Support British small business - or the US...

I've previously mentioned I have a small photography business (can I call it that if I don't have any clients?) which I am struggling to get going.

Last year I returned to the world of office work, as I desperately needed an income.

Now, a year later, I'm trying to find a few wedding shoots to supplement my income. As a result I need a new website. Looking around the internet, I came across a site called www.gbbo.co.uk which has been set up to help get UK small businesses online.

Great, I thought, a site that is designed to specifically meet a UK business. This will be perfect. I signed up straight away and was directed to the host to begin building my site. That was when I realised this site was US based!

The free site is pretty basic - but probably sufficient for many businesses - and I needed to upgrade to use the functions I need. Fortunately I left it a few days, as the cost changed from £5 a month to free for a year before I had time to sign up for the upgrade.

My real issue with this is the fact that small businesses are being led to believe they are dealing with a Uk provider and only discover too late that they will actually be supporting the US economy if they upgrade, rather than supporting another UK company.

I know we now live in a world where there are no international boundaries (in the virtual world of the internet), but I do feel it would be nice for small businesses to feel they are helping other UK businesses grow along with their own business. I personally would prefer to know any growth in my business could be passed to the UK economy - not sent overseas.

Anyway, moan over, the site is exactly what I wanted and it has cost me virtually nothing. So I guess I shouldn't really complain...