The Atascadero Chamber of Commerce launched the "Get your Business Online!" program last year.
Since then, officials with the Atacadero Chamber of Commerce have said they have supported 131 businesses in northern San Luis Obispo County by creating and launching customized websites tailored to their needs.
Steven Beck is the owner of a small family-owned vineyard called Loma Seca Vineyards in Paso Robles.
He was introduced to the Get Your Business Online! program by the chamber.
“I have to sort of wear a lot of hats,” said Beck. The vineyard hat, the winery hat, the tasting room hat, and one of the hats that didn't fit so well was the make-your-own website hat, which I had never done before.”
The chamber received a grant of under $200,000 last year to fund the program.
Jose Guadarrama, the program's coordinator, educates local businesses on how to build a website for free.
Beck says he was happy about the services he received from the program.
“They offered to help improve it and send someone out,” said Beck. “They did some drone footage for me and I put the whole thing together basically. ... We're super happy at no charge. Just, 'Hey, we're happy to do this for you.'”
Guadarrama says the program has already saved local businesses in the area $100,000 in upfront costs based on consultations and the creation of a website for free.
However, the program uses website builders that businesses will need to subscribe to keep their domain.
“That's part of the process of the program, is we have them fill out an intake form and then obviously we make sure that they agree upon," said Guadarrama. "'Hey, you're going to have to end up paying for a domain, you're going to have to pay for a subscription to host your domain and you're hosting your site.'"
Guadarrama says some subscription prices may vary between $10 to $20 a month.
“There are website builders nowadays, everywhere, there are all kinds and they start from around $10 to $15, $20 or so monthly,” said Guadarrama. “Wix has been one of my favorite website builders because it's very user-friendly and it actually empowers the client because they see how easy it is to just make a quick modification.”
Lisa Renne Falk, owner and artist of Glasshead Studio in Atascadero, says she’s also benefitted from the free program.
“I think it's a great service, especially because I had to teach myself how to build a website,” said Falk. “I'm on Squarespace and there's a lot of things that Jose [Guadarrama] knew more about Squarespace and how to optimize things than I did, and I had kind of a higher learning curve, and I felt like he had a better knowledge of a lot of things and kind of updated the look of it and I'm very happy with it.”
For more information about the Get your Business Online program, click here.
