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Welcome to Fairfax Underground, a project site designed to improve communication among residents of Fairfax County, VA. Feel free to post anything Northern Virginia residents would find interesting.
Welcome to Fairfax Underground, a project site designed to improve communication among residents of Fairfax County, VA. Feel free to post anything Northern Virginia residents would find interesting.
Google to help businesses build an online presence
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Loudoun County News
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Date: October 05, 2011 12:52PM
Google to help businesses build an online presence
Friday, Sep. 30 by Hannah Hager
http://www.loudountimes.com/index.php/news/article/google_to_help_businesses_build_an_online_presence123/
In yesterday’s world, most businesses would seek out their clientele. But more and more frequently, consumers today research online to make a decision on where they want to spend their money before heading out to the shops.
Google has therefore addressed the need for local, small business owners to adapt to the ever-evolving way consumers find their vendors.
This month the Internet search engine conglomerate hosted two events entitled “Virginia Get Your Business Online” to help demystify the idea that getting online is a difficult and costly process for small businesses, said Scott Levitan, marketing director for Google.
Google worked with local partners to design the program, which can be found online at VirginiaGetOnline.com. The program gives Virginia businesses the tools to build a website for free as well as find new customers, Levitan said.
Nearly all consumers look online for products and services, yet 44 percent of Virginia businesses don’t have a website, he said. The business owners recognize that a web presence is important, but they hold back out of fear of how to build a website, he said. Google is launching the initiative to show that websites can be built quickly and for little start-up cost.
Matt Faircloth, with Berg Faircloth Investment Advisors in Leesburg, attended the Google event in Manassas Sept. 20 not to have them build his company’s website, but so he could learn to bolster his website’s presence on Google searches. Faircloth recently joined his family-owned accounting firm that has been open for nearly 50 years. No matter how firmly planted the company is in the local area, Faircloth believes his company’s online presence needs to expand, he said.
Google provided more than $1 billion in economic activity to nearly 40,000 Virginia businesses last year. Faircloth hopes to become a bigger piece of that pie through search engine optimization techniques. Google representatives gave him a checklist of things he could do to make his company’s website appear more frequently in potential customers web searches.
He learned he must use keywords such as “accounting firm” and “tax” while keeping his website’s content fresh or by starting a blog.
“It used to be that companies would have to go out and find their customers,” he said. “Whereas now customers are searching for you, so its good [to know SEO practices].”
Small businesses recognize the importance of getting online but think it takes a lot of time and a lot of resources. Levitan encourages business owners to get online where the entire offering that was given at the workshops is there to help business owners looking to launch or improve their websites.
“Google is built around consumers and people who use our products,” he said. “Being there makes the web better and is better for us. We would like to see every business succeed.”
Friday, Sep. 30 by Hannah Hager
http://www.loudountimes.com/index.php/news/article/google_to_help_businesses_build_an_online_presence123/
In yesterday’s world, most businesses would seek out their clientele. But more and more frequently, consumers today research online to make a decision on where they want to spend their money before heading out to the shops.
Google has therefore addressed the need for local, small business owners to adapt to the ever-evolving way consumers find their vendors.
This month the Internet search engine conglomerate hosted two events entitled “Virginia Get Your Business Online” to help demystify the idea that getting online is a difficult and costly process for small businesses, said Scott Levitan, marketing director for Google.
Google worked with local partners to design the program, which can be found online at VirginiaGetOnline.com. The program gives Virginia businesses the tools to build a website for free as well as find new customers, Levitan said.
Nearly all consumers look online for products and services, yet 44 percent of Virginia businesses don’t have a website, he said. The business owners recognize that a web presence is important, but they hold back out of fear of how to build a website, he said. Google is launching the initiative to show that websites can be built quickly and for little start-up cost.
Matt Faircloth, with Berg Faircloth Investment Advisors in Leesburg, attended the Google event in Manassas Sept. 20 not to have them build his company’s website, but so he could learn to bolster his website’s presence on Google searches. Faircloth recently joined his family-owned accounting firm that has been open for nearly 50 years. No matter how firmly planted the company is in the local area, Faircloth believes his company’s online presence needs to expand, he said.
Google provided more than $1 billion in economic activity to nearly 40,000 Virginia businesses last year. Faircloth hopes to become a bigger piece of that pie through search engine optimization techniques. Google representatives gave him a checklist of things he could do to make his company’s website appear more frequently in potential customers web searches.
He learned he must use keywords such as “accounting firm” and “tax” while keeping his website’s content fresh or by starting a blog.
“It used to be that companies would have to go out and find their customers,” he said. “Whereas now customers are searching for you, so its good [to know SEO practices].”
Small businesses recognize the importance of getting online but think it takes a lot of time and a lot of resources. Levitan encourages business owners to get online where the entire offering that was given at the workshops is there to help business owners looking to launch or improve their websites.
“Google is built around consumers and people who use our products,” he said. “Being there makes the web better and is better for us. We would like to see every business succeed.”