NEWS RELEASE

FOR RELEASE: Friday, Aug. 5, 2011

CONTACT: Brooke Bohnenkamp, Governor’s Office of Economic Development, 605.773.3301

GOED Upgrades Website, Introduces New Development Tools

PIERRE, S.D. – Economic Development professionals have new and improved resources to help grow South Dakota businesses and recruit new companies to the state.

The Governor’s Office of Economic Development (GOED) has upgraded its homepage

-sdreadytowork.com- with enhanced features including a renewed focus on the state’s target industries and GIS mapping tools.

Commissioner J. Pat Costello, Governor’s Office of Economic Development says the mapping tool is especially helpful for companies that are expanding business and looking for new locations.

“Site and facility availability is a huge consideration for expanding businesses,” said Costello. “This mapping program lets people search South Dakota’s available properties by size, location, and price, then map out and view those properties.”

 The site also more prominently displays the GOED’s 50-state comparison tool. It allows economic and business developers to compare the cost of doing business in South Dakota with the cost of doing business in every other U.S. state.

The GOED has recently expanded its online presence in the social media arena as well. In addition to Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube accounts, the GOED is also partnering with Mitchell area economic development groups to develop a regional social network marketing initiative.

For more information, visit sdreadytowork.com.

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