You won’t believe how many small business owners struggle with digital marketing.
Recently, Web.com partnered with Dr. David Ricketts, Innovation Fellow in the Technology and Entrepreneurship Center at Harvard, to survey small business owners from industries including ecommerce, service businesses and more.
Among the surprising results, collected in the first-ever Web.com Small Business Digital Trends report:
- More than one-fourth (26 percent) of small business owners have only a single-page website. The number of pages your site has affects how easy your business website is for search engines to find. While not every business needs dozens of pages, having just one page can put you at a distinct disadvantage compared to your competitors—especially when building a website is so simple.
- Just 17 percent of small business owners plan to invest in search engine optimization (SEO) in the coming year. SEO is complicated, and just about every business can stand to improve theirs. The low level of interest in improving SEO suggests that small business owners don’t fully understand its importance to their marketing efforts.
- More than four in 10 (42 percent) of small business owners admit they don’t use both a robust website and social media to market their businesses. A good business website plus an active social media presence is a one-two marketing punch. Each boosts the other’s effectiveness, raising your business’s profile and building awareness.
- Almost half (43 percent) of small business owners say they have no plans to change or improve their online presence in the coming year. The business world and the digital world are both changing rapidly. If you’re not continually improving your online marketing efforts, you’re going to fall behind the competition.
- Almost 90 percent of small-business owners admit that they struggle when using social media to promote their businesses. It’s good news that the majority of small business owners surveyed are using social media to connect with customers. However, their lack of confidence suggests they’re not getting the results they could be.
Check back later this week when I’ll share more results from the Web.com Small Business Digital Trends report.
