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Do Most Small Companies Need A Notable Internet Presence?
It seems odd, that in today’s competitive business environment where the importance of Online Marketing is widely seen as being a fundamental strategy to the success and growth of business in general, there are still many small companies who choose not to have an online presence.
Recent studies conducted in the US by Barlow Research, shows out of the 680 small companies surveyed, 51% presently have no website, with 38% of these not planning to have a web presence for at least the next twelve months. For those small businesses that do have websites, several of them will be poorly optimised and so, would receive a low Search Engine Placement result from a search engine such as Google. undoubtedly this can have a huge impact on business and it’s thought that up to 70% of UK web based companies, whichuse non optimised website’s fail within their first 3 years. This is to say, the sites are no longer live on the web.
Now I’m not saying for a moment, that it’s essential for every small business to have a well maintained website, which is correctly optimised for high Search Engine Placement. For this, the services of a decent search Search Engine Optimization Company is rneeded and although this can produce huge returns in the form of increased high quality traffic, the decision to employ these services must be judged on the size and nature of the business in question. What must also be taken into account is whether the possible increase in profits from higher traffic conversion, will justify the ongoing costs involved in utilising such a service long term. A company with a yearly return of £50,000 will no doubt have a much tighter expense budget and probably gain less benefit from a strong Online Marketing strategy, than say a business which grosses two million a year. The interesting point here is, both of these companies can be regarded as small businesses, yet for for one of them at least, the services of a Search Engine Optimization Company is definitely viable. Never let it be said, it’s not worth the expense for small companies to go down the professional optimisation route. It just depends on how the phrase small business is defined.
The sort of business is also imperative. Take for example, a local plumber who works largely through referrals from builders and has a handful of established commercial accounts. The lack of any Online Marketing may not be particularly damaging to his business or harmful to how his customers are served. In contrast, a small family company that sells luxury confectionery and only has a few retail out lets, will greatly limit public access to its goods and so damaging its sales potential, if it’s without a well performing website. If the site’s been correctly optimised, the business is likely to get a lot more trade from internet orders, through searches on Google or other search engines, than that of word of mouth or any kind of traditional advertising, a company of this size could realistically afford to take on.
Google is undeniably the king of search engines and has permanently altered and continues to change the landscape of the internet. In order to stay competitive, many owners of small businesses will no doubt feel they have little choice but to develop their own websites and make sure they stay well optimised. As for those companies who up until now, have been comfortably getting by without employing Online Marketing, many may find the business climate of the not too distant future, less sympathetic to their current marketing strategy.
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