Get Your Business Online City Challenge

Dear Mayors,

The web is where people go to find things. Ninety-seven percent of Americans who use the Internet—pretty much all of us—look online for local goods and services: that special place to eat tonight, that last-minute appointment for a haircut, someone to come quickly to fix that leak. Businesses need to be where their customers are. In 2013, that’s online.

Yet, more than half of all U.S. small businesses do not have a website. Many of those businesses are completely invisible in the one place people are looking for them—on the web. That’s over 15 million businesses that can’t be found online.

The impact of being online is huge. Over the next 3 years, businesses that make use of the web are expected to grow 40% faster and are twice as likely to create jobs. With small businesses creating two-thirds of all new jobs, the potential impact of getting these businesses online is enormous.

We have seen this impact firsthand as businesses throughout the country get online and succeed on the web. Since July 2011, Google’s Get Your Business Online program has made it fast, easy and free for any business to get online. Businesses get a website, a custom domain name and web hosting—all free for a year. To date, over 135,000 businesses have gotten online through the program. If put side by side, these businesses would make up a Main Street stretching a third of the way across the country. Their stories of success have shown us that getting online may perhaps be the fastest and easiest thing a business can do to grow.

You can help in a big way. Encourage all of your community’s small business owners to get online. Spread the word to their families, friends and customers. Your leadership can ensure that every business in your community is succeeding on the web.

Google and The United States Conference of Mayors want to help. We have come together to launch the Get Your Business Online City Challenge. The City Challenge gives you tools and resources to champion the cause of getting small businesses in your community online and growing—tools that make it easy for you to spread the message and resources for businesses to get online. Participation is free for businesses and free for cities.

Working together, we can build a future where every business is succeeding on the web. A future of stronger businesses building stronger communities.

Let’s get businesses online.

Tom Cochran, CEO and Executive Director The United States Conference of Mayors

4

Send Them Chicago: Local Business Thrives in the Windy City

Small business owner discovers the power of a website to attract new customers.

When longtime Chicago lover and resident Melodie Bishop heard about Google’s Illinois Get Your Business Online event, she jumped at the opportunity to turn her hobby into a full-time business. After eighteen years of creating Chicago-themed gift baskets for friends and family, Melodie launched Send Them Chicago, www.sendthemchicago.com, as a full-time venture in the summer of 2012.

Melodie has lived in Chicago for nearly two decades and has always been an ardent fan of the city’s food, sites and people. She collects items from local artisans and food producers and creates gift baskets featuring Chicago’s finest. From “My Kind of Romance” baskets with chocolate, wine and suggested romantic strolls, to the “Hometown Favorites” basket with iconic Chicago sports team memorabilia, the baskets can be custom ordered for special visitors or shipped to someone missing the city.

Since launching her website, Melodie has seen a 90% increase in inquiries and converted 80% of those inquiries into new customers. “The website was easy to set up and has really helped me turn Send Them Chicago into a thriving business,” says Melodie.

With the site up and running, Melodie has plans to expand its capabilities to include online ordering. Eventually, she would like to open a brick-and-mortar store and continue to share her love for the city of Chicago with visitors, locals and anyone with a hankering for something only the Windy City can provide.

“The website was easy to set up and has really helped

me turn Send Them Chicago into a

thriving business.” Melodie Bishop

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PurposeEstablished in 2011, Get Your Business Online is a Google-led program dedicated to driving economic growth by providing small businesses the tools and resources to get online and succeed online. Businesses that are online grow faster and are twice as likely to create jobs.

The Get Your Business Online program has made it fast, easy and free for any business to get online. Businesses get a website, a custom domain name and web hosting—all free for a year. To date, the Get Your Business Online program has launched in all 50 states and helped over 135,000 businesses to get online.

www.gybo.com

City ChallengeThe Get Your Business Online City Challenge, in partnership with The United States Conference of Mayors, honors city governments for championing local businesses in their communities and encouraging them to make the most of the web. Stronger businesses build stronger communities.

The Get Your Business Online City Challenge will award three cities—a small, medium and large city. Winners will be selected by an independent panel of judges, and the winning cities will be announced in June 2014 at the 82nd Annual Meeting in Dallas, Texas.

The Get Your Business Online program is free for cities and free for businesses to participate.

Businesses that can be found online are growing faster.

Over the next three years, businesses that make use

of the web expect to grow 40% faster than those that don’t.

Source: BCG Report, “The Connected World: The $4.2 Trillion Opportunity,” March 2012.

6

A Texas Mother Uses the Internet to Grow Her Business

Garment Exchange sees a 250% increase in sales after creating her website in one afternoon.

Marilyn Caskey knew she needed a website for her store, but thought it would be too expensive. Then one day, she heard about Google’s Texas Get Your Business Online event down the street. She walked in, took the packet home and created her website, www.garmentexchangetx.com, in fifteen minutes. “I could not believe how easy it was,” Marilyn says.

The next Saturday she experienced a sales increase of 250% from the Saturday before. She asked people how they found her. Their reply? The Internet.

The website provided other advantages besides pure exposure—it allowed people to learn about her business without having to make a phone call. Everything they needed to know, from hours of operation to how a consignment works, was all online. Marilyn’s only regret is that she didn’t know about GYBO sooner: “I wish I would have known about this at the very beginning because this was all free and I could really just do it all on my own.”

Since starting her website, Marilyn has noticed a 40% increase in sales, allowing her to hire another employee and freeing up time to focus on further growth. “Now I can spend more of my time marketing my business.”

“I could not believe how easy it was.”

Marilyn Caskey

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Get StartedTo get started, sign up for the Mayor City Challenge at www.gybo.com/city-challenge and commit to spreading the word about your city’s Get Your Business Online initiative.

The first step is easy. Provide contact information for you or a member of your team, so that we can keep in touch with one person responsible for showing your progress and reporting in over the course of the challenge. Second, identify which steps your office is capable of taking to announce your participation and sharing the challenge with businesses in your city.

This may include announcing your participation on your website and social media, creating a video or radio PSA, or holding an event with a local business that got online.

To help with your efforts, we will provide you with the following:

• Customized logo for your city initiative

• Press release to distribute to local news outlets

• Social media toolkit including sharegraphics

• Scripts for developing radio or video PSAs on the importance of getting local businesses online

• Feature on www.gybo.com/city-challenge and state websites as a participating city and mayor

• Collateral and giveaways with customized logo

Get RecognizedWe appreciate your hard work and want to recognize these efforts in a way that will help your city’s businesses succeed. We encourage you to share updates of the work you do in your community so we can highlight them on our website at www.gybo.com/city-challenge on an ongoing basis.

At any point during the challenge, submit a short write-up, along with links and photos, to www.gybo.com/city-challenge- checkin. We will continue to provide additional information and tips throughout the challenge via email based on your success so far. We may be in touch individually with further questions on the material you submit, or to clarify any aspect of your participation to ensure we’re able to provide you with the resources you need to be successful.

Select stories and updates will be highlighted on the www.gybo.com/city-challenge website as well as in U.S. MAYOR Newspaper, usmayors.org, and on The United States Conference of Mayors’ Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ channels.

8

Vermont Beekeeper Turns Hobby into Buzzworthy Business Through its Website

Green Mountain Bee Farm reaches customers in 25 states after the launch of its website and increases sales by 500%.

Nestled in the foothills of Vermont’s northern Champlain Valley, Green Mountain Bee Farm is a family-owned and operated business that’s creating a buzz. Mike Willard, a landscape architect by profession, took up beekeeping a few years ago with his wife, Nicole. What began as a hobby ultimately evolved into a home-based business. In 2009, Mike and Nicole started Green Mountain Bee Farm, www.greenmountainbeefarm.com, which now sells locally raised Vermont Queens (bees), award-winning wildflower honey and beeswax-based lotion bars and lip balm.

A few years after launching the business, Mike and Nicole felt that they had a strong enough local presence to start examining the market opportunities beyond Vermont. Until then, the Vermont Beekeeper’s Association had been the couple’s primary marketing channel. If they were going to tap a broader customer base, they realized they would need a website. Mike heard about Google’s Vermont Get Your Business Online event, where he learned how to design Green Mountain’s website.

After publishing their website, the company’s exposure increased tremendously. “Since we launched our site in August 2011, people across 25 states have visited our site, and we’re getting orders from all over the country.” And business couldn’t be better. Their lotion bars and lip balm are selling at two campus stores at the local university. “Our website gives us more credibility and has helped us get the attention of commercial retailers like the University of Vermont,” says Mike. “It’s an essential tool for us.”

Today, Green Mountain Bee Farm has increased its sales by 500%. There has been such an overwhelming demand for their honey products after getting online, Mike and Nicole plan to increase production by around 200% in 2013. The couple now has plans to make beekeeping their full-time business.

“Since we launched our site in August

2011, people across 25 states have visited

our site, and we’re getting orders from all

over the country.” Mike Willard

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FinalistsIn addition, The United States Conference of Mayors will select a panel of judges who will evaluate and award three mayors who go above and beyond with this cause and make a significant impact on their community’s small businesses with the “City Challenge Prize.” Judges will evaluate the activities of mayors and their cities to get businesses online, based on their efforts.

Award-winning mayors and their cities will receive:

• A customized plaque for public display, as a symbol of the city’s exemplary vision and leadership

• Recognition of city leadership for their outstanding achievements during the 82nd Annual Meeting of The United States Conference of Mayors 82nd Annual Meeting in Dallas, Texas, in June 2014

• Permission to use the Get Your Business Online City Challenge Winners logo

• Press release for winning cities, as well as a local media campaign by the The United States Conference of Mayors and Google to publicize the cities’ achievements

• Publication in U.S. MAYOR (bi-monthly news publication), on the The United States Conference of Mayors website and on the Get Your Business Online website

• Assistance in planning and conducting a local ceremony in which the Get Your Business Online City Challenge Award will be presented again to the winning cities by representatives of The United States Conference of Mayors and Google

• Technology prize package valued at $50,000, featuring Google products (for example, Chromebooks, based on availability)

EligibilityThe Get Your Business Online City Challenge is open to all members of The United States Conference of Mayors. Three mayors and their cities will be awarded, including a small, a medium and a large city.

• Small city: Population of 30,000–75,000

• Medium city: Population of 75,000–250,000

• Large city: Population of 250,000 or greater

JudgingJudging will be conducted by an independent panel of two former USCM mayors and one non-governmental representative identified by The United States Conference of Mayors and approved by Google.

Evaluation CriteriaThe panel of judges will review the actions and efforts taken by cities to help businesses get online. They will evaluate the activities based on reach, impact, creativity, commitment and replicability.

• Reach—Wide promotion of program and scalable solutions to reach businesses who are not online

• Impact—Stories of success and impact on businesses and the community

• Creativity—Innovative initiatives to inspire and help small businesses make the most of the web

• Commitment—Long-term commitment and investments to help small businesses get online and succeed online

• Replicability—Best practices for sharing with other cities to replicate programs

Note: Google is actively promoting the Get Your Business Online program at the national and state level and will continue to do so during the City Challenge. This means that some of the central Get Your Business Online promotional activities may occur in some of your cities. These activities led by Google will not be included in the evaluation process.

Timeline• June 2013: Sign-ups open on June 21, 2013, at the

81nd Annual Meeting of The United States Conference of Mayors 81st Annual Meeting in Las Vegas, Nevada

• April 2014: Sign-ups close

• June 2014: Awards announced at the 82nd Annual Meeting of The United States Conference 82nd Annual Meeting of Mayors in Dallas, Texas

Terms & ConditionsAll participant cities are subject to the terms and conditions outlined at www.gybo.com/city-challenge-terms.

ContactDavid Burns The United States Conference of Mayors (202) 861-6765 dburns@usmayors.org

Or email us at: citychallenge@gybo.com

10

Detroit Entrepreneur Gives Her Business a Makeover By Getting Online

Local hair and makeup artist attracts 50% more clients through her website.

Young entrepreneur Christine Fitzpatrick has not only transformed faces around the country, she’s also transformed her business. The 25-year-old hair and makeup artist has been making over Michiganders since 2005. After years of cutting and coloring hair in a salon, Christine was ready to branch out and start her own beauty business. She started doing hair and makeup for photo shoots and weddings through word of mouth, but was looking for a way to reach a wider audience.

She decided to get online to attract more customers. After researching websites, she discovered Google’s Michigan Get Your Business Online program that was offering a free Intuit website. Within a matter of days, Christine launched her first website, www.christinefitzpatrick.com. “I’m not great with computers, but this made me feel like a pro,” says Christine. “Intuit is very user-friendly and overall it was a wonderful experience.”

After launching the website in November 2011, Christine has increased her clientele by 50% and has secured more high-profile jobs through her website. “I am now the makeup artist for the host of TLC’s Randy to the Rescue,” says Christine. “When I applied, I included a link to my website, so they could see all my work. If I hadn’t provided a website, there’s no way I could’ve gotten that job.” Christine has also attracted clients from all over the country.

Christine now has the freedom to work part-time at the salon and devote the majority of her time to her growing business. She says, “By getting online, I was able to follow my dream and pursue a career that I truly love.”

“By getting online, I was able to follow

my dream and pursue a career that I truly love.”

Christine Fitzpatrick

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Join us at: www.gybo.com/city-challenge

“One of the best ways we can help small businesses and the economy is to help Austin businesses increase their

visibility online. This enables them to find new customers and sell more products and services.”

Mayor Lee Leffingwell Austin, Texas

“Today’s business climate is increasingly competitive and small businesses more than ever need the right tools to compete. Louisville Get Your Business Online is an exciting opportunity

for Louisville small businesses to grow with the help of the web. Helping Louisville small businesses grow and hire is one of my

top priorities, and this is an extension of that effort.“Mayor Greg Fisher

Louisville, Kentucky

“Small businesses are the lifeblood of Mesa’s economy and should have access to every resource to increase their connection with consumers. Having a website and online presence is a necessity

for every small business. Mesa Get Your Business Online will help small businesses strengthen our economy by giving them the tools

to expand their business and create more jobs.”Mayor Scott Smith

Mesa, Arizona

www.gybo.com/city-challenge

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