The Digital Garage from Google an independent evaluation

November 2015

The Digital Garage from Google - an independent evaluation

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The Digital Garage from Google - an independent evaluation

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88% 9% have hired additional staff to manage their digital work

have made changes to the way they run their businesses online

27%

had seen more sales or bookings

80%

say their confidence has increased as a result of attending the Digital Garage

49%

had seen an increase in website visitor numbers

The Digital Garage from Google an independent evaluation

32% had seen an increase in customer numbers

68%

had seen some positive results in sales, bookings, traffic or followers

90%

had made changes to the way they promote their business online

Executive Summary Doing more online is becoming increasingly important for many UK companies, including small and medium-sized businesses. However, many small organisations in particular have yet to develop any form of online presence and many more only make use of digital in a limited way. With this context in mind Google UK created the Digital Garage, with the intention of boosting the online presence and expanding the online customer base of 200,000 small and medium-sized British businesses. The Digital Garage offers workshop presentations and one-to-one ‘mentoring’ sessions from Digital Garage ‘technicians’ and is targeted at businesses with a basic online presence, in order to support them to take the opportunities offered by doing more online. It is now also being rolled out as an online learning platform for small businesses across the company. Overall, immediate feedback from the Digital Garage is highly positive and available data indicates that a significant majority of participants (almost 90%) have made changes to the way that they do business online. Of those who have made changes, 59% would ‘very much’ credit the Digital Garage for inspiring them, and a further 34% would credit the Digital Garage ‘to some extent’. Although it is hard to draw direct causal links from advice and support received to improved outcomes now, a significant proportion of businesses who

The Digital Garage from Google - an independent evaluation

responded to a survey 20 weeks after their visit indicate that they have seen some degree of positive outcome so far, including 49% who have seen an increase in website visitor numbers, 32% who have seen an increase in customer numbers and 27% who have seen more sales or bookings. 80% say their confidence has increased as a result of attending the Digital Garage. Overall 68% of respondents indicated that they had seen some attributable positive impact across these metrics and a further 9% have hired additional staff to build digital capability. Bearing these successes in mind, we offer some concluding remarks on how this work could be built upon to make an even more effective programme.

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Firstly, the wider Digital Garage programme, including the online support, would benefit from incorporating the kind of bespoke and individualised support that appears to have made the ‘physical’ Digital Garage successful so far. Secondly, there is scope to improve the Digital Garage as a skills-sharing and business development space, and to make better use of peer-learning. Finally, a wider programme that targeted those who have yet to make the first steps online, who are more likely to be older companies, would also be a welcome addition.

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Introduction Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) make up the most dynamic, innovative sector of the U.K. economy. SMEs account for 60% of UK private sector employment (15.2 million employees), and the combined annual turnover of SMEs is £1.6 trillion, constituting just under half (47%) of total private sector turnover5. More widely, SMEs have a positive effect on the overall economy: by stimulating innovation; by acting as a competitive spur to existing businesses to increase their productivity; and by making a disproportionately large contribution to job creation4. Supporting SME growth has been a core commitment of successive governments, who have recognised that these businesses often face particular obstacles to growth as a consequence of their size and scope. Where barriers to entry have been identified, policymakers are often keen to address them directly and, in doing so, to boost the capability of smaller businesses to grow. As the Government’s Northern Powerhouse agenda, and its wider programme of devolution to cities and counties, takes on momentum, a key test will be whether or not areas that have recently struggled economically are able to generate additional

growth through increased productivity and rising employment3. Encouraging SME growth will form a core plank of any successful strategy to develop a sustainable and balanced economy across the whole of the country. While additional local powers over business rates, business support and skills funding should allow for city regions and counties to better target support for small organisations, there is also considerable scope to enhance the capabilities of small and medium-sized organisations to do more online – as an increasingly important avenue for growth. This is explored in the section overleaf.

SMEs account for 60% of UK private sector employment

The opportunities of Digital for SMEs

their immediate region, and are likely to have higher revenues and boast higher rates of growth1. Evidence from the UK and overseas suggests that usage of social media has a strong positive impact on financial performance of SMEs as well.

Doing more online is becoming increasingly important for many UK companies, including small businesses.

Overall, then, digital represents an important opportunity for businesses in general, and SMEs in particular. SMEs are likely to be highly ambitious and extending their field of operation is often seen as a key part of growing their business: in the last Small Business Survey, seventy-three per cent of SME employers said that they aimed to grow their business over the next two to three years, of whom 68 per cent indicated that they would aim increase turnover by exploiting new markets6. Doing more online enables them to reach beyond their traditional markets and find new customers, both domestically and internationally11, and as such digital represents an increasingly important field of opportunity for many SMEs – provided that they have the skills and capabilities to make full use of it.

The UK is a world leader in digital business1, and much of this is because of the high digital use of the UK population. The penetration rate across the population as a whole is 86%, with 76% daily users, the highest rate across the G20 nations (ONS, Internet access, households and individuals, 2014). The UK is a forerunner in e-commerce, as well: in 2014, a total of £104bn was spent online, representing annual growth of 14% for the online retail market in the UK2. E-commerce now accounts for just under a quarter (24%) of all retail across the country (ibid). In addition, British people are increasingly likely to use the internet as an important resource for their purchasing decisions, and many businesses are doing much more online to attract their attention. Last year, spending on internet advertising rose almost 11 per cent to £8bn, accounting for half of total spending and reflecting the increasing importance that retailers place on this medium.

(15.2 million employees)

Smaller businesses are particularly likely to benefit from an increased digital presence. SMEs with a strong web presence grow more than twice as quickly as those with minimal or no presence – and create more than twice the number of jobs10. SMEs with a greater internet presence are almost 50% more likely to sell products and services outside of

The Digital Garage from Google - an independent evaluation

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The Digital Garage from Google - an independent evaluation

SMEs with a strong web presence grow more than twice as quickly as those with minimal or no presence - and create more than twice the number of jobs

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SMEs’ use of digital and barriers to growth

Google’s Digital Garage - the story so far

Despite the advantages of using digital to drive growth, a significant majority of SMEs do very little, or nothing at all, online.

In this context, Google UK created the Digital Garage, with the intention of boosting the online presence and expanding the online customer base of 200,000 small and medium-sized British businesses.

Many small businesses, particularly microorganisations, have no online presence. Just under a third (32%) of SMEs do not have a website to promote their goods and services, 55% do not sell goods online and approximately 43% do not use social media6. In general, larger SMEs (in particular those with more than 50 employees) are more likely to be making wider use of the internet: 34% of those with 0-9 employees and 21% of those with 10-49 employees have no website, for example, compared to just 13% of those with 50-250 employees6. This points to a sizeable proportion who are yet to make the first ‘leap’ online. In addition, many more companies could do much more online, and the websites of many small businesses only offer basic information about the company and their activities. The Lloyds Digital Index survey suggests that a significant majority of small organisations haven’t developed the way they use websites and digital beyond entry-level functionality9. Whether an organisation has no online presence, or if it has scope for improvement, skills are an important factor in holding them back from developing. According to one definition, there are 1.2 million SMEs (or 23% of the total population) who still lack ‘basic’ digital skills9, which helps to

The Digital Garage from Google - an independent evaluation

explain why many are reluctant to do much online. Likewise, 75% of small organisations (including small charities as well as SMEs) are not investing in improving digital skills (ibid).

Attitudes also play an important part. Many businesses, particularly those who employ fewer than five employees, are highly likely to view digital as irrelevant to their business (Lloyds Bank, 2015). More widely, digital is not seen as a priority for many: in an international survey of 3,000 SMEs, Microsoft found that SMEs are held back from adopting digital technologies because of a perceived lack of time and resources: 52 percent said they don’t have the resources to train people, whereas 60 percent said they don’t have the resources to implement new technologies and applications13. Overall, it seems that there remains much scope for improving the way that a large proportion of SMEs operate online. Many have yet to develop any form of online presence and many more only make use of digital in a limited way. A lack of skills and knowledge has been highlighted as a key issue but attitudes are also important – many small businesses might simply need a reminder of the potential of digital to grow their business.

Google in the UK has already run several other initiatives aimed at supporting small businesses. Getting British Businesses Online (GBBO), which helped small businesses create their first website and help them understand the opportunities offered by the Internet, and Google Campus based in London where budding entrepreneurs can come together to receive support and advice, as well as collaborate with each other. The Digital Garage represents a further strand of this work, to target businesses with some online presence in order to support them to take the opportunities offered by doing more online. The first Digital Garage was set up in April 2015 as a pop-up space in central Leeds, with a further two created later in the year in Birmingham and Manchester. More Digital Garages will open in 2016. Cities were chosen because internal Google analysis suggested that they have a low penetration of digital skills, despite having a large number of small businesses. There were also over 20 one-off sessions at select locations across the UK, including Belfast, Cheltenham, Caerphilly and Richmond, as part of a wider national ‘tour’.

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The Digital Garage from Google - an independent evaluation

Direct support to small businesses through the Digital Garage took two main forms:

• ‘Masterclass’ presentations, led by

Google UK staff, covering the basic elements of how to ‘Tell your Story online’ (covering website design and content; analytics) and ‘Get new customers online’ (covering search optimisation and online advertising).

• 1 to 1 mentoring sessions with

Digital Garage staff, to discuss the particular needs of individual organisations and receive a digital ‘tune-up’ for their website, online content and social media presence.

In addition, a small team were on site every working day, and the space was designed to be an open ‘walk-in space’ where people were encouraged to spend time, co-work, share ideas and get informal advice. There were also complementary events organised by local partners such as computer science training for students and teachers, sponsored by Google and delivered by Code Club Pro and Raspberry Pi; workshops and networking events from organisations including the FSB, Tech North, Sky, Grazia, Enterprise Nation; and public policy events, such as the launch of the Leeds City Region LEP’s new Growth Service.

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Description of the data

Google recorded a total of 3,127 individuals receiving training in Leeds, during the 31 weeks of the Leeds Garage’s operation, with over 4,660 ‘people sessions’ (where one person attending one masterclass or consultation counts as one people session); and a total of 1,617 individuals receiving training in Birmingham in the first 15 weeks of that Garage’s operation, over a total of 2,521 people sessions.

but accurate numbers for this broader usage and attendance were not collected.

Around three quarters of individuals were trained in the Garages, with the remainder receiving training from Google’s Digital Garage team at other venues and events in each city region (2,454 - 78% - in Leeds; 1,208 - 75% - in Birmingham). Google estimates that hundreds of individuals visited the Garages to work or to attend one of the 120 events held by other organisations in the Digital Garages,

By participating in the Digital Garage, it was hoped that small and medium-sized businesses would become more aware of the potential of digital to develop their business, and that they would acquire more of the digital skills they need to benefit from online activity, allowing them to share in the growth of online markets.

More recently, Google UK has developed an online version of the Digital Garage, featuring a library of video tutorials, which allows users to create a bespoke ‘learning plan’, complete with online assessment, that offers online certification from the Internet Advertising Bureau upon completion.

As part of this exercise, all participants at the workshop presentations and the mentoring sessions were invited to complete a survey (available online and in paper form). IPPR North then emailed all those who indicated that they would be happy to be contacted again with an invitation to complete two additional online surveys: the first at approximately 6 weeks after they completed the original survey; the second at approximately 20 weeks.

The Digital Garage from Google - an independent evaluation

The majority of respondents to the survey were those who attended a one-to-one session – this reflects the fact that these participants were encouraged in completing the survey, whereas participants only attending a training event were left to their own devices.

For the week 20 survey, participants were offered an incentive for completion, in an attempt to reduce the risk of self-selection. Nonetheless, given that the sample is not chosen randomly, we cannot eliminate the possibility that the data is not fully representative. Therefore the following analysis and conclusions should be read in this light. This analysis will be updated with further data in 2016, including an exploration of the effectiveness of the online Digital Garage platform.

Who is using the Digital Garage?

Methodology and data IPPR North were commissioned by Google UK to provide an independent evaluation of the Digital Garage programme.

As of November 2015, we have received 1404 useable responses to the first (week 1) evaluation survey. Of these, 221 were duplicates (i.e. people who completed more than one survey – in these cases the first completed survey was used), leaving 1183 unique responses.

Participants in the Digital Garage are likely to be new companies and/or those already with some form of online presence.

The aim was to capture in as much detail as possible data on the following:

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The profile of organisations using the Digital Garage Their experience of the Digital Garage – what they found most useful

The vast majority of businesses (80%) accessing the Digital Garage are microbusinesses (fewer than ten employees). This is very broadly reflective of the overall population – although we would normally expect a greater proportion of singleemployee businesses (i.e. sole traders). Sole traders are likely to be less ‘digitally mature’9, a fact which may explain their under-representation in the Digital Garage sample, given that participants are likely to have at least a basic digital presence already (as explored below).

Any changes that they made to their online activities following their visit to the Digital Garage Any results that they may have observed as a result of these changes, and the extent to which they would attribute them to the Digital Garage

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The Digital Garage from Google - an independent evaluation

In other areas, however, Digital Garage participants are less reflective of the overall SME population. Firstly, as a whole the organisations that attended were much newer than the national average: just over 25% of respondents to the initial survey had been in existence for less than a year, and a further 25% for three years or less (see below). Nationally, roughly 80% of small businesses have been in existence for more than 5 years. This is also reflected in the age of participants themselves, of whom 40% were under the age of 35. By comparison, most small business employer owners and co-owners in England (so not strictly comparable to Digital Garage participants, who may not have been owners) fall into the 35 to 44 (15%), 45 to 54 (34%) and 55 to 64 (35%) age categories7.

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Who is using the Digital Garage?

The gender breakdown of participants is broadly representative: 43% were female and 56% male – which roughly mirrors the gender composition of SME management (ibid). Secondly, the sectoral balance is different from the national baseline. At the start of 2014, the three largest sectors in terms of number of UK SMEs were Construction (18% of all SMEs), Professional, Scientific and Technical Activities (15%) and Wholesale and Retail (10%). Among DG participants, however, while the latter two were well-represented among DG participants (26% and 19% respectively), there are very few working in construction (2%). Instead, arts and recreation (14%) and education (9%), which account for much smaller proportions of the national population, are well represented.

The Digital Garage from Google - an independent evaluation

Age of business

Finally, and most importantly, whereas just under a third of all SMEs nationally do not have any digital presence (as cited above), the vast majority of DG participants are not ‘new’ to the internet. Instead, almost all of them are looking for ways to get more out of what they already do online, which broadly reflects the ‘target market’ Google identified at the beginning of the programme. Excluding those organisations who have been in business for less than a year (many of whom we might assume would be in the process of developing their online presence), 86% already have a website, and 85% use social media. Just 4% of these respondents indicated that they had neither a website nor a social media presence. Although they may have a basic online presence, however, most have considerable scope for improvement. A sizeable proportion of those with a

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website (42%) do not sell goods or services online, and half of all organisations who have been active for more than a year do not advertise online. Just 25% had successfully optimised their website for mobile phones, and roughly one in ten are happy with the way that they use both analytics and Search Engine Optimisation. Unsurprisingly, participants were clear that they wanted to improve their online presence – 89% wanted support or advice on how to improve either their website or their social media presence, including many requests to improve the visibility

The Digital Garage from Google - an independent evaluation

of their website in search engines. Advertising was also a key demand – just over half said that they were looking for advice and training in this area, including 54% of those who were already advertising online. In general, then, attendees to the Digital Garage are likely to be relatively new organisations, with a website and social media presence already, seeking support and advice as to improve the way that they are working online. They tend to be basic adopters, with some degree of existing digital capacity and an undeveloped online presence.

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What did users think of the Digital Garage? Overall, immediate feedback from the Digital Garage is highly positive. Responses to the initial survey suggest a high degree of satisfaction, in particular with regard to the oneto-one mentoring, with 82% saying that they found it ‘extremely useful’. The workshop presentations were

performance and although it is not the primary aim of the Digital Garage, peer-to-peer interaction could be useful for participants and could therefore be a feature that Google choose to improve upon.

also very popular, with just under 60% saying they found it extremely useful (see graph below). Among those who were less happy, a common complaint was that the content was too basic for their needs – suggesting that these were more advanced users who were looking for bespoke support.

The positive impact of the programme was also evident in the degree of enthusiasm for change expressed immediately after participation. Responses to the first survey indicated that a large majority intended to make changes to the way that

they ran their business online, as a result of their attendance. For example, more than 80% said that they intended to make changes to their website, with 37% saying that they wanted to make improvements to make it more accessible to mobile devices and 64% indicating that they would look at improving their site’s visibility in search engines (SEO). In addition, 58% said that they intended to make changes to the way that they used social media.

On a scale of 1 to 5, how useful did you find the following...?

What changes are businesses making as a result? So far, available data indicates that a significant majority of participants have made changes to the way that they do business online, in the time since they first attended the Digital Garage.

Individual responses to our surveys suggest that key to the Garage’s popularity was the knowledge and expertise of Google’s staff, who were often at pains to work at the level of the participant and offer bespoke advice and support. The fact that the Digital Garage was free to access was also important, particularly given the size of many participating organisations. One area where the Digital Garage was less effective was as a space for participants to network and The Digital Garage from Google - an independent evaluation

meet people in a similar situation to themselves. Just 25% indicated that they were ‘very much’ able to use the Garage space for this purpose. This is supported by analysis of individual responses, and by conversations with our case study organisations (see graph), which suggest that many (although certainly not all) organisations are primarily using the Digital Garage for pre-booked one-to-one mentoring sessions. There is a strong evidence base for the usefulness of peer-learning effects on SMEs’ 14

Of those who responded to the final survey, 88% indicated that they had made changes to the way that they run their business online. Changes to a website were very common. Just under 90% of respondents suggested that they had made at least one change to their site: the most popular changes are making changes to improve visibility in search engines (49%), adding new content such as videos (48%) and improving the design, navigation or user experience of the website (46%) (See chart below). Twenty per cent of respondents indicated that they had made changes to all three of these. 54 (34%) and 55 to 64 (35%) age categories7.

The Digital Garage from Google - an independent evaluation

In addition, 28% said that they had made changes to their site to optimise it for use by mobile devices, and a significant proportion (19%) indicated that they had started using analytics to monitor web traffic, or that they had improved the way that they did this (31%). A similar story emerges with regard to other changes, as well. A majority of respondents to the survey (90%) indicated that they had made changes to the way that they promoted their business online, in particular with regard to social media. As might be expected, the most popular changes were related to Twitter and Facebook (see below). Many have also chosen to change the way they advertise their business online: 15% report that they have started using paid-for advertising, and a further 21% say that they have changed the way that they advertise online. A significant proportion (52%) have updated their business presence on online maps (including Google Maps).

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Since your visit to the Digital Garage, what, if anything, have you changed about your website?

What have you changed about the way that you promote your business online?

Respondents are very positive about the changes made so far. Roughly 80% say that they are “very happy with the changes made” (50% ‘agree’ with this statement and 30% ‘completely agree’), and 38% indicate that they have received “positive feedback from customers regarding changes made” (26% ‘agree’ and 12% ‘completely agree’). From individual responses, it is clear that there is considerable variation in the range and depth in the changes made by participants. Many cite making small changes to their existing operations, such as increasing their output on social media and “tweaking the format” of tweets and posts, or updating their company details on Google Maps. Others indicate that they have made far more sweeping changes, including some who have “completely changed” the

The Digital Garage from Google - an independent evaluation

content and layout of their website to increase its visibility, or others who have developed a “whole new social media strategy”. Some simply suggest that the main benefit of attending was to “gain reassurance” that what they were currently doing was correct. The case study examples in this report provide further illustration of the type of changes made by participants.

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For many, the Digital Garage played a key role in driving these changes. Generally speaking, companies are likely to attribute the changes they have made to their experience at the Digital Garage: of those who have made changes, 59% would ‘very much’ credit the Digital Garage for inspiring them, and a further three in ten (34%) would credit the Digital Garage ‘to some extent’.

The Digital Garage from Google - an independent evaluation

Overall, it appears that, among those who completed our week 20 survey, a significant majority of participants have made changes to the way that they run their business online, with many citing the Digital Garage as an important catalyst for inspiring such change.

Roughly 80% say that they are “very happy with the changes made” The following section explores what results, if any, have been observed by businesses who have made changes to their digital operation since their visit to the Digital Garage.

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What have the results been so far? Already, many participants have seen some improvement across key metrics, including visitors to their website, followers on social media and increased volume of business.

approximately 49% have seen some form of positive results that they would attribute, at least in part, to the Digital Garage (numbers do not add because of rounding).

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Data was collected from participants on whether they have seen improvements in key metrics since they attended the Digital Garage. It is hard to see from the data which specific digital changes drove overall results - as explored above, many of the attendees are new businesses, and many were already looking to grow their businesses, meaning that many are likely to see significant changes to their business during the same period but it is possible overall to see positive results and a significant majority crediting such results to their experience with the Digital Garage. Our research was designed to capture changes made by small companies 20 weeks after they first attended the Digital Garage. This was judged to be an adequate time frame to capture most changes made as a result of participation, while also ensuring that findings are able to inform the ongoing development of the Digital Garage programme. However, there is some reason to believe that for many organisations it is still too early to tell whether they will see any significant results. Roughly a fifth of respondents suggested that this was still the case at the time when they completed the week 20 survey. Nonetheless, it does appear that, according to the available data, many of respondents have seen very positive results. Data on observed results so far suggest the following (see graph): A marked increase in the number of website visitors: 9% of all respondents reported a ‘significant increase’ and 39% reported a ‘slight increase’, meaning that

The Digital Garage from Google - an independent evaluation

What results have you seen?

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 marked increase in the number of followers A on social media: 14% of all respondents reported a ‘significant increase’ and 38% reported a ‘slight increase’, meaning that 53% have seen some form of attributable change.  smaller but noticeable increase in new A customers: 6% of all respondents reported a ‘significant increase’ and 26% reported a ‘slight increase’, meaning that 32% have seen some form of positive attributable change.  similar increase in total sales and/or A bookings: 3% of all respondents reported a ‘significant increase’ and 24% reported a ‘slight increase’, meaning that 27% have seen some form of positive attributable change.

Overall, 68% of respondents indicated that they had seen some form of positive result (i.e. either a ‘slight’ or ‘significant’ increase across any of the four metrics above) that they would attribute, at least in part, to the effects of the Digital Garage. Just under a quarter (23%) had seen some form of ‘significant’ result that they would link to the Digital Garage. In addition to improvements on the key metrics cited above, many small firms have increased their investment in digital since visiting the Digital Garage. Almost four in five (77%) say that they have devoted more time to learning about digital, and just under half (49%) have attended further training. A similar proportion (47%) have dedicated more staff time for digital and a small proportion (9%) even say that they have hired additional staff for this purpose. These changes are particularly hard to attribute directly to the Digital Garage – after all, by attending, each firm 18

has expressed an interest in expanding their digital capacity – but given that almost all respondents give at least partial credit to the Digital Garage for changes made to their online presence it is reasonable to assume that the programme played some role in encouraging firms to invest more into digital. It is also worth noting that a significant majority state that their confidence using digital has increased as a result of attending the Digital Garage (50% ‘agree’ and 30% ‘completely agree’). It is also difficult to extrapolate from the week 20 survey findings to make conclusions about the wider population. Generally speaking, because of the selfselecting nature of the data, it would be ill-advised to do so. However, looking at the larger week one data, (which is more representative given the size of the dataset and the fact that there was a strong encouragement for all participants to complete the survey) there are some indications that the Digital

The Digital Garage from Google - an independent evaluation

Garage is likely to have had a wider positive effect, because of the extremely positive opinions of the Digital Garage and the significant enthusiasm for change expressed immediately after participation. Both of these measures were broadly comparable between respondents and non-respondents to the week 20 survey (e.g. 76% of those who responded to the week 20 survey rated the Digital Garage as ‘extremely useful’ in the week 1 survey, compared to 73% of those who have not yet responded; of the former 84% and 56% suggested that they would make changes to their website and social media presence respectively, compared to 82% and 58% of the latter). This implies that it may be possible to draw some broader conclusions based on the assumption that non-respondents were equally likely to make changes following their visit, albeit with the caveat that particular statistics are unlikely to be completely accurate.

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Case Studies Herd Launched in January 2015, Herd is a job board for technology and digital vacancies in Leeds. It works with affiliate companies to aggregate digital jobs in the local Leeds area, which are pushed out on social media – including Twitter, Facebook and Google+. Current members include several large businesses in Leeds, such as William Hill, Callcredit, Skybet and Leeds City Council, as well as various smaller companies. Amy – the owner – knew that she needed to improve the site’s visibility in search engines, but didn’t understand how to go about doing it. She was also aware that the existing site was very text-heavy and was keen to explore how to incorporate more graphics onto the page.

The Digital Garage from Google - an independent evaluation

Staff at the Digital Garage pointed her towards a third party plug-in to help her with SEO, and gave options on how to improve her website. However, partly as a result of conversations at the Digital Garage, Amy decided to design a new website on a new platform (Wordpress) which was more convenient for SEO and, overall, much more appropriate for her needs, as well as being more cost-efficient. As advised by Digital Garage Technicians, the new website will use a .careers domain to further improve her PageRank and the new website incorporates more prominent use of her partners’ logos to better utilise the brand-value of her collaborators.

Amy says that conversations at the Digital Garage also got her to think about her social media content, and how to improve it. She is working with a social media agency to refine this aspect of her business and has already seen an increase in twitter followers from 330 at launch in January to 1360 in November 2015. Amy was a regular visitor to the Digital Garage, and made use of it as a co-working space. As a self-confessed ‘non-techie’, she found it useful to be able to ask informal questions to staff whenever she needed to. At the time of writing, the new website has just launched, so Amy has so far been unable to gauge

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The Digital Garage from Google - an independent evaluation

the effectiveness of changes made. However, she is extremely positive about the expertise and impartial advice provided by the Digital Garage team, which she says acted as a ‘catalyst’ to the development of her new site, which she is now much more confident of.

As a self-confessed ‘non-techie’, Amy found it useful to be able to ask informal questions to staff whenever she needed to.

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The Houseman Jonathon runs The Houseman, a property maintenance and refurbishment company. Before coming to the Digital Garage, Jonathon had used Adwords in a very simple way, in order to boost his brand awareness online. This had brought in direct leads which led to sales and his taking on another employee. During his visit to the Digital Garage in Leeds, the Digital Garage expert went through his AdWords campaign and taught him how to get more value for money and more direct hits through some simple changes, and through utilising all the functionality of the AdWords platform. Within just 10 weeks (while spending less money on AdWords than previously) The Houseman was quoting at five times the value (up from £2,000 per week to £10,000 per week), with an 80% take up on those quotes.

The Digital Garage from Google - an independent evaluation

Victoria Baker Weddings Victoria recently quit her job to go self-employed as a wedding photographer. She already has a growing portfolio of work, which she intends to use to promote her business online to potential customers in Leeds.

Within just 10 weeks The Houseman was quoting at five times the value (up from £2,000 per week to £10,000 per week), with an 80% take up on those quotes.

To this end, she developed her own website to advertise her services. However, although she knows how she would like the site to look, she knew that she needed support to develop it from the ‘bare bones’ format that it is currently in. She recognised that she had little experience in social media for professional purposes. Without the funds to hire an external consultant, she tried to find advice and support online, by searching the internet and watching videos, but found this frustrating and unsatisfactory.

This has led to The Houseman moving into a larger unit and employing two more full time members of staff. It also led directly to a project management contract of a new build £300k property which brought a 10% fee of £30k.

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In conversations with Digital Garage staff, Victoria was able to get answers to some of the questions she had regarding her website. Following her visit, she has added text to her website to help improve its visibility in search. This included creating relevant tags for her photos, helping to turn her site, as she put it, into “a business site rather than a site full of nice pictures”. She has also added her business to Google Maps,

The Digital Garage from Google - an independent evaluation

and has learnt how to use analytics to gauge web traffic. On the social media side, she has started using Instagram and Facebook to promote her business. As a consequence, she says that traffic to her site has improved ‘a lot’.

The visibility of her site, as measured by her PageRank, has improved significantly, she has a growing social media following from zero social media profile in June she now has over 400 followers on Instagram, and 180 followers on Facebook) and she has now had two bookings directly through social media and one through her website, worth approximately £3k. More broadly, Victoria says that she understands a lot more about using digital, and now feels assured enough to “crack on by myself”. She says that the Digital Garage helped give her a starting point for her website that she now feels more confident taking forward.

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Conclusions The data suggests that the Digital Garage has had a highly positive effect on the online capabilities of participating small businesses, and there is evidence to suggest that many such businesses are starting to see the positive effects of changes made. Among those who responded to the surveys, there is evidence to suggest that the Digital Garage acts as a catalyst for change. The advice and support given enables small businesses to make changes (both small and large in scale) to the way that they run their business online.

Among respondents to the week 20 survey almost all had made at least small changes to their online presence, with almost 90% saying that they had made some form of change since their visit. The expertise of Google staff, particularly through one-to-one mentoring, is highly prized. Also, the fact that it is free is important for small businesses, with little or no budget for training. So far, results seen so far are very positive. Although it is hard to draw direct causal links from advice

The Digital Garage from Google - an independent evaluation

and support received to improved outcomes now, a significant proportion of businesses who completed the week 20 survey indicate that they have seen some degree of positive outcome so far – including some 23% who have seen a ‘significant increase’ across one or more key metrics that they would attribute, at least in part, to the Digital Garage. Given the self-selective nature of the data analysed, it is difficult to draw direct conclusions about the effectiveness of the programme on the wider population of attendees. However, as explored earlier, there are some indications that it is likely to have had a positive effect, firstly because of the extremely positive opinions of the Digital Garage across those who responded to the week one survey, and secondly because of the significant enthusiasm for change expressed immediately after visits. Analysis of users’ experiences are helpful at understanding where the Digital Garage is adding value and what areas can be developed further in future iterations, but it is also worth reflecting on the scale of the impact. Across two cities, Birmingham and Leeds, over 6,000 people attended training sessions, showing significant demand for such programmes and the potential impact a sustained multi-sectoral investment could make. Bearing our findings in mind, we offer some concluding remarks on how this work could be built upon to make an even more effective programme..

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Firstly, the wider Digital Garage programme, including the online support, would benefit from incorporating the kind of bespoke and individualised support that appears to have made the ‘physical’ Digital Garage successful so far. Survey data and our case study examples show that the most popular element of the Digital Garage programme is the one-to-one mentoring support offered by Google’s informed experts. This kind of support is resource-intensive but it does appear to have been a key driving force behind the hugely positive effects of the Digital Garage so far. The next iteration of the Digital Garage involves an online platform of tailored support offered through videos and online exercises – given our analysis it would arguably benefit from capability to interact directly with Google’s staff for bespoke advice – or otherwise, given the likely strain that this would place on resources, functionality for an online community (where participants can interact and share questions) may provide space for collaborative learning and bespoke advice and support. Thirdly, there is scope to improve the Digital Garage as a skills-sharing and business development space, in order to make better use of peer learning and networking. Our

The Digital Garage from Google - an independent evaluation

analysis suggests that this aspect of the Garage could be developed, in order to ensure that more participants see it as an opportunity to learn from each other, as well as Google’s team of experts.

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Finally, a wider programme that targeted those who have yet to make the first steps online, who are more likely to be older companies, would also be a welcome addition. As detailed above, Digital Garage participants tend to be basic adopters, with some degree of existing digital capacity and a baseline online presence. Many are often already aware of their own needs and by attending the sessions are actively seeking support for their business.

This is an expected consequence of the Digital Garage programme, which is aimed at small businesses with some existing digital presence to suggest ways that they might improve the way that they do business online. However, it does suggest that there would be scope for a wider programme that engaged with those with lower levels of digital literacy. In particular, there may be a strong case for sector-specific support and advice to target underrepresented industries.

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