How to get your business online?

What started as a recipe blog about four years ago soon became a bakery house that now supplies goodies to various cafes in Banguluru and takes bulk orders for parties and corporate events. 

Monika Manchanda was a regular IT professional like many of us. However, what made her different was her secret desire for experiments that she indulged in the kitchen. Another trait that distinguished her was her ability to take a bold step which many of us can think of. She quit her job one fine day to give time to her hobby or passion. Thus Sin-A-Mon was formed, says Monika, whose love for cuisines and conversations have earned her quite a reputation in the connoisseurs circles.

What kept her hooked to it was the feedback her readers gave from the blogs that she wrote about her trials and errors. Starting it at 2011 from her home wasn't that much a hurdle. Even sales and promotion happened through word of mouth references. But the challenge came when she wanted to look further than friends and family and take it to the next level. That's when she came to know about 'India Get Your Business Online' an initiative by the internet giant Google, through a friend who suggested that the digital medium could be a powerful tool to scout for work. "Setting up the website was a piece of cake since the interface is easy to use and has great options. Having a website has helped me promote my business and reach out to a lot more people. It has also helped build my credibility in the cafe/restaurant space. I feel confident and have big plans for the next year," says Monika.

Slow rate of going online amongst Indian SMEs
SMEs are responsible for providing 45% of, India's employment, close to 20% of Indian GDP. While it is a huge sector yet it is largely underserved. The Indian SME market is not a Do It Yourself market, it is a Do It For Me market, comments Jagdeesh Bindra, CEO, Getit Infosystems. They want businesses to help them become more discoverable and generate mode leads. Speaking on similar lines is Bhavin Turakhia, CEO BigRock. Bhavin feels that the major challenge as to why SMEs deter from building their own website is that they feel it is a complicated process. Our solutions have made the entire process look simple so that theses small enterprises become more discoverable and generate more leads, adds Turakhia.

Acting as accelerators
Before 2011, Indian SME sector lacked web presence. Statistics show that only 40,000 such businesses had some sort of web presence. In 2011, Google launched the India, Get your Business Online program. This aim of this initiative was to break down the barriers that stop small businesses from getting online by offering a quick, easy and free tool to set up and host a website. Google started the project to get at least 500,000 Indian businesses online with a website that's quick, easy and free to set up - in next three years. Today they have already published - 200,000 websites for SMEs from over 7000 towns in India. Once the SMEs establish their online presence, Google empowers them to find customers, build infrastructure and increase productivity through Google products such as Google AdWords, Analytics, Google+, Google Apps, and YouTube. Google products can help them measure their online marketing efforts which can help improve customer experience and potentially drive more sales. On an average, SMEs with an online presence tend to see revenues grow by 20%.

 

Google has also started two local call centres for SMEs in India to help them understand the key benefits of online advertising. The call center is focused on both outbound and inbound calls and currently offers support in six languages- hindi, english and all four south Indian languages.

For Google, India is a strategic growth market. In the last two years, Google India has raced ahead to become the fastest growing SME market for Google globally. We are looking to significantly enhance the efforts to maximize our reach and educate the Indian SME on the benefits of online advertising. These initiatives are focused on emerging Internet markets and available in other countries, says Sandeep Menon, country head marketing, Google India.

Google does not leave the businesses here. It has more to offer. Once the SMEs establish their online presence, Google empowers them to find customers, build infrastructure and increase productivity through Google products such as Google AdWords, Analytics, Google+, Google Apps, and YouTube. Google products can help them measure their online marketing efforts which can help improve customer experience and potentially drive more sales. On an average, SMEs with an online presence tend to see revenues grow by 20%.

To reach-out to the SMBs and dispel the misconceptions related to building a website, GoDaddy, the world's top platform for small businesses, recently launched the 'Cup of Coffee' campaign in India. The objective of this 3-city campaign was to give a first-hand demonstration to SMEs on how easy it is to build a website, thereby empowering them to establish a web presence. The campaign's theme, Get a Web presence in the time you finish a cup of coffee, exhibited how convenient and fast it is to build a great website, at an affordable cost. However, GoDaddy's association just does not stop with getting customers an online presence. We can help our customers solve problems, harness the Internet and make their businesses successful, says Rajiv Sodhi, MD and VP, Go Daddy India.

Another major player in this space is Big Rock. It's activity is one of the best in the country and is one of the first players to develop this ecosystem. Going online for a business is like electricity and water for a common man. The numbers of small business with a web presence in India is still very small in number. We are trying to help SMEs in creating web presence by giving high touch point solutions. Over the last few years, w e have taken hand on approach in this project, says Shashank Mehrotra, GM and business head, BigRock.

Focusing more on small enterprises rather than medium enterprises is Getit Infomedia. There is no industry-specific selection. As long as it is a small business, we offer our services to them irrespective of their industry or geographical location, says Jaspreet Bindra, CEO, Getit Infomedia. Getit has a pan India presence across 150 cities in the country. Getit Infomedia's mission is to empower small businesses to get discovered in two distinct ways. First, they have a series of internal products like Askme.com and Getit.in. They not only provide SMEs with an opportunity to list, but also help them build websites from a basic e-catalogue website to an e-commerce website. Moreover, they also provide assistance in making the enterprise go on social networking sites like Facebook and become a part of YouTube as well. Secondly, with the help of partners, they help optimise these sites with Google Adwords and other such products to get the websites receive greater exposure. Last but not the least, they also provide assistance in getting SMEs register their domain name to help them go online.

Through our products like Getit.in or Askme.com, we help them get discovered by their end customers who can become leads for him and in turn can grow his business, says Bindra. It follows a premium model for revenue generation where amongst million SMEs being served by Getit, a certain percentage pays for the services provided to them.

Winding Up
With these industry players focusing on the small and medium segment, and not many of them having their names on this space, it seems that these players are helping local information more accessible and approachable. It is causing a win-win situation both for the customers with better traction possibilities and consumers with availability of greater options.