smallbusiness.co.uk: Helping your business think big

More than a third of small businesses are using the internet to attract customers outside their local area, according to a survey by government e-commerce advice group UK online for business.

Mark Brunet, UK online for business adviser for Sussex, offers three key pieces of advice on how a small business can use the internet to expand its geographical reach, both nationally and internationally.

Firstly, he advocates the exchange of mutually beneficial links with other companies’ websites. He suggests finding companies, not necessarily competitors, that have a similar customer base and putting links on their sites that "point" at yours.

This can reap benefits for the second key action, which is using search engines such as Google or AOL, the two most popular in the UK. One of the ways in which search engines rank websites is by "link popularity". For example, a site with links on 6 other sites will appear higher in search results than one with only one.

Brunet also says that including as many "keywords" that describe the business in the text on the site will increase the chances of it being found in a search. He does warn, however, that search engines often change the way they do searches so it is worth visiting their websites and looking at their methods.

The third rule of expanding using the internet is to "think like a consumer", and design your website accordingly, making it as easy as possible to use. Brunet quotes the statistic that a quarter of website visitors give up every time they have to click through to another page. This strongly suggests that simple is best and all necessary information should be put on one page in a clear manner, if at all possible.

For businesses looking at using the internet to trade internationally, Brunet warns that sites may need to be changed to accommodate different consumers abroad. To illustrate this, he points out that white is a very common background colour for sites in the UK, but in the Far East it symbolises death!

For more tips on trading online or to find out how to speak to an adviser in your area, go to www.ukonlineforbusiness.gov.uk.

(1/10/02)

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