If you thought the stats about small business web site neglect were alarming, get a load of this one: nearly half of small businesses in the U.S. don't even have a site according to research firm IDC.
Now, this information comes from a GoDaddy press release, so as a seller of domains, they obviously have a vested interest in reporting such a statistic, but that doesn't change the fact that it is indeed startling.
It is hard to imagine running a truly successful small business these days without a web site, though it seems many are doing it, or at least attempting.
Missing Out
These businesses, however, are clearly not as successful as they potentially could be with a web site. They're just missing out on one of the most important marketing tools any business can use.
"The Internet is increasingly used by customers as an information source, so a firm that doesn't have a Web presence will be at a disadvantage when prospects are conducting a search," says Ray Boggs, vice president of SMB research at IDC.
Boggs couldn't be more right, especially as broadband Internet service becomes more and more in the norm.
Reasons for Not Owning A Site
My guess is that the biggest reasons that businesses go without sites are expenses and lack of knowledge.
It can be intimidating with all of your competition on the Internet, especially if they have really nice sites and you have no clue where to even start.
Stop Making Excuses
If you can't afford to hire a designer, I would suggest educating yourself in at least some of the basics of design and HTML. This can be done for free through countless articles and forums online. There are plenty of content management systems, blog platforms, and design templates that can be used to get started.
I don't believe template use is always in the best interest of a site, but if it is the difference between having a site and not even being online, it should be a reasonable starting point.
If you can afford it though, hire a designer. They can be expensive, but the market is being flooded with them right now, and will probably continue to be, so I believe it will be easier to find ones that will work for less.
If you're not online, ask yourself why you're keeping yourself from earning more business. Are you satisfied with your answer?
5 Key Ingredients to Surviving in Online BusinessWays Online Forum Participation Can Benefit Your BusinessSmall Business Marketing Unleashed - The Tip of the IcebergHow Are Small Businesses Marketing For the Holidays?Upcoming Small Business Events for 20097 Steps to Earning Customer Trust OnlineOften Overlooked Places To Leave Your Stamp OnlineUpcoming Small Business Event RoundupThe Good and Bad of Marketing with TwitterAre You Prioritizing Web Design? 
 | |||
| Do you have a business site? Submit your business related site FREE! | |||
| |||
Submit Your Article
Advertise
Newsletter
Comments
No surprise
This doesn't surprise me at all...businesses have been doing business without the web for...how long? Some just don't see the need, or don't want to expend the effort to learn what they need to learn before they spend money on something with nebulous ROI. But many could get away with a simple, nice looking site that with very easy optimization, could essentially dominate local search for their niche, at very little cost - think wordpress as a CMS, for example. It would be better to do that NOW, versus wait for your competitors to start doing it...
Small businesses need to get with the times
I am a past President of the Palm Springs Chamber of Commerce. Sadly I have seen many small businesses fail because they do not do enough marketing and advertising. I remember a few years ago a couple came to us with their plan to buy a bed and breakfast. They told the Chamber they were going to spend all their cash savings to make it the "best" bed and breakfast in Palm Springs. We asked how much were they going to spend on advertising and marketing and they said nothing. They naively told us "since we will have the best bed and breakfast, everyone will want to stay with us because we are the best." When we asked how would the public learn that they were the "best." We were told that "everyone in town would be talking about them so everyone would want to stay with them." Sadly they went bankrupt in less then a year. Even today many small businesses in Palm Springs are not on the net and they are struggling. And the sad thing is small businesses can have so many creative ways to market themselves at low or no cost. They can even set up a blog for free at blogger.com or other sites. We have been blogging at for over 2 years and it is now more popular than our website with 1.6 million views in less then 2 years. Good luck small businesses ( we are also a small business as we own a boutique resort), you have to get on the net.
Getting with the Times
Post new comment