Carson City lauded in Google e-business list

Google is designating Carson City the strongest online business community in Nevada, and Mayor Robert Crowell heralded that news Monday.

The announcement was set for Tuesday morning, but the list naming the top city in each state was up on Google.com earlier and the mayor’s comment was ready to go for the roll-out of the 50 communities recognized nationwide.

“Carson City is a forward-looking community and proud to be recognized as a community on the leading edge of the digital environment,” Crowell said. “It goes in hand with the unsurpassed quality of life that we enjoy in the state’s capital.”

Google called Carson City the 2013 eCity of Nevada.

“The eCity Awards recognize the strongest online business community in each state — the digital capitals of America,” according to the Google news release prepared for the unveiling of the 50 cities, some of them state capitals but many of them other types of communities.

For example, Atlanta in Georgia, Lincoln in Nebraska and Austin in Texas were other state capitals on the list. Other types of cities included Ashland in Oregon, Oak Brook in Illinois and Albuquerque in New Mexico.

Google.com had this to say in comments preceding the list of winners: “These cities’ businesses are using the web to find new customers, connect with existing customers and fuel their local economies. Across the country, businesses that are online expect to grow 40 percent faster.”

Using an independent research firm called IPSOS, the cities were determined through a complex methodology that pared all communities down to the top five in each state and then, using additional criteria related to online presence by firms, cut them to the top cities selected.

“We’re proud to recognize this growing entrepreneurial spirit,” said Scott Levitan, Google’s director of small business engagement. He said such spirit plays a role in both creating jobs and sustaining local economies.