1 in 2 Small Businesses Fail to Update Their Online Listings, Find Inaccuracies

February 6, 2013

This article is included in these additional categories:

Digital | Local & Directories / Small Biz | Mobile Phone | Search Engine Optimization

ConstantContact-Small-Biz-Online-Search-Feb2013SinglePlatform from Constant Contact has released a new e-book [download page] containing research pertaining to mobile and local search, with some noteworthy results. In particular, while 85% of respondents believe it’s important to be seen on major search, mobile, and directory sites such as Google, Yahoo, Yelp, and Yellow Pages, 49% of small businesses have never updated their online listings, and exactly half have seen listings for their businesses that are not accurate.

That suggests a gap between what small businesses perceive as being important, and the difficulty they’re having leveraging the ways consumers find them. So while 84% believe that having a website that can easily be viewed on a mobile device is important to their business, only one-quarter know how to create a mobile-optimized site.

One of the problems identified by the study relates to a lack of resources. While small businesses understand the increasing importance of being “found” online (and SMBs are spending half of their online marketing service dollars on their web presence), fully 7 in 10 say they just don’t have the time to manage listings on the array of sites being used by consumers these days.

Other Findings:

  • 78% of small businesses believe new customers find them through search engines.
  • Only 23% have a good sense of how listings drive traffic to their business.
  • 62% believe it’s important to be seen on major mobile applications.
  • 85% feel that more consumers will find their business on mobile sites in the future.

About the Data: Participants in the research included 379 SinglePlatform customers with physical “storefronts” for their small business. The research was conducted during December 2012 using an online survey consisting of closed and open-ended questions.

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