Local Trade SMBs are Launching Web Sites
November 5th, 2008 • Related • Filed Under
Locally-owned small and medium-size businesses (SMBs) may be the last large group of holdouts when it comes to having a Web site. This has been especially true for trades businesses such as plumbers and carpenters. A Kelsey Group study finds that only about 1/3 of these businesses currently have Web sites. However, that number is expected to increase to 60% within the next two years. A local trade business may decide to launch a Web site as a result of the following trends:
- Online marketing tactics can reach consumers who are spending time online
- Consumers are researching more products and services and related reviews online
- The slowdown in spending has increased competition for contractors who provide home improvement and repair services
- Online marketing may be less expensive and more efficient than traditional marketing
Share these trends with your local Web services businesses and suggest that they target SMBs, especially trade businesses, in the next B to B campaign that you design for them.
[Source: Kelsey Group release, 10.28.2008]
Comment by Olga Gikas on 6 November 2008:
More and more small and medium-sized businesses are seeing the value of online marketing for the reasons the Kelsey study outlined. At Web.com, our customers are interested in the search engine marketing, search engine optimization, lead generation and merchant processing solutions we offer, in addition to website design. With more than half of all people making their purchasing decisions online these days, and given the challenges of the current economy, they want every advantage to succeed and improve sales. Specifically, we’ve seen a strong response from home and trade services businesses following the recent announcement of our partnership with Bob Vila to match home owners with local contractors (www.BobVilaContractors.com).