SME Business News

A report earlier this year by Cranfield School of Management, analysing SMEs attitude to the internet, showed encouraging results with 84% of small business owners having a website and 97% having an e mail account.

This is extremely good news on the face of it, more business is being done on the internet and SMEs should be best placed for a share of the market. However things are seldom that straightforward and where the internet is concerned, having a company website is simply not enough.

Many of those companies will have been forced by ‘peer’ pressure to bring their business in to the 21st century, and many business owners feel that it is necessary for their company to be represented on the web.

The truth of the matter, simply having a website is not enough. The site should firstly be of a good design, avoid the temptation of homemade or cheap sites, they will invariably end up costing more than they are worth.

Secondly, the site needs to be ‘optimised’ for search engine recognition. This sounds a more daunting task than it actually is, but without it, no-one will ever know you are out there. There are many companies that make a living from Search Engine Optimisation or Internet Marketing. Costs vary a great deal, so always shop around as there are good deals to be had.

For those with the confidence and time to attempt SEO themselves, I will be adding some tips, on my next post, that you will find useful, and also questions to ask SEO experts before parting with your money.