SWINDON businesses could be losing millions of pounds a year in online sales because their websites are not up to scratch.

An investigation by Business Link Berkshire and Wiltshire has shown that while it has been predicted that £17 billion will be spent over the internet this year, many companies are missing out.

Nationally £226 million is lost through poor websites, and the same is true in Swindon, according to Link experts.

In more than one in five visits to sites, the shopping process did not work as expected for example, items were not added to the "shopping cart" of products to be bought when they should have been.

Andy Poulton, information, communications and technology adviser at Business Link, said many businesses needed to make their websites easier to understand and more reliable.

"This is especially evident in the number of online shopping carts with virtual wheels that are as wobbly as some of those found in our supermarkets," he said.

"Just as the supermarkets realised that this was a big turn-off for shoppers, Swindon-based web vendors need to realise that their online shopping carts can cause just as many problems if care and attention is not lavished on them.

"With this amount of money at risk, it is vitally important for businesses to ensure that their shopping cart offers reliability as well as ease of use.

"All online shopping sites also need to be rigorously tested before launch to ensure they are up to the day-to-day usage they will receive."

Other aspects of websites that Mr Poulton has identified as weak spots include speed and content.

Research has shown that web users are only prepared to wait between seven and 10 seconds for a page to open. Not everyone is on broadband so sites must be accessible to surfers with modems using telephone lines.

On content, Mr Poulton said: "Web presence is not all about vanity and proclaiming a company's greatness.

"It must explain clearly why a visitor to the site should buy their products or use their services. Small businesses tend to be focused on services but when they grow the larger the message starts to be 'this is who we are' rather than 'this is what we do'."

Mr Poulton pointed to the BBC and Amazon websites as outstanding examples of large but easy-to-use sites, and said almost all businesses were guilty in some way of not being as clear as possible on one of the three points.

For more information call BLBW on 0845 600 4141.