THE BUSINESSES THAT WILL THRIVE WON'T NECESSARILY BE THE BIGGEST.

The UK economy is showing resilience, but nobody seriously believes that the next few years will be effortless.

Growth has returned, but inflationary pressures, energy costs, interest-rate uncertainty and geopolitical instability continue to make life difficult for smaller businesses. (The Guardian)

That creates an interesting question for SME owners.

What makes businesses resilient? How can they thrive?

• It isn't necessarily size

• It isn't necessarily having the biggest marketing budget

• And it certainly isn't spending money simply because everyone else is.

Resilient businesses tend to know where their money is going.

• They question costs

• They look for inefficiencies

• They make better use of the assets they already own.

And they continually ask: “Is this actually helping us win business?”

Which brings me to something surprisingly often overlooked. The company website.

For many SMEs, it is one of the most visible business assets they own – yet it may receive less attention than the office printer. A website that was excellent five years ago may now be slow, poorly structured, difficult to use on mobile and almost invisible to Google.

• It may no longer accurately describe what the company does

• It may not reflect the quality of the business behind it

• And it may be quietly losing potential customers every day.

The good news?

Unlike many business improvements, fixing this doesn't necessarily require a huge investment.

A properly planned website review can identify relatively simple changes that improve credibility, enquiries, search visibility and conversion.

In uncertain times, don't just look for things to cut. Look for things that aren't performing. Your website may be one of them.