Wirral Council's inward investment website has surpassed the 6 million hits mark as the Local Authority puts the finishing touches to a revamp of the site aimed at maintaining its position as one of the country's leading investment websites.
The www.investwirral.com website was originally launched in the summer of 2007 and in the time since Wirral has seen Peel Holdings' vision for the £4.5billion Wirral Waters site gain full outline planning permission and be awarded Enterprise Zone status by the British Government.
The visitor numbers to the website and the countries they come from reflect the international interest in Wirral as theUSremains the number one, theUKsecond andNorway,ChinaandJapanmake up the top five. The website receives an average of 1,546 views per day and both the average page views per visitor (3.86) and the average visitors per day (400) have continued to grow throughout 2011.
The website is currently being refreshed to update the appearance and the content so that it takes into account and maximizes the interest that has been shown so far. The re-launched site will include more information on Wirral Waters, the Peel International Trade Centre and the industry sectors that are thriving or are ripe for development within Wirral.
Cllr Phil Davies Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Planning Strategy said: "The www.investwirral.com website plays a vital role as a first point of contact for potential investors and the latest traffic figures show that there is significant interest in the Borough. Whilst Wirral Waters is an undoubted investment draw we are also blessed with a geography and infrastructure that makes us the ideal location onBritain's west coast for offshore energy and Cammell Laird's profile in this industry is growing rapidly. Norway,Sweden andGermany are in the top 10 countries list of visitors to the site and as leaders in the world of renewable energy I am not surprised that they are interested in what Wirral has to offer as an investment location.
"We are determined to build on this interest and are using this data to inform how we revamp the website, for example we will be including more information on industry sectors such as Advanced Manufacturing, Low Carbon and Bio Medical and the companies that already operate in these fields in Wirral. The Wirral Waters project has advanced considerably since we first launched the website and so we will be 'beefing up' the content to take the Enterprise Zone and the plans for an International Trade Centre into account. International links have already been developed withChinaandKoreaand because of that the new website will feature a Chinese language homepage to maximize our links withAsia. We will also continue to strongly promote our excellent schools, skills, connectivity and international golf offer. We are determined to do all we can to show the world that Wirral has a lot to offer as an inward investment location."
The new look www.investwirral.com website is due to launch in January 2012.