Businesses without a website are now in the minority in the UK.  A company's domain name has become an important part of the identity and branding for any business.  Contact Nominet or a web hosting company (ISP) if you don't yet have an appropriate domain name registered for your organisation.

Everyone needs a web presence - if not a website!  It enables small busineses to compete with big ones and should therefore be part of every marketing strategy.  Even if you don't sell anything people are still looking for you.  Online marketing could include: writing articles and placing them where people can read them and having links on specialist Directories (often for free).

Being found in searches:
The DTI's Best Practice unit has published a factsheet looking at search engine positioning.  It aims to help businesses take practical steps to improve their search engine ranking.  To order the free factsheet call 0870 150 2500 or download from here.  
A faster route to the top of the search engine results pages is to be found through the Pay Per Click Listings that organisations such as Google offer.  Search results are ordered by the amount an advertiser bids for any given keyword. 
Also, Keyword density on a page relative to other text will give a higher ranking.

Your website presents information about your company, its products and services to a global audience.  It can attract customers from a different time zone who might otherwise never find you.  Having a website means that your shop door is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.  The simplest websites act as full colour brochures which can be updated more frequently and distributed more widely than printed versions.  Many companies have developed theirs to accept orders, receive payments, provide an information service or deliver digitised products.  To move to a transactional website, why not join the Bristol e-Business initiative? 

Convert your website visitors by having them land on a relevant page.  Give visitors a reason to call/buy/register - e.g. by having a newsletter.  Email is a good way of keeping customers - customer retention is far cheaper than getting new customers.

For further information on how to use a website to promote your company see Achieving best practice or ask to see an ICT advisor from Business West. Training in Internet and web development skills is available from Learndirect.  The Institute of Marketing holds events covering e-marketing issues. 

If you are a community or voluntary group, The Community Newswire is a free service run by the Media Trust and The Press Association to help you gain coverage in the media.  All you have to do is submit your news release through their website - 20 stories a day will go out on The Press Association's regional newswires to the country's national and local newspapers and broadcast media.
  

Check out the Bristol Business Directory for local Internet site designers, web hosting and Internet service providers.