GoDaddy commissioned a Small Business Survey recently intended to show how small businesses are using the Internet – and considering how much I focus on small businesses actually using the Internet I was extremely excited to look at the results. 4,000 small businesses, with less than 5 employees, across Australia, Brazil, Canada, India, Mexico, Turkey, UK and the United States were surveyed. What the report found wasn’t really all that surprising, however It is definitely upsetting.
59% Of Businesses Did Not Have A Website
Now it’s important to note that 39% of the businesses surveyed have been in business for less than a year – however it’s still rather shocking that nobody has made creating a website a priority. 21% of these businesses stated that they simply lacked the technical expertise to create a website, and 20% stated they simply couldn’t afford the costs associated with a new website development. While these are understandable concerns – they wouldn’t be obstacles at all if these business owners were properly educated as to the various options they have for their website. Any of you business owners reading this who have similar concerns should really read my I Want A Website post series to properly understand the different options you have when it comes to building a new website. It really doesn’t have to cost more than a few dollars!
Luckily 55% of these business owners do plan to create a website within the next couple of years, with 20% of them already having their domain name registered – and that is at least something that I can take some joy in. Any of you that have been following me on YouTube know how passionate I am about small businesses making use of the Internet and Social Media to help grow their businesses, and I truly do believe that as more and more small business owners become more educated regarding their online presence as a whole we will have more and more businesses embracing their online presence.
Check out the report for yourself here.