Member Article

Business owners work too hard to be invisible

The recovering economy means that businesses are given a chance to breathe; to evaluate where they are and where they want to be, and how they can achieve it. It’s a good time to be thinking about expansion and growth. Having a strong, professional online presence is absolutely crucial to this.

It will probably surprise you to learn then, that only one-in-four small UK businesses – which make up 99.3% of all private enterprises in the UK - are operating without a website, and for those that do have one, only a third are using it for sales.

This is all the more astounding when you consider this in the context of the digital-first world we now live in. Consumers are expected to spend an average of £1,174 online in 2015, up 9.6% on last year. This is supported by the 2012 Internet Matters report by McKinsey, which showed that companies using the Internet with a high-intensity grow twice as a fast as those with low-web-intensity.

So why is there such a hesitance from some business-owners to promote their trade online?

Perhaps some people assume that launching a website requires them to possess experienced technical prowess. Maybe there are so many other things to think about when managing a business that the website gets pushed to the bottom of the to-do list.

Thanks to the recent availability of hundreds of domain name extensions, it’s now possible to give your business an even more customisable domain name. Before starting the process, it’s important to think about how you want your business to be perceived in the long-term. Opting for .LONDON literally puts your business on the map whilst .PHOTOGRAPHY sets expectations about what you provide. Domain names are a good way of implying a professionalism that your business deserves to be recognised for.

The next step is creating your website. At GoDaddy, we are continually working to be there to support this process, so you never feel alone – helping you along the way. Getting started comes in a cost-efficient package equal to just £1 a month with an annual purchase, meaning small businesses have the same opportunity to be as heavily present online as larger enterprises.

Ultimately, being online is a simple way of generating business. Your business – however big or small – should be visible to the world. Opportunities arise from people seeking a service; if they can’t find you, they won’t engage with you. You work too hard for your business to be invisible.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Stefano Maruzzi .