Weaving Your Own Web - Abstracted from Issue 20 of Business Link Kent publication business Works, February 2002

Having a website is increasingly important for even the smallest enterprise, but many small businesses feel they lack the knowledge or time to construct their own, or are concerned at the cost of having one built for them.

Not any more, thanks to the launch of a new service from Business Link Kent to help small businesses overcome the problems of setting up and running their own website.

Building your own website is a cost effective way of establishing an online presence. Now Business Link Kent has joined forces with Gravesend-based specialist business consultancy and web development company Ekos Consulting Ltd, to offer local businesses the chance to build a fully functional, high impact website at the fraction of the usual cost and effort. Qualifying companies may even be able to take advantage of the scheme for free.

Ekos has devised easisites, a high tech but simple-to-use online web creation tool with which even the most computer-wary can quickly and accurately create a full website to communicate the products, services and ethos of their business.

Tony Bartlett, business Link Kent Sector Projects Manager, said: "To put this initiative in context, the type of website on offer has up to six fully illustrated pages and would cost upwards of £500, if commercially produced. The beauty of easisites is that you control the website, so you can return at any time to change or edit its content as your business changes, at no extra cost."

The registration fee, enabling you to design, develop and maintain your site, and covering the first year's Internet hosting, is just £100 to Kent businesses. This includes ensuring the site is regularly promoted to search engines so that anyone searching the web can find it easily. To have the website under your own domain name (URL) there is a one-off additional cost of £50.

For the first 20 Kent businesses with less than 10 employees which develop an easisites web page and complete a simple feedback questionnaire, Business Link Kent will refund the £100 registration fee.

Once established, businesses using the Business Link Kent initiative will only have to pay £50 per year for maintenance, hosting and search engine promotion.