Hi Reader,

I got curious about the number of small businesses that grow into established businesses, and I wanted to share what I found with you (I've included references in the bottom of this email).

Did you know?

99.9% of businesses in the US are small businesses
That's 33.3 million small businesses!
These businesses employ almost half of the workforce: over 61.6 million people
43.4% of businesses are owned by women
20.4% of businesses are minority-owned
The average small business owner salary is just 16% above the national average mean wage of $59,428 at $69,119

What about longevity?

20% of businesses fail in the first year
30% in the second year
50% by year five
Between 2013 and 2023, 34.7% of new businesses made it to their 10th anniversary (that means 65.3% didn't)

And revenue?

Businesses without employees average $46,000 per year
1-4 employees: average $387,000
10-19 employees average $2,164,000
20-99 employees averaged $7,124,000
100-499 employees averaging $40,775,000
In 2007, women made an average of $130,000 per year operating a small business while men made an average of $570,000 (SCREAM!!)

I also found these stats on business websites interesting:

Nearly one out of three businesses still don’t have a website
Over 25% of business is conducted online
Over three-quarters of shoppers visit a business’s website before its physical location

Interesting, right? Where do you fall in these ranges? If you've been around a few years, made it through the pandemic, and your business feels healthy, congratulations! It's hard out there. Especially if you're in a minority group.

Aeolidia serves businesses in that sweet spot between tiny and super huge. If you've been around at least a few years, have a group of employees, and are seeing growth, our work was designed with you in mind!

Please get in touch if you'd like to strategize a growth plan for your online store this year. Websites can always be made to work better, and it's such a missed opportunity to consider your website to be, "good enough." Email me back!

Q&A

Here's a reader question about adding video to product descriptions, from Brandy, as answered by Helen Hulskamp, Ecommerce Strategist on our team:

Q: To include videos in product listings, do you embed the video in the "Description" section or in the "Media" section?

A: for Shopify it depends on where you want it to show up on the product page. If it is a video designed to quickly show product attributes (eg. a 360 view of the image or the flow of a dress while a model is walking) then it makes sense to add it with the product media so it shows up in the image carousel. If it is like a mini-documentary that tells the story of your product (eg. how to use the product or how it was made), then you might want to add it in the product description. Or if it is crucial that all shoppers see the video, it might be more visible in the description, depending on how your theme displays product images. If the production quality is high, it could be added as a separate section on the product page where it will have the full width of the page.

Question: Answered

Our team includes experts in branding, design, development, email & SMS/text marketing, search engine optimization, copywriting, conversion optimization, ecommerce strategy, business growth and more. Email me back with your question! I'll consult one of our experts and share one response per week over email.

Interesting Clickables

⚓️ Read past issues of Aeolidia's newsletter here

The Fifteen Percent Pledge will be partnering with the Dream Makers Founder Grant to support women entrepreneurs, particularly spotlighting the talents and innovations of Black and BIPOC founders. Learn more.
One of the charities we support is Back Girls Code - here’s a link to their 2023 impact report to show how they used their donations last year!
We will be presenting Take Your Shopify Site to the Next Level on April 24th. This is a private event for Pattern Observer's Textile Lab. Learn more about this community and join here.