MOST businesses with internet sites are wasting their time because they don't understand the psychology of customers.

The claim by researchers at Glasgow Caledonian University say experiments on why people visit websites and how they look at them have shown that most individuals take less than 1/20th of a second before deciding whether to buy or move on.

In attempt to improve business on the web, decision scientists from the university's psychology department and international website designers WSI have launched a series of workshops designed to give small and medium-sized firms a competitive edge in cyberspace.

They say they could help boost sales by up to 6000%.

Web designer and internet business consultant Paul Smith, of WSI's worldwiseweb.co.uk, said: "In the blink of an eye deals can be won or customers lost.

"It takes just 1/20th of a second for the human brain to form a first impression and in the increasingly competitive world of internet marketing that could make the difference between success and failure.

"Typically the number of website visitors who become customers is fewer than 1%.

"But just a few minor adjustments, and a little strategic thinking, could improve that conversion rate to more than 20%."

The use of images, colour, position of words and even blank space can all help to make customers feel confident enough to do business.

Scientific studies have calculated that the average time someone spends on a home page is just 25 seconds, provided their first impression is that the website has what they are looking for.

The average time spent viewing an interior page is just 45 seconds.

Dr Mary Thomson, a decision scientist from the Division of Psychology at Glasgow Caledonian University, said science can help companies make their sites more successful.

She added: "By using the latest scientific research into consumer perception and the results of eye-tracking studies into how websites are read and understood we have gained a good insight into why some companies do well on the internet and some don't.

"The majority of firms fail to capitalise on their strengths because their sites are too complicated or dull to attract and keep visitors' attention.

"Research has proved that in less than a second most website visitors form positive, negative or neutral impression of a site and therefore the company and its products."

"Websites that achieve a positive impression are more likely to get business."