STATE — New Ventures Maine is launching an online, on-demand course, Grow Your Business Online, which is designed to provide small business owners the tools, skills, and mentorship to build a successful digital presence. This course is offered at no charge to participants and is made possible through Empower by GoDaddy in partnership with New Ventures Maine.
Grow Your Business Online will be offered beginning March 1 through an online design and development platform. Entrepreneurs will complete lessons at their own pace on topics that focus on their company’s brand, determining the most effective website type, creating captivating content, getting to the top of web search results, creating and building a website, making the social media/website connection, using email marketing to grow sales, and understanding cybersecurity to keep customer information safe.
Entrepreneurs who participate in the class receive free tools:
- domain name and hosting package
- web builder (software) access
- branded email address
- email marketing solution
- SEO for a two-year term
Participants engage in remote orientations, working/lab sessions, and drop-in hours with a skilled web developer, which are strategically scheduled for participating entrepreneurs to network and troubleshoot in a remote group environment as they develop their online presence. Additional mentoring opportunities are built into the program via a partnership with MicroMentor by Mercy Corps.
“A digital presence is a necessity for today’s businesses. This course will help business owners create an online presence, from foundational content through complete development of a functional website,” notes Karin Petrin, Business Advisor and Microenterprise Specialist for New Ventures Maine and one of the facilitators of the workshops. “We are excited to bring this free program and connection to global digital marketing experts to Maine’s rural entrepreneurs.”
Pre-registration is required and accessible online at bit.ly/GYBO-2022. For more information and to register, contact Karin Petrin at 768-9468 or karin.petrin@maine.edu. There is no fee for the training.
New Ventures Maine is a statewide community economic development program of the University of Maine at Augusta, University of Maine System. New Ventures Maine creates an empowering environment for Maine people to define and achieve their career, financial, and small business goals. Through tuition-free classes and individual coaching, they help people find good jobs, start or return to college, launch small businesses, manage their money, and build their assets. All interactive classes and workshops are currently online. Individual appointments are available by video conference or phone. For more information on classes and other programs and services offered by New Ventures Maine, visit us online: newventuresmaine.org.
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