Now everyone’s taking notice of Bizpond success
by WIN Admin — published in Press Releases
AN ONLINE noticeboard designed to help users generate sales, meet business partners or locate clients is being pitched way beyond its North East birthplace.
Bizpond was founded by Di Gates to give users a place to offer their services or request local creative talent, sending messages that are then posted on the site as well as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.
Interest in the site is such that it has over 2,000 community members after four months, and Gates is now seeing more sign-ups from outside the region.
Gates said: “The fundamental reason it works is because it’s so easy that people aren’t scared of it.
“It’s started to reach into other regions now. We added another 100 odd people recently and a lot of them were from the North West.
“People know that funding is disappearing, and they’re looking for collaboration and partnership and that’s how something like Bizpond is becoming a success.
“Groupon is the fastest-growing company in web history, and it was only there last week looking for retail businesses.
“The most interesting thing for me is that people are looking for – and getting – business partners through it as well.”
While Gates said the site has increasingly attracted interest from graduates offering their services, she cites several examples of businesses that have benefited from Bizpond.
Teesside start-up Social Media Nanny rounded up a “big chunk” of the guest list for a pre-Christmas social event after putting out a call for interested businesses in the south of the region on Bizpond, while Newcastle’s DEAL Group tracked down a company with expertise in social media to help them promote a new enterprise award competition.
DEAL Group founder Karen Langdon said Bizpond “was the ideal vehicle at the ideal moment”.
She said: “We now have a much better idea of how social media can become part of a communications plan and who has the right approach for us.
“And the company we selected – Vistory – has now worked with us on other projects too.”
Gates, who also founded creative initiative Stick Theory this year to enable her and her team to channel their expertise into short-term projects, has seen Bizpond shortlisted in the B2B category of this year’s SMACS awards, which celebrate the North East digital community.
She said virtually all of her site visits have come from browsers typing Bizpond into search engines, and that 85% of those that find the site sign up.
She said: “It’s been a tough year, and if people want to grow their business there has to be an element of looking for new stuff.
“People don’t know where to start to find the staff that can help change their business. It’s making the world of technology more accessible to a business audience that hasn’t found it accessible to date.”
The fundamental reason it works is because it’s so easy that people aren’t scared of it
Source: The Journal