The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) held a press conference on Wednesday to announce a partnership with Google designed to help small-business owners harness technology to grow their businesses. Karen Mills, Administrator at the SBA, unveiled a website featuring entrepreneurs talking about how they have used online resources to help them grow their businesses.

Mills was joined by Google's John Hanke, Vice President of Product Management, and Susan Holt, principal and owner of CulinAerie. The presentation covered Google's free tools and paid advertising services, social media and search-engine optimization, and the three speakers answered questions submitted by participants viewing the webcast.

Ms. Mills said the SBA has been working to help small businesses export their products and educate them on how to use online resources to grow their businesses. She also said companies who use SBA counselors are more likely to grow their business and remain viable.

Mr. Hanke said he had worked for three start-ups before joining Google, and one of his companies benefited from an SBA loan. One of the things that can help a start-up is understanding all the resources available online, and, he said, Google's partnership with the SBA was good for businesses and good for the economy.

Hanke said there were a lot of places online where businesses could create a profile, "much simpler than creating your own website," including Google Places, Twitter, Facebok and Yelp. "There's a whole dialog happening by your customers about you - if you're not paying attention, you're not hearing what people are saying about you. You can participate in that conversation and hear honest feedback," said Hanke.

Mr. Hanke had advice for small businesses:

• make sure you "claim your listing";
• engage in social communication to keep people informed about your business;
• and begin taking advantage of search advertising and other ad services. "You can start small with search advertising - $5 - $10/month - to put your toe in the water. But understand what you want to accomplish - what's your goal," he said.

Offers and coupons are very popular, he added, and they work really well online, allowing businesses to "track the spend."

Susan Holt, who launched a recreational cooking school in downtown Washington, DC, said once she optimized her website with keyword-rich text using Google's free tools, her business improved 300% "almost immediately, and consistently." She also uses Facebook and Twitter, and said Facebook has a huge return.

The SBA will be distributing a booklet created by Google, and the co-branded website is available on the Google website.