EDC Has New Website

The Newtown Economic Development Commission officially rolled out its newly formatted and updated home page, www.newtown.org, at its meeting on August 19. The commission actively involves itself with local industry, business and commerce, and promotes the community’s potential for continued economic growth and development.

Designed to serve businesses and corporate site location professionals, the commission hopes that the website will put Newtown directly in front of the eyes of top site selectors. The site was designed to provide current site selection data most important to site consultants and businesses.

The Newtown Economic Development Commission began using the Internet six years ago for promoting Newtown’s advantages as a business location. In 1997 the commission’s home page received just a few hundred visitors a month; now, there are about 35,000 visitors a month. The commission’s website had about 275,000 visitors in the first half of this year alone and expects the numbers to continue to grow.

As municipal budgets continue to feel the squeeze of cuts, the commission expects that the Internet and electronic media will play an ever increasing role in its marketing and promotion program. Recent research indicates that 80 percent of the initial screening that site selectors undertake is done by the Internet. The commission is confident that the use of the Internet will continue to grow and wants businesses to know that Newtown is on the cutting edge of the technology.

Chairman Win Ballard thanked past commissioner Louis Calabrese for his assistance with the project. Mr Calabrese worked closely with Newtown’s Community Development Director Elizabeth Stocker on the update. The commission was please with the services of Innertek Software from Bridgeport, which provided the creative and technical services for the redesign and update.