Blog on and use web pages to drive up sales opportunities
As many as 50pc of firms still do not even have a website, according to BT.
"There's a tremendous under-served need in the marketplace to enable small businesses to use the web as a sales and marketing environment," says Ivan Croxford, head of BT's own response to this need called Tradespace.
Given the current economic slowdown and that marketing is often the first expense to be cut when firms face a financial pinch, here is a snapshot of some free services being used by firms on the internet.
Top tip: "Don't think out loud," says Mr Barrett. Remember that once on the internet the comment is there forever.
Traditional directories have moved online, like Yell.com. New free sites feature highly on natural searches: www.Brownbook.net and www.bizwiki.co.uk are fast-growing business directories with self-edited listings and customer reviews.
