I remember reading an article which I came across simply by chance a few years ago about a little publicised but very important change in the law concerning your website. The government had decided that fly-by-night companies who set up websites and hid their contact details should no longer be allowed. So they introduced new legislation to deal with this menace on the Internet. However, the lack of publicity surrounding this change in the law has caused many business owners to find themselves unwittingly operating outside of the law.
To me, it is common sense to let people know exactly who you are. I am sure that many of you like me, will check out the contact details of a company before deciding whether or not to deal with them. If there is no address or worse still, no telephone number then the chances of me wanting to become their customer have plummeted.
Not only is it common sense from a business point of view, did you know that if you are a limited company, it is now necessary by law? In fact, if you are a limited company you are obliged to provide the following information somewhere on your website:
It is interesting to note that you must provide your VAT number if your business is registered for VAT even if you are not directly selling goods on your website.
If you look at many companies' websites you will see that a vast number are currently breaking the law. I suppose the government have better things to do than to go round checking this. However, it is advisable to do this simple action not only because you never know when they are going to start but also because it makes sound business sense to let your customers know exactly who you are and how they can contact you.
Hiding your contact details can give a very negative impression of your business and with an ever increasing number of Internet savvy visitors, you could be losing customers by the hundreds without realising it. Surely what any business owner wants is for as many visitors to their website as possible to make contact with them.