If you own a small to medium-sized business (SME) and are looking to get your business online or adopt new digital tech., the Canada Digital Adoption Program (CDAP) might be exactly what you’re looking for.
The CDAP is a $4 billion government initiative aimed at helping small and medium-sized businesses enhance their digital presence and platforms and digitize their operations. The Canadian government created it with the realization that companies without a real digital presence are disadvantaged in today’s market.
The initiative is divided into two grants: “Grow Your Business Online” and “Boost Your Business Technology.” Here are the key differences:
Grow Your Business Online Grant
With this grant, you’re eligible for up to $2,400 in funding to set up e-commerce, grow your sales online and adopt digital technologies. Companies can use the money to implement or improve a digital e-commerce plan, website design, SEO, social media, and more.
The Grow Your Business Online Grant helps SMEs to:
- Get online
- Improve online visibility
- Implement digital marketing strategies
- Increase sales
- Adopt security software
- Connect with customers
- Improve social media marketing
- Improve UX for online customers
Here you can find a complete list of eligible grant expenses and a link to start the application.
Boost Your Business Technology Grant
With this second grant, you’re eligible for up to $15,000 in funding to boost your business’s tech and adopt new digital tools. Companies can use the money on digital marketing, e-commerce, and operation efficiencies by investing in digital technology to generate business and improve productivity.
You’ll also have access to an expert digital advisor to help you transform your business digitally, increase productivity, consolidate your software, implement cybersecurity tools, and more…
Boost Your Business Technology Grant helps SMEs to:
- Implement expert digital marketing strategies
- Reduce overhead costs
- Speed up transactions
- Respond to clients more quickly
- Manage inventory more efficiently
- Improve supply chain logistics
Recipients of this grant can also benefit from a $100,000 interest-free loan from the Business Development Bank of Canada and a wage subsidy of up to $7,300 to hire talent through a work placement.
Here you can find a direct link to start your application.
How Can The Canadian Digital Adoption Program Help Your SEO?
Now that you’re considering applying for the CDAP grants let’s break down exactly how you can use them to help with your site’s SEO. Alongside building an e-commerce platform, a solid digital strategy is your key to success online. Your digital strategy will help you put the right technology and processes in place to achieve your company’s online marketing goals, and 99% of any goal online requires SEO.
Let’s say you’ve just built an e-commerce platform to begin selling your shoes online. Your goal is to receive a thousand website visits in the first month. How will you achieve this goal if your website is not visible on major search engines? Catch my drift? SEO is a major component of any digital strategy.
Setting up an e-commerce platform will help you reach a wider audience and make your products or services more accessible to potential customers. Optimizing your e-commerce site for search engines will improve your visibility on SERPs, which can help drive more traffic to your website.
Ready, Set, Let’s SEO
Are you ready to start implementing an SEO strategy for your e-commerce site using the CDAP loans? Do you need an expert to break it down and humanize the process? Get in touch to learn how Method + Metric uses SEO to drive new business and generate revenue. With a clear understanding of the grant guidelines, we will help define a website strategy that permeates the rest of your marketing efforts.
