Web Synergy of the Upstate Releases Annual Study Of Small Business Online Marketing Trends

Earlier this week, online marketing firm Web Synergy of the Upstate released their annual study of small business online marketing trends and found that less than 3% of struggling retailers consider the Internet a viable way to attract new customers. In fact, the survey found a huge divide in marketing approaches between successful and struggling small businesses, which may explain why our mom and pop storefronts on Main Street, USA are steadily disappearing at an alarming rate.

“What I found particularly troubling is that businesses are quick to blame the economy or the weather,” said Keith Koons, the CEO of Web Synergy of the Upstate. “However, when you see a business in the same industry just two blocks away that’s up 8-15% on the year, it’s pretty clear that the economy is not the problem.”

For example, Koons pointed out that for the small businesses that experienced growth in the first quarter of 2015, 84% of them are implementing different forms of website optimization and online marketing as part of their overall strategy. For those struggling to make ends meet, billboard, print advertising and good old fashioned word of mouth were the main source of leads, with only 10% of that group even mentioning their online presence at all.

Additionally, over 70% of all small businesses surveyed admitted to not spending a single penny on maintaining their online image. This neglect essentially made those businesses become invisible to tech-savvy consumers that rely on mobile searches to find stores to frequent.

“For the past 16 years, I’ve made the best pizza in town,” said Michael Packett, the long-time owner of Dino’s Pizza and Retro Cinema in Forest City, North Carolina. “I finally closed my restaurant earlier this year because sales just kept declining. Honestly, I had never even thought that people were ordering pizzas straight from smartphones these days.”

Koons explained that Packett’s experiences were all too common for small business owners working on tight budgets and with a limited staff. They simply did not have the technical know-how to understand why search optimization is so critical in modern times.

“If you look at the latest statistics from Google, around 8 in 10 local searches on the Internet directly leads to a purchase,” added Koons. “When consumers can’t see that family owned store on their smartphones that has been in business for 50+ years, it never even crosses their minds to shop there.”

What advice did Web Synergy of the Upstate provide for small business owners?

“It all comes down to giving users a great online experience,” replied Koons. “That means providing lots of relevant content, incorporating images and videos, plus giving frequent updates for people to see. The search engines reward the websites that put forth the best efforts, and our local clients that are doing that are seeing huge differences in their daily foot traffic.”

You can view the entire study at- http://www.upstatesynergy.com/death-small-business/