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The indicators of the study Economy and Digital Society in Portugal, developed by ACEPI in partnership with IDC, show that the percentage of companies with presence on the Internet is now 60% of the total number of companies, whereas in the previous study only 40% of companies had an online presence. This very significant growth is mainly due to the increase in the presence of micro and small companies on the Internet, compared to the previous year, from 30% to 48% and from 53% to 76%, respectively. However, of the Portuguese companies with an internet presence, only 82% said they had their own domain and 76% reported having one or more sites developed.

In the Information and knowledge society business survey, developed by INE, it is mentioned that in 2020, 61.1% of companies have their own website (+2.6% compared to 2019). Since the only companies that registered an increase compared to the previous year (+3.6%), are small companies with 10 to 49 people employed, in which 56.9% have their own website.

Both studies show that Portuguese companies are increasingly digital. However, despite the improvements shown, it’s clear that there are still many Portuguese companies without an online presence, without their own domain and developed website.

Portuguese companies are increasingly their presence in digital. However, despite the improvements shown in the study, there are still 40% of Portuguese companies that do not yet have an online presence and companies with an internet presence, only 82% said they have their own domain and 76% said they have one or more sites developed.

This is a problem, because it not only puts your company and reputation at risk, but it also puts you at a competitive disadvantage compared to companies that have a digital presence. Most of us are on the Internet daily for hours, for social and professional purposes. Isn't this the best time to put your business online and take advantage of all the opportunities that the digital world can offer to you?

Sites and domains aren’t just for big companies with millionaire budgets. All companies, large, small, or micro, international, or local, must have a domain name and website. Among the various reasons for having a domain and website, we highlight:

According to the "Digital Economy and Society in Portugal" study, it is predicted that Internet penetration reaches 81% of the Portuguese population in 2020. To win new customers, you need to understand that the place where most people look for a service or product is on the Internet. Even if your company does not sell products or services online, a website is a way for your customers to find your physical address, phone number, email address, etc.

If your company has a digital presence you gain a competitive advantage over your competitors who do not. With big business decisions starting with a simple Google search, it means that companies that don't have a website are losing opportunities. Besides, if you have a website, your business works even while you are sleeping, that is, at any time of the day or night, a person can enter in your website, get to know your company, your products and services, your current promotions and discounts, as well as the prices of everything on the website and even buy a product immediately.

If you have a small or micro business with a reduced marketing budget, you probably think that registering a domain and creating a website is very expensive. In reality, registering a .pt domain is not expensive. Registering your domain via .pt registrars has very favorable conditions and adjusted to your needs. In addition, if you set up a company through the 3em1.pt initiative, you have a free .pt domain for one year, and also a tool for building the website, hosting and e-mail boxes.

As for the next step, which is the creation of your website, if what your company needs is something simple, there are thousands of templates available on platforms like WordPress or Drupal. Even if you hire an expert to develop your website, most now use templates as a basis to start their projects, which significantly reduces the cost compared to developing a website from scratch. Building a website has never been easier with many .pt registrars selling complete packages that include registering your domain, your online store, designing and hosting your website, etc.

A website is subject to compliance with a set of legal provisions, which is relevant for those who manage it, also creating trust in the consumer who uses it. Many people do not even consider purchasing a service or product from a company that does not have a website, because they do not trust a company that only has a presence on social media.

If you send emails with the free email address created in Gmail when you were 15, do you think your potential customers will trust your company? Obviously not, because it is unprofessional. The level of professionalism and credibility of an email, such as paulopereira@truster.pt instead of paulopereiratruster78@gmail.com, is huge. An own email that corresponds to your website's domain deeply increases the legitimacy of your communications.