COLUMBUS – A new partnership between the office of Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted and tech giant Google will make it easier for entrepreneurs to start small businesses in the state and establish an online presence.
Husted and the technology giant on Thursday introduced a program that will help small businesses access free tools and connect with community resources from Google to promote their new services and products.
Google’s “Let’s Put Our Cities on the Map” program will give new businesses information on how they can build a website, reserve a free domain name, have their office locations registered with Google’s map and search features and get advice from industry experts, said Rob Biederman, head of Google’s Government and Public Affairs for the Midwest region.
Husted also plans to lower the cost of registering a new business with the state by 21 percent.
“We have changed the mindset of the office from a regulatory role to a customer service-driven mission. Instead of processing paperwork and enforcing rules, we try to help people comply with the law, help them get their business started and give them more tools to be successful,” he said.
He cited improvements to business services as one of the main reasons new business filings have set new records each of the past five years.
More than 67,000 new businesses had filed documents with Husted’s office through August, about 3,600 more than what reported at the same point in 2014, Husted said.