Remember back when you had to literally thumb through the yellow pages to search for information about a business or company you were interested in? Assuming you had access to it in the first instance? Thanks to Google, all that is a gone trend; with the push of a button you are able to access a pool of information like never before.
As a business owner, Google offers an arsenal of tools to help start, scale and maintain your business than just the popular search engine platform. We will be discussing some of the other tools Google brings to your disposal for effective running of your venture.
Gmail
Every business needs a mailbox to field letters and inquiry from clients, partners and other stakeholders. Gmail, Google’s flagship email system accounts for 19% of the world’s email opens market share and is second only to Apple Messenger. A lot must be going for the mail system to command such a following. Besides managing your messages with the free or the paid business versions, there are some other features that make Gmail such a delight to work with.
There is 15 GB of free storage for your messages and attachments, meaning you have the option to archive your old messages and mails, which can be easily navigated by categories using the baked-in search bar, improving efficiency as opposed to just deleting them. Gmail allows for easy integration with other Google Tools, and third-party extensions, some of which would be discussed shortly, so hold your horses. Gmail also has free IMAP and POP protocols, making it possible for your messages to be read using third-party apps like Outlook, Apple Mail or Mailbird. In addition, Gmail fields some of the best spam filtering technology yet, to improve the experience by de-cluttering your inbox, with a clean and easy-to-understand layout and an option for customizing to suit your personal tastes. You can checkout it out here to you get all these at your fingertips.
Google my Business
Another way to boost your business if it has a physical address, is to manage your Name, Address and Contact Number on Google Places. Google Places allows you to list your business data across the web to help search engines (Google) understand when to present your listing to search users, making your business easier to find regardless of the device being used. This means that at the push of a button, a potential client can easily call up relevant information about your business like Contact Address and telephone number, through google maps and get directions, opening and closing hours, among other information.
Google Drive
In an age of global data corruption and system unreliability, there’s no safer way to backup your business’s data (messages,photos, documents) than through a cloud system. Google Drive is Google’s solution to your safe storage problem. It comes with 15 GB of free Google online storage as mentioned earlier, and integrates with other devices and tools like Google Docs, Photos and so on, ensuring that your files are always within reach wherever you go. An added advantage is the ability to invite others to view, download and contribute on the files you want – without the need for email attachments, covering all your business storage needs for free.
Google Calendar
Calendar is yet another tool developed by, well you guessed it – Google, and it makes it easy to schedule, plan, execute and manage events and meetings. It is a time-management and scheduling calendar service developed by Google at no cost. It’s in more than one way your regular calendar, but only on steroids.
Google Analytics
Websites are one of the first ports of entry for any potential client inquiring about a business or venture. This is where they visit to get a feel of your business, what you do and how you do it, hence it only seems smart to optimize this platform for your business. Google Analytics is another free tool to give insights on customer behavior and information on who has been visiting your web-page and how they have been using it. You are able to set metrics and analyze the information to understand the effectiveness of your website and what to do to enhance your web presence. Using Google Analytics, you can find out about your website’s traffic and customize it to track your KPI’s. With all these stats at your disposal, you can then refine your website to improve your reach.
Google Alerts
Keeping track of competitors and industry news has never been made easier. With google alerts you can specify keywords you are interested in and Google sends you links to the latest content related to the specified keywords. It can be used to keep tabs of latest industry trends or find out what your competition and others are doing online. One of such uses is to re-align your brand or business with the current market trends while keeping up-to-speed on areas your competition might have leverage over your business. Another very useful feature is that you can also get notification for whenever someone mentions your name or brand, giving you an opportunity to follow up with a “Thank you” or “Nice to hear from you” note.
Google+
Need a platform to engage your audience and build your business reach, well Google+ is just the tool for you. Google+ is Google’s own social media platform with it’s own unique following and advantages, giving you access to Hangouts, free live video conferences to communicate and stay in touch with like-minded peers and clients alike. It gives additional opportunity to connect with customers and have them give feedback on your products and services.
Moving on, these are only a few tools developed by Google to optimize and give your business the necessary boost it needs. Do you use Google Tools to manage your business? If so, feel free to share any suggestions or tips you have by leaving a comment below.
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