By Tristana Moore BBC correspondent in Berlin

His conservative opponent already has one, now it's the German Chancellor's turn.

Gerhard Schroeder has launched a personal website, and used the occasion to talk up the prospect of victory in this September's general election.

But some analysts say the website is just an electoral gimmick which will do little to improve Mr Schroeder's chances of winning votes.

"The Social Democrats are trying to make Gerhard Schroeder a man of the people who can be trusted... a family man who can appeal to all Germans," says Professor Rainer Rilling of Berlin's Rosa Luxembourg Foundation.

Schroeder hopes for the surfers' vote

"That's one advantage Schroeder has over Edmund Stoiber, the conservative candidate for Chancellor, but that's about it."

According to the latest opinion polls, Germany's Social Democrats are trailing the conservatives by up to six percentage points.

Mr Schroeder may be more popular than Mr Stoiber in the ratings, but not when it comes to the performance of the parties.

However, Mr Schroeder's closest advisers know that the only way to succeed now is to promote a presidential style of campaigning - in a similar vein to American elections.

'Panic on the Titanic'

It has been a bad week for the German Chancellor - first Mr Schroeder was involved in the sacking of the chief executive of Deutsche Telekom, Ron Sommer.

Then, last Thursday, the German Chancellor had to fire his Defence Minister, Rudolf Scharping, after he was embroiled in allegations of sleaze.

The German weekly magazine Stern uncovered dubious payments made to Mr Scharping by a PR lobbyist, Moritz Hunzinger.

Instead of being praised for being decisive, Mr Schroeder was criticised by the German media. "Where panic reigns", "Panic on the Titanic" ran some of the headlines.

Economic woes

Increasingly, Mr Schroeder is being seen as a leader without any strategy.

To add to his woes, the German economy is in serious trouble.

Mr Schroeder's campaign promise at the last election, in 1998, was to lower unemployment by this year by up to 3.5 million. But unemployment now hovers at around 4 million.

As Mr Schroeder launched his website, the conservative candidate for Chancellor, Mr Stoiber, was on the campaign trail in Berlin, pledging to create more jobs and improve social services in Germany.

Ahead in the polls, Mr Stoiber is exploiting the fears of many Germans, especially those in the former East, where almost one in five is out of work.