smallbusiness.co.uk: Helping your business think big

Most of the UK's small businesses are failing to maximise their use of the internet, a review of 70,000 websites discovers.

According to BT Business, £78 million, or 25 per cent, of the UK's retail spend is expected to be carried out online this year, but the country's small companies are not prepared to capitalise on this.

Research from the group finds just 11 per cent maintain their website on a daily basis and only one in 3,000 are using keywords to increase the chance of customers finding them.

Jerry Thompson, director of business products and online at BT Business, comments: 'Most small businesses understand that it's vital to have a website and are quick to get online. Unfortunately, many websites are withering on the vine because customers cannot actually find them when they surf the internet.'

Furthermore, 42 per cent of the websites examined have pages which contain broken or invalid links, 13 per cent fail to use SSL certificates to permit secure internet communication and 15 per cent do not even have the facility to sell directly to customers.

Recent figures from the IMRG Capgemini's e-retail sales index claimed online business increased by 13 per cent in February, compared to last year.

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