News in Brief

Getting 100,000 British businesses online

BT, e-skills UK, Enterprise UK, Google, the IoD and PayPal launch initiative to help small businesses create a free professional website and find relevant training and support.

Google and partners including BT, Enterprise UK, e-skills UK, PayPal and the Institute of Directors today announced an ambitious joint initiative to get 100,000 businesses online with a free website by the end of 2010.

Despite operating in one of the most advanced e-commerce markets in the world with over 40 million people now online, as many as 1.5 million businesses in the UK do not have a website. Many businesses are not yet online either because they see it as too costly, too complicated or not necessary - often all three.

Central to Getting British Business Online (GBBO) is a new 'wizard' tool that businesses can use to create their first website in around 15 minutes. Businesses will be given a free .co.uk web address and can choose a website from a variety of templates to suit their business needs. New websites will be included in Google's search index and added as a business listing in Google maps. Businesses will also be shown the tools with which to promote their new websites.

BT will offer businesses free advice and phone support to help them create an effective online presence, and in the next couple of months PayPal will enable businesses with a GBBO-powered website to turn their site into an ecommerce platform in just a few clicks. This means they can begin selling to customers and accepting payments quickly and securely via the web.

Additionally, e-skills UK has developed an IT qualification that will allow businesses to develop the skills and confidence necessary to get online. Using the Google suite of tools, the ITQ for Doing Business Online will help businesses to build their own website and get the most from it, helping them to be more competitive. Several major Awarding Organisations, including City & Guilds and OCR, are backing the initiative and their training centres across the UK will be delivering the course to small businesses.

Businesses can sign-up for a free website now at www.gbbo.co.uk.

 

 

 

Posted on 25 Feb 2010