(WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — Designed to help small businesses promote themselves online, UK telecommunications and hosting provider BT Business (www.bt.com) has launched its “Online Starter Kit,” offering a professionally-built website and a profile in the BT business networking community for just £199 ($316.75) with 12 months of web hosting included.
According to BT Business’ Friday announcement, the bundle includes a website design consultation and professional website build, logo design, website copy and SEO advice, web hosting, webmail and a BT Tradespace profile – all designed to work together in a way to boost a business presence on search engines such as Google. Businesses looking to combine the Online Starter Kit with their current broadband commitment for just £5 (about $8) per month with BT Business Total Broadband Option 3, creating a low-cost online presence bundle.
“Every business needs an effective online presence that works well with search engines, but this can sometimes be a daunting step for start-ups,” BT Business business products and online director Jerry Thompson said in a statement. “By bringing everything together in one low-cost bundle BT is helping small businesses take the vital steps to getting online hassle-free.”
According to BT Business’ research, one in five small businesses don’t have their own website, despite a quarter of UK’s projected retail spending will come from online sales – ammounting to £78 billion. Furthermore, the vast majority of business are not getting the most out of their websites or using them effectively to attract customers. For instance, less than one in 3,000 websites use keywords in the content they post on their sites, and 42 percent contain broken or invalid links.
BT Tradespace is an online community for sales and marketing, offering a comprehensive directory of small business products and services. It allows members to use the latest social media tools – podcasts, videos and blogs – to promote themselves, engage with customers, partners and suppliers and sell goods to consumers over a secure and safe trading platform.
