In this post, I want to go over some of the essential Google tools for your business. This is part one of a two-part-series on the essential Google tools for your business, So keep on the lookout to part 2 later this month.
Gmail
If you are like most people you probably have a personal Gmail email. Gmail is an excellent cloud based email service from google, so you know it is going to be awesome, even if you have a personalised domain email address from your web site host, I still recommend that you sign up for a gmail account.
Gmail is a powerful player in the business email market. The service offers an affordable feature packed solution for business email users if you want. But even a free account is worth it for the additional features it provides making it one of my essential Google tools for your business.
Security
The security for Google’s email system is first class, as far as free email services go. The Google platform ensures that every precaution is taken and there’s a strong antivirus scan to confirm attachments are safe for downloading, and the two-factor authentication secures your account from unauthorized access. And for peace of mind, Google is probably your safest bet for a company that is still going to be around in 10 or 20 years time.
Integration
One thing that Gmail does better than anyone else is collaboration. It’s not just a standard email service. It’s a cloud platform for organizing files, instant chats, and scheduling and a suite of office tools like ‘Free’ cloud storage, mobile access, word processor, presentation. The seamless integration helps to keep you connected and you can even be working on the same file as your colleagues in google drive office suite, which gives you 15GB of free storage and, of course, paid upgrades for increased storage are also available. So whether you are working alone or you have a small team supporting you the powerful combination of Gmail and Google Drive makes it my Most essential Google tools for your business
Convenience
A free Gmail account may not be the best option for every small businesses but there are plenty of benefits making it worth considering. Or upgrading to G Suite Google’s Business service.
Google +
To get started on Google Plus, you need to create a Google Plus profile.
If you have a Gmail account, (If you don’t, you should! – In fact there is a section in this kit about ) you already have a Google+ page. You can access it by signing in to plus.google.com with your Gmail address and password. The first time you login, you will find a blank profile page and you can start adding your information to create your profile.
Add the following
- Profile Picture:
- Use the same ‘relevant’ profile picture across all online accounts to help people recognize and remember your business name.
- Tagline:
- Use the tagline to let people know who you are and what you do. You can think of this as your short elevator pitch.
- About:
- The about section is important as correctly filling this out will ensure that your profile can be easily found by people searching on Google.
- Contact information:
- Obviously, you want to include your contact information so your prospects can easily contact you to ask questions, or hopefull make a purchase.
You need to create a Google+ profile before you can create any of the google business pages. Therefore, once you create a business page, it will be linked to your Google+ profile page so you can manage it easily.