A recent news story revealed new data showing that a majority of small businesses still don’t have a website as of 2013. To be exact, about 55% of small businesses surveyed said they don’t have an online web address. The process of creating a website is fairly simple thanks to easy web tools and WordPress, so what’s stopping small business owners from establishing websites in this day and age?

Fear of Uncontrollable Growth

You know, most people want their businesses to grow, but not everyone does. Some people are comfortable with their current volume of business and don’t want to expand. When a company gets to a certain level of success and notoriety, it can become overwhelming for some people to manage. So some owners may not want to get online out of fear of uncontrollable growth and too much of a demand on their time.

Little to No Computer Knowledge

A good portion of small business owners are over the age of 55 (about a third). They don’t have much knowledge or interest in the Internet or computers. If they do use the computer it’s to check email occasionally — managing and updating a website is out of the question. Lack of knowledge and general mistrust of the world wide web could be a reason why so many small businesses aren’t online.

It’s Just Not Really Necessary

Although I’m one of those people who believes that every business can benefit from having a website, some companies just don’t see the point. For instance, unless a pizza restaurant plans to take online orders, it doesn’t really need a site. It can get plenty of foot traffic by simply getting listed in online directories and putting up a huge sign outside of the door.

However, some storefront businesses can actually benefit from having a website but just don’t know it. For instance, a small neighborhood boutique could double its business by setting up a quick web store and posting fashions for sale online. A dance studio could post videos of classes on a simple WordPress website and get a surge of new visitors ready to hand over some cash.

There are some viable reasons why 55 percent of small business owners still don’t have a website — plenty of companies stay in operation without one. But at a time when close to 80 percent of Americans and over a third of the world population are online you have to ask yourself, why not?

Louise Gaillard is a social media manager, prolific writer and author.