Fishing for the little guy

Office supply store Office Depot has partnered with Google to bring AdWords to small business customers.

A co-branded portion of OfficeDepot.com will teach small businesses how to access certain Google products. The site will feature information on AdWords, the Google Apps suite and other enterprise offerings.

Small businesses that register for AdWords from OfficeDepot.com will receive $50 in free advertising. Office Depot will likely also receive a Google kickback.

The partnership is designed to increase the small business reach of both AdWords and Google's other tools, particularly Apps, which is positioned as ideal for companies that lack and IT department and cannot afford standard PC-based office software.

To counteract free web-based software alternatives, Microsoft recently offered hosted aspects of its Office suite to small businesses.