Some [clients] just want that reassurance when they're making a decision, especially a website decision because it is a new technology and some people feel quite lost going into it.

It helps set us apart and helps get us to the place where I think we need to be - at the very high end creatively. Not just a factory that can turn out websites, but a creative agency that can look at the brand of a company and come up with something that responds to that.

That's an approach that ups the ante in terms of how your own business presents itself online. Tell me about the new Fracture website you launched last week.

We've been promising a new website for about 18 months and we've designed about seven and thrown them all out because they weren't good enough. But we think this one is worthy of Fracture. It's based in our secret lair on Rangitoto Island and we all have different dictator personas.

SITE LINES

Nick Shaw's tips for effective business websites:

* Use an established web design company. Look through the portfolio of developers you are considering using for something that's exceptional or something that really appeals to you.

* There's no one solution for building an effective website. Talk to the developers about your company and what you want the website to achieve.

* Don't let budgets determine quality. It's better to build a site that does a few things really well than one that does 10 things that are mediocre.

* Building a website is not like building a house where you spend 100 per cent of your budget all at once to put it up. Spend 75 per cent of your web development budget getting the site up, and the remaining 25 per cent over the next year or two on ongoing development as technology changes.

* People have no attention span on the web so build a site that will grab their interest. The site has to work, but it also has to stand out and make a mark for your business.

By Simon Hendery | Email Simon