Teen helps businesses move to the Internet

Teen helps businesses
move to the Internet
BY JACQUELYN LANE
Correspondent

Eric Goldman

EAST BRUNSWICK — A recent graduate of East Brunswick High School has created a Web site designed to connect township citizens with local businesses.

"I have experience creating Web sites and I thought it would be not only a good business venture, but a good resource for the community," said Eric Goldman, 18, of The East Brunswick Directory, located at www.ebdirectory.com.

Goldman feels that the many national sites meant to connect the residents of smaller communities like East Brunswick are often difficult to find or contain outdated or irrelevant information.

"People don’t want to get off the Internet to look in the [phone book], but the [national] sites are outdated," he said.

According to Goldman, a tech-savvy town such as East Brunswick can benefit from a local directory that is updated personally by local business owners. Goldman hopes the site will be a home for the information and those services that are currently available on the Web, and will encourage local businesses to make the move to the Internet.

"As more businesses and information sites are added to the directory, the community will reap the benefits from increased connectivity," Goldman said.

The directory currently has more than 100 East Brunswick-related Web sites in its database, but Goldman hopes to list, and link to, many more. He charges a listing fee to businesses of $100 per year and offers free listing for nonprofits and other non-commercial organizations. The directory is free to the public.

"The Internet should not replace the physical community, but serve to enhance it," he said. He hopes the directory will be so successful that he can one day branch out to other towns and rename the site the Middlesex County Directory.

Goldman, who is a self-taught Web designer, will attend the Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, N.Y., in the fall, but will continue running the site from school.