Wednesday 31 August 2011

Why Liverpool?

Despite a thriving local business community, Liverpool lags behind many rival cities in its use of the Internet for business, including Manchester, London, Leeds and Bristol. A recent report by the Boston Consulting Group found that small businesses actively using the Internet had sales growth more than four times greater than less active companies, demonstrating a huge opportunity for economic growth if more Liverpool businesses can succeed online.

The Connected Kingdom Report 



Raja Saggi, Head of Small Business Initiatives at Google UK, said:
“The Internet has created huge opportunities, but many business owners feel they don’t have the expertise they need to help their businesses grow online. This is the first time we have ever run a series of events aimed at helping one city, and we’ll be working hard with our partners to make a real difference to Liverpool’s Internet economy over the coming months. With Liverpool’s strong business networks and sense of community, we believe this is the best city to run such an initiative.”

Google is coming to Liverpool!

In its first initiative of this kind, Google UK will kick off three months of free business workshops and events across Liverpool, starting in September. We aim to boost the area’s online economy, with the goal of providing face to face help for 1,500 local businesses.

As part of this new initiative, Google is partnering with a series of Liverpool organisations dedicated to supporting small business in the city, including:
  • Liverpool Vision
  • Liverpool Chamber of Commerce
  • Downtown Liverpool in Business
  • Liverpool’s Federation for Small Businesses
  • Women in Business
  • Business Link North West.
Together Google and our partners will run a three month programme of free events and workshops in and around the city, designed to help local businesses regardless of technical expertise - from getting online and creating their first business website, through to improving their existing online presence.
As well as large scale events, our Google Juice Bar will spend three months travelling to various locations across Liverpool, with capacity to give 1,500 business people free one-on-one 40 minute digital health-checks.
As many as 1.5 million businesses in the UK are not online, perceiving that websites as too costly, too complicated or not necessary. Through ‘Getting British Business Online’ Google wants to show just how easy it is to get online and reap the benefits!
Liverpool businesses can register for these events on the Getting British Business Online website, at www.gbbo.co.uk/Liverpool. The website also offers small business owners and entrepreneurs a free tool to build a website in as little as 15 minutes, as well as information and advice on how to make the most of their website.

You can get involved with us on Twitter and Facebook and we hope to see you in Liverpool!