Intro: Getting Started with Google
Small Businesses have Many Needs that Require a Wide Range of Tools.
As a full-service Digital Marketing Agency, our vital business operations and processes run parallel with those required by many diverse types of businesses.
Our business model requires that we maintain the ability to handle many distinct types of leads quickly & effectively, including inquiries arriving via email, phone, text, chat, and in-person.
We must be able to process and account for many types of payments, including advertising, product sales, monthly memberships, and more.
We must coordinate and quantify the effectiveness of website, social, video, and advertising content updates across a multitude of platforms.
Google’s Free Products Can Handle Some Heavy Lifting.
It may surprise you to find out that we utilize a wide range of free Google Products to handle a sizable portion of our daily operations.
Like most businesses, we’re not looking to pay or overpay for tools we don’t need or products we only seldom use.
We require cost-efficient, yet powerful, secure, and reliable tools to organize and manage our daily business functions.
We find Google‘s free products check off many of the boxes from security to reliability and functionality. Google‘s free products and tools are also a great segue into the wide variety if paid products and tools Google offers as well.
Improving Business Without Adding New Costs.
With this top list of the 10 Best Free Google Products for Small Businesses, we’re highlighting just a few of the products powered by Google that we have found to help many small businesses find success without adding additional overhead.
Getting Started with Google.
If you are brand new to Google and looking for a good place to start, we often suggest our clients begin with Google by signing up for a free personal Gmail account.
Even if you have another email address, having at least one email account solely dedicated to a business (or a specific business function) can be a terrific way to stay organized.
If you already have a Gmail (or almost any other type of Google account) then you’re ready to rock with any of the Google Products featured below.
We’ve included links to all the specific Google Products featured for quick reference, so be sure to bookmark this article.
Use Strong Passwords & 2-Factor Authentication
Take time when creating your passwords to ensure they are strong.
Google provides useful tips on creating a strong password.
We also recommend the use of 2-factor authentication for all accounts.
Google Analytics
Understand
Know how people use and interact with your website and other customer touchpoints to improve content & ROIs.
Reporting
Analytics features tools to help organize and easily locate reports so you can dive deeper into specific areas of focus.
Data
With Analytics, you can securely collect, manage, and automate your website data & additional business metrics.
Integrate
Easily integrate Analytics with many SEM & SEO tools to broaden understanding of the trends playing out within your overall business strategy.
Google Analytics Highlights
Google Analytics is a great tool for measuring and managing many of the growth efforts driving (or hindering) a business. Google Analytics installations can range from minimalist to robust and serve all types of business models.
Perfect for small businesses and enterprises alike, Google Analytics provides valuable information on how customers interact with a business’s website and applications.
Data collection and attribution models can include referral data, browser & device types, conversion funnels, demographics, location information, and much more.
The insights gained through a solid Analytics installation can inform and impact content and development processes for the better.
Efforts that improve customer experiences also tend to improve overall conversions & SEO.
Google Ads
Expand
Get new keywords and content ideas with Google's Keyword Planner tool. View YoY changes and other important metrics.
Research
Google's Keyword Planner allows for the creation of custom search forecast segments. This can be a great tool for both SEO & SEM research.
Strategize
Google's Keyword Planner contains organizational and management tools allowing for convenient historical references.
Prepare
You can begin to prepare your ad campaigns in the event you decide to advertise on Google Search, YouTube, and the web.
Google Ads Highlights
Question: Why would we include Google Ads in a list of the ten best FREE Google tools for small businesses? I must pay for Google Ads, right?
Answer: You will indeed have to pay for your ads in Google Ads. However, simply creating a new Google Ads account is entirely free. And what’s more, with your free Google Ads account, you immediately have access to Google’s Keyword Planner tool and the treasure trove of valuable data and insights to be found therein!
The Keyword Planner tool in Google Ads is a powerful research tool for your small business’s SEO & SEM efforts.
Perform keyword research, get new keyword & content ideas related to your business, and begin to plan for your future ads campaigns.
Gmail
Storage
Gmail accounts come with 15GB of email storage for free with a range of organizational options.
Custom Domain
You can use up to five custom domain names with your personal Gmail account for free.
Search
Apart from the free storage, Gmail features fantastic search functionality which makes finding historic emails a breeze.
Sync
Google's Gmail can sync with mobile, desktop, and tablet devices, serving your email data from the cloud.
Gmail Highlights
Gmail is a free, but powerful solution to safely send, receive, and store emails. Gmail encrypts all messages you receive & send and comes packed with a slew of powerful management tools.
If you own a custom domain name, you can also set up your free Gmail account to both send and receive emails from up to five custom domain names.
Gmail allows for the creation of an email expiration, and you can require recipients to verify.
Extra security options allow you to remove options to forward, copy, download, and print an email.
Gmail is also a great starting point to sign-up with Google if you’re just getting started.
You can use your Gmail account to log in to and/or sync with all of the Google Products in your new workflow.
Google My Business
Organic
Google My Business profiles can be a great tool to help your small business rank in Google's organic search engine results pages (SERPs).
Maps
GMB profiles integrate seamlessly with a number of other Google Products including Google Maps. You can manage your GMB profile from your mobile Google Maps app.
Reviews
Gain valuable customer reviews on your Google My Business profile to build confidence in your small business or brand.
Chat
You can use your Maps app to chat in real time with your customers who wish to connect with you via Google Search.
Google My Business Highlights
You can create and manage your Google Business Profile with a free Google My Business account.
GMB profiles can be a fantastic way for small businesses to quickly establish an organic presence on Google’s organic search results pages.
This free product also allows small businesses to connect with customers directly through Google Search and Google Maps.
The mobile Google Maps app features a chat function that you can utilize by opting-in within your GMB Settings. This will allow for real-time chat with your customers directly from Google Search.
Your Google Business Profile is also fully customizable. Business owners can post pictures, FAQ, respond to reviews, post updates, and more.
Google Voice
Get Number
Google Account Customers can create a free phone number with any personal account.
Forward Calls
You can forward calls from your Google Voice Phone Number to any device.
See History
Keep track of histroic phone calls, add notes, and more.
Stay Current
Google Voice can make transcriptions of your voicemails and email them to you. Both convenient and great for record keeping.
Google Voice Highlights
Having a unique phone number is something many small businesses are looking to set up right out of the gate.
Google Voice provides a robust and entirely free phone service available for personal use that even allows for the selection of a unique phone number.
This free phone product includes voicemail transcription services that can be emailed directly to you, so you can read your voicemails right from your email.
Easily navigate and archive call histories, add notes, and create a custom voicemail greeting.
You can even use your free Google Voice account to send and receive text messages!
Google Search Console
Measure
Google Search Console provides tools to measure your site's organic rankings, traffic and more.
Find & Fix
Google Search Console provides reports identifing site issues that can include mobile text being too small or clickable elements being placed too close.
Rank
Keep track of organic rankings over time and see the search queries generating clicks into your website.
Sitemaps
Google Search Console is the official mechanism through which webmasters and small business owners submit sitemaps to Google.
Google Search Console Highlights
Google Search Console provides a series of free tools that allow webmasters and small businesses to manage and measure website metrics directly impacting organic search performance.
Google Search Console will notify and store data pertaining to a website’s historic search performance.
Perhaps most importantly, Search Console will notify webmasters of website issues and validate when those issues are fixed.
Google Search Console also provides small businesses with the ability to submit sitemaps directly to Google to aid in the crawling and ranking of your website pages.
Google Looker Studio
Data
Google Looker Studio (formally known as Google Data Studio) makes accessing a wide variety of data a fast process.
Visualize
Get compelling information from various collections of data visualizations that are fully customizable.
Automate
Google Looker Studio can be a great way to automate and dynamically populate your reports and can connect with many different sources.
Collaborate
Google Looker Studio makes it easy to collaborate. Share data visualizations with colleagues and teams.
Google Looker Studio Highlights
Google Looker Studio (formally known as Google Data Studio) provides a series of free tools that allow small businesses and webmasters to access and visualize a wide variety of data quickly.
Looker Studio can also sync with a plethora of different data sources and contains nothing short of an incredible amount of segmenting and visualization options.
Looker Studio can be used to dynamically populate online charts and automate data collection, retention, and reports for individuals and teams alike.
Google Drive
Spreadsheets
Google Sheets is a great tool for small businesses. The cloud-base makes collaborative project sharing a breeze. You can also use your Microsoft Office files with Sheets!
Documents
Use Google Docs to create and edit text documents directly in your web browser. Changes are saved automatically. Built-in chat for collaborations & more.
Present
Use Google Slides to create presentations with a team. Works on both Mac & PC, Google also has many templates ready for use for many different business types.
Store
Personal Google Accounts come with 15GB of free storage space. Google offers monthly plans for additional storage at very competive pricing for business that want to expand.
Google Drive Highlights
Many small businesses require secure and ready access to files and folders from any device for personal use and collaborative team efforts.
Google Drive provides a myriad of powerful, free tools for creating and sharing spreadsheets (Sheets) , documents (Docs), folders, and even media.
Google Drive also features a range of pre-built templates that can be great go-tos for everything from to-do lists to an invoices.
Google Merchant Center
List Products
Google Merchant Center provides tools that help businesses and brands list a wide range of products for 100% for free.
More Placements
Product listings managed by Google Merchant Center can appear on Google Search, Shopping, YouTube, Maps & more.
Your Store
Google directs clicks to the product page of your website. Physical store owners can choose to direct customers there as well.
E-Commerce Links
Merchant Center can link with many of the leading e-commerce platforms to allows for automatic updates & new additions.
Google Merchant Center Highlights
Google Merchant Center is a great free product for those small businesses that offer products.
With Merchant Center, the products you choose to list can appear on Google Search, Google Shopping, YouTube and other placements.
Any of the clicks that are received via your Google Merchant Center listings are directed to the product page of your website.
Business owners with a physical location can choose to send customers there as well.
Merchant Center provides the ability to connect with major e-commerce platforms such as WooCommerce, Shopify, BigCommerce and others to allows for automatic updates and new listings in conjunction with your e-commerce updates.
Apart from the free services, Google Merchant Center can also connect with Google Ads to allow for more paid placement options.
Google Meet
Share Screen
Google Meet allows participants to share screens securely during a meeting. This can be great for demos and teaching.
Google Calendar
You can create a meeting room when you schedule with Google Calendar.
In Browser
If you use Google Meet on a desktop or laptop device you will not require any additional software or applications, everything is in-browser.
Video & Chat
Google Meet allows for live audio, chat, video and more. You can make meetings private or open to anyone with your custom link.
Google Meet Highlights
Google Meet is an online video conferencing product that allows for secure group meetings that come packed with useful tools.
Google Meet offers a number of security and privacy options in addition to encrypting all of the information that is relayed during a meeting.
Meeting participants to can choose to share screens, share live video, live audio, and type messages and/or links in the built-in chat box.
Google Meet also integrates with Google Calendar (another great free Google product that deserves its own placement on this top 10 list) where you can create Google Meet conference links as you dial in your calendar details.
Scheduling Google Meet conferences with Google Calendar is a winning combo that we use regularly with our clients for everything from strategy sessions to teaching lessons where we share our screens and walk small business owners through the back-end processes of a website.
