Recent research findings released by MYOB indicate that only 35% of Australian small businesses have a website. Do you fall into this category?

I have to admit this statistics took me by surprise. I guess by being so involved in online marketing, I assumed that a lot more businesses had a website to promote to potential and existing customers.

There is good news for businesses that do have a website: 30% reported their revenue had increased in the past 12 months, compared with 23% of businesses without a website. Also, you will face less competition (than I anticipated) when marketing your site on Google and other online areas.

The MYOB Business Monitor report also produced the following insights:

• Businesses established for more than 10 years are less likely to have a website (25%) than maturing (32%) or new (36%) businesses.
• Businesses in manufacturing and wholesale are most likely to have a website (49%), followed by finance and insurance / retail and hospitality (45%) and business, professional and property (37%).
• Businesses in agriculture, forestry and fishing (19%) and in construction and trades (23%) are least likely to have a website.
• Over half (57%) of business owners agree with the statement ‘the Internet is a critical channel for marketing and promoting our business’.
• Nearly half (44%) of businesses agree that they would sell more and get more work if they used the internet better for marketing.
• Nearly a quarter (24%) of businesses monitor competitive activity on the Internet.

If you wish read MYOB Business Monitor report in its entirety, a PDF can be downloaded here.

While this study was conducted on Australian small businesses, I expect that the results would be very similar for USA, Canada and the UK.

MYOB CEO, Tim Reed sums up the situation:

We’re witnessing a major shift in Australian buyer behaviour from in-store tyre kicking to savvy online bargain hunters. The market is changing and we encourage business owners to act to make the most of the new conditions, because their competitors are no longer just in their local area.

So, if you don’t have a website, then what are you waiting for? It’s time to find yourself a web developer and get cracking.