Google India has announced its plan to get 50,000 small medium businesses in Gujarat online by the end of 2014. The initiative is part of Google’s national campaign titled “India, get your business online” which offers free web sites and hosting to small medium business in India. The campaign is aimed at bringing down the barrier that prevents small and medium businesses to get on the Internet.
Giving a headstart to this project, Google has also unveiled the details of a special project, wherein Google India and HostGator went to popular traditional markets in Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara and Rajkot and built web sites for 5,000 small businesses making them accessible to the world. In addition to creating the websites, Google India also created Google maps listings and Google+ business pages for these businesses. All these 5,000 businesses can also use 24X7 customer support to manage their web sites and get free online advertising credit that can be used on Google search to promote their business online.
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This initiative was announced by Suryanarayana K, Head – SMB Sales, Google India, who said, “SMEs are a key driver for economic growth of India, but very few businesses have been able to utilize the benefits of the internet effectively. Gujarat houses the largest number of SMEs in the country. These can benefit greatly by having a website for their businesses which will open up new markets for them. Google’s India Get Your Business Online initiative aims to boost the SME ecosystem by giving them a simple, effective and free platform to get their business online. We aim to get 50,000 SMEs online, which will dramatically change the business landscape and opportunities for SMEs in Gujarat.”
Amongst the businesses that were covered in the project, Google India team built web sites for traditional businesses operating out of popular local markets in Ahmedabad like the Manek Chowk, Teen Darwaza, Kabootar Khanna and Lathi Bazaar. In Surat, the project covered the Millennium market, Radha Krishnan market (textile market), In Rajkot – Soni bazaar and Sant Kabir Road which is famous for jewellery stores, and in Vadodara – Lehri Pura Darwaja – a market that focusses on traditional artifacts.
In addition to this initiative, Google will host several workshops through its 200 Google partners in Gujarat, who will provide local support to SMEs and help them to get online and grow their business through online marketing. The campaign will also be supported by an aggressive marketing campaign that will focus on improving the awareness on the benefits of Internet for small and medium businesses.
