Telecom and Software Consultant Ovum published this research note today regarding the launch of Small Business Week 2007 -- an event promoting the 4 million plus small businesses in the UK that account for 47% of the UK's private sector workforce and contribute £967 billion to the economy.

Not surprisingly, these are big numbers.  But, it’s damn hard running a small business.  Imagine how big these numbers would be if SMBs had access to affordable and easy to use software tools to help them grow?

That’s exactly what Bill Murphy, head of BT Business is thinking about.  Murphy commented, “that while the industrial revolution may have killed the cottage economy, the broadband networking revolution has brought it roaring back.”

Murphy pointed to BT’s recently launched Tradespace service as an example of offerings designed specifically to cultivate small business growth and communities.

The simple and powerful premise for BT Tradespace is that “offline sales are driven by online search”.  Consider the following:

·  63% of purchases resulting from online searches occur offline (Comscore, March, 2006)

·  The Internet will influence nearly half of all retail sales in 2010 (Jupiter)

·  58% of people said they locate items online before going to store to purchase (K group)

Therefore, if you own a small business – and people can’t find you when searching online, then they will not buy your stuff offline.

Unfortunately, like 15 million other small businesses, you’re not and IT expert and the thought of building and maintaining an online marketing system seems daunting – not to mention expensive.

What you need is a simple and affordable way to promote your business on the web so you can attract more customers, sell more things, and manage important business relationships -- with no IT expertise required.

Bill Murphy and Bt Tradespace are focused on meeting your needs.  See for yourself.  Signup here for your free Tradespace site.