Published On:Friday, March 19, 2010

By CHESTER ROBARDS

Business Reporter

crobards@tribunemedia.net

A GOOGLE UK manager yesterday said Bahamian small businesses can leverage the power of the Internet at low cost to expand their market presence.

Jon Cross, speaking at an event hosted by the Bahamas Internet Association (BIA), said Google was a great advertising driver that offered a low-cost solution through its Google Adwords portal. He is a senior account manager at Google's UK head office.

According to Mr Cross, businesses can create their own budget with Adwords, which is far below traditional advertising options. He said Google assists lots of small businesses.

Google's Adwords website explains that businesses can set up a nominal daily budget, with costs for each click on an ad posted on a site as low as $0.10.

"You're charged only if someone clicks on your ad," the site said.

Mr Cross said companies do not necessarily have to sell a product or do business transactions online to have a website or benefit from e-commerce, but needed an important portal to make themselves visible. He added that there were billions of people online.

"A business can be sourced online, but business doesn't have to be done online," Mr Cross said. He insisted that websites and online advertising can be beneficial to small businesses, large businesses, even one-man operations.

Mr Cross' audience was enamoured with the $100 billion company's management structure, which drove it to the top of the list of best places to work for two years in succession.

Many of the audience members suggested Bahamian businesses could benefit by taking a page out of Google's management manual.

Google maintains one of the most innovative business structures, leaving employees free to express themselves and foster their creativity through an extremely relaxed work environment. At its California headquarters, employees can find places to nap throughout the day, pets can be brought to work and posh, stiff office furniture is replaced with cushy, relaxing bean bag chairs and sofas.

Mr Cross admitted that he favours playing table tennis at the office. While Google's hiring process is a rigorous one that often requires months of vetting, Mr Cross said the company's employee turnover was extremely low. This is credited to Google pushing the belief that "people who are happier at work are more productive" to the extreme.