Survey: Technical support among most important website elements

The clear availability of round-the-clock technical support and services displayed are considered the most important parts of business websites by many firms, a new survey shows.

According to the figures from Heart Internet, the businesses surveyed consider the next most important elements to be the provision of an updated news service and ensuring the latest technology is used to operate the website.

The organisation expressed concern that the choice of web host did not rank highly, despite the fact that a smoothly-operating web host is crucial to the success of a firm's online presence.

Jonathan Brealey, managing director of Heart Internet, said: "More often than not, attention only turns to hosting when their web host has technical issues or their site outgrows the hosting and they experience down time."

He added web hosting issues tend to take a back seat as they are not constantly visible in the operation of a website.

Access to fast broadband speeds can help businesses compete more effectively, while applications such as VoIP hardware can help reduce costs.