Google Launches New Website Offering For Small Businesses In California

It’s a Palm Desert business that is going to the dogs.

For the owner of “The Pet Spaw” that is a good thing.

But one thing the business doesn’t have is a website.

“I’m not a real computer-savvy person, so i think that is what has been holding me back,” said Wendy Presti, the owner of The Pet Spaw.

For Presti and other small business owners like her, Google has just launched “California Get Your Business Online”.

It offers businesses a custom domain name, web hosting, and a simple website building tool, all free for the first year.

After that, its $2 a month for the domain name, and $5 dollars a month for hosting.

Presti says she’d like to try it.

“I think it is very important, and we’ve been looking at creating a new website, so this will be exciting for us,” said Presti.

Why do small businesses need websites?

Google says as many as 97 percent of consumers search for products and services online.

Those consumers include Gita Belmont of Palm Desert, a client at The Pet Spaw.

“I use the Internet like the Yellow Pages, and I don’t even use the phone book anymore,” said Belmont.

But despite the fact that just about everyone searches for products and services online, Google says of all California businesses with 25 or fewer employees, only 38 percent have websites.

The head of the Palm Desert Chamber of Commerce said that just won’t cut it.

“They must be on the web, they must have some type of presence that tells who they are, what they’re selling and who their customer is,” said Barbara deBoom, the CEO of the Palm Desert Chamber.

So now, thanks to Google, there are fewer reasons for small businesses not to be online.

Whatever it takes to make it in this dog eat dog world.

To learn more about the new “Get Your Business Online” program, check out the website www.GYBO.com.