There are a lot of reasons why your business might be affected by the government shutdown. If you have a few government contracts and the government office or department through which you have that contract is shut down, then you are likely not working because you can’t expect to be paid for your work. In some cases, a government office’s website might be taken off line because they can’t pay for hosting and other services. In that case, if you do a fair amount of research using these government websites, then you’ll have to put that research on hold for the time being.
If you receive benefits for your business – for instance, incentives for hiring veterans or minorities – then you may have to lay off those personnel due to an inability to pay them for their work. That could affect how you handle your internal business affairs. You may not be able to deliver services on time and might be forced to hire temporary workers.
Unless your business relies entirely on government contracts, you can still grow it during the government shutdown. You don’t have to shutdown your business.
Internet marketing doesn’t stop just because you take a small hit to your budget. The Internet isn’t shut down. During low economic times and slow business cycles, you should be marketing more, not less. You may not necessarily spend as much money on your marketing, but you shouldn’t stop it completely. After all, business must continue.