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Study Finds Most ‘Very Small’ Businesses Still Without Websites

GoDaddy recently commissioned RedShift to poll 4,000 “very small” businesses (5 employees or less) hoping to understand how they are using the web. They found that the majority (59%) have ...
Study Finds Most ‘Very Small’ Businesses Still Without Websites
Written by Chris Crum
  • GoDaddy recently commissioned RedShift to poll 4,000 “very small” businesses (5 employees or less) hoping to understand how they are using the web. They found that the majority (59%) have no website, and that this is impacting their ability to grow and market to new customers.

    The study also found that 55% are planning to come online within the next 2 years, and that nearly half of these businesses believe they’ll see growth as a result. GoDaddy says this is in line with what those who have built sites have experienced, adding that 59% of very small businesses with sites say their businesses have grown since coming online.

    The study also found that 48% said they intend to sell goods from their website (ecommerce functionality) within a year of its launch.

    CEO Blake Irving, who recently participated in an interesting reddit AMA about small business initiatives as well as the company’s various past controversies, wrote about the new research in a blog post.

    “Given that there are roughly 200 million VSBs globally, their getting online effectively could have a major impact on small business growth as a percentage of the economy,” he wrote. “However, there are still some notable distinctions about who is ready to take the plunge. Newer small businesses were nearly twice as likely to want a website compared to their older counterparts; firms with at least one employee (vs. sole-proprietors) were further along in their plans.”

    The following infographic is from Irving’s post.

    “While we take for granted that everyone is online, the reality is that for many small businesses it’s simply not true,” Irving said. “What is clear is that these very small businesses are realizing that if they don’t fully engage online, they are at a competitive disadvantage.”

    The full study is 32 pages, so if you’re a “very small” business, you might want to grab some coffee and get comfortable. Find it here.

    Images via GoDaddy

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