Google comes to Hartford, teaching businesses how to broaden their online presence

Google came to Hartford Monday, offering lessons to business owners, nonprofit groups and individuals who want to reach more customers, learn about visitors to their websites and other digital marketing skills. It’s part of the tech company’s “Grow With Google” initiative reaching out to businesses and individuals looking to improve their online savvy.

The internet gives business a worldwide audience, presenting owners and managers with opportunities to reach customers far beyond their front doors. But business owners and others must pick up new marketing skills to promote their business and learn details about customer tastes and demographics.

Google representatives are set to travel Wednesday to New Haven and New London Friday.

Here are some of the people who came to learn more about Google:

Herb Glick

Advertising in the digital era is more difficult than ever, prompting businessman Herb Glick to attend the Google training session at the Hartford Public Library.

Not long ago — 1987, to be exact, when Glick bought Yush Sign & Display Co. Inc., an East Hartford company that designs and makes signs — a business owner bought advertising from the local phone company for space in the Yellow Pages.

“It was easy. You didn’t have to visit it. This…you have to visit it every day. It’s a chore,” Glick said, referring to his website.

Glick, president of the company, spent about 30 minutes learning about search engine optimization, search engine marketing and similar web-based lessons

“I wasn’t getting as many calls as I’d like,” he said of his web-based ad. “I have to put more time into it. Where do I spend my time? Respond to calls? Marketing?”

The nature of his business makes his work difficult, he said. For example, he said, there is no simple answer to the question of cost. With 169 municipalities in Connecticut, scores of sign regulations scramble easy answers about cost. Placement and size also are factors.

“It’s a tough business. That’s why I’m here,” Glick said.

Jennifer Cassidy

Jennifer Cassidy works with Business for Downtown Hartford to help about 40 businesses bring in more customers and boost commerce in the Capital City.

She spent about 15 minutes with a Google trainer for tips on how to promote business and help owners and managers get a presence on Google search. One business, for example, doesn’t come up on Google search, she said, severely restricting its online presence.

“I think there are some opportunities to get businesses in shape,” she said.

Chakai Duany

Chakai Duany a Hartford resident working for a master’s degree in business analytics at Central Connecticut State University, attended a session on how to promote businesses on Google maps to reach more customers.

Duany, 33, of Hartford, said she would sit in on the “Reach Customers Online With Google” workshop that includes information on how to get businesses on Google maps to extend their reach.

She’s created her own website that serves as a platform for a blog, “forevermyhair,” on hair care and hair products.

Stephanie Hughes and Zac Camner

Stephanie Hughes and Zac Camner of the accounting firm blumshapiro attended a session on how to reach customers online.

“We want to better understand how people use our website,” Hughes said.

They also want to gauge what prospective customers are looking for when they do a search for accounting firms and figure out characteristics or possible clients. “They’re not just people clicking on an ad,” Camner said.

Customers also fill out forms describing services they’re seeking and how they found blumshapiro’s website. All of that provides valuable marketing information that needs to be interpreted. The lessons are important for their own sake, too.

“It’s always good to continue our education,” Camner said.

Stephen Singer can be reached at ssinger@courant.com.