Google comes to Cd'A

By BRIAN WALKER

Staff Writer

COEUR d'ALENE — Colin Hayes has been wanting a stronger online presence to market his portrait art.

So when technology giant Google landed at The Coeur d'Alene Resort on Monday for a free workshop to help local small businesses get there, the illustrator bit at the opportunity.

"Since I work from home, I want to get online so my business shows up on search engines," Hayes said. "Most of my business has been word of mouth and referrals."

Hayes admits he's a novice when it comes to technology, so being around experts and with other business owners in the same boat helped relieve pressure.

"I'm more of an analogue person, so this (technology) can be really confusing," he said, adding he was going to read a handbook given out at the workshop to move ahead with a business development plan.

Whitney Cox, Google's marketing manager for the Get Your Business Online (GYBO) team, said her company came to Coeur d'Alene with the urging of Jim Hobart, co-owner of Alpaca Direct in Hayden.

Earlier this year Hobart testified in the U.S. Senate on the challenges and opportunities of small businesses in rural America. He shared his experience as a small-business owner in North Idaho and how he and his wife transformed their daughter's 4H project with pet alpacas into a thriving "Click and Mortar business offering more than 3,000 products and serving more than 100,000 customers in 30 countries.

Area chambers of commerce and the University of Idaho also played a role in having the event here, Cox said.

"They know a lot of small-business owners that this could help, so we came out," Cox said.

Cox said Google has put on free workshops across the country, but this was its first time in Coeur d'Alene.

"It was time," she said.

Cox said Google understands small businesses are the economic growth engine of America.

"It is our duty to teach them how to take advantage of an online presence," she said. "When a small business can update their Google search and update that themselves, it makes our data quality much better. So this is a win-win."

Hayes said the workshop helped him realize how he can get the word out about his work while setting a ceiling on this promotional budget.

"The workshop helped me realize that I'm not alone in catching up with the technology side of things," he said. "They also laid it out nicely so I don't have to do it all at once. I can focus on one task and build in that because it can all be overwhelming."