The city where savvy students are trading code for credits

[Acorn Newsbot]

Matchmaking initiative, pairing web design students with independent businesses without a website, launches in Lichfield

A free matchmaking service where small business owners exchange a free product or service in return for a website is being piloted from today in Lichfield, Staffordshire.

The initiative, believed to be the first of its kind in the world, is the brainchild of the UK Domain and aims to help more small businesses owners get online.

Over a quarter of British small businesses on the high street still don’t have a website1, often because they are unsure how to start the process. This is despite 67% of consumers saying they look online before they visit a local business2.

Higher education computing students from Walsall College are paired with local independent businesses to create a simple website that includes key company information such as services on offer, opening hours and location, so current and potential customers can easily find their business online.

Businesses can offer ‘payment-in-kind’ to the students for their website build in the form of free products and services – anything from handbags to haircuts.

One of the first businesses to benefit was Platters Tapas, whose new website was created by student, Thomas Ali. Owner Paul Bailey commented, “We’ve been successfully trading for one year but wanted a website to support our next phase of growth. Yet, it was always something that we kept putting off as we didn’t know where to start. We met Thomas through the UK Domain initiative and he quickly built us a great site that really shows off our business and will be a great asset in helping attract new customers. In return we were delighted to offer Thomas and his family an evening or two at Platters on the house.”

The initiative was launched after research found that 28% of small business owners not online would be interested in getting a website if somebody managed the process for them.3

Eleanor Bradley, COO of Nominet which runs the UK Domain, added, “With so many of us checking the web before we shop, we know millions of small businesses are keen to get online to catch browsing customers, and that there are also thousands of talented young people out there desperate to show off their digital skills. This is a great way to bring people together for mutual benefit.”

Mina Katti, Curriculum Manager for Computing at Walsall College said, “This exciting initiative is a win-win for all involved. As well as the freebies, students gain invaluable experience in practical web-building, giving them a step up on the career ladder. And their work directly benefits businesses in the local community of which we’re a part of.”

The initiative directly supports smaller independent high street retailers whose online anonymity often means they are losing out to larger high street operators with a more sophisticated digital presence or mobile apps.

Watch more about how Lichfield’s small businesses and students got on here.

Notes to editors

1 – Research conducted by Opinium Research on the behalf of the UK Domain surveying 202 small business decision makers. Research carried out between 25.09.15 and 28.09.15 through an online survey.
2 – Research conducted by Censuswide on the behalf of the UK Domain surveying 2,003 UK consumers, aged above 16+. Research carried out between 31.05.17 and 02.06.17 through an online survey.
3 – Research conducted by 3GEM on the behalf of the UK Domain surveying 335 SME business owners/decision makers without a website. Research carried out in November 2016 through an online survey.

The post The city where savvy students are trading code for credits appeared first on Nominet.

Continue reading...

 

[RobM]

Yeah design a website in exchange for a handbag or haircut..... and people wonder why webdesigners aren't taken (or paid) seriously.

 

[scottmccloud]

Websites built for food, literally.

 

[Edwin]

It's an unbelievable devaluing of the web design experience. And to have a service specifically set up to trade design services for tat is ridiculous. It would make much more sense to offer such services at a small discount (like cuts from student hairdressers may be only 50%-70% of a regular stylist at a salon). That way, businesses get a good deal, students get valuable experience for their CV and much-needed cash.

Instead, you've got some kind of weird virtual back-alley barter going on.

Of course small businesses are going to put their hands up and say "yes, we'd love a website for peanuts... sorry, for A peanut." Doesn't make it a good idea!

And Nominet put their name to this shambles. Oh dear...

 

[martin-s]

And the poor business was convinced to take a .uk domain too...

 

[RobM]

I guess nominet are so used to getting money for doing nothing they think businesses should get websites for next to nothing. They're all parasites.

'The initiative was launched after research found that 28% of small business owners not online would be interested in getting a website if somebody managed the process for them.'
So adapt or go broke. Nobody else (except nominet) cares about your inability to keep up. The self entitlement is evident in a lot of small businesses and it doesn't help for anyone to pander to them.

 

[AlistairM]

I wonder who decides what registrar, hosting etc is used, whether the students can upsell etc. Might not be too bad if the business is happy with it and the student gains a client, testimonials etc. I haven't read anything other than what's in the thread so apologies if this is explained somewhere.

 

[pugyrob]

Havnt looked in too much detail but saw this browsing. Students want experience/items and customers want websites for those items... isn' it just catering for supply and demand?

If consenting people want to participate i am not sure why they shouldnt? Out of respect to the webdesign industry?

I also don' get the feeling these companies are going to be any great loss to the design economy either

 

[pugyrob]

I can appreciate that students would gain experience from 'live' design projects for local businesses, but for Nominet to be involved in encouraging this as a good approach for small businesses to get their business online, comes across as a bit unprofessional.

An amateur looking/built website might in-fact damage the long term potential of the business, and could even devalue the domain name, for example if the same exchange was applied to SEO services.

I think it's Nominet's involvement in this which is the contentious part. I'm sure many colleges and universities already have initiatives like this running in their areas, but they're not all celebrated by the UK domain registry, and nor should they be in my opinion.

I've emailed Eleanor with my thoughts on it, will post in here if I receive a reply.

Understand the sentiment but equally having millions of domains undeveloped doesn't seem useful either for the domain market.If people don't like the site design they don't have to use it and I imagine there are a lot of talented people out there who want to put together a portfolio.

I feel the general population would welcome it but I can understand why designers would take particular objection to it also

 

[ausername]

Yeah design a website in exchange for a handbag or haircut..... and people wonder why webdesigners aren't taken (or paid) seriously.

Worth noting that these are higher education students and not further education students (so state funded sixth form college). Would think there would be all sorts of legal and ethical questions raised if a sixth form college was running a commercial enterprise which involved trading their students skills for cash.

Actually sounds like a nice little idea, might give them their first reference for their CV and a few of them might make connections which get them their first job out of school? Don't see much cause for negativity here.

A handbag or haircut is more than I got for my 2 weeks work experience placement at school, think one of the employees bought me a twix once and that's all.