For Brisbane people turning an idea, a side hustle or years of experience into a business of their own: a first site built from your words and photos, a .com.au registered to you, and an email address on it. The draft comes first; the invoice only after you've approved it.
Most new Brisbane businesses begin small: one person, a laptop, maybe a spare room, and a list of people who said they'd be interested. The first site has to turn that into something a stranger can check in under a minute: what you do, which parts of the city you'll reach, who you are, and how to take the next step. It should also be easy to change, because the business you're running in six months may not look quite like the one you're launching.
Open with one plain sentence about the job you do, then the suburbs you work from and travel to. Brisbane people describe where they live by suburb and by side of the river, so "Mobile bike repairs across Brisbane's inner south and east" reads better than a radius on a map. If you'll also go out to Springfield, North Lakes or Cleveland, say so; they're in other council areas, but your customers won't think of it that way.
The name on your ABN record, your email address, your Google Business Profile and the top of your website should match. When a flyer says one thing and the site says another, people wonder whether they've found the right business. If you trade under a business name, we'll use it exactly as registered.
Brisbane City Council counts a home office as a home-based business, but a café or a shop isn't one. If clients never come to the house, the site shows your suburb and service area instead of a street. If they do visit, for a fitting, a lesson or a consult, the address and parking notes go on the contact page only.
If Business Launchpad turns up a licence or permit you don't hold yet, the site can still describe what you'll offer and take expressions of interest. Opening dates, prices and "now taking bookings" go on once the approvals are in, as a text change covered by hosting.
Plenty of new Brisbane businesses sell time in a room: tutoring, music, dance, fitness, art classes. A weekly timetable with ages or levels, and a form to enrol or book a trial, answers the first two things a parent or adult learner asks. We can link a booking tool you already use, or build booking and payments into the site, quoted for your job.
Someone you meet at a workshop or a networking breakfast may not need you this month. A short form that collects names and emails for launch news, sent straight to your inbox, means they can hear from you later without you keeping a spreadsheet of business cards.
Queensland's first stop for licences is Business Launchpad, a Business Queensland tool that asks about your activity, location and services and gives back a tailored list of licences, permits and regulatory information from Australian, Queensland and local governments. Its own example is a café, which needs licences from agencies at all three levels. For advice on running the business, the state's Mentoring for Growth program gives free access to volunteer business experts, mostly online. It has start-up sessions for early-stage businesses, 45 minutes with one mentor, but you need an ABN, Queensland operations and a specific challenge to discuss, and you must have started trading. Mentors don't give legal, financial or HR advice. So Launchpad comes before launch, and mentoring after it.
Brisbane City Council's home-based business guidance says a business can run from a house, townhouse or apartment if it stays secondary to the home; a home office is one of its examples, while cafés, shops and offices other than a home office don't count. If the business meets every acceptable outcome in the Home-based business code (section 9.3.10 of City Plan), no development application is needed and you don't need anything in writing from council before you start. Council has an online self-assessable checklist, and the page also tells unit owners to check body corporate rules. Council's Business Hotline, 133 BNE (133 263), takes calls 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Council also runs two free business hubs. The Suburban Business Hub at 16 Aspinall Street, Nundah, a couple of minutes' walk from Nundah Station, is free co-working and meeting space for Brisbane small businesses, open 9am to 4pm on weekdays; Wednesdays are set aside for free workshops instead of co-working, and you can drop in or book a table up to two working days ahead. The Brisbane Business Hub at 69 Ann Street in the city has no co-working desks, but it has free resources from the Brisbane Economic Development Agency, free workshops and events, and free one-on-one mentoring in areas such as finance, marketing and legal. A hub is a good place to work for the day. It isn't a business address, so we'd keep it off your site and your Google profile.
Council's small business programs change through the year. At the time of writing they include up to five hours of free one-to-one digital advice with BUSY Business for for-profit businesses in the Brisbane council area with fewer than 20 full-time-equivalent staff and an active ABN or ACN, limited to 50 places. The Maker Entrepreneurship Program, free business training for artists, jewellers, woodworkers and other makers, asked 2026 applicants to be an existing maker business with stock on hand and an online presence; that round has closed. These programs are for the Brisbane local government area, so a business based in Logan, Ipswich, Redland or Moreton Bay should look to its own council instead.
We're an Adelaide team, and we work with Brisbane businesses by phone and email. Our Queensland clients include Queensland Dance & Performing Arts in Thorneside, on Brisbane's bayside, and M.J. Debney Plumbing & Gas. For a new business that usually means one call about what you'll offer, then email for your words and photos, and a draft link you can open on your phone.
We don't call these clients start-ups, because we don't know how long each had been trading when they came to us. Both are in Queensland. One shows what a site that sells classes needs; the other shows how much a single page can carry for a sole operator.
A dance school in Thorneside on Brisbane's bayside, teaching ballet, contemporary and circus arts from age 6, adult ballet and a full-time diploma. Its 12 pages give each program a page of its own, with a weekly class timetable, a filterable photo gallery, FAQs and an online enrolment form.
Visit the Qld Performing Arts site (opens in a new tab) See it in our portfolio
A licensed Queensland plumber and gas fitter. Its single page holds a six-service overview, a 13-photo project gallery that swipes on mobile, client testimonials, a protected contact form and tap-to-call.
Visit the M.J. Debney site (opens in a new tab) See it in our portfolio
“They were very helpful and envisioned exactly what I was wanting for my website. They created the site very promptly and cost efficient.”
★ 5.0 from 33 Google reviews (opens in a new tab)
See all 14 recent client sites in our portfolio.
$399
One page with your one-line description, services, the suburbs you cover, your ABN and a contact or launch-news form. The .com.au and email are set up at the same time.
A good fit for most first sites
$899
A home page, a page for services or classes with a timetable or starting prices, and an about page with your background and photo, so a new name has a face behind it.
$1,499
For launching with several service lines, a page for each class program, or more than one location, plus a news section and Google Analytics visitor stats.
By phone and email. We have a call about what you'll offer and who it's for, you email your words, photos and the suburbs you'll cover, and we send a draft link you can check anywhere. You ask for changes the same way, and you pay once you approve the draft. We reply within 24 hours.
Often not. Brisbane City Council says a home-based business that meets all the acceptable outcomes of its Home-based business code doesn't need a development application, and council's self-assessable checklist helps you test that. Cafés and shops don't count as home-based. The Business Hotline on 133 BNE can answer questions about your particular case; we'd stick to building the site.
Yes. Under auDA's rules a .com.au needs a connection to Australia, most commonly an active ABN or ACN, and the name has to connect to your business, so the ABN usually comes first. After that we can register the domain in your name for about $20 a year, set up email and build the site while you sort out licences. If something isn't approved yet, the site says what's coming rather than giving a date.
Business Launchpad for the list of licences and permits, Mentoring for Growth start-up sessions once you've started trading, and Brisbane City Council's two hubs: free co-working and workshops at Nundah, and free workshops and one-on-one mentoring at the Brisbane Business Hub, 69 Ann Street. We look after the website: arranging your words and photos into pages, registering the domain and setting up email.
Yes. We build online booking and payment systems into sites, quoted for each job, or we link a booking tool you already use, such as Calendly or Fresha. For a new class business that isn't sure of demand yet, a timetable and an enrolment form that comes to your inbox is a simple way to start.
Most sites are live within 5–10 days of us getting your words and photos; bigger sites (up to 8 pages) take 2–3 weeks. If you're launching at a market, an expo or a networking event on a set date, tell us at the start so the domain and email are ready in time.
Tell us the business name, what you'll offer and the suburbs you'll cover. We'll check the .com.au is available, quote the site and build your draft; you pay only once you approve it.
We reply within 24 hours. Prefer email? info@webcraftstudio.com.au