Do you freelance or own a small business? Talk to Do More Online and you could win £250. NOW CLOSED

[AngelieMumsnet]

The Department for Business Innovation and Skills are running the Do More Online campaign, and they'd love to hear from Mumsnetters who freelance or own small businesses and are embracing digital. Do More Online aims to help small businesses improve their digital skills to find more customers, be more efficient, and save money.

Do More Online say: "89% of small businesses agree it’s beneficial to deal with customers online, but 2 million (39%)* don’t have an online presence. We’re keen to hear what was it was that inspired the other 61% to go online and hope that Mumsnetters will share their personal hints and tips with us in this discussion.”

If you own a small business or are a freelancer:

• Do you do any of the following for your business online – manage your finances online, use social media, have a website, sell through your own or a third party website, or use online marketing?
• If you’ve started a business and moved it online, or even started the business online, what was it that made you go digital?
• What was it that made it possible to embrace digital? Were there positive influences or places where you sought advice?

Everyone who posts their answers to these questions will be entered into a prize draw, where one winner will receive £250.

Thanks,
MNHQ

PS - Do More Online say "Now you’ve followed the discussion, watch for yourself our videos and hear what the experts from Google, Facebook, Etsy, Ebay and Microsoft have to say to help you Do More Online:

How to build a website - with Microsoft
How to increase your online visibility - with Google
How to set up a business page - with Facebook
How to sell online - with eBay
How to set up and online shop - with Etsy "

*The research was undertaken by TNS on behalf of the Do More Online campaign between 2nd February 2015 - 27th February 2015 amongst 545 representative small businesses
** BIS Small Business Survey, 2012

I do freelance content strategy, proofing and copy editing for a web development company and it's noticeable how muddled the thinking around websites can be. A lot of small companies don't think clearly about what they want their websites to achieve and throw all their information at them without considering how to lead customers through them and some sites have a bounce rate (where users click in and straight out again) of up to 70 per cent. We obviously use the internet and social media a lot and almost everything is done online and I'd say that it's always worth asking how much a properly designed website costs because a bad site is more off-putting than no site at all sometimes! Good luck to everyone taking their business online.

I am an independent publisher.

• Do you do any of the following for your business online – manage your finances online, use social media, have a website, sell through your own or a third party website, or use online marketing?

All of these. I use online banking, encourage customers to pay online, have a website through which half of our enquiries come, and use Facebook and Twitter for advertising. We also sell all of our options online.

• If you’ve started a business and moved it online, or even started the business online, what was it that made you go digital?

I couldn't imagine not having an online presence - it is vital within any customer focused business.

• What was it that made it possible to embrace digital? Were there positive influences or places where you sought advice?

I don't think it was anything in particular that made it possible to embrace digital, rather there was no choice. Evolve with the times or go bankrupt!

Do you do any of the following for your business online – manage your finances online, use social media, have a website, sell through your own or a third party website, or use online marketing?

Yes, I have a website and use social media to advertise my company.

• If you’ve started a business and moved it online, or even started the business online, what was it that made you go digital?

I think we can reach more customers online.

• What was it that made it possible to embrace digital? Were there positive influences or places where you sought advice?

Selling online was easy to set up, using PayPal as a payment method made it simple. I didn't get advice from anyone. I just did it.

I have a small cake design business and use the following:
on-line banking
facebook business page
twitter
instagram
pinterest
my own web page
Most of my business comes from recommendation but having an online presence is invaluable. It enables customers to see my work and also see comments from satisfied customers.
For me, social media and facebook in particular is my main route to my customers and potential audience. I had a website built to try and widen my reach. I find it adds credence to my business but hasn't proved the most profitable.
I advocate using all the on-line resources available to reach new customers and build links with existing ones.

I am an HR consultant who works for blue chip clients mostly in specialist recruitment (although I'm a generalist) and I mostly find work via referrals and occasionally via third parties. I am now in a position to expand my business.

• Do you do any of the following for your business online – manage your finances online, use social media, have a website, sell through your own or a third party website, or use online marketing? Not at the moment but I am thinking I should set up my own website, social media presence and blog now I'm ready to expand/scale my business.
• If you’ve started a business and moved it online, or even started the business online, what was it that made you go digital? I haven't done it yet, but I want to because I feel an online presence gives me credibility and it will allow potential clients to find me.
• What was it that made it possible to embrace digital? Were there positive influences or places where you sought advice? I have already used social media extensively for work and learnt by trial and error at a time when social media was relatively new. I have also learnt html through voluntary work so building my own website doesn't seem too daunting but finding the time to do it does. I am interested in finding out more about building and maintaining my own website and promoting it in relevant places.

I am a freelance communications consultant. I write and manage projects - eg Annual Reports and newsletters for a number of clients but my main business is advising on comms for large development projects as they move through the planning process. I work from home and live rurally.
Do you do any of the following for your business online – manage your finances online, use social media, have a website, sell through your own or a third party website, or use online marketing?
I manage my finances online and do research. I also use linked in but do not have a website.
If you’ve started a business and moved it online, or even started the business online, what was it that made you go digital?
I would not class myself as online but I would like to have a greater web presence.
What was it that made it possible to embrace digital? Were there positive influences or places where you sought advice?
I could probably double the size of my business if I could do more online. The problem is la k of investment in rural broadband in this area (Somerset). I get between 2-3 mb download speed and less than 1 upload so I could not have a website or make more use of social media. Local towns have been connected to super fast broadband but rural connections are patchy and, even though it has come to the next village, my location seems to have now been classes as 'too difficult' (this was not the case when I bought my property). I recognise that the government has put significant investment in which is good but the Department needs to force the responsible agencies to finish the job or many businesses such as mine will be disadvantaged.

I was freelance (for many years) and now run a small limited company (now finishing 2nd years as a limited company).

• Do you do any of the following for your business online – manage your finances online, use social media, have a website, sell through your own or a third party website, or use online marketing?

I don't do any marketing online, as most of my business is through word of mouth and I'm never really looking for new clients. I do some work for an agency and they market me online though. However I do all financial transactions - keeping track of accounts and all payments etc. I have a couple of clients who pay by cheque which is annoying as it costs me and I don't often have time to get to the bank.

• If you’ve started a business and moved it online, or even started the business online, what was it that made you go digital?

Moving banking online was for ease of monitoring finances. I also encourage clients to use skype rather than having face to face meetings, as this reduces the number of hours that re 'unbillable'. Many of my clients are also now using online file sharing such as Trello, Basecamp, Dropbox and Asana. Which is great ... but I wish they would all use the same system...

• What was it that made it possible to embrace digital? Were there positive influences or places where you sought advice?

My husband is fairly IT savvy, so I feel that I have back up but mainly it comes down to reducing the amount of time I feel is wasted... and my desire to work from home. I like the fact that I can do the school run and racing about the country attending meetings just so that people have the advice face to face, rather than on the phone or skype seems pointless to me.

I am an Interpreter and Marketing Assistant and work as a freelancer. I do everything online, from invoicing the companies I work, looking for work, following and chatting with colleagues through social networks, doing the self-assessment, making and receiving payments. I think my jobs wouldn't exist without the Internet.

I am very good with computers and I keep learning everyday in my work, so I think this helped and made me confident to go digital.

I am a freelance designer

• Do you do any of the following for your business online – manage your finances online, use social media, have a website, sell through your own or a third party website, or use online marketing? I have my own website, I do use mobile banking, I do use people per hour, elance, creative pool, freelancers.net and probably a couple of others, I have a facebook, twitter and linkedin page
• If you’ve started a business and moved it online, or even started the business online, what was it that made you go digital? I always knew that the business would need an online presence and am actively learning web design etc anyway.
• What was it that made it possible to embrace digital? Were there positive influences or places where you sought advice? I'm using Lynda, Code Academy and WC3 schools to learn coding etc. I am quite techie anyway so that kind of nerdy stuff is what interests me anyway!

Do you do any of the following for your business online – manage your
finances online, use social media, have a website, sell through your own
or a third party website, or use online marketing?
I use a cloud computing package for my accounts; have an active business Facebook page and am working on growing on Twitter and adding Instagram and Pinterest; I have my own website, which I have been running since 2007; I sell through my own website.

• If you’ve started a business and moved it online, or even started the business online, what was it that made you go digital?

I have always had an online presence - I run a retail business and I started the website as a 'shop front' for local customers, so that they could see what they were getting (I run my business from home) - the web side has grown over the years and is now larger than the local side. I went online because it allowed me to show customers what they were getting and to reach customers outside my local area

• What was it that made it possible to embrace digital? Were there positive influences or places where you sought advice?

I used (and still use) online resources to learn about SEO, social media etc - some free, some paid for training from specialist companies. I got advice from people running similar businesses in online forums and, more recently, facebook groups.

Do you do any of the following for your business online – manage your finances online, use social media, have a website, sell through your own or a third party website, or use online marketing? I advertise on social media, use a third party website and manage my finances online.

• If you’ve started a business and moved it online, or even started the business online, what was it that made you go digital? Meant I could work from home and reach more customers.

What was it that made it possible to embrace digital? Were there positive influences or places where you sought advice? My HUsband is a digital King and helped me over my hurdles. Without him I'd be selling at car boot sales!

I am a freelance writer and editor.

Do you do any of the following for your business online – manage your finances online, use social media, have a website, sell through your own or a third party website, or use online marketing?

I do my banking online, I use Twitter and LinkedIn to market my work and I have my own website and blog.

• If you’ve started a business and moved it online, or even started the business online, what was it that made you go digital?

I mostly use the digital aspect as a marketing tool, most of my actual work comes through contacts.

What was it that made it possible to embrace digital? Were there positive influences or places where you sought advice?

My husband works in digital marketing so gave me tons of help and advice.

• Do you do any of the following for your business online – manage your finances online, use social media, have a website, sell through your own or a third party website, or use online marketing?

Yes- online banking, and have a website.

• If you’ve started a business and moved it online, or even started the business online, what was it that made you go digital?

I know that most people searching for a tutor look online first. If you don't have an online presence, you potentially lose out on a lot of business.

• What was it that made it possible to embrace digital? Were there positive influences or places where you sought advice?

I wouldn't have known how to set up my own website, so paid someone to do that. Googling online has also been a useful source of information.

I'm a sole trader:

• Do you do any of the following for your business online – manage your finances online, use social media, have a website, sell through your own or a third party website, or use online marketing?

I use social media (facebook). I don't use Twitter as I wouldn't tweet regularly enough to make it worthwhile. I also have a website. I don't use online marketing but have made it to near the top of the google rankings anyway as it's a bit of a niche market.

• If you’ve started a business and moved it online, or even started the business online, what was it that made you go digital?

I needed to be able to reach more customers in a more professional way.

• What was it that made it possible to embrace digital? Were there positive influences or places where you sought advice?

I found a very easy website builder. I asked some friends with marketing expertise to give me some guidance and feedback on the website.

If you own a small business or are a freelancer:
Me Arts Consultancy DH Architect/property consultant. Sometimes work together also

• Do you do any of the following for your business online

manage your finances online - yes, have done since establishing business

use social media

• yes, Facebook, twitter and (extant blog, got too busy) vital in the sector for keeping up with opportunities, positioning etc, do linked in etc (has led to a couple of connections)

have a website

• yes, DIY wordpress hack job, looks great (but needs updating!)

sell through your own or a third party website, or use online marketing? N/A

• If you’ve started a business and moved it online, or even started the business online, what was it that made you go digital? N/A
• What was it that made it possible to embrace digital? Were there positive influences or places where you sought advice?

I used to work for a media arts centre so I am early adopter, generally of such stuff….also the sector is very tuned in so absolutely necessary

• Do you do any of the following for your business online – manage your finances online, use social media, have a website, sell through your own or a third party website, or use online marketing?

Yes, I do everything online. My business is completely web based and I do all the marketing myself online too.

• If you’ve started a business and moved it online, or even started the business online, what was it that made you go digital?

n/a

• What was it that made it possible to embrace digital? Were there positive influences or places where you sought advice?

Being online makes my business possible in the first place and allows me to work from home.

I set up a limited company last year and work on short-term contracts
I use online banking for my business account - so much easier !
I've been using online banking for my personal account for 10+ years so was comfortable with it, and it means that I can do my company business in my own time, not in my client's time

So far I've got all my work via word of mouth - if that starts to dry up, I'll definitely set up a website and use social media to find work.
I already use LinkedIn - very useful for networking and keeping in touch with ex-colleagues as you never know where the next job might come from !

Yes, I have a small business.

Being online is very important. We have most of our initial client contact by email and we have a website through which people can book our services.

Working this way is efficient (less post and phone costs) and helps us to project a professional image.

Together with my partner I run a small business selling artworks from 1800-1950. We also have a framing service.
We do online banking, have a Facebook page and Twitter account, and sell through our website.
As we do not have a gallery space, it was clear to us from the outset that we'd have to show our paintings, prints etc online.
The main advice we sought was from website designers. Although we knew it was possible to build our own websites, we wanted something high-quality and were prepared to invest in professional advice.
We've had free business advice via our City Council which also helped us to make some useful minor adjustments to our site.
Blogging has proved a useful tool to get our website more visible in terms of search engines.

I am a freelancee translator.

• Do you do any of the following for your business online – manage your finances online, use social media, have a website, sell through your own or a third party website, or use online marketing? - Yes, I use only online banking, I am a member of various online translation communities where I ask and answer questions, I have a website that works as my online business card, and I have profiles on translation work portals. My entire business is based on online tools. I don't pay for any online marketing, I don't need it. I regularily send out my CV to translation agencies. I also get contacted.

• If you’ve started a business and moved it online, or even started the business online, what was it that made you go digital? - Having a profile on various translation work portals got me my first jobs and I still get most of my new work here as well. Later on I got a simple website, that also helps, but it's really just an online business card.

• What was it that made it possible to embrace digital? Were there positive influences or places where you sought advice? - My husband made my first website, and later on he got a contractor to update and move it to another platform. I read a lot of online guides to establishing myself as a freelance translator.

If you own a small business or are a freelancer: I am a bookkeeper/accountant

- Do you do any of the following for your business online – manage your finances online, use social media, have a website, sell through your own or a third party website, or use online marketing? I manage all of my bills and banking online, I email all invoices to customers to save postage.

I have a website, just a very basic one. I bought the domain name and hosting and used their own software to create the website. It costs around £20 a year and gives me an online presence.

- If you’ve started a business and moved it online, or even started the business online, what was it that made you go digital? I created a website because the first thing I do when i want something, is to google it. So I needed to be found on google myself. But having said that most of my work comes from work of mouth now

- What was it that made it possible to embrace digital? Were there positive influences or places where you sought advice? The software provided by the website hosting companies, make it simple to create your own very basic website.

I think that any business now needs to have a presence on the internet as that is where most people look. The days of using yellow pages to find what you wanted, are gone.

If you own a small business or are a freelancer: YES

• Do you do any of the following for your business online – manage your finances online, use social media, have a website, sell through your own or a third party website, or use online marketing? WEBSITE AND SOCIAL MEDIA< YES SELL THROUGH WEBSITE

• If you’ve started a business and moved it online, or even started the business online, what was it that made you go digital?

EVERYONE USES THE NET THESE DAYS.. LOTS of people offer my service but just supply a phone number. If I was an overseas student, I would rather use a website than phone someone. These are my target market.

• What was it that made it possible to embrace digital? Were there positive influences or places where you sought advice?

no not really just the internet

If you own a small business or are a freelancer:

• Do you do any of the following for your business online – manage your finances online, use social media, have a website, sell through your own or a third party website, or use online marketing?

Yes I manage by finances online, I use social media, have my own website.

• If you’ve started a business and moved it online, or even started the business online, what was it that made you go digital?

I felt more confident of reaching lots of people online, rather than cold calling businesses.

• What was it that made it possible to embrace digital? Were there positive influences or places where you sought advice?

I have a little bit of IT background, have used the Internet for 20 years and felt confident setting up my own website.

• Do you do any of the following for your business online – manage your finances online, use social media, have a website, sell through your own or a third party website, or use online marketing?

Yes, I am a freelance translator. I have a website which also generates my invoices and where I record payments. This is a third party website hosted by a translators' association; it is global.

• If you’ve started a business and moved it online, or even started the business online, what was it that made you go digital?

By necessity, my business is online, because there would be little demand for translation services in my own small corner of the world. Online, my profile can be found worldwide and I do, indeed, receive work from around the globe.

• What was it that made it possible to embrace digital? Were there positive influences or places where you sought advice?

Initially, when setting up the business, I did some research - mainly telephoning translation agencies in the UK - to find out how translators usually marketed successfully. I learnt that it was nearly always done online. In terms of advice, I had some advice from the translation agencies that I called and also from others working in this field.

Do you do any of the following for your business online – manage your finances online, use social media, have a website, sell through your own or a third party website, or use online marketing?
I bank online and use PayPal for customer payments. I have a FB page but rarely update as it has embarrassingly few likers! I have a website, created myself, which is where 90% of my orders come in, but I know nothing about SEO etc. I do no marketing, online or otherwise, as I have always found it a massive waste of time and money, most of my customers are repeat orders who found me 4 years ago via the local council website.

• If you’ve started a business and moved it online, or even started the business online, what was it that made you go digital?

i am phone phobic! I hate when customers call me, much prefer email and online orders

• What was it that made it possible to embrace digital? Were there positive influences or places where you sought advice?

My brother and ex husband helped set up the domain and PayPal etc.