Skip to content
Join our Newsletter

Businesses need to build a web presence

Say you are looking for a specific type of business. What do you do next? According to the 2014 Factbook by the Canadian Internet Registration Authority, three-quarters of Canadians will browse online before buying a good or service.

Say you are looking for a specific type of business. What do you do next?

According to the 2014 Factbook by the Canadian Internet Registration Authority, three-quarters of Canadians will browse online before buying a good or service. Meanwhile, the remainder of these shoppers may still end up on the internet for information. Referrals from family and friends, or advertisements heard on the radio, for example, often still require an online search of location or business hours.

In today's connected world, the internet is extremely important for linking businesses with consumers. Yet despite this reality, an astonishingly low number of businesses have an online web presence. In fact, the 2014 Factbook cited above notes that 41% of Canadian small businesses do not have a website. In Prince George, 99% of companies are considered "small businesses" by Industry Canada (and thus having less than 100 employees). Impressively, that equates to just over 2,500 firms without an internet page.

From the perspective of a small business owner, there are very valid reasons for not having a website. These can mainly be boiled down to two factors: time and money. Do-it-yourself web pages can be time-consuming to implement and sometimes just as laborious to maintain. Meanwhile, hiring external contractors can become extremely expensive and potentially nerve-wracking as companies may lose control over their content.

With the help of the City of Prince George and local web design firm Sticky Wicket, Initiatives Prince George (IPG) has created a Prince George Business Directory to help mitigate these issues. First, it is a Google-searchable, online database which picks up on key information inputted into its descriptive boxes. As the directory becomes more populated, IPG will be working towards further increasing its online presence so that your company can appear near the top of Google search lists.

Second, it is extremely easy to use, from both a business and customer perspective. The latter may search a variety of aspects of the business, such as the services it provides or whether it is locally- or Aboriginal-owned, for instance. At the same time, the sign-up process is made simple on the business end as well. The directory is designed as a straightforward template and a business profile can be created in less than ten minutes.

Third, it is attractive yet highly functional. The most prominently displayed fields on each company's profile are its contact information, business services, and location (generated automatically on a map). There is also space for a company logo which personalizes the page.

And finally, it is completely free, which needs little explanation.

This new tool is not meant to be a replacement for traditional websites, which are by nature more interactive and customizable. However, the Prince George Business Directory can help complement traditional pages by picking up on any online searches, and then giving the option for users to redirect to the company's webpage. On the other hand, for those companies which do not have the time or resources to set up a website, it is an excellent tool for representation online. When that potential customer asks themselves where to find a specific type of company in Prince George, we want them to be able to find your business.

Businesses interested in creating a Directory listing and residents who want to search for local businesses should visit http://directory.initiativespg.com/.

Neil O'Farrell is the business development officer with Initiatives Prince George. The Economic Beat column appears monthly.