Looking for free apps that you can use to grow your business online? Try out these FREE 5 Google tools to get started.
Whether you love or hate Google, you have to admit one thing: Google is the only company that offers a lot of free tools to small businesses. Are you using them? Today we will look at some of those free range Google tools that can help to grow your business.
1. Google My Business
You’ve probably seen Google My Business (GMB) before when searching for ‘restaurants/dentists/accountant near me’. The listing will display the name of the business, its rating on Google Reviews, opening hours, address and contact details.
Business owners have an option to list a menu or a list of services too. Customers then have the option to make bookings directly through your listing.
Despite being so helpful, 70% of South Africa’s small businesses don’t manage a search engine listing or map listing for their business. But it’s easy to set up GMB, it takes just a few clicks and track updates through the accompanying app. Or if you’re right at the beginning, Google will help you create a fully mobile-optimised website in less than ten minutes.
In 2019, Google added new functionality where you can add your branding as well as a cover photo and a selection of photos that really show what your business is about. To clinch even more customers, you can add limited time offers to new shoppers.
2. Google AdSense
The most popular way to make a little money from the visitors you’ve already attracted to your site is by putting ads on your own website using Google AdSense. AdSense ties into AdWords by placing content-related ads on your site. You choose the size of the ads and where they’re displayed. When a visitor clicks on an ad, Google splits the ad revenue with you. Thus, Google AdSense can help you generate some extra revenue through your website.
3. Google Trends
On the most basic level, Google Trends shows you what people around the world are currently searching for — the information is even updated in real time. But it can also be a valuable tool for SEO keyword research and content creation. If you visit the Google Trends page and type in terms that are relevant to your business, you’ll see the search volume over time and which geographic regions have shown the most interest in those terms. You can also see the most popular topics and queries related to the terms you’re interested in. Use this data to determine which topics are popular, then create content for your website or Google Ads accordingly.
4. Google Analytics
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.
5 Grow My Store
Grow My Store will give you a diagnostic breakdown of your website’s customer experience, covering checkout process, site performance, information available to customers and more.
Once completed, you’ll receive a personalised report with recommendations on how to improve customer experience. You’ll be rated based on keywords relating to each customer experience section. If the tool finds certain keywords in ten pages of your URL, you’ll pass that section.
To help you improve your site, your results will be linked to a series of comprehensive guides that are relevant to your business’ needs.
