If you are already online as a small business in Canada, congratulations. You are in the minority! According to Statistics Canada, only 41% of businesses had a web site by 2007 (the latest available data). This accounts for only a 5% jump in Internet adoption for businesses since 2003.

Thus, despite Canada’s strong statistical showing in personal use of the Internet (only Scandinavian countries exceed our usage of the Internet), our businesses are astoundingly slow to move online, even with the equivalent of a brochureware web site.

The highest percentage sector using a web site? Education, followed by Information and Cultural Industries. No surprise given the Web’s early start as a research and teaching tool, but where is retail, or tourism?

According to the research, despite tremendous gains in online reservations, only 44% of accommodation businesses have a web site. The same for restaurants/food services. 46% of Canadian retail businesses are online.

It’s time for this to change. Web sites, for most small businesses in Canada, are ridiculously inexpensive in comparison to what they provide in terms of 24/7 information, connection with consumers or trade partners, and web traffic/usage statistics that are critical to measuring marketing and other strategies.

According to the Canadian Internet Project, “sixty-two percent of users rank the Internet as their highest source of information, with magazines and radio being the lowest. It has also been shown that Internet users spend less time with traditional media, meaning that an online presence is that much more effective.”

Next post: Bumping the percentages and moving into the future