There is a trend that Canadian businesses have a poor online presence compared with other western countries. The Business Development Bank of Canada points out that as of 2017 half of Canadian small business don’t have a website. It is pretty surprising in today’s world that a registered small business not have a website. According to BDC business owners don’t see the benefit and think it is a expensive time consuming endeavour. The actual data usually points to a more efficient workforce when more technology is adopted.
Businesses have precedent for this bleak notion as it really used to be this way. Most business owners know someone or experienced themselves the unexpected costs and hassles of building an online presence. Often they didn’t feel the benefits of having the website and would advise others not to. This is especially true 10 – 20 years ago. The question is why are Canadians slow to adopt an online presence?
The very nature of technology is very hype-laden and over promising. This makes people misunderstand the purpose and value of a new technology. Then let marketers use this to short sell the public on a grand scale. Canadians experienced enough cycles of this to be rightly sceptical.
The right approach
- Be aware of the different types of online presence available. Having a website doesn’t mean you are doing eCommerce and competing with Amazon.
- Have your own understanding as much as possible of what you need and what it should cost.
- Decide if its worth it to attempt to use your online presence to bolster your marketing strategy.
- Make sure it follows the correct web standards.
What can you do?
Search3w helped position many Canadian firms on the map with great sales by applying “right approach”. Just call us!
Resources
https://www.w3.org/WAI/GL/WCAG20/