SBDC offers free e-commerce courses

The Wisconsin Small Business Development Center Network has rolled out a new course for its virtual academy designed to help businesses develop revenue-producing websites.

Available at no cost, the program is scheduled four times in 2021: Feb. 25 to April 1; April 7 to May 12; June 1 to July 6; and July 20 to Aug. 24.

Each group of 15 students will receive three hours of instruction each week, plus consulting time with a web designer and the instructor.

“What makes this successful is walking through the process step by step with your peers and experts,” said Katherine Fossler, associate director of SBDC at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls, which is running the e-commerce academy statewide. “The secret ingredient is accountability.”

The course follows a logical path: identifying a target audience, building an easy-to-navigate website, creating a sales funnel and crafting a 12-month digital marketing plan to drive sales growth. To learn more and fill out an application for the course, click here.

The Wisconsin SBDC Network offers no-cost, confidential consulting and business education to new and existing businesses. In 2020, the SBDC served 4,371 clients, resulting in $106 million in capital investment, 260 new businesses and 19,731 jobs supported, accordingly to preliminary results.