A new report by eMarketer has revealed that as of September 2015 only 33 percent of those small and medium-size businesses (SMBs) surveyed had a mobile-optimized website in place. However, this is up from a year ago, when in 2014 only 26 percent of SMBs had a site optimized for mobile devices, which demonstrates that the trend is still moving toward mobile.

In addition, according to an April 2015 survey by Capital One Spark Business, just 6 percent of U.S. small businesses had invested in mobile for marketing. A March 2015 survey by Endurance International Group found that while SMBs agreed that mobile was important for increasing sales, boosting customer engagement, and staying competitive in today’s market, they had a long way to go in actually implementing mobile solutions. In this particular survey, over 50 percent indicated that they had no mobile presence at all, and of those who did, their biggest challenges to building and implementing an effective mobile strategy were time and resources.

Interestingly, recent research indicates that even non-optimized websites aren’t a given among SMBs. According to research conducted by RBC Capital Markets in September 2015, only 64 percent of SMBs in the United States had a professional website in place for their business, with another 10 percent indicating that there were plans to create one. (In 2014, 60 percent of SMBs reported having a site, with 17 percent having plans to create one). Updating the business website and keeping it current were cited as key challenges as well. In the same RBC Capital Markets survey, they found:

How Frequently U.S. SMBs Update Their Websites

  • Daily: only 3 percent of respondents
  • More Than Once a Week but Not Daily: 7 percent of respondents
  • Weekly/Biweekly: 11 percent of respondents
  • Every 2 to 4 Weeks: 12 percent of respondents
  • Every 1 to 3 Months: 17 percent of respondents
  • Every 3 to 6 Months: 14 percent of respondents
  • Every 7 Months to 1 Year: 14 percent of respondents
  • Once per Year or Longer: 21 percent

From all this data, it is clear that for today’s SMBs, establishing and maintaining an up-to-date digital presence continues to be a challenge.

Reference:

Barton, J. “SMBs Getting More Mobile, But Only 33 Percent Have Mobile-Optimized Website.” Mobile Marketing Watch. 9/24/15.

eMarketer. “SMBs Get More Mobile: One in Three Have a Mobile-Optimized Website.” 9/22/15.