…and half believe they’ve lost business as a result.
.Co released some new research this morning regarding small businesses and domain names.
The research was carried out by Wakefield Research and asked questions about domain names to companies with 100 or fewer employees. Here are some of the interesting take-aways:
– 45% of small business owners don’t have a website or blog for their company. (That spells opportunity, my friends.)
– 49% of those with a site or blog are not completely satisfied with their domain name
– 55% of the small businesses with a site or blog believe they have lost business as a result of not getting their first choice of domain
– 52% would change their domain name if they had the opportunity to
– 63% of small business owners fail to consider the top level domain when selecting a second level domain
– 29% of small business owners says they don’t know what a “domain extension” is, and about 2 in 5 of those that say they know are actually incorrect. (If they asked about “top level domains”, I assume the number that would know what they are would be much lower.)
– 63% fail to consider the length when choosing a domain
– 57% said choosing a domain for their business was harder than naming their baby
Here’s the results presentation.
Sam says
45% of small business owners don’t have a website or blog for their company. (That spells opportunity, my friends.)
This still shocks me this is the case in the UK people still dont have a domain or website but all the new companys coming along are buying the best premium domains 😉
Jp says
Would change their domain if they had an opportunity to? I don’t get that part. You can do that for $12.99 at GoDaddy at any time right?
1809 says
In almost 20 years now that the Net has been used a lot by the public, they still don’t get it.
It goes to show that in 20 more years it will still be a big problem.
Rick may need to extend his 20 year plan to 60 years.
Joe says
Really interesting article, Andrew. Thanks for sharing.
todd says
Not sure how much you can really take away from this study because the study is 100 employees or less which means the study is skewed before it even starts. How can a company with 80 employees be polled the same as a company with 2 employees.
– 45% of small business owners don’t have a website or blog for their company. (That spells opportunity, my friends.)
I could understand that 45% of business owners with 5 employees or less maybe don’t have a website but there is no way that companies above 20,25,30 employees don’t have a website. No way. I would like to see the exact amount of employees per company of the 100 polled.
– 29% of small business owners says they don’t know what a “domain extension” is, and about 2 in 5 of those that say they know are actually incorrect.
So what they are saying is the owner of a company with lets say 45 employees doesn’t know what a domain extension is? BS. I could believe that from a company with 2 employees.
Grouping a company that has 1 employee equal with one that has 99 employees is ridiculous. The poll is fucked before it even starts.
J says
Majority of people do not really understand the difference between email address and website address. People will never understand what domain extension is. That alone dooms new tlds. People can remember name.com because they don’t have to remember .com part. As soon as you show people name.something, you may as well be showing people Chinese characters.
DR.DOMAIN says
@ JP:
I think that translates to: “I would trade the current domain that the idiot webby & my (then) unenlightened self chose…if the one that I now know I want/need was’nt already taken.”
++++++++++++++++++++++++
Most of my domains are about local business.I’m often pitching people face to face about why my simpler/specific domain beats the daylights out of “joesplumbingelectricalhvac.com”
…or nothing at all. Even now-it’s just a tough slog.People either don’t think they need it…or they know they need it and think I’m robbing them.
Adam says
Call me a heretic but I’ll stand up and say that there are a ton of businesses in that 45% that don’t need a website.
Also I wonder how many they polled really knew what a domain name was in the first place. Most novices I talk to think a domain name = a website.
Joe says
@J
“People can remember name.com because they don’t have to remember .com part. As soon as you show people name.something, you may as well be showing people Chinese characters.”
Perfectly agree with that. People are lazy and that’s why .com is the gold standard: it’s the default extension that nobody has to remember and even browsers autocomplete urls by adding .com.
Marg says
In total agreement with #7, Dr.Domain.I have domains that are in some cases are the exact match (generic or brandable) to a new local business name. Even with modest $750 prices, you can hear the squeals of protect clear across the province. In some instances I’ve pointed out that the cost of that local newspaper ad they’re planning as a business announcement exceeds the cost of this exact match dot com. No dice and they go with a crappy long tail or hyphenated domain, or a dot net. Aargh….