Finding Information on the Internet

4. Finding a Website

Finding a company's website address (otherwise known as its URL) can be a frustrating business.

Sites come and go, change their names or change their locations. Individual pages within them change even more confusingly. Knowing how to improvise can save you a lot of time.

4.1 If you are looking for a business website and you have no idea where to find it, there are several approaches you can try.

• Insert the company's name, or its brand name, or its principal product name, between http://www. and .com or .co.uk. For example, www.sainsburys.co.uk or www.budweiser.com. One or other of these combinations may well work. After all, most firms try to register a web address that customers would expect.
• Run a search on Google, or on your favourite search engine, using the main word or words from the company's name.

4.2 If there is an error in a URL you have been given and it appears not to work, you may still be able to make contact.

• If there are two or more words or names involved, bear in mind that they may need to be separated by a hyphen. URLs may also include the tilde (~), which is sometimes confused with the hyphen.
• If there appears to be a space in the URL, this is a mistake. Spaces are not allowed in web addresses.
• If the failed URL you have ends in .htm, try .html instead. And vice versa.
• Try omitting the www. or adding it in, if it is not there.