such as our six month payment plan option on our Restaurant Website Package) and staged development processes to reduce initial costs and make our services more accessible to small businesses and startups. Even if you’re not eligible for a grant, these options make our website development services accessible on a small business budget.
In times of crisis, there is funding available to help you digitise and innovate in your business. Businesses that innovate and adapt are the ones most likely to survive and thrive in times of crisis, so adapting quickly is critical to business continuity at this time.
We’ve provided more detail on government funding options and ways we’re making our services financially accessible to small businesses below.
Government funding and grants
There’s been a vast array of grants and funding options announced for businesses affected by COVID-19, and with new stimulus packages being announced regularly, it can be overwhelming to keep track of what’s out there. Our team at GippsTech has experience in supporting clients to access grants for digitisation, web development and innovation in business processes, so if you’re looking to get funding for any of these types of services, we have a directory of grants which may be suitable for your business.
Given the cash flow difficulties faced by businesses at this time, grants and funding can be extremely beneficial in ensuring that your business can survive this tumultuous time. Both state and local governments have recognised the need for businesses to access professional support in order to stay in operation, and have provided funding to make it affordable for them to do so.
We can offer assistance to help you find suitable funding for the digitisation or web development of your business, and a free 30 minute consultation can provide the first step.
Depending on your location, there are 4 main grants that are most relevant right now for getting funding for a website, digital marketing strategy or moving your business operations online.
- Latrobe Valley Business & Industry Capability Fund: up to $5k for professional services or training, which can include website development or digital marketing strategy and campaign management. Applies to businesses in Baw Baw Shire, Latrobe City or Wellington Shire only. This funding is intended to be utilised on local professional services that can be found on Gippsland Business Connect, to ensure that funding creates local jobs, which GippsTech is eligible for.
- Melbourne City Council COVID-19 Quick Response Business Grant: up to $5k for websites or digital marketing strategy, and up to $2k for training and professional development which can include ongoing training for your team on managing your operations online. Applies to businesses with a location in the City of Melbourne only.
- Victorian Government COVID-19 Business Support Fund: up to $10k for businesses located in Victoria that employ staff, with a turnover of at least $75k.
- New South Wales COVID-19 Small Business Support Fund: up to $10k for businesses located in NSW, with 1-19 employees and a turnover of at least $75k.
Read the full article below to find out about how the team at GippsTech can support you
https://gipps.tech/blog/how-to-get-funding-for-your-small-business-website
Elena Kelareva
Software Development Consultant - GippsTech
Elena Kelareva is the founder of GippsTech, a Warragul-based software and web development agency with the mission of growing regional startup and tech ecosystems. Since starting GippsTech in March 2017, Elena cofounded Binary Shift, Gippsland’s first tech and startup conference, ran several tech training events for businesses, and started running regular tech and entrepreneurship meetups in Warragul and Traralgon. Prior to founding GippsTech, she worked for Google, leading product strategy for the team that makes it possible to put a Google Map on your website. She has a PhD in Computer Science from ANU, a Bachelor of Science from the University of Melbourne, and was a lecturer in Advanced Theoretical Computer Science at the University of Melbourne in 2017.