• Survey
  • Book Becky to speak
  • The book: Small Town Rules
  • Shop Local video
  • SaveYour.Town

Small Biz Survival

The small town and rural business resource

A row of small town shops
  • Front Page
  • Latest stories
  • About
  • Guided Tour
  • Subscribe
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact
  • RSS

Solving the small business website problem

By Becky McCray

Lots of small businesses don’t have a website. And lots of small towns are the same: website-less, even in this age of online and connected consumers. Sounds like a great big business opportunity, but don’t be too hasty. Let me explain why I think it’s a quagmire instead.

Website choices

Each time I say small businesses, know that this applies to small towns and tourism sites, as well.

Small businesses without websites either want one or don’t want one. Let’s leave out the ones who don’t want a website, because you don’t want to be in the business of convincing people that they are wrong. That’s a long hard road. Better to focus on the ones who get it, and are ready and able to act. (“Our job is not to configure customers, it is to configure our business to serve customers.” —Liz Struass)

The small businesses who want a website have all levels of motivation. Some are eager, actively seeking and comparing solutions. Most are only somewhat interested: they know they need one, but they are passive. Until they hit something that hurts in their business, they will let it lie.

Small businesses are inundated with different potential website and web presence solutions. Solicitations arrive in the mail and by phone every day to bricks and mortar businesses. Ads on TV promote small business sites by big companies including Intuit and GoDaddy. Dozens, and probably hundreds, of do-it-yourself website solutions are already online.

Well-meaning friends, consultants, and other business owners give all sorts of advice.

“You want WordPress.”
“The kids at the tech center make great sites.”
“Just get a Facebook page.”
“A decent website costs $10,000.”

Small business owners are also overwhelmed with the number of listings and databases they are urged to spend time maintaining. Google Local, Facebook Places, dozens of online yellow pages and directories, emerging location based services like Foursquare, all compete for attention and maintenance. Small town tourism groups face just as many listings and databases to maintain, plus being responsible for keeping business data up to date. This is a hell of a lot of competition for the limited attention small business owners can afford to give their web presence.

And yet every month or every week, I see another business built on the idea of solving the small business website problem. Sometimes it’s a special web design plus hosting package, or a new portal for small towns, or another business listing service.

If you want to wade in to the small business or small town website problem, narrow up your damn niche. “Small businesses” is not a niche. “Small towns” is not a niche. Pick a geographic area. Select an industry or a field of business. Focus on the businesses that you know and can serve best. Actively seek out the people who are eager for a solution. (“The narrower your niche, the wider your opportunity.” –Becky McCray)

Stop dreaming about all the small businesses or small towns out there. Start listening to the limited group of your target market. Once you select a geographic area, an industry or field, and then focus on the ones ready and able to act with a strong sense of need, then you have a strong niche to work on. That way, you can be the right person, at the right place, with the right solution, at the right time. And that is a great place to be.

New to SmallBizSurvival.com? Take the Guided Tour. Like what you see? Get our updates.

  • About the Author
  • Latest Posts

About Becky McCray

Becky started Small Biz Survival in 2006 to share rural business and community building stories and ideas with other small town business people. She and her husband have a small cattle ranch and are lifelong entrepreneurs. Becky is an international speaker on small business and rural topics.
  • Zoom Towns: attracting and supporting remote workers in rural small towns - December 10, 2020
  • In an economic crisis, spend your brainpower before your dollars - November 25, 2020
  • Video: How to fill empty car dealership buildings for the holidays - November 6, 2020
  • How has 2020 changed the challenges rural small towns face? Tell us here - October 20, 2020
  • The Idea Friendly Method to surviving a business crisis - October 6, 2020
  • Join me for the Rural Renewal Symposium online Oct 13 - September 26, 2020
  • Cheap placemaking idea: instant murals - September 11, 2020
  • Refilling the rural business pipeline - July 7, 2020
  • Huge vacant buildings: grants to renovate? - June 9, 2020
  • Economic self defense for small towns  - June 7, 2020

November 28, 2010 Filed Under: entrepreneurship, marketing

Wondering what is and is not allowed in the comments?
Or how to get a nifty photo beside your name?
Check our commenting policy.
Use your real name, not a business name.


Don't see the comment form?
Comments are automatically closed on older posts, but you can send me your comment via this contact form and I'll add it manually for you. Thanks!

Comments

  1. Andy Hayes | Travel Online Partners says

    November 28, 2010 at 7:40 pm

    I love it when you rant :-)

    I’m not sure why, but the phrase “websites are like free kittens, not free beer” popped in to mind, paraphrasing our good friend Sheila.

    I get a lot of people who think that a website (or a new website), will solve all their problems. But when you ask folks what their website is for, nobody seems to have an answer.

    If you’re having trouble getting customers, that’s a problem with YOUR MARKETING, not with a website (or lack thereof).

    I also love “Small Business is not a niche.” Bingo. Can someone please tell the tech startup world this?

  2. Becky McCray says

    November 28, 2010 at 8:08 pm

    Andy, that may be my next rant: what is your small business website FOR?

  3. Denise O'Berry says

    November 28, 2010 at 9:03 pm

    Well said Becky. I’ll add that if you are narrowing a niche, you need to include size. Since the SBA considers businesses with up to 500 employees to be “small” that can include a whole universe of companies, so people should get more specific when defining the niche. And while we’re at it, could we please stop calling them SMBs. I hate that. :)

  4. Becky McCray says

    November 28, 2010 at 9:07 pm

    Denise, you’re absolutely right about size. You can define your niche by sales, by employees, or any other measure of size that works for you.

    SMBs, and my other favorite is SMEs. Let’s kill that term, too.

  5. Shaleen Shah says

    November 30, 2010 at 11:46 am

    You know what’s sad about small businesses wanting to have a website? They don’t understand that having an online presence is more than just a domain name and a cool-looking site. Then, they will start complaining about how much it really costs to have an online presence that engages their target audience out there. I guess, I’m ranting too.

  6. Becky McCray says

    November 30, 2010 at 1:39 pm

    Shaleen, here’s my experience: when you find an appropriately narrow niche, these complaints about price dry up. That’s because you are dealing only with the select few who are highly motivated, eager even, to have exactly what you offer. Until then, continue to narrow down your niche. It may help to read some examples from the photography business about selecting a niche. Check the comments, too, for the underwater wedding photography example.

  7. Lance Cummins says

    January 12, 2011 at 3:44 pm

    Becky,
    Thank you for your work at helping small businesses and towns connect with technology in a useful way. I have just recently moved to the South Shore of Boston, in Rockland, Massachusetts, and I have been thinking some of these same thoughts about this area.

    So, when I started my business, NearlyFreeLance.com, I decided to just focus on helping those small businesses in the small towns across the South Shore by basically becoming a partner with them in marketing themselves in all outlets. I have really been pleasantly surprised with the response so far.

    Keep up the great blogging!

  8. Becky McCray says

    January 12, 2011 at 6:35 pm

    Lance, glad to hear you’ve selected a narrow niche and that it is working for you.

Trackbacks

  1. What is your website for? says:
    March 21, 2013 at 10:56 pm

    […] week Becky ranted about the classic small business website problem. She highlighted the number of options and opportunities for small businesses to get a website […]

  2. Blogger blogs still work for small business says:
    June 19, 2014 at 8:24 am

    […] talked about the small business website problem before. I think many more small businesses would benefit from having their own web presence, even […]

Howdy!

Glad you dropped in to the rural and small town business blog, established in 2006.

We want you to feel at home, so please take our guided tour.

Meet our authors on the About page.

Have something to say? You can give us a holler on the contact form.

If you would like permission to re-use an article you've read here, please make a Reprint Request.

Want to search our past articles? Catch up with the latest stories? Browse through the categories? All the good stuff is on the Front Page.

Shop Local

Buy local buttonReady to set up a shop local campaign in your small town? You'll need a guide who understands how we're different and what really works: Shop Local Campaigns for Small Towns.

Best of Small Biz Survival

What is holding us back? Why does every project take so long in small towns?

How any business can be part of downtown events by going mobile

Concert-goers talking and enjoying the evening in downtown Webster City, Iowa.

Why do people say there’s nothing to do here then not come to our concerts?

Retailers: Fill all empty space, floor to ceiling

More of the best of Small Biz Survival

Copyright © 2021 Becky McCray
Front Page · Log in