30

Jun

80% of Americans Use the Internet, but Only 44% of Small Businesses Have Websites

Posted by: Jeremy Reither

by flickr.com/khym54

The vast majority of American customers are online, so why do so few of the businesses that serve them have any internet presence at all? Lots of consumers; relatively little competition among businesses. If that doesn’t spell opportunity for you SMB’s – especially those serving local markets – I don’t know what does.

According to Pew Research, 80% of American adults use the internet, but they’re unable to find most of the small and medium sized businesses (SMB’s) whose products and services they seek – because most of them don’t have a website. What’s funny is that business owners themselves use the internet at an even higher rate than the average American. Earlier this year MediaPost reported that 82% of business owners use search engines, but still relatively few of them actually have their own business website. These business owners – when wearing their consumer hat – clearly see the benefit of the internet, but for whatever reason have decided not to invest in their business’ internet presence…leaving the lion’s share of consumers to their online competitors.

If you’re a small or medium sized business owner, the writing is on the wall. Percentage wise, there are nearly twice as many consumers online as there are businesses serving them. The opportunity for SMB’s to reach new audiences online is too great to ignore – yet somehow some businesses are doing just that.