FREE Tools for Small Businesses: Google Your Business Part #2

Written by Manager on November 9th, 2016. Posted in Blog

And now, Part #2 of our presentation highlighting FREE tools for your small business offered by Google:

Google Drive

Drive is Google’s cloud storage application. Store files up to 10 GB in Drive, plus files created with Drive apps don’t use storage. Drive is now the home of the Docs, Sheets, and Slides apps to create online documents. Drive’s best feature is its extensive collection of third-party apps.

Google Analytics

Google Analytics lets you measure your customers’ behavior. Track sales and conversions across ads, videos, websites, tablets and smartphones. Understand which parts of your website are performing well, measure the success of your social media programs, and create better-targeted ads. Free for users with less than 5 million page views a month. To find out how much traffic your website attracts, where your visitors are coming from and what people do after they get to your site, use Google Analytics. This free tool can answer those questions and more. By adding some code in your site’s underlying HTML Google Analytics will track every visitor to your site and generate helpful reports and statistics. Business owners can use the data to fine-tune their website. It’s ideally suited to a cost-conscious small business trying to improve its online performance.

Google AdWords

Pay-per-click (PPC) is the most popular form of online advertising, and Google AdWords is the Internet’s largest PPC ad network. Here’s how it works: A user bids on keywords that target customers are using to search for the types of offerings that the business sells, and then ads that are tagged with those keywords appear on Google’s search results pages when a person uses those keywords to search. The PPC client is only charged for the advertising service when someone clicks his ad. Performance-based costs at its best. The Google AdWords program lets users create simple four-line text ads related to the keywords they select. You set a daily budget for your PPC advertising campaign and then monitor your progress using the AdWords analytic tools. You can get started with AdWords by spending as little as $1 per day. This is a great way to advertise online and drive traffic to your website.

Google Trends

You’re in the process of evolving your business with the changing times. You need to determine what kind of marketing language and descriptive terminology to use for your sales materials, website copy, and search engine optimization. Consider plugging some of your terms into the Google Trends search bar to see how searches for these terms have changed over time. Look for those still trending upward, and review the additional detail Google provides.

GoMo

Did you know that 67 percent of people say a mobile-friendly site makes them more likely to buy a product or use a service? (Or that even if these people like your business, 50 percent will use you less often if your website is not mobile friendly!) Don’t fall into the latter category. In last year’s article about mobile marketing, I mentioned how Google offers a way for you to build a free mobile website for a year. Google’s GoMo can also take your existing website through a free diagnostic test to determine to what extent it is (or is not) already mobile friendly.

Trusted Stores

For those websites offering an online shopping experience, Google’s Trusted Stores can help alleviate customers’ doubts about your site’s legitimacy and how well they’ll be serviced. Google Trusted Stores have to pass a test for reliable shipping and customer service, and in so doing, they earn the right to display a Trusted Store badge.

Google Cloud Print

Google Cloud Print connects your printers to the web. Make your printers available from anywhere, to you and anyone you choose. Access Google Cloud Print from your phone, tablet, Chromebook, PC, and any other web-connected device.

 

Resources

http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/60668-22-Free-Google-Products-for-Small-Business-Owners

 

Top 10 Google Tools for Small Business

 

http://www.inc.com/hollis-thomases/8-hidden-but-powerful-google-tools-for-business.html

2016 SBDC “Google My Business” Presented by Rusty Allison

Monday, November 21, 2016

Clermont Chamber of Commerce

4355 Ferguson Drive

Suite 150

Cincinnati, OH 45245

P: 513.576.5000

F: 513.576.5001

E: chamber(at)clermontchamber.com