Google UK has announced the launch of a 12-month program across Wales aimed to get business online. Within the program, Google will provide businesses with 1,000 free consultations and e-skills workshops to help them set up a website or attract more audience to an existing one.

Google’s research has shown that as many as 40% of Welsh SMEs do not currently have a website and only 33% are e-commerce enabled. 84% of small businesses in Wales use the internet in some way, but the UK figure stands at almost 90%.

Google has launched  a dedicated web site and will tour the country with ‘Juice Bar’ offering free one-to-one lessons on how make business online more efficient. The first event will be held in Cardiff on March 6. To launch the campaign, Google UK has partnered with the Welsh Government to identify digital agencies across the Welsh counties who will deliver workshops to every region.

Dan Cobley, managing director of Google UK, said to Wales Online: “The internet provides a barrierless platform for businesses to grow, so we are excited about coming to Wales for a year-long series of events to show business owners how easily this can be done.

“We will be working alongside the Welsh Government and local partners to ensure our time spent with local entrepreneurs will make a real difference to their businesses and, in turn, the Welsh economy in creating jobs through digital means. We will run thousands of free consultations to boost local business across four regions of Wales. Starting in Cardiff in March, we aim to arm local enterprises with e-skills and tools so that they can really thrive.”

This is the first Google’s campaign of such kind—offline and first visit of the company to Wales. In November 2011, Google launched the similar online program in India.