How do we get more small businesses to have their own website?
Yesterday I dropped off some of my wife’s shoes at a shoe repair store in Austin. I also brought a pair of my shoes to get new laces and shined.
While the cobbler worked on my shoes, I noticed that the shelves were overrun with both completed and work-in-progress shoes. I pointed out that business appears to be good.
He responded that yes, business is good.
This is surprising for a dying trade.
Shoe repair is dying because shoes are different now than they used to be. They are made cheaply. This means they can’t be repaired or it’s not worth repairing them; just buy another pair. Also, people wear dress shoes less often than before.
The shoe stores that remain benefit from less competition. But this shoe store, in particular, has another thing going for it:
“The internet has been very good to us,” the clerk (and store owner’s son) told me.
That’s not surprising. My wife first found this store by searching Yelp. The company has glowing reviews.
Yet when I searched for the company online today, I noticed that it doesn’t have a website. It has great reviews on aggregator sites but it doesn’t own its web presence. Having a website would give the company another opportunity to show up for common shoe repair search terms.
So how do we get the oldest-of-old businesses to get their own domain name and create a website? It’s a big question that companies have been trying to solve.
One way is to make the process easier. Website developers like Wix, Weebly and Squarespace aim for this market. GoDaddy’s GoCentral is perhaps the simplest of all.
But a big part of it is education. Many business owners in competitive businesses will tell you they have been screwed by the platforms. Yelp pushing competitors on their own listings and Facebook charging to show up in front of your fans.
Directories and social media platforms play a role in business and cannot be overlooked. At the same time, we need to evangelize the importance of having your own domain name and own website; something that won’t be taken away at the whims of a platform’s business model.
Brent Alan Brashear says
As social media platforms come and go, the “rock” is your own web domain. Come and go with the rest, or be a rock and weather the trends and storms. – AlanBuilt
Big World says
Absolutely. The promise of the Internet is that everyone will have their own place or platform to conduct business, espouse their views, etc, using their own domain name. The easier it is for the average person to start and operate a website on their own, the less importance the Facebooks of the world will have. When people can set up shop easily and quickly and see that they can do loads of business from that website, the barrier to entry comes down and buying domain names for these enterprises makes a lot more sense. That is how it was in the beginning before Facebook, Google and Amazon sucked up so much of the Internet.
Maggie says
A great exception to your comments about cobblers and (lack of) websites is Bedo’s Leather Works of Falls Church VA, (online at BedosLeather.com). Mr Bedo not only does awesome repairs but he has a YouTube channel showing many of his projects. His videos garner huge viewing numbers and I too confess to relaxing late night viewing watching new stitching on a vintage Goodyear welted shoe…
Mike says
Why would you repair old shoes?
Alan Built says
Global Warming.
Alan Built says
Or in other words, we need to stop thowing so much stuff away and get back to building quality products that can be maintained/repaired and not pollute.
Shane Cultra says
Believe it or not there are many businesses that do so well by word of mouth they actually don’t want to add more. And they certainly don’t want to go through the expense of building out a website, answering questions online, and the entire process. They do a good job, their customers tell their friends and the work comes in at a rate they can barely keep up. Not everyone wants to get bigger. Domain and Internet people can’t understand why anyone wouldn’t want to scale a successful business
Ivan R says
Great observation. Things are partly becoming more regional. You want to source local food, or give your business to a local person in your community. This is a real movement in the developed, rich countries. For others, it’s a quality of life issue where they are comfortable and may not want more to do.
There is an inherent industry risk here where people feel they are so over-connected that they may instead wish to unplug, instead of plug in. Ebbs and flows of society and commerce.
Andrew Allemann says
That’s a fair point. This shop will always be a family-run business. That said, if they depend on the internet for much of their business and are thankful for the internet because of this, I’d think they want every advantage they can get.
Big World says
So, we are arguing against the Internet and domain names then?
Alan Built says
If they have enough business and don’t want to expand they probably don’t want to chage anything but they should understand that if they don’t keep up on social media trends to hold on to the business levels they currently have, they will have wished to consolidate their business communications on their own web domain.
Big World says
Some businesses are local and want to stay small. Companies of one, as that book calls them. Others want to be global and grow big. Growth is not right for every business, but for many businesses that want to grow bigger, the Internet helps you tap that huge market beyond your local zip code. If as a business-owner you are prepared for more business and want it, then the Internet – and, specifically, a domain name – is a very fruitful way to build your sales and visibility.
Joshua Davis says
Even if you are the smallest of businesses and want to remain small you should still own your .com. It costs $12 a year or less and most platforms you can get a very nice one page website. Whole process can be done in less than 1 hour. No excuses.