Happy birthday - thousands of websites given away

Happy birthday - thousands of websites given away free

 A New Zealand company is celebrating its first birthday after giving away millions of dollars worth of websites to Kiwi schools, sports organisations and clubs.

After two years of web engineering, Sportsground.co.nz was publicly released late last year. The service has rapidly grown to become the largest single provider of websites to Kiwi sports, with over 4,000 self-edit websites delivered free of charge.

"Almost one third of all sports clubs in New Zealand now use a website from Sportsground. And hundreds of schools are upgrading to a website from the sister service called Schoolground", states company CEO, Mike Purchas.

"People want to get more from their website. It can be a powerful communication tool, not just a brochure."

Ex-Black Cap and National Selector, Mark Greatbatch, agrees, stating "Sportsground is an amazing solution for improving communication between sports organisations, clubs and Kiwi communities."

The service has been built on a massive scale, with a website reserved for every sports organisation and school in New Zealand. No software is required. School and sports administrators can update text and photos from any computer connected to the internet at any time. Teachers, students, coaches and sportspeople are also updating pages made available for classrooms, events and sports teams.

"The websites are insanely easy to use. As well as text and photos, they accept videos, calendars, newsletters, draws & results, forms and even include group email for announcements," says Purchas.

"They're truly unlimited. You can easily add in almost anything you find on the web. And whenever that content changes, it will automatically update on your site."

The websites also include a patent pending process for fundraising. Sponsors and supporters can pay for their logo or advertisement to appear on a website. Or clubs can remove any advertising for an annual subscription fee if they prefer.

Co-founder of the Millennium Institute of Sport & Health, Graeme Avery, says the fundraising benefits to sports clubs and schools from Sportsground.co.nz are considerable.

"Sportsground.co.nz will enable sports groups and clubs to raise significantly greater sums from a range of supporters, including family and friends through to smaller and larger businesses."

[ENDS]

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