A survey sought to understand the challenges that small
business owners face marketing their businesses online.
Revealing highlights of the survey include:
"These survey results validate what we see every day at Homestead with prospective customers. Small business owners are intimidated by web technologies, but need it today more than ever in order to stay competitive. In fact, we created Homestead in order to level the online playing field for small businesses by giving them a professional, cost-effective web presence that they can manage themselves." said Justin Kitch, Homestead founder and CEO. "Our message to these small businesses is that creating a successful online presence is well within their reach and it's critical that they establish a strong, effective web presence in an increasingly online business environment."
Homestead Technologies conducted the survey by distributing a voluntary, anonymous online questionnaire to approximately 800 ASBDC counselors registered to attend the 26th Annual ASBDC Conference in Houston, Texas, September 12-15, 2006. The survey asked the 185 respondents 13 questions related to the online marketing experiences of their diverse, small business clients located throughout the United States.
"ASBDC assists over a million small business owners every year with business counseling, training and business management information; and as business is conducted to a greater extent online, it's important that we continue to educate and counsel them on how to utilize the Internet and their websites in order to grow their businesses," said Don Wilson, President of the Association of Small Business Development Centers. "Local businesses no longer have to sell their products and services locally, and the ability to expand into other markets will help ensure a greater opportunity for success for many small business owners."
Almost half of the respondents (45%) ranked having a website as "very important" while (22%) stated that it was "extremely important"
A large percentage of respondents (66%) cited the cost of hiring a web designer or webmaster as a key barrier to owning a website. Among those who responded to the question, other key barriers included: Lack of technical knowledge (59%), finding and retaining a qualified web designer (43%), and the hassle and cost of retaining a web designer to manage and make updates to their sites (40%).
65% stated that their clients believed that larger-sized businesses had more resources and knowledge than they about how to better market their businesses online, yet almost half (46%) felt that having a website would help them effectively compete against larger-sized businesses.
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