Internet giant Google has teamed up with accounting software provider MYOB to provide tens of thousands of small businesses with a free website.
The offer is designed to help out small businesses get online if struggling to do it themselves – and broaden the SME customer base of Google and MYOB.
MYOB says that after the first year, businesses that take up the offer will need to pay $5 a month to maintain their website with MYOB’s Atlas service.
And after the first two years, businesses will have to pay $30 to renew their .com.au domain name for a further two years.
Google head of local business Claire Hatton said in a statement there are 12,000 Google searches for builders every day, but less than 25% of construction and trade companies actually use a website.
“We want to address this gap by removing common barriers like cost and time to set up a website. We also want to make it easier for Australians to find the information they’re looking for online,” she said.
MYOB chief Tim Reed said the two companies’ goal will be to sign up 50,000 businesses with a website this year.
Patrick Stafford is a freelance journalist and a former deputy editor of SmartCompany.
