State economic site woefully outdated

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BANGOR – Maine may be losing prospective businesses as fast as the click of a computer mouse and not even know it.

Companies using the anonymity of a computer to ascertain current incentive data may be turning away from Maine because the state Department of Economic and Community Development’s Web site is outdated, according to a business site selector.

The lack of current information on the DECD site embarrassed a statewide television station last month when it announced that one of Gov. Angus King’s key business conferences would be held May 22 and 23. Those were last year’s dates. The Blaine House Conference for Small Business was held April 25 this year.

At the conference last year, King ranked technology and the Internet as one of the top 10 tools for business growth. He encouraged attendees to “embrace technology.”

“Somebody said if you ignore it, you’ll fail; if you accept it, you’ll survive; if you embrace it, you’ll thrive,” King said on May 23, 2000.

Last month, the television station turned to the DECD Web site for information on the conference. On the home page were the words, “newsletter – new.” One click and up came the newsletter. Its lead headline was “Annual Blaine House Conference targets Maine’s Small Businesses,” and the first paragraph of the story gave the dates May 22 and 23.

What the television station’s news directors didn’t notice was that the “newsletter – new” was the May 2000 edition. The DECD has continued to publish a paper version of its newsletter every other month since then.

The television station had to air a correction after it received calls with the correct date – April 25. But many people who watched the original broadcast and heard the May dates had expected to attend in May.

“That’s really bad,” said Kate McEnroe, president of Kate McEnroe Consulting in Atlanta, after being told about the online newsletter. “What happens is if you see something like that, you lose confidence in the rest of the thing [site].

“That’s not typical [of other states],” she added.

An outdated Web site makes a state appear as if it doesn’t have the resources available to secure business growth, McEnroe said.

McEnroe studies all states as a site selector for businesses. She tracks their latest information – from demographics to tax incentives – and makes recommendations to corporations on where they should locate or expand their companies.

Site selectors already have a lot of information at their fingertips, through publications, compact discs and other venues, McEnroe said. They turn to Web sites, she said, for the latest information – the kind of data that could be considered old if it had to go through the printing process.

In 1997, McEnroe came to Maine to be wooed by state economic developers. The goal of the program, called Showcase Maine and sponsored by Maine and Company, a quasi-state economic development agency, was to convince the invited site selectors to go to their clients and convince them to locate their businesses here.

Late last year, McEnroe was asked by Site Selection magazine to review the state economic development agency Web sites for all 50 states. In her article, published in January, Maine did not make the top 10.

“I purposely and specifically didn’t do a rating of one through 50,” McEnroe said Wednesday. “I didn’t need the grief.”

Maine’s Web site, which includes links to every state agency, last year received an honorable mention from Government Technology magazine in its 2000 Best of the Web contest, said King on Tuesday.

At meetings with business officials, King touts the state’s high-speed Internet connections as an asset for economic growth. He encourages companies to get online so they can conduct business “around the clock and around the world.”

When told of the DECD Web site, King said, “I’m not going to defend it. I’m going to fix it.”

The governor said he occasionally cruises the state’s Web sites. If anything is out of date, he will call them and “jostle them a little” to fix it.

“I’ll look into it,” he said of the DECD site.

When asked about the outdated Web site during the Blaine House conference on April 25, DECD Commissioner Steven Levesque said the site should be updated “within 30 days.” He also said he was aware of the television station’s error and how it came about.

Levesque said his department was moving into a new office, and part of the move includes revamping the Web site.

“We’re updating it right now,” Levesque said. “Yeah, those Web sites, you have to keep them updated.”

McEnroe said smaller states could do well to partner with another economic development group in their state to add power and timeliness to their Web sites. She mentioned DECD working with Maine and Company, which has a track record of keeping its site up to date.

“If I had one comment to make, it would be a combination of both,” she said.

Dana F. Connors, president of both Maine and Company and of the Maine State Chamber and Business Alliance, said Wednesday that Maine and Company is willing to help the DECD.

“I know how difficult it is to keep information current,” Connors said. “It’s key. I know it is, and if there is any way we could help, we’d be glad to.”

The home page for the state’s Web site is at www.state.me.us; the DECD Web site is www.econdevmaine.com; Maine and Company’s site is www.maineco.org; and the Maine State Chamber and Business Alliance site is www.mainechamber.org.