Google India opted for local partners, to develop the program, which would provide the Indian businesses with the required tools and resources to establish a website, find new customers, and grow their businesses. Google India has taken the initiative to get Indian small and medium businesses online.
Talking about the procedure, one has to visit the www.indiagetonline.in and accordingly use the facilities to set up their business websites in a few easy steps. They even offer a quick, easy and free tool to set up and host a website.
The company claims that their aim is to help 500,000 small medium businesses in India to get online in next three years through this program. The company has handed the task of hosting the domains on the shoulders of their partner HostGator.
The company notifies that once a user enters their details and the domain is alloted to the user, they can logon to www.indiagetonline.in and make use of the tool, which would help them in building a free, easy-to-build website. HostGator would even power the website for one year. As the users are in India, the company is giving them a customized domain .in name and free tools, training and resources to succeed online.
The stats noted that in India, there are approximately 8 million small medium businesses, out of which only 5% do have a website. With the initiative, one would note that the program would bridge the information gap, which exists online. This is mainly because of the lack of presence of local Indian businesses on the Internet.
In India, people usually are under the impression that getting online is not only time-consuming and costly, but is too complex even. These are the major roadblocks in letting many SMBs from taking the first step towards building an online presence. To make things easier, HostGator would even offer free support in creating, hosting and managing the website for a period of one year without any cost. One can call at their toll free call centers 1800-266-3000 to get help on any issue.
Google India blogspot detailed the facilities one would get with this initiative. The list includes:
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Free: It’s free to set up your website. The domain is free for 1 year, and it’s free to maintain your website for 12 months.
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Quick: The website tool takes 15 minutes from sitting down to being found online
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Easy: You don’t need to be a tech whiz to get started. All you need to start is your address, phone number, TAN/CIN or PAN to verify you as a business
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The website is simple because customers are looking for simple information online
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Gives you your own .in domain
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Other features include photos/logos, integration with social media platforms
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You get a Google Apps account – free personalised email ids
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If you want to make your website work harder, you’ll have access to steady stream of free tips and tools from the Getting Indian Business Online team and a free coupon of worth Rs. 2500 INR advertising trial from Google AdWords to help promote your site.
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After the first year, SMBs can choose to pay a monthly pay-as-you-go to maintain their website using hostgator.
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At the end of the first year, they’ll have to pay a nominal charge if they wish to renew their domain name. They can cancel their website at any time.
A promotional video for the same can be viewed below:
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Technically, the support comes from Federation of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), popularly known as FISME. FISME, the non-profit organization will work with Google India to help SMBs get online through direct customer outreach and events.