Vista.com began taking its service nationwide late last month, after it signed on 175,000 small businesses in the state of Washington and more than 200,000 in Washington, D.C., earlier this year. CEO John Wall, who also founded Wall Data Inc. (now owned by NetManage Inc.), launched Vista.com in September.

Vista.com creates the sites using standard industry code data it licenses from InfoUSA Inc., the same codes used by Yellow Pages directories nationwide to categorize businesses.

Here's how it works: A small-business owner enters the company telephone number into a short form on Vista.com's Web site. The phone number for every small business nationwide with a Yellow Pages listing is categorized under a standard industry code. Vista.com uses the code description to create the Web site, then presents the business with a sample site based on a template for the company's industry. If the site is approved, the company can sign up immediately, Wall says.

The service is aimed at small businesses that suffer from E-commerce inertia or have limited IT resources, says Melissa Shore, a senior analyst at Jupiter Communications.

Some might find it disconcerting that Vista .com creates sites using data from InfoUSA Inc., which collects and sells information on millions of businesses. "Small-business owners may be a little uncomfortable when they see a ready-made Web site with information they've never submitted to Vista.com," Shore says. However, business owners can alter and customize the site.

As part of its service, Vista.com can also manage online customer orders and billing, including secure credit-card transactions. All the sites are hosted on Oracle databases that run on Sun Microsystems servers at Vista.com's facilities in Redmond, Wash.

Carol Higgins, owner of Binky PC.com Inc., a children's computer vendor in Triangle, Va., says she was able to customize a site Vista.com developed for her within five hours. Higgins previously had an E-commerce site she built using Microsoft's Front Page 98. "I was starting to find site maintenance very frustrating because I had to get a server, configure it, manage it, and make sure it was secure for credit-card transactions," says Higgins. But with Vista.com's service, she only needed to enter content at the site, input inventory information, and choose a color scheme.

Vista.com's service is designed for companies with fewer than 20 employees. Pricing starts at $49.95 per month.