Small and start-up businesses are being offered a new information service to help them fully capitalise on all their web-based facilities and increase their sales.

Effective online marketing and sales techniques have long been seen as a way in which smaller businesses can compete on a more equal footing with larger, more illustrious companies.

Now a new white paper, written by Daryl Willcox, chairman of online media services company Daryl Willcox Publishing, provides a step-by-step guide on how small businesses can boost their web success through the use and distribution of their own press releases.

The white paper, available at dwpub.com, is entitled Press Release Writing and Distribution - a Step-By-Step Guide for Small and Medium Businesses, and Mr Willcox has helped describe some of its benefits.

"Some may think the press release is an old-fashioned tool for the exclusive use of the PR professional, but this couldn't be further from the truth," he said.

"With a little guidance, any owner manager or small business marketing person can prepare their own press releases and use the internet to reach a massive audience."

In a recent survey of SMEs for Connect, the two most important benefits of outsourcing were 'guaranteed response times' and 'allowing in-house IT staff to concentrate on more strategic issues'