A digital dilemma
Many small businesses in the UK still have no online presence. About 60% of small businesses with five or less people don’t have a company website and of those only 12% have a social media presence. Unfortunately, not having an online presence in the digital era could seriously be affecting the success and profitability of many of these companies.
Relying on word-of-mouth to drum up business is only going to be effective for a certain amount of time and chances are you are not going to reach much further afield than your local geographical area. That’s ok if you want to stay small but if you want to expand then you’ll need to broaden your horizons. It seems that we just take it for granted that everyone is online these days but that just isn’t the case and surprisingly the figures are roughly the same for other countries too, including the U.S, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, India and Turkey.
Reasons for struggling to get an online presence include believing that they are too small to cope with increased demand. Many businesses surveyed also said that they lacked the technical knowledge to create a professional website, with others stating that they didn’t think they could afford one. For a range of website solutions, consider Web Design Peterborough and visit www.routetoweb.co.uk. These figures might seem surprising but many of these businesses only have one sole trader. However, a website remains a crucial aspect of how companies operate today.
Simply put, being on the web makes business so much easier to find. Businesses surveyed that have websites, overwhelmingly stated that their online presence gave them a competitive edge over businesses with no website. Don’t be one of those businesses operating under an immediate disadvantage when finding a professional website package is so simple.
A website is the essential core of an online presence and digital marketing plan. It acts as a way to introduce your business, describes your services and products and offers information to anyone, anywhere at anytime with an internet connection. What will work best for you depends on the needs of your business. You may want a website solely to enable customers to find you easily. You might want to create an online following which creates leads and conversions to sales. Other small businesses want a complete package and rely on digital strategies to completely run the business.
Alongside a website, it is advisable to have a site that is responsive in that it can be viewed on mobile phones and tablets. People want to be able to access information wherever they are and they’re not always going to sat at a desktop. 31% of small companies that did have a website, did not have responsive features. The time for adapting is nigh as Google will be favouring websites that are mobile friendly and your’s isn’t then it will not do as well in internet searches and will affect your rankings.
