News and features

Mon, 8 Dec 2008

Searching for business growth? Don't worry about website name

Internet can aid business development - but more customers are finding firms through search engines, expert says.

Companies looking to grow their business on the internet should not worry about obtaining a generic website address because customers' internet use is increasingly driven by search engines, a technology expert has claimed.

Techworld editor John Dunn believes that the rise of search engines such as Google, Ask.com and Yahoo! Search means it is less important for businesses to get a specific website name related to their product or service.

"For example, if people what to find a car, they will go online and put some brand names in. So car.com wouldn’t get you any more hits necessarily," he explained.

According to the Confederation of British Industry's UK Competitiveness: The Role of IT Services report from July 2008, the web is aiding business growth by improving customer satisfaction rates and increasing firms' understanding of consumers' needs.

Some 63 per cent of companies said the internet had helped them hang on to clients, while 60 per cent said it had enabled them to tailor their product to customers' demands.

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