25% of SMBs have no website

In their survey of more than 350 small business owners and managers across the U.S., Clutch discovered that more than 25% still do not have a website. Furthermore, 10% said they are unlikely to implement a website in the foreseeable future.

Even among those small businesses that do have a website, only 56% have implemented responsive design that is mobile friendly - despite Google's upcoming changes that will see those businesses without mobile friendly websites penalized in search results.

According to Andrew Ruditser, co-founder of web design company Maxburst, a small business must have a website if it is to be competitive and implement an effective marketing strategy. This is reflected in Clutch's research which found just 53% have a social media strategy, less than half work on search engine optimization and just 25% are actively advertising online.

"Digital marketing campaigns are often a lot less expensive than other types of campaigns," says Ted Risdall, chairman and CEO of Risdall Marketing Group, who believes small businesses are missing out on growing their authority online. "I think that it actually lowers the entry point for a lot of clients that want to start doing something meaningful. That first something meaningful is having that store front online and being there when people are searching for the kinds of things you do. We can serve a lot of smaller budget clients than ever before because of digital marketing."

Image via Shutterstock

Tags: research, small business, U.S., website trends