Thanks to technology, there are countless tools that businesses can use today to heighten their chances for success. Instead of having to focus on traditional means of running their firms, they can now automate various processes, which helps increase productivity and yield results within a shorter period of time.
One of the many efficient tools businesses can use today is Google. Truth be told, it’s Google that now controls not just the personal lives of people on the Internet, but that of their work and professional lives as well. Almost everything can be done on Google, and it’s only set to get even better as new tools continue to emerge each passing day.
Here are some of the ways you can utilize Google to help boost your company’s success:
1. Sign Up For Google My Business
Google My Business is like a digital phone book for businesses. Especially if you own a startup business, it helps to sign up for this free tool. That way, many Internet users will get to know more about your business, helping put your firm on the map.
Google My Business is not like any other phone book. In this platform, you can input details concerning your business, such as the location, opening hours, neighboring areas, and whether or not there’s an available parking space at the moment. You may also post pictures and create a virtual tour of your business. Before potential customers get to visit your establishment, they’re already able to see a preview of the building through the digital map.
There are many benefits that Google My Business can bring to your company. These include the following:
- Gathers insights on how your customers make it to your site
- Increases visibility in the search options
- Displays and controls pertinent business information
- Allows your buyers to have a better shopping experience as they are more informed
- Allows for better interaction with your customers, resulting in better online review reputation
However, take note of the following tips and best practices for Google My Business to make sure that you’re using the said platform correctly:
- Always make sure that whatever information you’re posting online is accurate and comprehensive.
- Do ask for reviews from your customers, and take the time to respond to them regardless if they’re good or bad.
- Add or share posts on the platform’s updates section.
2. Take Advantage Of Google Trends
Google Trends is one of the most underrated tools that any business should utilize if they want to achieve long-term success. For the uninitiated, Google Trends is a website that discovers how specific searches in the past were so popular. Then, it brings the trends back to the present, depending on what currently is in demand.
Here are some of the advantages of using Google Trends:
- It keeps you on top of relevant topics. With Google Trends, you’re better assured that whatever content your business website is posting is relevant right at this moment This is because you get to learn more about what people are actually searching for.
- It enables you to choose the right keywords. Note that keywords play a vital role in how your site ranks in search engines. Through Google Trends, you’re increasing the likelihood of using the keywords that are most effective for your website.
- It shows metrics as to what’s trending. This function is vital, especially when your team is on the hunt for stuff to produce and sell, and which are sure to be a hit. Google Trends can play a big part in your business’s research and development process, helping ensure that you’re only creating highly marketable products.
- It provides you with the best sources for articles and content for backlinking. This is especially beneficial if you have a website to maintain. In the world of SEO, it is always best to link to other websites. In doing so, you’re able to improve your site’s reputability and trustworthiness.
- It provides details about geographic concerns. With Google Trends, you don’t only find out information on which products are currently popular and trending, but you also gather insights on where these products are most popular. This can come in handy, especially if your business is also selling products online. With Google Trends, you’ll be able to discover that certain products do have a market in specific locations that you may not be serving. Through this valuable information, you can tweak your marketing efforts and logistics to better accommodate and cater to these areas.
Here is a bonus tip for you: when using Google Trends, use the optional forecast checkbox. That way, you can better anticipate whether or not there’s an interest in a particular topic. Then, you can also study trends to help you determine whether or not a particular trend on a specific topic will rise.
3. Study Your Google Analytics
If you’re not using your Google Analytics to your advantage, then you’re missing out so much on key information that could be vital for your business’s improvement. There are many ways you can optimize your site through the free tools that Google provides, which include Google Analytics.
This particular platform enables you to have a deeper understanding of individual users or business website owners. That way, you’ll get to know more about matters relating to demand, as well as the behavior of business owners. This, in turn, helps your team come up with sounder business choices for the betterment of the entire company.
Google Analytics is, in fact, one of the best tools provided by Google that you should utilize for your business. Here, Google continuously strives to improve the accuracy of certain information and data. Some of the facets of Google Analytics that could benefit your business are the following:
- User-focused reporting: With this, the focus of studying information is on the users or your customers. You get to explore everything about the purchasing behavior of your consumers, from the time that they enter your physical or online store, until the time that they’re converted into loyal and paying customers.
- Relevant audiences needed in the reporting process: Through this, you can create audiences in Google Analytics as you go about with your reporting process. That way, it would be easier for you to analyze the performance of certain groups of audiences, depending on the segments or market sectors that they belong to.
- Demographics and interest. Here, you get to go beyond merely understanding the journey of your customers. With this feature, you’re able to obtain more specific information concerning their age, gender, interest, and financial capacity, among many others.
4. Use The Google Cloud Hosting Platform
Another way of using Google to your company’s advantage is the Google Cloud platform. This enables you to build applications, host websites, and analyze data, to name a few. With the Google Cloud platform, you can go through a better decision-making process with nothing but the most intelligent analytics for your business.
Here are some of the benefits that a Google Cloud hosting platform can bring to your business:
- Better availability of more affordable pricing plans. This is most advantageous to small businesses.
- Provides a private global fiber and tiered network. Undoubtedly, the Google Cloud Hosting Platform is one of the biggest in the world that’s in use today. Through this, the speed of the connections used by the businesses is significantly improved. This means that your business can now process more data within a much shorter time frame.
- Presents opportunities for enhanced execution. With a more significant infrastructure, now your business can execute various complex operations, all in one go. Your business site can also handle more visitors at any given time. In effect, you’re improving the productivity and revenue capacity of your business.
- Operates a live migration of virtual machines. In simpler terms, this means that all the platforms under Google Cloud, such as WordPress, for instance, are always up-to-date in terms of their virtual machines. With this, there will be no degradation in the performance quality of your business’s website.
- Has the ability to use a private network. Google will provide your business with its own network. In doing so, your business will have more control and scalability over the network that you’re using.
5. Store Files On Google Drive
With more and more businesses going digital, you should, too. If you’re still very dependent on physical files, now’s the time for you to make that shift to soft copies of these documents. Not only does this make for less clutter in the office, but you won’t be worrying anymore about losing physical files. Also, the transfer of information from one department to another will be more straightforward.
Of the many file storage devices or software that you can use, one of the most effective is Google Drive. It’s a server where you can safely keep all of your data. Apart from the usual documents, you also get to store videos, photos, and PDFs.
Here are some of the benefits of using Google Drive:
- Enables you to back up important files – If there are still physical documents you need to keep, you no longer have to fear losing them. You can back up these documents on your Google Drive. Then, all you’ve got to do is to print out a new copy should any of these files gets lost.
- Allows you to access your files anywhere – This is especially beneficial if you’ve got employees who are working from different parts of the world or are forced to work from home. As Google Drive can be shared, accessed, and opened by many different users who have been granted access, files can be managed anytime and anywhere. This reduces the downtime of your business or slowing down of operations.
- Enables you to send large files. While some files or documents are too large to share through email, you can easily do so with Google Drive.
6. Use The Google Webmaster Tools To Your Advantage
This tool from Google is very helpful for your business, especially when you already have a website that’s up and running. Having a website doesn’t mean that all your efforts should end there. There’s also that added challenge of ensuring that your website meets the metrics set by search engines for it to be considered effective. Else, your website won’t be doing anything to your advantage.
When you’re running a business website, you’ll want to have insights on how healthy your site is from the perspective of Google. This, you can get from Google Webmaster. First, you’re given alerts on any red flags that your website may be committing, which prevents your site from making it to the top results or landing pages of search engines. With that kind of information within your grasp, it’s also easier for you now to analyze your existing search traffic. In doing so, you’ve also got better insights and information as to how your visitors find you.
7. Make Use Of Google For Retail Businesses
This section applies to your business if it operates in the retail industry. There’s now a tool on Google that you can use to improve your business operations, and that is through Google Retail. This particular tool gives you a workable solution to better manage your existing inventory. Then, through this feature, you could also shop for better ad campaigns for your retail store.
This is how it’s done: on Google Retail, create a trusted store account. Then, here, display the customer ratings that you can have from your existing customers. Additionally, you can also opt to manage your inventory through the merchant center feature. When your business passes the reliability test set by Google Retail, you’ll earn your trusted badge. When you have this badge, you become more attractive and trustworthy not just to existing customers, but even to new customers who may not have heard about your existence yet.
Conclusion
If you haven’t made use of Google yet to improve your firm’s productivity, then you’re missing out on countless benefits. Of the many digital tools that you can use for your business, a lot of these are being offered by Google. Starting from productivity, up to all the many other facets of running your business, there’s a lot for you to use on Google. This list only gives you a few. But, even with only these tools enumerated above, these can already boost the overall success of your business.
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