Why Women Might Make A Major Impact On Small Business In 2016
Currently women make up a very small portion of small business owners, but all of that might soon change, and this is why…
According to the US Census, women have been making a bigger impact on businesses over the last decade. 36% of all businesses are owned by women, representing a 30% growth since 2007. 36% may not seem like a very big number, but this is a vast improvement. Considering that there were 9,932,434 woman-owned businesses in 2015, compared to only 2,140,319 in 2007, this shows a huge increase. Businesses owned by women contributed $1.4 billion to the economy in 2014; the numbers show that women are really making an impact on business, and many feel this trend will continue.
Carla Harris, chair of the National Women’s Business Council, writes “We believe that today provides a perfect opportunity, a perfect storm if you will, for women entrepreneurs. Interest rates are at record lows, creating a robust environment for commercial borrowing.” The National Women’s Business Council is a non-partisan association that acts as an advisory council to the American government. According to their report, the economy is ripe for picking for women to excel in business in 2016 and they aren’t alone in this belief.
Pamela Prince Eason, president and CEO of Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC) reported, “WBEs [women business enterprises] are agile, innovative problem-solvers, meeting corporations’ needs quickly, adapting to marketplace changes and providing deep value and cost-effectiveness.” Small businesses need each of these characteristics to become successful in the critical first few years.
According to The Economist, successful women-owned businesses are exactly what the world needs. They wrote in 2013, “Based on our experiences, women entrepreneurs see the world through a different lens and, in turn, do things differently.This is reflected in the kinds of businesses we start, whether it’s Coco Chanel, who learned the trade of a seamstress as a child, Estée Lauder, who turned a passion for skincare and make-up into a beauty empire, or Oprah Winfrey, whose media business focuses on helping women to reach their potential.”
Women (and men) as entrepreneurs in 2016 will require a perfect balance of marketing, web know-how, and effective business strategies to succeed. As the market grows more competitive it can be hard to gain the attention a successful small business requires. If you happen to be an aspiring small business owner, take comfort in the fact that there is a lot of help just for you. Below are a few tools that we recommend taking advantage of as you get the ball rolling:
A small business’s web presence starts with the perfect domain name. When choosing a domain for your new business keep the following in mind: 1) shorter is better, 2) make it memorable and 3) it doesn’t have to end in .com. ICANN, the International Corporation For Assigned Names and Numbers, has released hundreds of alternate web address ending that can pack a punch for your domain. Consider researching your industry specific web address ending like .photography or .tech to find a domain that is tailored for your specialty.
- A great website.
Every great idea needs a great website. Get one started with the help of Midphase. Take your pick of a content management system like Premium WordPress Hosting, or choose from many others like Joomla or Drupal through cPanel. If any of these options seem a little daunting, you might want to try our easy-to-use Website Builder and its drag-and-drop features. To learn more about getting started with a great website visit Midphase.com.
Once your website is perfected you will need to get some traffic moving through. This can be done with the help of social media and a little bit of search engine optimization, or SEO. SEO determines where your site will appear in the search results rankings when a potential customer is searching for your product or service. It is important to be as close to the top as possible to generate (free) organic traffic. To get started with SEO, run a free scan of your website with the help of our Website SEO Guru. Midphase will give you some tips on how a few small changes can impact how many people see your site and how much money you can make.
Make Midphase your small business partner for success in 2016. Get started now!