In Newtek Business Services announced the findings of its SB Authority Market Sentiment Survey, a monthly window into the concerns of independent business owners. Based on a poll of approximately 1,200 respondents, one of the key findings from Aprils survey was small business owners apparent lack of e-Commerce initiatives. The low percentage of clients taking payments online 20-25% suggests that many business owners do not know that the site can be a useful tool for selling merchandise as well as collecting receivables and payments for service.
The companys report concluded this number would increase over time as businesses become more comfortable doing most of their business functions or applications online. Factors included businesses having a site that is out-of-date and was created years ago, clients not knowing where to go or how to make changes to their web site, their business and markets have changed, requiring a facelift and a dynamic updating process, the site was written in language that is out-of-date and that search engine optimization and search engine marketing was not a real science or art when the site was created.
E-Commerce is such a major part of the U.S. economy today, commented Barry Sloane, President and CEO of The Small Business Authority. Its important that small to medium sized business owners use the tools that are available to them to compete with big business. The internet has been the great equalizer in the market, with companies like Google and Facebook enjoying some of the largest market capitalizations of all U.S. companies today. They exist because of the Internet/e-Commerce and are recently established companies, unlike JP Morgan, 3M or GE, which required centuries to reach their current size. Small businesses have the opportunity to compete today if they embrace technology and the Internet, he added.
15% of respondents did not even have a Web site for their business, and for those that did have one, 65% did not take payments via the site. Only 21% of survey respondents use a tool that can track traffic patterns on their Web site, and 55% of respondents said they no longer work with the original creator of their site.
Our last key question, reflecting upon the use of website monitoring tools, was both surprising but exciting for us as a company. We believed that very few business owners actually use their website to monitor relevant traffic patterns that drive customers and sales to their business. What are the peak hours of traffic to your website? How long do visitors stay? How many unique visitors come? Why do visitors leave the website? Why is no call to action completed from visitors? Sloane said. This area of work needs to be better developed with our clients and for our clients, he added.
Source: eWeek
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