AS a small business owner, Google is most definitely one product you will want to utilise. But are you aware of all the Google assets available to you? It’s not just your Map Listing that you can use, there is a whole host of Google Assets. From website analytic tools, to taking advantage of email, productivity suites and collaboration tools, there’s plenty to choose from to enhance your online activities.
Google Assets for Small Businesses
All you need is a single Google account and all these assets can be accessed:
Google My Business
Managing your Google presence, particularly if you are small company, can be time-consuming and challenging. Google My Business is a free tool that allows you to do just that. Once you’ve set up and verified your business, you can access a wide range of tools, including:
* Controlling what customers see when they search for your business.
* Defining how your listing on Google Maps appears.
* Updating your site with the latest news about your business for customers to see.
* Reading and replying to reviews left on Google about your business.
* Creating your own website generated from your business profile.
Google My Business also comes with some useful analytics which means a quick look at the dashboard will tell you how people are finding your business and where they come from.
Gmail and G-Suite
Being able to communicate via email is imperative to most small businesses and Google provides a secure and flexible email platform that can be accessed on any device. It also comes with all the usability that you would expect from a business email service including being able to open different files and store messages, invoices etc.
G-Suite also provides serious word processing tools, spreadsheets as well as storage and collaboration tools.
Google Drive
Need somewhere to store your documents where everyone else can access them? Google Drive is cloud storage at its simplest and most efficient. No more rushing back to the office to find what you want, you can simply log-in to your Google account and quickly access the information you need. You can also control permissions and let other staff members have access if they need it.
Google Voice
If you want to manage your business telephony, there’s Google Voice to take advantage of.
Google Voice is a cloud based telephone system that you can access anywhere in the world from a connected device, including your mobile. You can also use it as your main business number and forward it to your existing mobile.
Google Calendar
Another cloud-based application that allows you to keep track of what’s happening in your business, log appointments and highlight other events that are coming up. Your staff can also access the information and it can be integrated with other products like Google Maps to give, for instance, directions to a job or appointment.
Google Analytics
Measuring the performance of your website is vitally important. Google Analytics allows you to review deep data about your website’s performance. You can see analytics like; what are your most visited pages, which sites refer the most traffic to you and how many visits your site gets. As well as a whole host of other useful tracking and monitoring tools to help you optimise your presence in the market place.
Google Adwords
Pay Per Click (PPC) through Google can be a very cost-effective way to drive traffic to your site. The Adwords PPC tool is very complex but with time and patience you can create highly effective campaigns. This helpful programme will even make suggestions for you as you go through the process of setting up your adverts.
Google Search Console
When linked with your analytics account Google Search Console gives you even more in-depth data about the visitors to your site, the demographics of visitors, the terms they used to reach your site, as well as alerting you to any issues with your site like broken links and errors. A must for maintaining a healthy site and understanding your visitors.
Google Asset Summary
There is little doubt that Google Assets offer invaluable tools for optimising, understanding online activity and marketing a small business. Whilst some of these Google assets are simple and easy to use, a few are rather complex and can appear daunting to the inexperienced. However, Google have a huge library of help topics that you can utilise to help you navigate each asset to get the most from them. The interconnectivity Google offers really is second to none and for the most part these assets are free to use – why wouldn’t you take a little time and see what each can do for your business?