Websites are gaining importance as an asset in attracting customers and are in many sectors starting to replace the high street shop front as the first point of contact between business and consumer.

In the Digital Decoded seminars from media group Archant, small and medium businesses will be able to get advice on how to build the right website for their business.

Time is running out to sign up for the free sessions, which will be taking place at venues in Norwich, Ipswich and Great Yarmouth next week.

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Archant regional digital manager for Norfolk and Suffolk Jamie Brown said designing a website could be a 'minefield'.

'One of the biggest things we deal with on a day-to-day basis is small and medium businesses who do not have the right website in place. It is difficult to wade through the number of offerings in the market and I have seen people spending more money than they need to or too little money for a cheap fix.

'We will work on understanding the right tool for the job. Websites do not need to cost a fortune but they need to do the right thing for your business.

'Websites are like the online shop now and they are as important as the physical shop used to be. A company's website is likely to be the first thing a customer sees.

'We will hopefully be able to give people some advice as to what sort of product they need. We are very much geared around giving the right advice.'

The seminars from Archant, publisher of the Eastern Daily Press and East Anglian Daily Times, are targeted at small and medium businesses keen become more digital-savvy in their advertising.

Mr Brown said: 'One big way advertising has changed is that it is easier for people to go online to find out more about the things they want or need to buy. The internet has taken some of the casual browsers out of the high street.

'A lot of businesses struggle to make sense of the digital market place as there is so much out there that is hard to understand and you cannot see what the output will be.'

The sessions will take place at Dunston Hall Hotel near Norwich on Tuesday, July 11; Wherstead Park in Ipswich on Wednesday, July 12; and Great Yarmouth Racecourse on Thursday, July 13.

Two sessions take place each day, at 8.15am and 11.30am.

To book, contact your Archant account manager or visit www.archanthub.co.uk/digitaldecoded