Great Opportunity: 40% of Small to Midsize Businesses Still Not Online
Web host 1&1 released the results of a new study and it shines light on a great opportunity for web developers, designers, and hosts. Here are a few of the more interesting points:
- Only 60% of US small and midsize businesses are online.
The other 40% is just waiting to be tapped. 1&1 defined their size as businesses with fewer then 50 employees. The best census data I can find is from 2004, but it shows a bit over 5 million business in that range at the time. Even with the economy in the tank, the number must still be at least half that. So, call it 2.5 million businesses. 40% of them are still not online, leaving a cool million potential clients out there. Get selling, folks.
- 37% of the business with presences used an professional web designer.
If that statistic holds, that is 370,000 more potential clients for web designers. That’s several hundred million dollars still on the table waiting for the right designers with the right pitch.
- 83% of those online said their web site was “essential to their company’s success.”
There’s a selling point for you. People who wouldn’t consider running a business without a phone or a checking account are going without a web site. This can only be because they think it is either (a) non-essential or (b) too costly. This data point helps you disarm the former belief.
- The online businesses are spending an average of $45 per month for hosting, while those not online estimate it would cost $67 per month.
The offline businesses are obviously overestimating the cost by almost 50% compare to what their online colleagues are paying. That said, those same colleagues are themselves paying too much. Solid shared hosting — plenty for the vast majority of these businesses — can be had for less than $10 a month. (See my recommended web hosts.) Clearly the marketing guys in the web hosting industry are not doing their jobs very well and are missing out on a lot of scratch as a result.
There is some more stuff hiding in there, including some information about web developers and ongoing maintenance, but the important point is that there is still a vast opening for web developers, designers, and hosts to make money… even in this economy.
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