The following article is reprinted from the June 2009 Plugged In column of Society of American Florists' (SAF) Floral Management Magazine. SAF's Floral Management is distributed to more than 11,000 SAF members and is the floral industry's premier floral business practices publication.
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.
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
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
Picasa. We send photos of designs to requesting senders. Picasa makes it 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.
In Search of Yourself
Type the following terms into your Google search box for fast facts about your site and online activity:
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.
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.
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.
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 work- ing for you. It's free labor that never takes a break.
Google Maps is very useful in local search. You have done a very good job by adding all of your stores in Google Maps. Other tips are also very useful. thanks for sharing these valuable tips.
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