By Meg Peters
Review Co-Editor
Many residents and business owners already know that Orion Township is on ‘the map,? but are’they’on it?
A new partnership between Google and Orion Township is making this happen for local businesses.
Both Orion Township and the Orion Area Chamber of Commerce have partnered with Google’s Get Your Business Online program to help promote small businesses on the internet.
So far, 472 businesses in Orion Township have used this free service, simply by signing up at’www.beta.gybo.com/mi/orion-township. Not only are they given free exposure by Google, each business who signs up receives their own website address to facilitate community connections, business growth and local economic strength.
According to the BCG Report, The Connected World, businesses that are online grow 40 percent faster than businesses that aren’t.
Not only this, but it’s easier for local residents to shop locally. According to the Civic Economic Survey of Independent Businesses, money that is spent locally is four times more likely to be reinvested back into the community it is spent.
Orion Township Supervisor Chris Barnett liked the sound of that when he attended a conference earlier this year in Washington D.C. where he connected with Google representatives.
‘It’s an excellent way to get our businesses connected,? he said. ‘It is geared towards small businesses but larger businesses can apply too. It could be anything, from ‘Joe’s Computer Shop? working out of his house to larger anchor businesses in the community. And it’s free.?
Tune into Barnett’s State of the Township Address?8 a.m. March 25’at the Orion Center for more information, or simply ‘Google? the initiative ‘Let’s Put Our Cities on the Map.?