Download How I Got GooGle to work for Me

Plugged In By Paul Brockway, AAF
How I Got Google to Work for Me
> G-Mail and Google Maps may get all the
glory, but there are a host of Google tools
that can help your business — for free.
Over the past year, the staff at Conklyn’s
has worked through the library of available
tools to find those truly worth having. The
following improve efficiency, monitor our
Web site and make sure we know about
the next best thing before it passes us by,
or worse, steamrolls over our shop.
n Google Toolbar. I store Web tools and
bookmarks on a tool bar that appears
on any computer I use once I sign
into my Google account. My favorites
include the “page rank tool” that
shows how Google rates the site’s
value to the Internet, the “translate
this page” tool, the “autofill” and the
“auto-correct” tool.
get your own toolbar.google.com
value Web site optimization,
time savings
n Google Maps. When customers
search for a florist they will most
likely see a map showing “Local
Business Results.” We make sure
all of our stores are listed no matter
which search terms customers use.
If your shop is not listed on the map
shown when you do a search, follow
the link below to the Google Local
Business Center to add it.
get your own www.google.com/
local/add/
value Advertising
n Picasa. We send photos of designs to
requesting senders. Picasa makes it
Future Perfect,
Past Templates
Peek inside the labs of Google and find
out what projects are coming soon to a
toolbar near you (and those that don’t
make it out of the Mountain View, Calif.,
headquarters) at googlelabs.com.
Or take a trip back through the
virtual archives to see what your Web
site looked like 10 years ago. Like embarrassing photos of high school, these
images provide an incentive for constant
updating and breaking of bad habits. Go
to www.archive.org/web/web.php (Just
don’t look at mine!)
40 n
n
n
n
easy to quickly download
a photo, make basic edits
and e-mail the snapshot to
a customer. A beta version
is now available for Mac.
get your own picasa.
google.com
value Time savings,
customer service, loyalty
Google Documents.
This allows me to create
documents, including forms,
polls, customer surveys and
contracts and easily add them
to a Web site just by cutting and
pasting a few lines of code. Edit the
document from any Web browser
and any pieces attached to your Web
site will be updated immediately. We
use this for creating questionnaires
on our Web site, which provide
a valuable resource of customer
feedback.
get your own docs.google.com
value Marketing, time savings
Google Alerts. Create an alert and
receive an e-mail whenever your
chosen keyword (your shop’s name,
your name, etc.) appears on the Web,
in a blog or article. When I receive an
alert that we have been mentioned on
a blog or a Web posting, I can respond
quickly to keep the impression of our
shop positive. If a site attempts to use
our shop name to lure customers, I ask
it to remove our trademarked name.
get your own Google.com/alerts
value Reputation management,
customer service
1-800-GOOG-411. Are you paying $1
or more every time an employee calls
411 to locate a business? Instead dial
1-800-GOOG-411. The automated
attendant will ask you a few questions
and connect you—for free.
value Money saved
Google Apps for business. Tailored
for businesses, these tools act
as your handy assistant, for free.
You can organize and coordinate
schedules using Calendar and
monitor traffic volume and patterns
with Analytics. Google Reader will
monitor blog posts, while other
options are ready for you to give a
test drive.
FLORAL MANAGEMENT | JUNE 2009 | WWW.SAFNOW.ORG
map time Getting your business to show
up on the local search results map is simply
a matter of asking Google to add it.
In Search of Yourself
Type the following terms into your Google
search box for fast facts about your site and
online activity:
n cache:yourwebsitename. Find out
what your home page looked like
the last time Google took a gander
(and how often it looks at your site)?
We discovered that the more often
we update our site, the more often
Google updates their search engine
with our information.
n link:yourwebsitename. Shops that
increase their inbound links find
that their popularity with Google
increases. Find out who is linking to
you to better master getting more
inbound hookups.
n site:yourshopname.com. Need
a listing, in one place, of all of the
pages on your site? Can’t find a page
you are looking for on a site you are
searching? This tool is basically a
search tool within that individual site.
n Web history. Don’t waste time
searching for something you already
found a few days ago. Web history
can provide a time line of the places
you searched with dates and times.
To protect your privacy, a log-in to
your Google account is required.
Don’t just sit there; go get Google working for you. It’s free labor that never
takes a break.
Paul Brockway, AAF, is the co-owner
of Conklyn’s in Arlington, Va.
E-mail: [email protected].