Yahoo – small business, where are you?
In recent weeks, a number of reports have been circulating about the online presence of small business – or lack thereof. Results of the latest MYOB small business report highlight just how widespread the problem is, with 60 percent of small businesses missing out on online opportunities by not having their own business website.
This worries me as I feel that these businesses are missing out on some incredible opportunities. (Mainly a chance to target us Gen Y’s who live our lives online and are not likely to be reached using any other medium!)
The internet is transforming the way we communicate with each other, providing opportunities to stay connected in ways previously thought unimaginable. Gen Y’s have grown up with technology, we are confident, technically savvy and without wanting to toot our own horn, are THE new customer market to target. If you don’t have an online presence you have lost us straight away. If we want to know about a particular product or service, we go online first. It’s on to Yahoo (“Do you Yahoo?”) or Google, “just Google it.” If we can’t find you on the web, then more often than not we will give up, and find another business that does have a web presence.
Our resident staff blogger James Adonis, recently blogged about the benefits of getting a business on LinkedIn, (read all about it here). Sites like LinkedIn and Twitter take business networking to a new level and put you in contact with people you would have never thought possible. Utilising these sites is a great way to do a bit of free promotion of your business and its products and services. Better yet, if you have an engaging and informative website to complement it, then you are in the game.
As the economic crisis takes hold, businesses are looking for ways to stay afloat. Online communication is the most cost effective way to get your brand noticed, while building your customer base at the same time, AND reach us pesky little Gen Y’s. Now is the time to get connected!
So what I want to know is why the majority of small businesses don’t have their own website?
I would love to hear your thoughts on this.
( For those of you who may just be thinking about getting online, but don’t know where to begin, we have a number of interesting articles that may be of use. Check them out below).
Integrating online and offline marketing
Social Networking to boost your business
Engage customers with web marketing
Ten steps to promote your business online
Got something to say? Join the small business forum here at DynamicBusiness.com.au.
Having just completed my website, I can tell you first hand that websites are not easy. This is an enormous communication project and before you even get to thinking about design, you have to nail your purpose, position and proposition – if you haven’t already!
You need to have answers to questions like who is my target audience? What do they need to know? How do I want to be perceived? What do I want people to do online? How am I going to use this long term? How will I capture data?
This is all before you even engage a web design company.
No matter how much creative flair the agency you hire has, the site’s success comes down to the company itself and how well it has identified and then articulated its own brand personality, value proposition, products / services and expectation of its online presence.
With so much to consider, is it any wonder that small businesses are procrastinating on this front? And don’t let me get started on the costs!
In my experience of running a web design studio I have found many small business owners don’t see the value in a website and can’t justify the cost to develop one. We are a small business and all our leads come in from our search engine rankings and other online sources. I think the main reason is a lack of understanding and knowledge of how a website can benefit the business as a whole. A website can increase your leads, generate sales and give you a huge amount of exposure that other forms of advertising can not.
A website should be viewed as an integral part of your business. If developed right, a website can have dramatic results on the growth of your business . Having a website is a must for every small business as the benefits far outweigh the initial cost to built it.
Justin – Big Click Studios
http://www.bigclick.com.au
It’s a chicken and egg thing. Most small business operate in localised markets, therefore hard to see ROI on website development – yet still spend money on print and other media. Internet search needs websites so localised data is not there. To a user, we don’t get local results or at best aggregated portals.
Trying to negotiate through all of the issues invloved, trying to locate a quality web designer that is interested in small business, understanding SEO and ad words and hosting – it would be good to get an entry level portal that can be expanded as small business becomes more web savvy and can see ROI on the initial investment
This is MYOB trying to recover lost ground. They are themselves behind several emerging competitors eg. Saasu and Xero in embracing the web, and if their new system isn’t a solid answer to them, they’ll lose their market. So to sound all web savvy, they’re pointing the finger elsewhere.
Thank you all for your comments. I can appreciate that a lot of time and effort goes into developing a website (as we experienced this ourselves). I am sure many small businesses struggle with the challenge of setting up a site that is not only cost-effective but worth the effort in the long run. However, I believe in this case the positives far outweigh the negatives. The potential on the internet is huge, there are so many avenues that can be explored with a website, that can’t with traditional forms of marketing. We are definitely reaping the rewards since boosting our online presence and relaunching the site with new features, and getting ourselves on social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. It is definitely well worth the effort. Businesses who don’t change with the times face being left behind, missing out on some incredible opportunities to expand their customer base and target new markets.
Marie, you\’re absolutely right. As a freelance writer, I have the writing aspect of websites covered, but don\’t have the $$ to spend on a designer. And at this point, I don\’t have much material to include, either.
The only thing worse than a website that looks outdated or is hard to navigate, is a website with hardly any content. So I\’m compromising by starting a blog. It\’s free, not too hard to use and I can publish articles that won\’t be seen in other media.
Having a “web presence” does not necessarily mean having your own website. A “web presence” could mean listing your business with several online directories (eg Hotfrog) and regularly ensuring that your contact information is up to date. A web presence might be submitting regular free or paid listings on Gumtree or Cracker or other community bulletin boards. A web presence might be a Facebook page, it could be a Linkedin profile, or it could be by participating as a commentator in industry blogs as I am doing now.
I think very few businesses who have invested in their own website would be generating a decent return. It takes a lot of expertise, time and effort build traffic to a site, and a lot more expertise, research and user testing to convert that traffic into paying customers. Most small businesses do not have the time or resources to effectively market themselves online.
It would be reckless to recommend that every business needs to build their own website. For many, the exercise will be a waste of time and money. There are many more cost effective things that a business can do to reach the online consumer short of investing in a stand-alone site.
You have written a very good article and one which should be more widely circulated. eCorner have been in the business of providing small to medium sized businesses (SMBs) with ecommerce web solutions (online web shops) for 5 years and we have over 500 customers now selling online. All types and sizes from large electronics retailers to small home businesses. There is a great lack of knowledge out there about the benefits selling online provides to any business. A problem has been the lack of robust solutions available at a reasonable price. For a small to medium sized business cash is king so cost is always an issue. But more than that is there is nowhere for small business people to go to get good advice. Less than 10% of SMBs in Australia sell online where as maybe 40% have web presence. You have to get an online presence to be found by those that search and buy online. A directory listing or a catalogue just will not produce the result as more and more the buyers expect to get immediately to the product and then buy it right now. Australia is far behind other parts of the world when it comes to selling online. In Australia eBay has been very successful because they offered a simple solution. Now more and more the idea of multi-channel sales online is where successful business wants to be. But that needs a modern and reliable online shop to act as the completion point for sales and marketing. Luckily the ladscape is changing in Australia and the days of the backyard web developers has is passing and more professional and reliable businesses are supporting the infrastructure and business processes need for an online business. Technology is now available here in Australia (and hosted in Australia) that allows you to have a website up and running and selling online safely in just a few minutes – e.g http://www.netregistry.com.au/ecommerce. The complete cost can be less that $100 / month and you don’t need web developers and specialist. It can be a completely DIY process. The HOSTED ECOMMERCE SOLUTION where everything is in one system is the way to go.
So thanks for raising the subject it is very important for businesses in Australia to get the message and be able to compete in the online market.
If as a small business owner your aim is to connect to Gen Y then you’re best to be where they’re at.
Rather than forking out big $$$ for a website, I’d recommend that they start engaging their target market where they’re at. Setting up Facebook and Twitter accounts are both free and effective. They provide you with great customer insights, and real-time feedback on what they think of you, your business and your ideas.
Also, if you have products the approach is the same … head to where the consumers are already congregating. Set up an E-Bay store and see what sells. There are plenty of stories of people who started off selling through E-Bay to learn the ropes, and are now super-successful online retailers.
Similarly, for those small businesses that provide services. Have a look at joining a services marketplace like Service Central ( http://www.servicecentral.com.au), seeing what consumers are asking for on the jobs board and offering your services to them.
As you can see, there are many many ways for small businesses to embrace the internet for their own success.
Nice and informative article
selected as a Bookmark.