The City of Elizabethton has announced a new partnership that will help increase the online presence for local small businesses.

The city is now working with Google’s Get Your Business Online Program. Businesses that sign up with the program are listed on Google Maps.

“The program is an initiative by Google to make it fast, easy, and free for businesses to get their information online,” Elizabethton’s Director of Planning and Development Jon Hartman said. “This is a win-win program for the city and for local businesses. When small, local businesses in Elizabethton do well, the city benefits by creating more jobs, creating new and expanding businesses, keeping more money in our local economy, and, of course, generating more sales tax dollars for the city.”

According to the Get Your Business Online website, 4 out of 5 people use search engines to find local businesses, while only 37 percent of businesses have claimed a local business listing on the search engine.

“A program like this makes it easier for a small city like us to help get our businesses listed on Google Maps without a lot of man-power and time,” Hartman said. “The premise is when people come in, even if they are already familiar with the area, they will do an Internet search for the business they are looking for. If they business is not on the Internet, then people may never know they exist. Making sure our small businesses can be found by visitors, tourists, and even locals helps keep those spending dollars here in Elizabethton rather than going to Johnson City, Bristol, or Boone.”

The city will be hosting a series of workshops for local businesses who are interested in getting their information listed on Google Maps. Workshops will be held on June 16, from 5-6 p.m., and 18, from 8-9 a.m. at the Elizabethton/Carter County Public Library and on June 19 from 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m at the Elizabethton Chamber of Commerce. A booth will also be setup at the Covered Bridge Festival for businesses who would like to see if their business information is listed online.

“The goal is to get as many of our local businesses listed on Google maps as possible,” Hartman said.

More information is available on the city’s website www.elizabethton.org or the Get Your Business Online website www.GYBO.com.