The definition of "small business" shifts depending on who's asking and why. Statistics Canada and the CRA generally consider businesses with 1–99 employees as small, while Industry Canada's financing programs sometimes use revenue caps around $5 million annually. Service businesses often stay small with 5–20 employees, while manufacturing or retail might employ 50+ and still qualify. From a web design and marketing perspective, small businesses share practical traits that matter more than official headcount. They typically lack dedicated IT or marketing departments, meaning one or two people wear multiple hats. The owner is often directly involved in vendor decisions, budgets are modest but measurable (usually $2,000–$15,000 for a professional website), and there's pressure to see ROI within months, not years. Most have local or regional reach rather than national distribution. What separates a micro-business (1–4 employees, often solo or family-run) from a small business (5–50 employees with some structure) is decision speed and resource availability. A solo consultant can greenlight a website redesign in one meeting. A 30-person firm might need buy-in from partners or department heads, but still moves faster than mid-market companies with formal procurement. At Ottawa SEO, we see the functional distinction around the 50-employee mark. Below that, businesses need straightforward solutions: a clean 10–20 page website, local SEO for Google Maps rankings, and clear conversion paths for phone calls or contact forms. Above 50 employees, you start needing multiple stakeholder workflows, integration with CRM or ERP systems, and content strategies that serve different audience segments. But even a 75-person company can operate like a small business if it's owner-managed and nimble. For web strategy, the real question isn't the legal classification but whether the business has someone who can own the website long-term, a realistic budget for both build and ongoing updates, and clear goals tied to revenue. That mindset exists in businesses with 3 employees and in businesses with 80.