Businessmen and companies will be able to boost their profile thanks to the relaunch of the Bermuda Business Directory website.

The website, which has been completely revamped by Bermuda Directory Group, celebrated its tenth anniversary this year and is the number one listing for companies on the Island found under a Google search.

Having been redesigned by the team of general manager Horst Augustinovic, sales manager Chris Mitchell, graphic designers Candice Pitcher and Peter Marsh and office manager Equilla Rawlins, the new website is both user friendly and updated daily.

It also offers four ways to search for firms including by companies and organisations, goods and services, alphabetically and category, as well as links to the website of Government's Department of Tourism and Transport, weather, airport, transit and ferry websites and E-Moo, on-line magazine Style Bermuda, The Royal Gazette and CNN.

In addition links are provided to the Bermuda Business Directory, Bermuda Directory Business LocationMap and This Week In Bermuda.

Additional features range from Business Events at a Glance, a calender of conferences and meetings in Bermuda, and This Week In Bermuda's calender of events, to Featured Articles, such as a business overview of the Island or re/insurance companies, and Bermuda's Postal Codes, listed by street name.

There is also a Business Location Map, which details 125 buildings inHamilton, and users can order a copy of the Bermuda Directory Business Location Map.

By logging onto the website they can additionally update their listing for free, while there are more than 4,000 business listings on the site.

Meanwhile Spotlight onInternational Business showcases Bermuda's international firms and what they do, while companies have the opportunity to advertise on the website.

"It is user friendly on all levels and all browsers, so it works for everybody," said Ms Pitcher.

"It is basic and clean and there is no clutter or heavy advertising, with the basic sponsors on the front page and its is easy to navigate.

Mr. Mitchell said the website upgrade came about as a result of a number of exempt companies that were interested in improving their publicity, starting with 50,000 Bermuda Directory Business Location Maps being sent out to all of the businesses on the Island, while 2,000 copies were printed for international businesses to hand out at big overseas events such as RIMS and Rendez-vous in Monte Carlo. "We wanted to feature a whole cross-section of business on the map including accountants, lawyers, a restaurant chain, a hotel chain, a golf course, retail companies, a real estate company, a bank and a computer/IT firm," he said.

"That went down well and we thought because there was so much going on in the business world and people and companies would like a business directory rather than the Yellow Pages, which is so big, as opposed to the Bermuda Directory Location Map, which is simple and easy to use."

Ms. Pitcher said it was important to have a good website to back up the directory and she plans to make changes to it based on feedback from users in the future.

"We want the site to have everything related to business," she said. "It is about getting companies involved by updating their listings or submitting material they want to use to promote themselves."

For more information about the Bermuda Business Directory visit http://www.netlinkbermuda.com/