Small businesses in Elsa now have more online exposure thanks to a relaunched digital program.

The Elsa Digital Facade Program helps local businesses improve their presence on Google. The program's website lets users search a business name and see a full report on that business's online profile.

"We make sure they have a website attached, phone number, address, hours of operation, their services and menu and things like that," Elsa EDC Executive Director Daniel Rivera said.

Rivera said businesses can use that score to make improvements.

The program first launched three years ago but shut down due to staffing issues. Three months ago, the city decided to bring it back.

"The reason we brought it back is we were able to make a huge impact with a low investment of dollars from our EDC, and that helps out," Rivera said. "We don’t have a lot of money to give away to every single business, but we can invest our time."

Rivera said the program also helps bring more sales tax revenue to Elsa.

One business already seeing results is Express Hardware. Store manager Rafael Aguilera said after moving locations in February, he noticed fewer customers coming in.

After he signed up for the Elsa Digital Facade Program, new faces started showing up, Aguilera said.

"I tend to ask, 'how did you find us?’ They say they found us on Google; they search hardware stores around them, and they found us," Aguilera said.

Aguilera said the experience taught him how important an online presence is for running a successful business.

"Somebody once told me if you are not online, then you don’t exist whatsoever. Now, with the new technology that's everywhere that people first go to, they don’t look for newspapers as much," Aguilera said.

Elsa business owners can apply to the program here.

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