Tag Archives: small business

Wisconsin Cheese Mart makes a comeback—online and on the block

In 2003, Wisconsin Cheese Mart was up for sale and in danger of closing. When Ken McNulty, an Air Force veteran and native Wisconsinite, heard the news, he and his family decided to take a big risk. They purchased the small shop, which has been a Milwaukee cornerstone since 1938, and set out to revitalize it.


At the time, only a fraction of sales were online. After investing in their online presence, Wisconsin Cheese Mart now generates over 75 percent of its business through online sales and provides cheese lovers across the United States with the largest selection of Wisconsin cheese in the world.


Watch the video above to learn more about how Wisconsin Cheese Mart collaborates with local farmers and factories, and connects with customers on the web.

Digital Coaches help Black and Latino businesses grow online

Editor’s Note: Today’s guest post comes from JinJa Birkenbeuel, the CEO of Birk Creative, a creative marketing and branding agency.

For the last six months, I’ve been one of eight minority small business owners around the U.S. piloting Google’s Digital Coach program, which offers free workshops for small businesses on how to use Google’s tools for digital marketing. We’re focusing this pilot in cities with historically large communities of Black and Latino small business owners: Atlanta, Austin, Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, and Washington, D.C.

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I run a creative agency in Chicago called Birk Creative, which I founded in 1997 as a graphic design and print shop–and a way to promote the country/hip-hop band, Utah Carol, that I formed with my husband, Grant. Over the last 20 years, I’ve grown the business to advise other small businesses–and now large corporate clients—on all forms of digital marketing, from designing web sites and online ads to writing social media posts to IT support. With the help of AdWords and Google Analytics in particular, I've expanded from a local shop to a full-service agency.

I’ve long wanted to share what I’ve learned over the years with other minority and women business owners. As a Digital Coach, I offer free, open-to-the-public digital marketing lessons (including tutorials from Google’s Get Your Business Online program) and share my own experience on how AdWords, Analytics and other Google tools have helped me solve business challenges.  


Data shows that the total number of Black, Latino, and other minority-owned businesses is growing, and that U.S. Latino small businesses are growing at higher rates than any other U.S. small businesses. Yet Black and Latino-owned businesses are less likely to have websites and less likely to be online than other groups. Our goal with these pilot workshops is to help small businesses like mine participate more fully in the digital economy as they grow.


Since Google launched the pilot in late May, we’ve welcomed more than 5,000 business founders and owners to our Digital Coach workshops around the U.S. We host these events at locations that are familiar to our communities, from the Watts Public Library in Los Angeles to beauty salons in Detroit.


I’ve coached a variety of business owners, including a nail artist, a life coach, a children’s book author and a photo-booth rental company. And there's one thing they have in common: They’re small, independent businesses or sole proprietorships in Black and Latino communities, all at the point in their growth when they know they can be doing more.


As my Los Angeles Digital Coaches colleague Roberto Martinez says, “Working as a Coach has been transformational. We’re not just presenting or teaching; we are working in tandem with the business owners to better understand how to get ahead of the market.” 

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    Program attendees and Googlers at an Austin Coaches program. Austin Digital Coach Vicky Sepulveda is at far right.

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    Coaches at Google campus in Mountain View, with pilot program leaders. Back row, left to right: Chris Genteel, Google’s Head of Business & Community Inclusion; Coaches JinJa Birkenbeuel, Shelly Bell, Vicente Pimienta, Roberto Martinez; Front row, left to right, Akiva Lewis, Google’s Customer Diversity Lead; Coaches Vicky Sepulveda and Katrina Turnbow; Google Digital Coaches pilot program managers Aisha Taylor and Nicole Herrera; and Coaches Angelina Darrisaw and Justin Dawkins

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    JinJa with children’s book author Valerie Reynolds at  Digital Coaches workshop in Chicago.

After six months of meeting so many business owners from a variety of backgrounds (beyond Black and Latino) at my Digital Coach workshops, I’m inspired by them. Though they come to the Digital Coaching workshops to learn from us, our communities across the U.S. are benefiting from their contributions and expertise. As a Digital Coach, I’m honored to be playing a small part to help their businesses grow, so that all of our vibrant neighborhoods can grow, too.


If you’re interested in finding a workshop near you and to participate in our ongoing pilot in 2018, please visit https://accelerate.withgoogle.com/coaches


(Photo credit for image at top: Steve Capers Photography)

Local businesses bring in new customers with Posts on Google

Seven out of ten customers visit a business or make a purchase based on info they found online1. With Posts on Google, businesses can share these timely updates right where people find your business on Search and Maps.

Creative posts help a new restaurant become a local hit

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Igor Chang founded HAO Restaurant and Bar to bring Asian dishes to his beachside neighborhood in João Pessoa, Brazil. HAO keeps its doors open until 3AM, drawing customers for dinner and a night on the town.

Igor uses Google Posts to get more reservations by sharing discounts on sushi, photos of cocktail specials, and links to videos of HAO’s live jazz band.

In just three months, Igor's posts received more than 5,000 views. He’s noticed an increase in reservations and often hears customers mention his latest posts.

Mobile-friendly Posts bring visitors to a thrilling destination

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Ramoji Film City is the backdrop for some of India’s biggest films, but it's also a destination itself, where tourists can explore film sets, stay in luxury hotels, and see live performances.

When T Prasad joined the team at Ramoji Film City, he discovered that 80% of their customers found their business info on mobile devices. So he started sharing mobile-friendly posts with photos of Ramoji’s amusement park and other attractions.

After one month of posting on Google, Prasad saw a 20% increase in website pageviews. He also noticed a jump in calls from people who are excited to visit Ramoji Film City.

A candy shop satisfies their community’s sweet tooth

Raul Vega discovered that Mexican families in his Los Angeles neighborhood wanted to share the candies they loved as kids with their own children in the U.S. So he opened Dulceria Dulfi Mexican Candy Store, which carries sweets from De La Rosa triple-layer marzipan and peanut butter candies to Vero Manitas hand-shaped lollipops.

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Raul uses Posts to share popular candies, seasonal specials and new arrivals with his customers online.

Since he started posting this summer, Raul has seen an average of seven  new customers each week. Those customers make a big difference for his business. Posts also help him track which candies get the most attention, so he can update future orders for his shop.

Posting on Google is a way to share relevant, fresh content with people who search for businesses like yours online. Start posting and reach new customers through your Google listing today.

1Google/Ipsos Connect, “Benefits of a Complete Google My Business Listing,” October 2016. A total of N=15,904 adults 18-64, Google search or maps users, recent category purchasers (Bakery/Sweet shop, Auto, Spa/Hairdresser, Clothing, Bookstore/Logistics) in India, Australia, Germany, Turkey and the U.S.

AdWords Express helps small businesses grow online in 14 new countries

AdWords Express was created in 2011 to make advertising on Google accessible to businesses owners without advanced online advertising skills or the resources to hire an expert. AdWords Express has since expanded and, as of this month, is available in 14 new countries and 10 new languages. This expansion follows a recent launch that allows your business to prioritize ad goals, whether those are customer calls, visits to your store, or actions to your website.

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AdWords Express launched in these 14 countries. 

Gourmet treats become a local hit in Ukraine with AdWords Express

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Earlier this year, Daryna Pletnyova was looking for a fruit bouquet for her father’s birthday but couldn’t find a local shop in Kiev that could make one. After buying the supplies and arranging her own fruit bouquet, she decided she loved arranging so much that she started Tasty Bouquets, which makes custom bouquets out of gourmet treats, like sausage.

Daryna heard about AdWords Express at a small business event and decided to give it a try. She had used online advertising tools before but found they didn’t drive actual sales. “With AdWords Express though, I only spent 15 to 20 minutes setting up three ads,” says Daryna, “and I got my first calls from customers the next day.”

Advertisers like Daryna are getting results based on their advertising goal. Since Daryna’s goal is to receive calls, AdWords Express optimizes her ads to deliver more calls, not just clicks. “Now my phone is always ringing, and I’m selling 2-3 bouquets every day,” she says.

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Daryna used Google’s free website builder to create a landing page for her ads

The web isn’t just a place for businesses with big budgets or advertising expertise. With AdWords Express now available in 42 countries and 41 languages, we’re excited to help more small businesses across the world reach new customers online.


You can start advertising on Google today by signing up here.

How Greek businesses are going digital with Grow Greek Tourism Online

When the recession hit Greece, Ntina Denaxa and her family faced tough times. They had to leave Athens and move to her husband’s hometown of Messaria, a small village in Santorini, using the last of their savings to renovate abandoned houses into a small hotel. Soon after, a neighbor introduced her to an adviser who was in the village showing local businesses how to promote themselves online, as part of the Grow Greek Tourism Online program.

In partnership with the Ministry of Tourism, the Ministry of Education, the Greek National Tourism Organization (EOT) and the Greek Tourism Confederation (SETE), three years ago we created the program to offer free training on digital skills to people working in the tourism sector. Since then, we’ve visited more than 80 cities and 37 universities, and created a free online training​ platform, helping 70,000 people of all ages and backgrounds, like Ntina, to grow their business or career. Since the training, Ntina has used her new digital skills to promote the hotel internationally and attract more guests: “Now we’re welcoming people from all over the world and when they come, they eat in local restaurants and buy local products. It helps everyone,” she says. “I’m proud of what we’ve built.” And Ntina is just one example—67% of the businesses confirmed they had concrete business results following our training.

There are even more opportunities out there. According to a recent study by Oxford Economics on the “The Impact of Online Content on European Tourism,” increasing tourism-related online content would increase Greece’s GDP by 3.9%, and generate over 176,000 new jobs.

We’ll continue to work with our partners  to expand our programs further by giving new opportunities to Greek businesses and students.

How Greek businesses are going digital with Grow Greek Tourism Online

When the recession hit Greece, Ntina Denaxa and her family faced tough times. They had to leave Athens and move to her husband’s hometown of Messaria, a small village in Santorini, using the last of their savings to renovate abandoned houses into a small hotel. Soon after, a neighbor introduced her to an adviser who was in the village showing local businesses how to promote themselves online, as part of the Grow Greek Tourism Online program.

In partnership with the Ministry of Tourism, the Ministry of Education, the Greek National Tourism Organization (EOT) and the Greek Tourism Confederation (SETE), three years ago we created the program to offer free training on digital skills to people working in the tourism sector. Since then, we’ve visited more than 80 cities and 37 universities, and created a free online training​ platform, helping 70,000 people of all ages and backgrounds, like Ntina, to grow their business or career. Since the training, Ntina has used her new digital skills to promote the hotel internationally and attract more guests: “Now we’re welcoming people from all over the world and when they come, they eat in local restaurants and buy local products. It helps everyone,” she says. “I’m proud of what we’ve built.” And Ntina is just one example—67% of the businesses confirmed they had concrete business results following our training.

There are even more opportunities out there. According to a recent study by Oxford Economics on the “The Impact of Online Content on European Tourism,” increasing tourism-related online content would increase Greece’s GDP by 3.9%, and generate over 176,000 new jobs.

We’ll continue to work with our partners  to expand our programs further by giving new opportunities to Greek businesses and students.

The makings of a smart cookie

Now that the holidays are in full swing, you’ve probably already dipped your hand into the cookie jar. You may have a favorite time-tested holiday cookie recipe, but this year we decided to mix up our seasonal baking with two new ingredients: a local bakery in Pittsburgh and our Google AI technology.

Over the past year, a small research team at Google has been experimenting with a new technology for experimental design. To demonstrate what this technology could do, our team came up with a real-world challenge: designing the best possible chocolate chip cookies using a given set of ingredients. Adding to the allure of this project was the fact that our team works out of Google’s Pittsburgh office, which was once an old Nabisco factory.

Using a technique called “Bayesian Optimization,” the team stepped away from their computers and rolled their sleeves up in the kitchen. First, we set a bunch of (metaphorical) knobs—in this case, the ingredients in the cookie recipe, i.e., type of chocolate; quantity of sugar, flour, vanilla, etc. The ingredients provide enough unique variables to manipulate and measure, and the recipe is easy to replicate. Our system guessed at a first recipe to try. We baked it, and our eager taste-testers—Googlers ready and willing to sacrifice for science by eating the cookies—tasted it and gave it a numerical score relative to store-bought cookie samples. We fed that rating back into the system, which learned from the rating and adjusted those “knobs” to create a new recipe. We did this dozens of times—baking, rating, and feeding it back in for a new recipe—and pretty soon the system got much better at creating tasty recipes.

After coming up with a really good recipe within Google, we wanted to see what an expert could do with our “smart cookie.” So Chef John, our lead chef in the office teaching kitchen, introduced the team to Jeanette Harris of the Gluten Free Goat Bakery & Cafe. Jeanette was diagnosed with Celiac over 10 years ago and she turned her passion for baking into an opportunity to offer treats to those who usually can’t partake. “When John came to me with the idea of creating an AI-generated cookie I didn’t know what to expect,” says Jeanette. “I run a small local bakery and take great care to ensure I’m providing safe, quality ingredients to my customers. But once the team took the time to explain what they were trying to do, I was all in!”

Working out of the Goat Bakery kitchen, Chef John and Jeanette mixed and matched some unusual ingredients like cardamom and szechuan pepper, using the measurements provided by Google’s system. Two months and 59 test batches later, the culinary duo came up with a new take on the classic chocolate chip cookie: The Chocolate Chip and Cardamom Cookie.

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“This was such a fun experiment! Being able to create something entirely new and different, with the help of AI, was so exciting and makes me wonder what other unique recipe concepts I can develop for my customers,” Jeanette says.

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    Jeanette Harris, John Karbowski, Daniel Golovin and Greg Kochanski present the Chocolate Chip and Cardamom "Smart" Cookie at the Gluten Free Goat Bakery.
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    Left: Jeanette Harris does a live cooking demo.
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    John Karbowski, Jeanette Harris and Daniel Golovin sample the tasty treat.
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    Demo station at Gluten Free Goat Bakery.

The smart cookie experiment is a taste of what’s possible with AI. We hope it gets you thinking about what kinds of things you can bake up with it.

Turn customers into advocates with #SmallThanks

The holiday season is a time to be grateful for friends, family and community. For me, that gratitude includes the small businesses who are a part of my everyday life in California. From my friends at Zombie Runner whose post-run coffee is the best part of my workout, to the folks at Tin-Pot Creamery who make it impossible to give up ice cream; these small businesses make my day-to-day life better and add heart to our community, and for that, I am thankful. I firmly believe when we support the businesses we love, we make the places we live better.


I also spend much of my time at work thinking about how to help small businesses grow using the web. Our products play a pivotal role in helping people and small businesses connect with each other.  As this year’s holiday shopping season and Small Business Saturday approach us, we’re doing something extra to help small businesses stand out and succeed, both online and in their neighborhoods.


We’ve created the #SmallThanks Hub to help you get free, customized marketing materials to promote your business. Simply search for your business name on the site, and we’ll automatically create posters, social media posts, window clings, stickers and more—based on the reviews and local love from your customers on Google. And now, it is available nationally in U.S. to any verified Google listing with an address. (Don’t yet have a verified listing? Signing up is free and only takes a few minutes. Start here.)  


Reviews from your fans are like digital thank you notes, and they’re one of the first things people notice about your business in search results. A few positive small thanks can mean the difference between a potential customer choosing your business or going elsewhere. 71 percent of consumers say that positive reviews in search results make them more likely to use that the business, and listings with positive reviews see 360 percent higher clicks to their site.

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Show why your customers love you with posters in your store, and posts on social media.

Here are a few tips on how to use the materials from the #SmallThanks Hub to gain new customers and turn existing ones into advocates.

  1. Personalize your assets: Choose the reviews you want to feature, and select from several layouts, colors and styles to match your business’s aesthetics. You can create as many versions as you want.
  2. Show why your customers love you: Print and hang your customized posters in a visible area in your store, and share the social media versions with #SmallThanks to join in the conversation and show what makes you unique. Post the flyers around your neighborhood where potential customers might see them. 
  3. Ask customers to support you with reviews: Some customers may not remember to leave you a review, or realize the impact that it can have, so why not give them a little nudge? Place stickers in your window, receipt booklets, point-of-sale machine or anywhere else it can be prominently displayed to remind them to support you with a review. 
  4. Remind people to search for you: Post the “Find us on Google” stickers in your store and on your social media channels with #SmallThanks hashtag to tell potential customers how to connect with you.
  5. Keep your Google listing up to date: The holiday season usually means different hours and special offerings. Let customers know when you’ll be open using the special hours feature, and promote holiday specials with Local Posts. 
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Encourage customers to support you on Google by placing these in visible spots.

Happy holidays and best wishes from all of us at Google.

Businesses from Brazil to India build free websites with Google

Having a website helps local businesses reach new, interested customers, and when those business link to a website on their Google listing, they get 25-35% more clicks (according to internal research). But building a website takes time, and it can feel like a distraction from the work small business owners do to turn their dreams into success stories—whether that’s managing a hotel, perfecting their secret recipe, or opening a second store one day. Our new website builder lets business owners, who are new to creating a website, set up a professional site in under 10 minutes, for free.

Around the globe, more than one million small business owners have already used their first websites from Google to connect with new customers and grow.

How a local getaway found a global audience

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Ever since he was 17, Glaucinei Andrade Duarte dreamed of running a hotel that highlights the beauty of his hometown, Armação dos Búzios, Brazil. So he worked as a concierge, took hotel management courses, and eventually opened Pousada Atlantica—an independently owned boutique hotel east of Rio de Janeiro.

Glaucinei knew that a website would help his business grow, but he didn’t have the time to learn web design or the budget to hire a developer. Instead, he tried the free website builder from Google and used custom layouts to create a professional, mobile-ready site. Within 10 minutes, this first-time developer was uploading pictures of his pousada’s incredible beachfront and publishing them for the world to see.

In the short time Pousada Atlantica has been online, Glaucinei’s website has reached nearly 2,000 pageviews, helping him connect with hundreds of potential customers. With the attention its new site has earned, Pousada Atlantica has booked weekends at 80% capacity from August to December.

A couple's passion for Malaysian cuisine, halfway around the world

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While living in Malaysia, Anang and Morgan Mehta had a vision of bringing the bold flavors and healthy ingredients of their country’s cuisine to the U.S. Their vision became a reality when they moved to San Antonio, Texas and started Thyme for Lunch.

Growing a customer base was slow at first, because their restaurant is located off the beaten path. But when Anang and Morgan built their website with Google and completed their Google listing, people started finding them online.

By featuring photos of their delicious meals and a simple call button on their site, Thyme for Lunch is reaching new local customers every day. Since July, they’ve seen more than 1,500 pageviews, and are now bringing their signature meals to a second location.

Local attention for an eye care specialist 

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Sanjay Doshi noticed a lack of high-quality eye care in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. That’s why he founded Shree Optical, a local optician’s office that focuses on personalized care. At first, Sanjay relied on word-of-mouth to bring in customers, but he knew that having a website would help him reach more people.


As an expert optician, Sanjay had little experience building an online presence, but that didn’t stop him. He used Google’s free website builder to create Shree Optical’s entire site from his phone.


In the past month, Shree Optical’s website has reached more than 1,000 people online. “Customers have come from a distance of even 4-5 kilometers to our shop,” said Sanjay. With this increase in business, he is hoping to open two new branches in the next two years.


Join more than one million business owners who are reaching new customers with their websites from Google. Sign up with Google My Business for free and publish your website in minutes.

Taking your business global just got easier with Market Finder

Thanks to global e-commerce, there have never been so many opportunities available to small and medium enterprises (SMEs). However, there are also challenges in the global market. Reports show that though exports provide an average of GBP £287,000 (the equivalent of about $25,000) in extra revenue to UK businesses, SME owners who haven’t exported to a new market still don’t know where to start.


SME owners are experts when it comes to local customers, but are less knowledgeable about finding new markets and everything that entails: culture, buying trends, export legalities, and payment options for their product in other countries. This is a key problem; our 2017 consumer survey shows that UK SMEs cite international marketing and operational barriers as the biggest barriers to success abroad.


Today, we’re announcing Market Finder, a new tool that helps businesses identify new customers, plan for success, and grow their export sales online. It also offers freely available guides, videos, and tips—making it as easy as possible for businesses to take the first steps into the export market.


Step 1: Finding the best markets for your business: Once you enter your website into the Market Finder tool, it will suggest which export markets are best for your product or service. It shows the number of monthly Google searches for your product as well as a potential market’s gross domestic product. Market Finder analyzes consumer internet use, demographics and disposable income, giving clear indicators and valuable insights into a market’s growth potential.


Step 2: Preparing your business for a global market: Market Finder sets you up for international success by getting you export-ready. Extensive localization tools, guides and tips show how to communicate effectively to a new market, whether it’s language, customs or preferred payment methods. Logistics resources outline the rules of international delivery and transportation for your chosen market. Payment guides explore the many payment options available globally—and pinpoint which ones are best for each market.


Step 3: Getting your business in front of customers: Market Finder provides training resources on digital marketing to ensure that users looking for your business can find it. For instance, it shows how to create AdWords campaigns that are effective and geared to your chosen market through a series of accessible case studies, guides and videos.


Market Finder was launched at a Google event today, where Greg Hands, Minister of State for Trade Policy, representatives from the London School of Economics, the UK Federation of Small Businesses,and Google discussed how Market Finder facilitates exporting products and services to new regions for small businesses.


Greg Hands emphasized the importance of digital technology in reaching global customers: “Today, 3.7 billion people are online around the globe, so every business, no matter how small, should be going digital to reach new customers around the world. The new Market Finder tool is just one part of the huge range of support we offer as an international economic department, so British companies can seize on exporting opportunities and make the UK a global trading nation.”


Chris McDonald Enterprise and Innovation Chair at the Federation of Small Businesses, spoke about the need for a stronger focus on exports in the UK: "Digital innovation is blurring the distinction between goods and services. By fully exploiting new digital technologies such as Google’s Markets Finder, more small firms can compete effectively in the global market, with no business too small to export."