Go paperless: green practices for small business
The greenest sheet of paper is the one you never print. That was the main point when we first wrote this in 2009, and the tools have only gotten better. Here are practical ways to cut paper, postage and wasted trips. Most of them save time too.
Put your brochure on your website
Most people would rather read your information on their own time than file a printed brochure. Put that content on your website as real pages, not just a scanned file. Pages are easier to update, easier to find in search and easier to read on a phone.
If you still need a handout, offer a downloadable PDF. Anyone who wants paper can print it.
Swap paper forms for online forms
Intake forms, applications, registrations and service requests can all move online. A good online form:
- Sends the information straight to the right person
- Cuts out retyping and lost paperwork
- Works on a phone
On Joomla, a form extension handles this well. On WordPress, a form plugin does the same job. Either way, make sure submissions are stored securely and that someone actually reads them.
Email invoices and quotes
Most billing and accounting software can email invoices and take payments online. You save paper and postage, and clients get the invoice right away. Anyone who needs a hard copy can print one.
Sign documents electronically
Contracts, proposals and approvals no longer need to be printed, signed, scanned and sent back. With e-signature tools, clients can sign on their phone in a couple of minutes, and both sides get a clean record.
Share documents instead of printing them
A shared online folder or document system gives your team one current version of everything, with permissions for who can view or edit. That means no more printing drafts for meetings and no more chains of attachments.
Let people work remotely
Remote work doesn't suit every job or every person, but many people can do some of it. Shared documents, a CRM, email and video meetings let a team work together without a daily commute. That means less gas and less stress, and even a hybrid schedule helps.
Host efficiently
Your website runs on servers somewhere, and they draw power around the clock. Big cloud platforms run shared infrastructure at scale, so you're not powering a mostly idle machine of your own. A lean site helps too. Optimized images, fewer bloated extensions or plugins, and good caching all mean less work for the server on every visit.
We host client sites on AWS. Read how we handle hosting for our reasoning, and What Ongoing Website Care Covers explains how we keep sites lean and current after launch.
Small changes add up
You don't have to go paperless overnight. Pick one form, one document or one process this month and move it online. Then pick the next.
Make it easy for customers too
Going paperless works best when customers like it too. Offer a clear choice, keep a printable version available for anyone who needs it, and make sure every online form and document works well on a phone and with screen readers. Fewer steps for them means fewer abandoned requests for you.
Ready to move your forms and brochures online? Call 678-379-9321 or email