Waterford Businesses are ready to get online!

Waterford City Enterprise Board, in association with Google, hosted a free web seminar giving small businesses and sole traders the opportunity to create a website and get on line for free.

The event which took place in the Tower Hotel saw over 60 business people in attendance, who heard about the importance of Irish businesses being on line.

Ciaran Cullen, Acting CEO, Waterford City Enterprise Board welcomed the attendees and gave a presentation on “Bringing your business online – The Business Case.” Having identified that 40% of Irish commercial SMEs do not have a website and almost 60% do not have an entry in an online directory, Mr. Cullen’s presentation made the case as to why Irish businesses need to be online to survive and thrive in an increasingly competitive trading environment.

Ronan Cleary of Eagle Dreams addressed the audience as to how to get online through www.gettingbusinessonline.ie and Denis Hegarty of WSI Success on Line highlighted the potency of online marketing and how to maximise its benefits through Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), Google ad words and social media.

Mr. Cullen was delighted with the attendance. “It’s great to see so many new and not so new small businesses now taking the initiative and putting the systems in place to get online. By working with local web professionals or through www.gettingbusinessonline.ie local businesses will be able to consolidate their current position in the marketplace and through their websites open up new markets.”

“The follow up workshops will begin on July 5^th and these workshops will outline the process of setting up a free, easy to update site, will give businesses a free .ie, .eu or .com domain for one year and all participants will receive €100 worth of Adwords.”

If you have a business that needs to get online there is a limited amount of workshop places available (€25 for two workshops).

To register or for further information about getting your free business website call Waterford City Enterprise Board on 051 – 852883 or log onto www.gettingbusinessonline.ie