Until recently, direct advertising on the WWW was frowned upon by most
Internet users (see Kimball, 1993). However, this attitude has changed
significantly with the increasing commercialization of the Web. More and more
companies are setting up their own Web sites as a means of disseminating
useful company and product specific information to potential customers and
encouraging customer feedback and interaction. For SMEs, a well designed
Web site can provide an attractive, low cost method of sales promotion to global
customers.