Internet use might be booming among Britain's smallest businesses, but the fear that even the simplest business website should still cost hundreds, maybe even thousands, of pounds remains.
In fact, as long as you are willing to devote a little time to learning how the internet works, it has never been easier - or cheaper - to create your own web presence.
From the domain name and webspace to equipment and software, costs have slumped, and new devices and online services have appeared to remove some of the most tedious parts of creating and maintaining a website.
Cumbrian artist Sally Logue is a small business owner who has learnt to do everything, so successfully that her website (www.portraits4pets.com) now generates 80% of her business. Yet four years ago, Sally could not use a computer. Her first IT training was in a rural computer bus which parked in a village near her home, followed up by two short courses - including one in basic website design - at a local college. Using her new-found knowledge she set up a simple website using nothing more than Netscape Composer - a free website creation tool - and a cut-down copy of Photoshop, which came free with her scanner. Her first internet order rolled in, from Alaska.
But last summer Logue was fearing the worst. Her animal portrait business had been built up slowly, mainly through local advertising and stands at shows; the website, although online since 1999, still accounted for only a small part of her turnover. So when foot and mouth struck the area, Logue, like so many in Cumbria, was hit hard.
The final blow came when the show where she won most of her orders was cancelled. It was then she decided to turn to the internet. "A Business Link adviser came to see me and offered a grant to help push my website more," she says. That £400 grant paid for new equipment and gave her time to set about promoting her site online. "I was trying to get the site on to search engines, setting up links to other websites, spending a lot of time joining webrings and top sites lists, raising the profile of the site."
The publicity drive was an unqualified success. By becoming involved in online communities that might appeal to people who want animal portraits, Logue has gained new customers around the world. "I get quite a few orders from the US. I don't know if the exchange rate is particularly good at the moment or what, but I'm no longer surprised when I get orders from there."
Logue is now also taking payment online, using the PayPal system, which has further boosted the number of US orders, and made processing them much easier. "I used to insist on payments in pounds, which complicated things no end: they got charged, and I got charged," she says. "But now I use the PayPal payment system: they pay me in dollars, so I have prices in dollars on the website too.
"I don't take payment until I've done the work: I put a photograph of the portrait on the internet first, and I think that gives them the guarantee."
The DIY approach has saved Logue hundreds, if not thousands, of pounds, and means that she has far more control over her website. She updates it regularly, using it to post digital photographs of her portraits for her clients' approval before she packages the artwork up and sends it off. All this is done using a digital camera, which Logue says has sped things up. "Without that, I wouldn't be able to operate in the same way," she says. "I can photograph a drawing, put it on the internet, and in some cases have payment, all the same day."
But the one big tip she would pass on to others considering creating their own web presence is: keep it simple.
"I tested the site on existing customers and friends before it went live. It turned out to be a good idea to find out what they thought. It has had all sorts of gimmicks, like little dogs running all over it, which have been taken off again. Slow-loading pictures have been made all nice and quick.
"The problem is you have to click five times before you get the information you want. People are not prepared to hang around that long. People want to see the product, and want to get the information as quickly as possible, not go round in circles."
DIY websites
Advice
Business Link is a government initiative that offers advice and practical help to small business in England (it's the Small Business Gateway in Lowland Scotland, Business Information Source in the Highlands, and Business Connect in Wales). Find out more at www.businesslink.org. Don't forget that your local college will often have courses in computer and web design skills, with some offering training tailored for SMEs
Web hosting
To have a website, you need to have a web host who will make your pages available to the net 24 hours a day, seven days a week. There are lots out there, with ahuge range of prices and services. There are, thankfully, also a few sites that attempt to make the choice easier. The Tophosts site (uk.tophosts.com) is full of useful information, as well as a monthly chart listing the top 25 web hosts. And you can compare web hosts at www. webperf.net, although not all the big names you see advertising in magazines will be there, as they have to ask to be included in the site's tests. Domain names (www.yourname.com) are often be bundled in with the cost of the first year's web hosting.
Software
Netscape Composer is a free application that makes it easier to create simple web pages. It is available as part of the Netscape browser package at http://browsers. netscape.com. Microsoft Office also has the ability to create web pages in the same way you create normal word processing files; the manual will tell you more. There are lots of more sophisticated packages available: for the novice, the next step up from the free, or built-in packages, is Microsoft's FrontPage 2002 software, which costs £105. This also has the advantage of having plug-in extensions for websites, called FrontPage Extensions, supported by many web-host companies.
Payments
PayPal (www.paypal.com) is a way to accept payment over the web without going through the sometimes tricky business of setting up a credit card facility. It also affords the retailer a little more protection against fraudulent transactions. The downside is that PayPal is not as convenient, for the shopper, as using a credit card. PayPal also skims a fee off each transaction.
