Ecomomic & Business Development

Economic & Business Development

Digital Ready Businesses

Watch this introduction to online presence strategies

Purdue Extension Community Development’s Digital Ready initiative advances the capacity of small businesses to strengthen their knowledge and application of broadband strategies.

Through interactive workshops and online courses led by a statewide team of Purdue trainers, participants learn about the importance of the digital economy, how to incorporate digital strategies into the work place and build technical knowledge.

Overview

Expanding Your Business’s Online Presence

Recent studies highlight the economic benefits of broadband adoption by small businesses. Since most new jobs in Indiana are created by existing businesses with less than 100 employees, establishing and expanding their online presence is critical to remain competitive.

Narrowing the digital divide requires efforts to strengthen digital literacy, enhance the awareness of digital tools and encourage adoption by consumers and workers. Our basic/intermediate level educational products help advance broadband applications by entrepreneurs and small businesses.

Over 95 percent of participants indicated they increased their knowledge of digital strategies through our program. Here’s what happened after a participant applied the strategies from Social Media Plan & Content to their business: “The information was very helpful in how to market on each platform. We have a long way to go but at least now have a plan in place! Since our workshop I started concentrating on Facebook and Instagram with the help of my daughter. She started to post daily even though our content/backdrop was not exactly how we wanted it we have played along tweaking as we go. We grew Facebook from 1547 to 2079 and Instagram 676 to 2013 so far!

View our calendar for a list of scheduled workshops. If you do not see one offered in your county, let us know which workshops you are interested in here and an Extension educator from the county will get back to you about availability of face-to-face workshops. We are in the process of expanding workshops to other counties in Indiana and will begin offering the courses online, in addition to in-person.

Before participating in a workshop, we recommend you view a short Introduction to Online Presence Strategies video and take these two online courses: Internet Basics and Internet Safety.

Workshop Prerequisites

Small Business Workshops

  • Claiming Your Bubble: Map platforms, review sites and more!
  • Planning Your Website: Do you know what a good website takes?
  • Introduction to Email Marketing: Learn how to reach customers’ inboxes
  • Email Marketing Analytics: Evaluate your email reach
  • Social Media Introduction & Platforms: What is it and where is it?
  • Social Media Plan & Content: How do I use it for my business?
  • Social Media Analytics and Marketing: Evaluate your reach and paid marketing
  • Business Intelligence: Adopt artificial intelligence to maximize business value

Resources

Useful Publications and Studies

Online Resources

Team

Name Job Title Email
Bo Beaulieu Director, Purdue Center for Regional Development ljb@purdue.edu
Roberto Gallardo Extension Community and Regional Economics Specialist robertog@purdue.edu
Lindsey Bloos City of Madison Chamber lbloos@madisonindiana.com
Cheryl Casselman Extension Educator, Sullivan County ccassel@purdue.edu
Emily Del Real Program Coordinator edelreal@purdue.edu
Mary Foell Extension Educator, LaPorte County mfoell@purdue.edu
Cheyanne Geideman Marketing & Communications Coordinator cgeidema@purdue.edu
Tanya Hall Regional Extension Educator tjhall@purdue.edu
Nicholas Held Extension Educator, Spencer County nheld@purdue.edu
Bill Horan Extension Educator, Wells County horan@purdue.edu
Dee Kleier Extension Educator, Franklin County dkleier@purdue.edu
Annette Lawler Extension Educator, Harrison County aclawler@purdue.edu
Tamara Ogle Regional Extension Educator togle@purdue.edu
George Okantey Extension Educator, Marion County okantey@purdue.edu
Jeff Pell Extension Educator, Hendricks County jpell@purdue.edu 
Krista Pullen Extension Educator, Cass County kristapullen@purdue.edu
Janet Reed Extension Educator, Lake County reedjm@purdue.edu
Julie Rigrish Regional Coordinator, Purdue Center for Regional Development jrigrish@purdue.edu
Hans Schmitz Extension Educator, Posey County hschmitz@purdue.edu
Ron Shields Open Book Digital Curriculum, Rush County rlshields@outlook.com
Heather Strohm Community Development Regional Educator strohmh@purdue.edu
Jose Valtierra Extension Educator, Lake County jvaltier@purdue.edu
Crystal Van Pelt Extension Educator, Steuben County cvanpelt@purdue.edu
Kristi Whitacre Extension Educator, Vigo County kwhitacr@purdue.edu

Contact

To learn more about Digital Ready, contact:

Roberto Gallardo

Roberto Gallardo

Community & Regional Economics Specialist

robertog@purdue.edu
765-494-7273

Emily Del Real

Emily Del Real

Program Coordinator

edelreal@purdue.edu
765-494-7273