Partnering with Google to Get Your Small Business Online

I am very excited to announce that the City of Elizabethton is collaborating with Google’s Get Your Business Online program to help our local small businesses build an online presence. According to the US Small Business Administration, 97 percent of consumers search online for products and services and if a small business is not there, it will be skipped over. What’s more, is 91 percent of those consumers visited a store because of an online experience. Your businesses may be missing this market

This is where our partnership comes in! I have written before about the importance of being online and now we are moving in a direction to better help our small businesses achieve that goal. So many simple and free tools can help give you that online experience for little to no money each year. Facebook is a prime example. It’s free, provides a direct marketing path directly to your customers, and can contain hours, contact information, and pictures of your businesses.

Google Maps and Google+ is another great resource that allows your business to be found easily by anyone who uses Google searches or has an Android phone. Similar to Facebook, Google+ allows you to directly market your business to your customers as well as list business hours, contact information, and even post pictures of the inside of your business to familiarize customers.

An online presence becomes even more important when we talk about making Elizabethton and Carter County a tourist destination. Many people will be coming from out of town and out of state to visit. They will not know where to go to eat, shop, or find something to do and will likely turn to the internet to find these things. When they search for ‘Antique Stores’ or ‘Bakery’ will your small business show up? Are you open for dinner or breakfast? What kinds of events and excursions do you offer? All of these things can be communicated through free online resources with very little work on your part.

To help businesses get online and On The Map (as the slogan goes), the city has scheduled three workshops on June 16, 18, and 19 and will also have a booth setup at the Covered Bridge Festival this weekend. The whole process can take less than 10 minutes and will set you up for much business success. According to the Boston Consulting Group, businesses that are online are expected to grow 40 percent faster than those that are not. Is your business online? Let’s talk about it!