Agency devises scrappage scheme…for websites

FIRST it was cars, then boilers, now a Birmingham-based digital media company has come up with a new – and rather unusual – scrappage scheme…for websites.

According to the latest Office for National Statistics figures, website sales are now annually worth more than £220bn to the UK economy.

In addition, more than 75% of the UK population now uses the internet whilst companies are increasingly embracing the medium to generate sales and interact with customers – ONS data shows the proportion of businesses using the internet to sell rose from 14.4% in 2007 to 15.2% in 2008.

The scrappage scheme, which has been launched by Blackjack Media, offers companies the chance to cash in on what is an increasingly lucrative sales platform.

Under the scheme, companies have the chance to get a brand new website at a hugely discounted rate if their existing one fails to meet internationally recognised standards on things like user friendliness, accessibility for disabled users and a lack of exposure on major search engines such as Google and Yahoo.

Munish Sharma, managing director of Blackjack Media, said: “With the coalition Government putting a big emphasis on getting businesses back on their feet, I think this scheme has come at the perfect time.

“Statistics show that the internet for many people is the first port of call when shopping for a product or service. We want to help local companies take advantage of this by getting their website up to the required standards so that they can capitalise.”

Companies interested in registering for the scheme should visit www.blackjackmedia.co.uk/website-scrappage