If you run a business or charity and haven’t yet visited the Google Digital Garage, we HIGHLY recommend that you make it a priority to do so.

The Google Digital Garage is a government-led initiative to upskill 200, 000 people in online skills. It provides FREE courses on a whole range of skills such as search, social media and online marketing, in order to help grow your business or career.

A team of super-helpful computer experts are available at Newcastle City Library until the end of July (extended from the end of June), providing free, interesting and useful training. Seminars last about 40 minutes and I’ve been to 3 of them; 1 on understanding Google Analytics, 1 on improving your online presence and 1 on SEO. They were all high-quality and very useful and there is time to ask general questions at the end.

At each session, the leader recommended using video as a tool to interact with your target audience. I’ve heard this a lot before, but didn’t believe video to be a suitable medium for insurance. I decided to give it a go- and it had nearly 300 views on Facebook over one weekend! It turns out the experts were right, after all! Check it out here. It’s so great to be challenged to try new things, and even better when you find they work!

We then booked a 40 minute one to one session, where we logged on to our Analytics with an expert. We were given excellent, targeted and tailored advice specific to our business. This is also free! You can choose to focus on whatever is of most concern to you- adwords, setting up social media accounts, tidying up your website, setting up an online shop, understanding your audience, improving your SEO…

You can easily book a seminar or one to one appointment online or by popping into their stand at the main entrance of Newcastle City Library. The Digital Garage will be moving around the country, so if you’re not in the North East, they may be on the way to you next! Keep a lookout.

Wherever you are, you can boost your digital skills online with the Digital Garage online course. You can choose the topics you want to study, or complete the whole online course for a certification from Google and IAB Europe. Wouldn’t that look fancy, framed on your office wall?

Maybe there’s no such thing as a free lunch. But it looks like there really is such a thing as free digital training! Make use of this amazing resource when you still have the chance.

Check out our other recent blog on Managing Data Risk too.