Google puts 2500 businesses from Chandni Chowk online…free!

Google is seriously pushing the boundaries in India. When it launched the India Get Your Business Online initiative last year, I thought it was really great for Indian SMBs. The initiative offered a website and domain name free of cost. Like most of the other services though, this was a DIY (do-it-yourself) model, and businesses still needed to take advantage. And looks like very few took that advantage.

So, Google went ahead and put 2500 businesses online from Delhi’s iconic Chandni Chowk market by physically visiting each shop and helping them get online.

This exercise has made sure that all the establishments in Chandni Chowk have their own websites and not only that, Google has created a directory where they have listed all these websites categorized by different verticals.

The Chandni Chowk directory of over 2500 establishments is located at www.chandnichowknowonline.in! Now anyone across the globe can actually look up this directory if they visiting and decide on what they want to visit. It is a win-win situation for the buyers as well as the sellers.

Check out this video released by Google India that shows how Google has taken efforts to bring these establishments online.

But Why is Google Doing it?

It is definitely great for buyers as well as sellers, but why is Google going at such great lengths to bring these establishments online?

Only about 10 percent of Indians are online and growth potential in India is huge. Google’s core business where they make money is obviously their advertising market. The more businesses come online, the better it is for Google.

Once an establishment’s website is up and running, Google can approach them for advertising to drive traffic. While creating an online presence is just one time job, the revenue that Google will earn from advertisement will be a continuous process.

Google will make far more revenue from advertising in comparison to the efforts it will take them to bring these businesses online.

The biggest winner of all is actually Google! what do you think?