More than One-Quarter of SMB Websites Cannot Be Found in Online Searches, According to vSplash’s SMB DigitalScape

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SMBs are challenged to capitalize on mobile and social commerce opportunities. This represents a significant opportunity for the digital media and marketing services providers that can help SMBs bring their digital presence up to best-practice standards.

Lyndhurst, NJ (PRWEB) March 12, 2013

The majority of U.S. small and medium-sized businesses are not prepared to capitalize on digital commerce opportunities due to deficiencies in key online, mobile and social presence features and functionality. A recent audit of 3.9 million U.S. SMB websites by vSplash’s SMB DigitalScape revealed deficiencies in key categories of digital presence, including:

•     Discoverability: 26.4 percent cannot be found in online searches because their websites earn a Google Page Rank of zero or have no Google Page Rank
•     Mobile: 94.5 percent are not mobile optimized
•     Social: On the home page, 91.2 percent lack a Facebook widget (e.g., “like” button); 94.6 percent lack a Twitter widget (e.g., “follow” button) and 83.6 percent lack a Twitter link
•     Robustness: 93.7 percent do not display a contact email address
•     Localization: 49.4 percent lack a phone number on the home page
•     Ecommerce: 94.6 percent lack a shopping cart, prohibiting them from transacting business on the website

“The SMB DigitalScape data continue to demonstrate that small and medium-sized businesses are challenged to capitalize on mobile and social commerce opportunities,” said Neal Polachek, industry analyst and vSplash advisor. “This represents a significant opportunity for the digital media and marketing services providers that can help SMBs bring their digital presence up to best-practice standards.”

vSplash estimates the revenue opportunity for digital media and marketing solutions that improve U.S. SMB digital presence to be $24.3 billion.

Polachek will present vertical industry data from SMB DigitalScape next week, at BIA/Kelsey’s LEADING IN LOCAL conference, March 18-20, in Boston. The session, titled, “vSplash Data Insights: The National/Local Pizza Wars,” will examine the state of digital presence of pizza shops—from top chains to independent pizzerias. The data suggest independent pizzerias are falling behind their multi-location competitors across a number of key dimensions of online presence.

Also at LEADING IN LOCAL, vSplash will be showcasing BuzzBoard, its next-generation digital marketing and sales engagement tool. BuzzBoard integrates listings level data from SMB DigitalScape to help digital marketing sales reps pinpoint new business opportunities. Available online for inside sales reps and on iPad for outside sales reps, BuzzBoard automates prospect research, needs assessment and proposal generation, significantly shortening sales cycles. Stop by booth 4-5 for a personal demonstration.

SMB DigitalScape U.S. data reports are available through vSplash data partner BIA/Kelsey. For information on how to purchase the reports, visit http://www.biakelsey.com/Research-and-Forecasts/SMB-DigitalScape.

About SMB DigitalScape
SMB DigitalScape is a powerful data collection and analysis engine that gauges the state of SMB digital media and commerce. Its empirical data are derived from a sample of over 3.9 million U.S. SMB websites, for which more than 90 digital presence parameters are analyzed. Parameters are grouped within five key categories: robustness, discoverability, social, localization, mobile and ecommerce. Forthcoming SMB DigitalScape data reports will be generated for key vertical industries, including accounting and tax preparation, automotive, beauty/wellness services (e.g., spas, nails, massage), education/schools, home services, pizza stores, restaurants, sporting goods and travel.

About vSplash
Based in Lyndhurst, New Jersey, vSplash is a leading global provider of digital media and commerce solutions to SMB and local marketing aggregators. Using its trusted market data and analytics, vSplash identifies actual SMB needs, which represent real revenue opportunities for its partners. vSplash helps its partners capitalize on market opportunities by delivering scalable Web-based marketing, advertising, directory, commerce and fulfillment solutions for corporations, educational institutions and governments worldwide. vSplash leverages global resources and expertise deployed around the world to produce more than 10,000 forms of digital media each month. Follow vSplash on Twitter at http://twitter.com/vSplashTechlabs and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/vSplashTechlabs.

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