WESST Blog
Get Your Business Online or Expand Your Digital Presence
By Mark Gilboard | December 10, 2020
As we have seen in our experience with the COVID-19 pandemic throughout 2020, it is more and more critical that small businesses have a digital presence. Connecting with customers is increasingly a digital venture – Websites, landing pages, social media, and email marketing have come to the forefront as the primary business activities that an entrepreneur needs to master (or at least explore and understand!) With the help of a generous grant from GoDaddy, we are offering a second year of Website Builder training classes paired with FREE and REDUCED subscription costs for starting and expanding a website using GoDaddy (along with other platforms like WordPress). Using GoDaddy products is not required.
WESST continues its commitment to helping New Mexico small businesses in this time of economic uncertainty in the midst of COVID-19, assisting startups that need to build or grow their online presence, in many cases to help offset the loss of in-person retail shopping, event-based retail, and other enterprises affected by a significant drop in tourism in our state.
We will navigate the new normal by helping entrepreneurs overcome technological barriers to achieve long term financial goals. Through our partnership with GoDaddy and AEO, WESST is proud to present six weeks of programming and instruction called Empower. Empower expands access to digital marketing expertise to business owners from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds by preparing them with skills and information that can help equalize the playing field. Last year, we helped New Mexico residents in Farmington, Las Cruces, Albuquerque, Rio Rancho, Santa Fe and Roswell build and expand their online capabilities. Please join us in this exciting new course offering from WESST, as we start our second year in this highly regarded training program.
A desktop computer, laptop, OR HIGHLY CAPABLE TABLET are required for participation. Course Takes Place Online and virtual training via Zoom – hosted by WESST Albuquerque Women’s Business Center (Video conferencing instructions will be sent to you after you have registered for the class.)
The course has a unique structure and goal – Weekly courses feature an online curriculum, homework and discussions of next steps for participants to take in the week ahead. Classes are participatory, fast-paced, and the class members can build their sites on their own via full access to the training curriculum and two dedicated in-class “labs” with guidance from the instructor.
The goal of the 6-week class is to have participants establish or grow their website into a usable, functional one that accurately reflects and highlights their business, enabling for more sales and marketing activities on the site and through social media and email marketing. See below for class topics and course content areas:
January 14th – Course Introduction and Branding 101
January 21st – eCommerce Quickstart and Web Design Basics
January 28th – Domain Names and Website Building Essentials
February 4th – Writing Content and Web Builder Lab #1
February 11th – Q & A with GoDaddy and Web Builder Lab #2
February 18th – Introduction to Email Marketing and Social Media Marketing
The course is taught by Mark Gilboard, Director of Marketing Strategy and Business Consultant and Trainer at WESST Women’s Business Center in Albuquerque. Mark is also an Instructor at CNM Ingenuity in the Facebook Digital Marketing Certificate Program and is a 17-year veteran of the marketing and advertising industry, having worked for Nielsen, and Clear Channel Outdoor. To register for, please visit the WESST Upcoming Training page.
About the Author
Mark Gilboard
Mark Gilboard joins WESST in 2017 after 16+ years as a marketing and advertising research professional with Nielsen Media Research and Clear Channel Outdoor. He focuses on helping people achieve their entrepreneurial dreams with careful and insightful guidance and enthusiasm. Prior to embarking on his corporate career, Mark taught college courses in Media, and Communications, at both CNM and UNM. He has a Master’s Degree in Communication from UNM and Bachelor’s Degrees in both Rhetoric and Spanish from Bates College, in Lewiston, Maine. Mark believes Albuquerque is a great place to build successful businesses, and an especially great place to start and raise families. He lives in the Ridgecrest area of town with his wife Kristen and two daughters – Anneliese and Nola, plus a bevy of beasts – canine, feline and reptilian.