Article from Nelson Mail 17 April 2013:
“Google has named Nelson as one of New Zealand’s top five most internet-savvy cities, saying the town is full of businesses making the best use of the internet, social media, and online marketing.
The search giant named Nelson as one of the country’s top five ‘eTowns’, in the first such awards to be held in New Zealand. The other regional winners were Auckland, Wellington, Queenstown and Tauranga.
The awards, previously held in Europe, Australia, and Canada, highlight which areas’ businesses best used the web to connect with customers.
A nationwide winner will be announced in May.
Google New Zealand communications manager Annie Baxter said cities were assessed on the proportion of their businesses with websites, listings with online directories, online marketing, and an active presence on social media platforms.
Nelson had come out strongly across the board, with plenty of artisans and creative people making use of the web to sell their wares, she said. On the web, small businesses could use the same kind of tools as big companies, she said.
“You can use online marketing to reach customers all over the world, you can make a website that can make you look a lot bigger than you are, and use social media to do some cool things as well.”
Nelson had had fibre-optic internet connections for about a decade, so the high-level of online engagement had clearly made a difference.
A report by Deloitte Access Economics in Australia had found that businesses that were online earned twice as much revenue and were four times more likely to be hiring more staff than those that were not. Any business could be a web business, even a corner dairy could benefit from a website or directory listing, Ms Baxter said ……….” [Read More]
