Internet marketing use 'growing'

Small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the UK are increasingly using the internet for marketing purposes, an expert has claimed.

According to comments made by Linus Gregoriadis, head of research at E-consultancy, SME owners are increasingly recognising the platform's potential to generate business.

E-consultancy is a provider of marketing reports covering internet best practice.

"The percentage of [SMEs] marketing themselves over the internet has been growing steadily because business owners have increasingly recognised the potential to win business this way as a result of their own use of the internet as consumers," said Mr Gregoriadis.

However, according to data released under the organisation's Usability and User Experience Report 2007, where a firm possesses a web design budget, work to enhance usability takes up - on average - 13 per cent of the total.

Among the best websites - in terms of usability - identified by participants in the study were those provided by the BBC and Amazon.