Sean-Ward.com

I fell behind with reading some of the non-personal blogs (instead of those of people I know), and had to comment.

Scott Karp, on Publishing 2.0, commented on this post on SearchEngineWatch, and said:

the Office Live team tells me that 45% of small businesses don’t have a Web site at all.Congrats to Google for trying to do something to bring more people onto the Web.

Do these businesses have running water, a phone line, or electricity? If you’re a business without a website in 2006, how likely is it because you couldn’t find a reasonably easy and cheap way to make a website?

I couldn’t agree more with his comment about the percentages. Day in, day out, I hear commercials on the TV for AOL and Time Warner about cable connections, etc, and sometimes I even hear about Time Warner business class, and I’m not even a business. Then there are the Spring/Nextel and VerizonWireless commercials about expanding their networks for both personal and business connectivity. I’m sure that some of this has to be sinking in with business owners. They have to have a child, niece, nephew, neighborhood or friend-of-the-family kid would they talk to about making a website. Or contact the local high school or college; there has to be someone there who could help.

With all due respect, I’m sure there are many good reasons why some businesses don’t have websites, but I’m very skeptical that the absence of Google Web Page Creator is one of them.

I agree with that comment as well, especially the end. I cannot fathom a reason why a small business would not have a website. Small businesses are, or so I thought, started by people who have a desire to do things that others have done, but better, or create a product that they think there is a need for. If they’re willing to do something that other people won’t, they have to be thinking differently. I would thus imagine that they would be willing to not just consider making a website, but to entertain the idea a bit more and get one made. But what do I know, right? I’m just a 26 year old working in the technology field on a college campus in the Midwest.

That’s probably it right there: 20-something in a tech job at a university. My view about what should be is part of the minority. As Scott Karp has mentioned on some of his posts before, people who use the Internet and World Wide Web every day for both work and pleasure are part of minority. Sure, there are a lot of people using the Internet/www (I’m going with Interweb for the rest of this post), but many are just casual users, people who check their e-mail, stocks, and weather, look at pictures, and then continue on their way. I use the Interweb a lot, after all, when I come to work, I:

• check blogs (again, both personal and non-personal types)
• read webcomics
• occasionally check the news
• read e-mail
• look stuff up on-line
• open GAIM so I can see who’s on my AIM, MSN, and Yahoo! buddy lists

With the exception of webcomics, the items listed are for both personal and work reasons. Even webcomics are useful, in that a handful deal with Interweb related things, typically recreational things, such as video games and current events. When I’m in the office, the Interweb is right there.

I decided to check the Grounds For Thought website to see what it looked like. Not too bad, but it’s been that way for a while now. So, I sent the following feedback:

In regards to the website, I’ve checked back every now and then and noticed that it really hasn’t been changing that often; that it has not been updated. I’m thinking that completely redoing the site would be a bit much, but perhaps creating a weblog through a site such as blogger, and adding a link to that blog in the menu. On that site, you could add the specials for that day, such as coffee selections, and perhaps even list any of the special events you will be having. Sure, there are better ways of doing this, but I have no idea what your webhosting service supports.

Sure, not the best suggestion, but a simple one that doesn’t require daily editing of HTML code. I’m just glad to see that they have a website. That’s better than Cucina Di Betto or Cohen and Cook (not sure how to spell it, but this is close), as I couldn’t find much of anything in a quick Google search. How I’d love to go online and see the specials at Cucina Di Betto.

So in conclusion, I find it hard to believe that almost half of small businesses may not have a website, but at the same time, I can easily find that to be true. The day is almost over, so I’m going to wrap up the few things I have still open and get ready for the weekend.