Google is lending its expertise to small businesses in the Capital Region to help them make money on the web. Our Lori Chung reports.

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TROY, N.Y. -- Before most shoppers get to the cash register, chances are they've already surfed the web for ideas on what they want. Now, small businesses in New York are getting a primer on positioning their products online.

"For me it’s really learning how to create the website," said Mary McGinley, an office manager for Black Horse Farms in Athens. "We have one created already but we want to get more customers."

Google is now bringing its expertise to the Capital Region as part of it's program called "New York Get Your Business Online." These workshops are aimed at getting main street to make more of the web's potential to draw customers.

Ninety-seven percent of [customers] research products and services, and remarkably only 52 percent of businesses in New York have a website presence," said Sean Downey, Google's Managing Director of Media Platforms.

More than 500 businesses are learning that there's more to creating a lucrative web site than just setting up a domain.

"You have to drive traffic to that online website, so we’re also showing people how to do search engine marketing, how to use some of our AdWords products," said Downey.

"Thirty percent of search traffic now is mobile based," said Steven Talbot of Metro Lighting Group in Glens Falls. "Something like that was a really useful insight."

And, two weeks before Cyber Monday, the companies here will get another hand up in the form of free tools and resources for a year, most importantly, a free website. The thought being that giving small businesses to a tool to thrive will help the entire state economy and ultimately the nation.