Google famously got its start in 1995 at Stanford University when two college students, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, met, “disagreed about nearly everything” and the following year started a partnership that revolutionized the internet.
Their dorm project resulted in a search engine named “Backrub” that was designed to rate the importance of individual pages on the world wide web, according to the Google website.
From that small beginning, Backrub, later renamed Google, grew into a digital giant, a business colossus and a verb, “Google.”
Local businesses have an opportunity to learn how to boost their digital presence from speaker G.A. Bartick from 7:30-9:30 a.m. on Sept. 7 at the Lakewood Ranch Golf and Country Club, 7601 Legacy Blvd., Lakewood Ranch.
The program is being brought to the area by excelerate, McClatchy’s digital marketing agency, and the Lakewood Ranch Business Alliance, said Darren Haimer, general manager of the Bradenton Herald and a member of the Business Alliance’s communications and technology committee.
“We are excited about this program,” Haimer said. “We already have 130 people registered, and the maximum attendance is 200.”
It’s a real value-added program and all businesses have to do is provide their URL.
Heather Kasten, executive director, Lakewood Ranch Business Alliance
Heather Kasten, executive director of the Business Alliance, called Google “a force to be reckoned with,” and said that the seminar will provide information to businesses on how to move to the top of search engine results.
“It’s a real value-added program and all businesses have to do is provide their URL,” she said. “We opened it up to the community at large as a way to bring people together. It’s a win-win for all our businesses.”
Excelerate, a Premier Google Partner, identifies itself as “a team of digital archaeologists and explorers, digging through business and audience data to discover” clients’ goals and their potential customers.
“With information in hand, we build custom marketing plans relying on our expertise in tactics such as search engine optimization, branded video production, social media management, programmatic advertising and content creation for blogs or native advertising,” excelerate says on its web site.
To register for the program, call 941-745-7006 or email jhatley@bradenton.com.
For more information about excelerate, visit excelerateddigital.com. For more information about the Business Alliance, visit lwrba.org.