As recently as a few years ago, there was likely still a significant portion of small business owners who thought that the internet wasn’t necessarily crucial to their ongoing success, but that number seems to finally be dwindling. The latest data shows that many entrepreneurs now fully recognize not only the value of having a website, but also just how much search engines can help them succeed.
Today, 50 percent of all small business owners say that they think web traffic driven to their sites by search engines presents them with a strong chance to build their business, compared to slightly more than 1 in 3 who say that this is not the case, according to the latest Market Sentiment Survey from the Small Business Authority. Another 14 percent said that they were not sure whether this kind of traffic was positive.
Likewise, 41 percent of owners said that they’d made sure their companies’ sites were optimized to make sure they are drawing as much search engine traffic as possible, representing the single largest share of entrepreneurs polled, the report said. However, at the same time it should be noted that this number was not appreciably higher than the 36 percent who knew definitively that it was not, and another 23 percent were unsure of this fact as well.
“The market for independent business owners is one where every dollar counts,” said Barry Sloane, the chairman, president and CEO of The Small Business Authority. “An underutilized or underperforming website is simply unacceptable for most business owners today. Costs are rising and sales are hard to come by but technology is one key tool that can save a business in a tough environment.”
What can be done?
Sloane further advised that owners invest in this kind of technology going forward as a means of making sure their websites are as attractive as possible, both for search engines and prospective customers or clients, the report said. The more that can be done to draw eyes to a company’s site, the more likely that site will be to convert visitors into revenue.
Owners who want to devote more funds to this kind of effort might want to consider the ways in which cutting other costs can help. For instance, finding more affordable small business insurance – including commercial insurance policies – could free up potentially large sums that could then be devoted to other aspects of the company.
