Goldman Sachs has announced today that it is “thinking about” running an Internet bank. Hang on a minute – I thought they were a bank. Indeed, their web site says, for instance, “Goldman Sachs offers comprehensive wealth management services, including private banking products and services, to our high net worth

Employees at Woolworths wake up this morning not knowing if they are going to have a job much longer. Not the kind of news that 25,000 people want just a month before Christmas, but sadly their company has gone into administration. Woolies owes its creditors some £385m – a debt

If you think your business can survive the recession – think long and hard. The world’s biggest bank had to be baled out by the US Government yesterday, the historical Lehman Brothers has disappeared and leading car makers are on the verge of bankruptcy. Now, even Google is in trouble.

Users of your web site are less likely to return if your site breaks or doesn’t work properly. People get frustrated by slow loading, by the addition of technologies that work only in certain circumstances or where your web site is simply too technologically “clever”. The latest “gadget survey” by

Small business owners are all seeking one thing at the moment – more business. Everywhere you look, small businesses are in need of extra custom. Whether it’s the recession, the credit crunch or just plain greed doesn’t matter – what matters is the fact that this is such a common

Before the Internet came along there were two main ways of finding suitable suppliers for things we wanted to buy. If we knew we wanted something but didn’t know who to get it from, the first thing we used to do was ask a friend or colleague. And if they

Exposing your knowledge online is a principal way of doing business these days. The reason is that potential customers want to see what you are about; they want to experience you. In the past, they had to arrange a meeting with you – then you had to follow-up and it

People love to see evidence that something or someone is what they claim to be. It’s all very well having a web site that points out you are the most brilliant expert in your field, but without any evidence your web site visitors will not believe you. One way, of

Visitors to your web site need to have a good experience. Firstly the pages must provide what they were looking for. Then you need good navigation so they can easily find their way around. And you need a search facility so they can look up specific items without having to

Your customers are unlikely to arrive at your web site without having been somewhere else first; even if they are time travellers, like Dr Who, and they suddenly port themselves from outer space to your web pages, they will have been somewhere else first. Understanding how people got to your

Business owners who decide to set up a web site, or revamp an existing one, seem to always start by talking to web designers. The discussions then get focused on the look and “feel” of the site, colours and site structure. Apart from the fact that this takes the business