With the new Small Business Online (SBO) program under way, there are a lot of questions that I have been asked about the program! What is it all about, what can I do, am I eligible and how do I register? To put it simply - yes, it's easy to get involved and yours truly (RuttenTech) is participating in the program as one of the consultants.

Want to know more about the program ? Then read on!

The Government’s SBO program aims to assist small businesses (with up to 20 employees) including home based businesses, to go online, significantly enhance their web presence, increase their website usage and engage in e-business capabilities to help reduce their costs and improve their market opportunities.

If you are in the Cooktown to Mission Beach area ( coastal area including Port Douglas, Cairns) then you can come along to an information seminar that explains all the who, how, why and what's of the program. I will be speaking at both seminars, along with 4 other very talented local online gurus. The speakers are:

• Emmy Kerrigan of Atlas Projects;
• Wendy Ackland of Burnt Toast Marketing;
• Nicky Jurd of cityofcairns.com;
• Robert Rutten of Rutten Technology Services; and
• Sam Cullen of Tourism Media Services (Port Douglas).

The program in this region is run by Whitesource Pty Ltd - if you are based on the tablelands or gulf area please stay tuned as more details will be released soon.

Places are limited to 200, and you will need to act quickly to get involved. To get started - please register for the information seminar (it costs $22, comes with tea, coffee, great speakers and is well worth it!).