Until recently, e-commerce meant heavy-hitters such as Amazon.com, eBay and CDNow.com--but there are signs that attention is turning to smaller ventures.

"The beauty of the Internet is that you can still open up shop and compete with the big boys virtually overnight," said Jordan B. Malick, chief operating officer and co-founder of LookTrade Corp., a Lynn company that provides complete e-commerce solutions, primarily to small and medium-sized companies.

While many of the most well-known IT consulting firms and software providers still aim their products and services at the largest companies, offerings for smaller businesses have grown rapidly and now include everything from high-speed web site hosting to site design services and complete e-commerce packages that fit within their budgets.

A look at the size of the market explains why attention is turning to smaller ventures.

According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, the number of small businesses using the Internet doubled between 1996 and 1998. The SBA also reported that during 1998, businesses that maintained their own web sites had higher annual earnings than their counterparts that did not--$3.79 million for companies with web sites, compared to $2.72 million for those without.

"The use of e-commerce opens a universe of new venues for small businesses," said Jere W. Glover, who wrote a recent report for the Small Business Administration on Internet use by small businesses. "Small businesses built Main Street, and we still think they will lead the way to a virtual Main Street as well."

The SBA says that small businesses earned $3.5 billion in e-commerce in 1997, a number that some industry analysts expect to more than triple by the end of next year.

Still, while the Internet itself may offer a chance to compete on level ground, small businesses still have to fight to find the technical and design help to set up shop on their own.

For that reason, Forrester Research Inc. in Cambridge predicts more businesses will turn to third-party Internet portals such as Burlington-based Bizland.com, which offers to handle details such as online marketing, establishing credit for customers and temporary leasing of expensive software packages.

Bizland, which now boasts more than 150,000 small firms and 400,000-plus members from around the world, offers free e-mail and web hosting and design services. But Steve Sydness, Bizland's chief executive officer, said the collective marketing power the site offers is more valuable.

"Putting your business online is simply not enough in today's marketplace," Sydness said.

Bizland has teamed with portal sites such as GoTo.com to help generate hits for its members' web sites.

Other online options to help small businesses avoid getting lost in the massive web include Yahoo! Shopping, iMALL and LinkExchange--all of which try to give small businesses exposure to the highest number of web surfers.

According to Mark Washburn, president and chief executive officer of Internet service provider HarvardNet Inc., most firms go through a five-stage progression in terms of their use of the Internet.

First, they use it for e-mail, second to allow employees to conduct research, and then to set up a "brochure" site that lets people know they exist. The fourth step is to set up a site that collects information on visitors and potential customers. And finally, firms may choose to establish a fully operational e-commerce site.

"Firms quickly find out they can find lots and lots of customers that way," said Washburn.

But few small firms have the in-house expertise to establish and maintain a strong web presence. Most turn to consultants or application service providers (ASPs) that can set a company up from scratch in a short period of time.

According to LookTrade's Malick, companies need more than just hardware, software and a catchy design.

"In most cases, we try to sell a small company on at least the concept of strategy because we've seen online businesses lose without it," he said. "The winners have clear strategy. They've done their homework and they know what they want and what they need to get there."

That usually means a sizable upfront investment, as well as site maintenance costs. LookTrade's customers may choose to set up their own web auction or retail site--the firm deals largely with business-to-business customers--for as much as $80,000, or it can rent the technology through an ASP such as LookTrade for a lower upfront price and monthly fees of between $2,000 and $15,000 that include hosting, backup and monitoring.

Maintaining a site that is up-to-date, both in terms of information and technology, means a constant re-investment in the project as well. Prices for web-site hosting in the Boston area vary widely depending upon the complexity of the site. For instance, some firms offer 24-hour security and monitoring and backup assurances in case of power or telephone outages.

"All e-commerce projects are much more complex than most customers think," said Malick.

Still, his advice is for firms to try. If a first attempt isn't successful, there's nothing saying a second try won't be.

"The best business are the ones that aren't afraid to make mistakes. They're the ones who are successful," he said.