British Gas as part of the Centrica Group is a British owned company and leading energy supplier in the UK. Their services include the provision of electricity, gas as well as home repair services to millions of people in the UK. Their website is an extension of their offices, making their services more accessible to their customers. From a website analysis perspective their website is one of the best examples of service level commitment on the Internet.

The home page of the British Gas website loads fast. Once open you enter a world of efficiency. The web design has limited the usage of images and graphics to that needed to compliment the text information. On top of the home page is the British Gas logo, stylishly embedded in a blue banner. The main colours of the site are blue, shades of grey, hint of yellow and a white background. This not only sets the stage for easy reading, but also for a stylish and clean cut look throughout the website.

The main menu is on top of the page and is clearly labelled:

• Products and Services
• Your Account
• Help and advice
• Energy Efficiency
• About Us.

Apart from the main categories, a sub menu is available on the left side with all the functions that can be performed as well as a login option. The main categories with their sub categories are repeated at the bottom of the page in a column format. Links to the site map, home return, contact details, emergency details and Cymraeg are placed at the upper right corner of the web page and are visible throughout navigation. Links to the privacy statement, terms and conditions, accessibility, affiliates and Centrica can be found at the bottom of the web pages. The copyright notice is clearly displayed and the sponsor identifiable.

Once you select a page, a pop-up window appears requesting your feedback for a survey. Although many people apply pop-up blockers and may thus miss the feedback option, it is an excellent way to get user opinions about the website and it improves interactivity.

The British Gas web design as been done in accordance with the W3C code of good practice to ensure maximum accessibility to their website and information to people with disabilities. It is clear in the web design that they have gone the extra mile to ensure a highly functional and easy to navigate site. They clearly value the input of customers by not only asking general feedback, but also providing an email option should any part of the site be difficult to use. As a service provider, they have also extended their commitment of service to their website and sound Internet Marketing policies.

In terms of website analysis the British Gas website also performs well in all areas of navigation and assistance in usage throughout. The links lead to useful content and the information is well organized and presented. The standard fonts have been used. A search facility is available for quick location of information, more about the company, and specific contact details for relevant departments are provided.

They have taken all required steps to provide their clients with information as can be seen at for example of the Moving Home section where the FAQ are answered. Graphics and images have been limited, but are in no means lacking. The quality of images are excellent and where appropriate moving images, and rather slide shows have been applied with full instructions on usage. This is one site where you will find all the guidance required even with regard to navigation.

The login function is also evident of the level of security provided. Customers can login and manage their accounts online. This is an example of how a company is able to bring its services and administrative options to the client and ensure maximum convenience for the client.

Free information such as the Free Energy Savings Report can be downloaded in PDF format. It will however be useful if the user also gets guidance on the file size and that Acrobat Reader must be installed to open it, since older users will not necessarily know how it works.

The British Gas website analysis shows that the site also performs well in terms of search engine optimisation. The images have descriptive ALT tags and a Metatag has been included with a full description and keywords. The main keywords are present in the description and the keywords limited to an acceptable total for SEO. There is sufficient content for the search engines and internal text linking has also been applied.

The British Gas website has a Google Page Rank of 6 at the time of website analysis. It shows a total of 4 779 incoming links of which 2280 come from AltaVista. The website has a solid standing at search engines.