For people starting out across Townsville, from the Northern Beaches to Kirwan, Aitkenvale and Magnetic Island, including Defence partners and veterans: a first website arranged from your own words and photos, a .com.au registered to you and an email address that stays yours wherever you're posted. We build the draft first; you pay once you've approved it.
At the 2021 Census, 3.5% of residents aged 15 and over in the ABS's Townsville area were serving in the Australian Defence Force, and another 5.6% had served before. That shapes some of the businesses starting here: a Defence partner building something that has to survive the next posting, or someone leaving the service and starting again with a trade, a skill or a consultancy. Everyone else needs the usual things done properly.
Your domain and email are registered in your name, and the website isn't tied to a city, so if you're posted from Townsville to Darwin or Adelaide, the business comes with you. Remote work like bookkeeping, coaching or design can say from day one that you take clients Australia-wide; a local service swaps its suburbs for new ones, a text change covered by hosting.
Rank and corps mean a lot inside Defence and very little to a homeowner in Kirwan. Describe what you did in terms a customer can use, such as years spent maintaining vehicles or running stores and logistics, and put the civilian licence or qualification that lets you do the work now right beside it.
The Army says all its emblems are protected under section 83 of the Defence Act 1903, and that using one without permission from the Minister for Defence breaches that law; applications go through the Army's online form. A veteran-owned business can say so in plain words. We leave official badges off the site unless you've been given permission to use them.
Magnetic Island is part of the City of Townsville, but working there means planning the day around getting across. If you'll take island jobs, say which days and whether a travel charge applies. If you won't, say that too, so nobody in Nelly Bay waits for a reply.
Since Thuringowa merged with Townsville in 2008, the city has run from the Northern Beaches at Bushland Beach and Saunders Beach to rural localities such as Alligator Creek and Woodstock. Name the suburbs you'll cover. Ayr, Charters Towers and Ingham sit in the Burdekin, Charters Towers and Hinchinbrook council areas, so list them separately if you'll go.
Council's planning factsheet says a home-based business needs to keep checking it meets the City Plan as it grows. Build the site so a move into a shed, studio or shopfront means a new address and perhaps a new page, not a whole new website.
Business Launchpad and Mentoring for Growth work the same across Queensland, and our page for new Brisbane businesses explains both. Townsville had the Launchpad early: when the state extended it to Cairns in July 2021, it said more than 1,700 people had already used the Launchpads in Townsville and Logan.
Townsville City Council's business support and resources page says its Economic Attraction Team can connect you with the relevant support and help with general business enquiries, and offers a confidential discussion by email or on 13 48 10. The same page lists Smart Precinct NQ, a not-for-profit that calls itself the home of innovation and entrepreneurship in North Queensland and runs accelerator programs and mentoring sessions; its startup stream is aimed at founders with a globally scalable idea rather than a local service. Council also points to the Defence Industry Hub Townsville and the Townsville Business Women's Circle, and lists Townsville Enterprise and the Townsville Chamber among its key economic partners.
Starting from home is usually straightforward. Council's home-based business factsheet says a home-based business is accepted development subject to requirements in each residential zone, and one that meets all the acceptable outcomes in the zone code doesn't need a development permit. The requirements vary by zone, but the factsheet's examples include running the business from the house or an outbuilding, using no more than 60 square metres, having only one non-resident employee and keeping visitor parking on the site. It counts a home office and an e-commerce store as home-based, but not a gym, a vehicle repair workshop or a food and drink outlet. A sign doesn't need a permit if it's a single fence or wall sign of up to one square metre. A food business still needs a licence, and the factsheet asks owners to keep re-assessing their activities as the business grows.
Then there's Defence. The ABS says its Townsville area, home to Lavarack Barracks, Australia's largest Army base, had more currently serving ADF members than any other regional area at the 2021 Census: 4,960 in the Regular forces and 565 in the Reserves. Another 8,660 residents, 5.6% of those aged 15 and over, had served previously, again the highest count of any regional area. Partners and veterans start businesses like anyone else, but with a posting cycle or a service career in the background, which is why the first two points above are there.
The City of Townsville covers about 3,731 square kilometres and had 192,768 residents at the 2021 Census, from Paluma in the north to Reid River in the south and across to Horseshoe Bay and Picnic Bay on Magnetic Island. We're an Adelaide team and work with Townsville businesses by phone and email; none of the client sites below is in Queensland. You send your words and photos, we send a draft link to check, and you pay once you approve it.
Neither client is in Queensland, and we don't call them start-ups because we don't know how long each had been trading when it came to us. Both run the kind of business that can move with a posting: one books discovery calls online, the other records from a home studio.
Confidential one-on-one coaching for doctors, led by a Melbourne specialist anaesthetist. The site has a services overview, an about page on her credentials, a contact form and online discovery-call booking linked from every page.
Visit the Dr Tabara Dione site (opens in a new tab) See it in our portfolio
Commercial, corporate, audiobook and character voiceovers, recorded in a professional home studio. Visitors play four demo reels on the page itself, read about the studio and send a brief through a contact form that asks for the project type.
Visit the Fiona Dixon site (opens in a new tab) See it in our portfolio
“My website is exactly how I wanted. I highly recommend Salem for any business wanting a professional website without the bull.”
★ 5.0 from 33 Google reviews (opens in a new tab)
See all 14 recent client sites in our portfolio.
$399
What you do, the suburbs you cover or the fact that you work remotely, your ABN and a contact form, with the .com.au and business email set up together.
Good for a business that moves with you
$899
A home page, a services page, and an about page with your photo that puts your background, including any service history, in plain terms.
$1,499
For several services or both local and remote clients: a page for each, a page of FAQs or articles, and Google Analytics visitor stats.
Yes, if the business is meant to last. The domain and email are in your name, hosting doesn't depend on where you live, and we work by phone and email anyway, so nothing changes for us when you move. When you're posted, the suburbs and contact details on the site change as a text edit covered by hosting.
Not without permission. The Army says all its emblems are protected under section 83 of the Defence Act 1903 and that using one without permission from the Minister for Defence breaches that law; applications go through its online form, and the Navy, Air Force and ADF have brand managers of their own. You can still describe your service in plain words, which is usually more useful to a customer anyway.
Often not. Townsville City Council says a home-based business is accepted development subject to requirements in each residential zone, and one that meets all the acceptable outcomes doesn't need a development permit. Its examples include a floor area of no more than 60 square metres and one non-resident employee. Food businesses still need a licence. The zone codes in the Townsville City Plan have the detail; we look after the website.
Start with council's Economic Attraction Team on 13 48 10, which connects businesses with support and takes general enquiries in confidence. If your idea could scale well beyond Townsville, council also points to Smart Precinct NQ and its accelerator programs, and it lists Townsville Enterprise and the Townsville Chamber as key partners. Business Launchpad covers the licences side.
By phone and email. We talk through what you'll offer, you email your words and photos, and we send a draft link you can check on your phone. You ask for changes until you're happy and pay once you approve it. 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.
Tell us what you'll offer, whether you'll work locally, remotely or both, and when your next posting might be if that's a factor. We'll check the .com.au, quote the site and send a draft; you pay only after you've approved it.
We reply within 24 hours. Prefer email? info@webcraftstudio.com.au