In addition to time and hard work, a successful business can require information — including that which reflects economic climates, market saturation and consumer trends.
Marketed as a resource to promote economic grow in the state, Y’all Business provides easy access to a wide variety of information collected from dozens of state and federal and local sources relevant to businesses.
The Mississippi Secretary of State’s Office built Y’all Business. Sherri Bevis, assistant secretary of state for external marketing, showcased the resource website for Starkville Rotarians Monday. She said the website’s ease of access meets the expectations of modern users.
Bevis said the website provides positive facts about Mississippi intended to promote the state, current statistical data, reports and contact information for local entities in each county.
“This is a very important way to showcase Mississippi and what we have to offer,” Bevis said, describing the site’s Mississippi Facts page. “We see all the negative things that come out about the 50th state in education or obesity — there’s all these negatives. Well, this website gives Mississippi in a positive glance and what we can show people that we have.”
Visitors can navigate a map of Mississippi counties and view the saturation and location of various community resources, from banks to hospitals, while simultaneously reviewing counties’ tax rates.
“Say you’re interested in opening up a new retail shop, or you want to do maybe a bank or something in that area. You can see what’s there and then maybe what’s missing in that market that you may want to come for,” Bevis said. “So this is really a great economic development tool for your area.”
The website also allows visitors to view Census-driven demographic information of areas throughout Mississippi.
“It breaks it down by age, ethnic background — everything you want to know about how your population is made up in your community, and you can do this for every county in the state,” Bevis said.
Bevis said the site’s many categories of information are free, including information that can be costly elsewhere.
“I actually used to work for a Main Street [partnership], and we used to have to do this information,” Bevis said. “We’ve paid several thousand dollars to get data about what we needed to bring into our downtown area. Well, you can get that information right here. It’s free.”
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