The program has existed for a year and helped over 80 local businesses get online

ATASCADERO — Last year, the Atascadero Chamber of Commerce received grants from San Luis Obispo County for $197,000. The Chamber took the money and sent it back out into the community through their Get Your Business Online program, which helps local businesses create and maintain websites. The current grants will cover costs for two to three years.  

“As far as grants, we pretty much assess the county, we see the need, and then we write our grant proposal up,” said Jose Guadarrama, the program coordinator for the Get Your Business Online program. “At the moment, we do our best to attempt to pursue any grants that support our vision and our program so we can go out there and support the businesses that need that assistance. At the moment, it’s been great. It’s successfully employed myself, for example, to support this program, run it, and support our businesses.”

The grants went directly to the Chamber in support of the program, which has gone to help get over 80 local businesses set up with websites through Guadarrama. The program helps businesses not only in Atascadero but also throughout North County.

“We had noticed that several of our members were joining the Chamber of Commerce, and when we went to enter their information in our database, they didn’t have a website, but they would have a Facebook page, and their Facebook page would have their menu and their hours of operation,” added Atascadero Chamber President and CEO Josh Cross. “We realized that these are all smart, intelligent people, but they just haven’t been trained in digital literacy and don’t know how to do a website. That was the reason for creating this program, to get those Facebook page businesses and pair them with a real website so they can get found on Google because that is just so important.”

In the last year, Guadarrama has met with and had consultations with over 100 local businesses. Through the Get Your Business Online program, the Chamber has been able to generate over 80 websites tailored to each company and its needs.

“We create a step-by-step process,” Guadarrama said. “Step One: sign up. Step Two: We have a meeting, a consultation, and a nice conversation, and then we can intake the entire notes of the business. Their summary, their story, what they’re offering, any menus, services, or products that they’re selling. Then, from there, we generate a website for them. Then we do a follow-up meeting; we do website maintenance training also. So we can empower the individual to learn how to manage and operate their website.”

The Get Your Business Online program has shown people of all ages just how easy it is to create and manage a website with solid results for themselves and their companies. The program is super user-friendly, consumer-friendly and comes complete with visual tools and techniques to support the people using it.

“Honestly, one of the best testimonies I have received was, ‘Wow, I can do this.’ And to me, that was the most important sentence that I heard because it was a good review, and it turned out to be someone who knew little digital literacy [before],” Guadarrama said.

Not only is the program open to the North County, but Cross also added that the Chamber is happy to do websites across San Luis Obispo County and that they have a goal of getting at least 100 new websites online this year.

“This program is making a huge economic impact on the business community in North County,” stated Cross. “Getting a business online is the first step to success. Getting found, getting customers through the door, and getting them interested in your menu.”

It was also announced this week that The Atascadero Chamber of Commerce won Top Chamber Program of the Year for Get Your Business Online at the Western Association of Chamber Executives (WACE) in Anaheim.

To find out more about Get Your Business Online go to: getyourbusinessonline.co.