Without a website, email newsletter or, at the very least, a social media account, start-ups and nonprofits are missing crucial connections with their clients or customers. Low-budget operations need help getting their businesses or nonprofits online but often can’t afford to outsource web development and e-marketing. But they need a resource to help them hone the skills that are needed in this competitive era, and that may seem intimidating to tackle alone.

KCPL does not create courses to facilitate learning in this subject matter. Our role, rather, is to select existing courses that are accessible online for free and then provide the space and technology for patrons to meet regularly and go through these courses together. Each course gives patrons knowledge on software that will allow them to keep up and advance. The facilitator of each session keeps the course moving, sparks conversation around the course content and facilitates the workshop portions of each session.

The series runs for five weeks and includes five courses — building a website, graphic design, e-marketing, social media and Google My Business. Patrons register for the entire series or choose just the courses they need. The first half of the two-hour session is spent going through the online course. The second half is spent implementing what was learned during the day’s course to build e-content for their real-life business. The peer-group provides participants with on-the-spot feedback and assistance.