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Hawaii Businesses Lag on their Use of the Internet

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(Note: this article was written, and the referenced survey done, in October, 2005.)

The internet is arguably the most powerful and cost-effective communication and commerce medium ever developed.  Yet, 12 years after it was created, only 49 percent of surveyed Hawaii businesses have Web sites, vs. 64 percent in Memphis, 70 percent in Denver and 86 percent in San Francisco. Moreover, many of the Hawaii sites that do exist are lacking badly in design, content and/or functionality.

To assess the Internet presence of Hawaii businesses, our firms recently conducted a survey of 100 small businesses each from the Hawaii, Memphis, Denver and San Francisco chambers of commerce Web sites. These cities were chosen based on their comparable populations to Honolulu and their geographic dispersion.

Businesses were selected at random from the chambers' member directories.  Nonprofit organizations, publicly traded companies, and businesses with the majority of their offices outside of the chambers' geographic territory were excluded.

The Hawaii Web sites were analyzed further to see how many demonstrate what we consider to be Internet best practices.

Internet Best Practices
Use by Hawaii businesses

• Have a Website: 49%

Among Those with Web sites

• Make it easy lo use: 86%
• Write and design specifically for the Web: 74%
• Use site real estate wisely: 74%
• Hire professional Web developers: 66%
• Provide opportunities to do business: 44%
• Provide valuable content: 30%
• Capture e-mail addresses
• Use e-mail newsletters: 14%
• Leverage audio and/or video (appropriately]: 4%

The most important practice is, of course, to have a Website. In an Interland Inc. May 2005 nationwide survey of owners of 1.032 small- lo medium-sized businesses, two-thirds said their Web sites had increased their overall sales. When asked to rate their top-three marketing channels, 47 percent cited the Internet vs. 26 percent for direct mail and 23 percent fur Yellow Pages.

We were surprised to see how badly Hawaii businesses lagged their Mainland counterparts in our survey, particularly since Honolulu is ranked the 7th most wired (and wireless) city in the country, and Hawaii is the No. 1 state In broadband usage among consumers. Moreover, we suspect our sample actually overestimates Hawaii firms' Web presence, as companies that have joined the chamber are probably better funded and more likely than a typical business to invest in marketing.

Naturally, just having a Web site is not enough. A successful Web presence requires considerable planning, effort and, in some industries, the money to be effective, competitive and easy to find.  In our survey, we scored the Hawaii Web sites reasonably well on what we consider basic best practices.

Unfortunately, Hawaii business Web sites lag in the more advanced best practices. Only 44 percent enable customers to do business online. Too many sites provide a list of products/services and prices but ask customers to fax or call in orders. Just 30 percent go beyond mere self-promotion to provide content and information likely to be considered valuable by customers and attract repeat visits and loyalty.

A critical best practice we could not measure in our survey is how well Hawaii businesses are doing in driving traffic to their sites. For your Web presence to be a success, you must invest in programs to help customers find you online (e.g., search engine optimization, pay per click) and offline (e.g., including your Web address in almost all your printed materials).