10 Google My Business Best Practices

August 20, 2017GSuiteGoogle My BusinessStaff Writer

Whether your company is a small local B2C business or a large B2C company, it’s worth paying attention to your Google My Business (GMB) listing.

According to Google, “listings on Google My Business can only be created for businesses that either have a physical location that customers can visit, or that travel to visit customers where they are.”

This means that most businesses can (and probably should) have a GMB listing. A Google My Business listing is a free source that can direct more visitors to a business’s website, almost no matter what type or size of business. Continue reading 10 Google My Business Best Practices →

Google Apps vs G Suite Search Popularity

June 24, 2017GSuiteG Suite, google appsStaff Writer

Google rebranded Google Apps to G Suite in September of 2016. According to Google Trends, since the rebranding, “google apps” has continued to be the more dominant search term.

Continue reading Google Apps vs G Suite Search Popularity →

Embed a “Live” Google Sheets Pricing Table in a Proposal Doc

June 11, 2017GSuiteGoogle Docs, google sheetsStaff Writer

For salespeople who regularly send out long form proposals that contain pricing tables, there has always been a conundrum.

That is, a pricing table within in a document can’t be dynamically updated as easily as a spreadsheet table. The word processing capabilities within a spreadsheet are limited.

Often, a proposal’s pricing table is revised several times before the final version of a proposal is sent to the prospect or customer. This can require manual effort. Either the new bottom line in the document table needs to be hand calculated when line items are changed — or the spreadsheet table must be re-copied/pasted a into the document. Continue reading Embed a “Live” Google Sheets Pricing Table in a Proposal Doc →

G Suite Pricing: What Your Business Can Expect to Pay

June 3, 2017GSuiteG Suite PricingStaff Writer

The current G Suite pricing is different than it was when G Suite was known as Google Apps for Work.

Prior to December 6, 2012, Google offered a free business version of Google Apps. Businesses that signed up for that version are grandfathered at no cost for up to 10 users.

Google still offers free versions of G Suite to qualified educational and government institutions as well as to qualified nonprofit organizations.

For businesses, G Suite does come at a cost. Continue reading G Suite Pricing: What Your Business Can Expect to Pay →

Google Jamboard: A Cloud-Connected Whiteboard

May 28, 2017GSuiteG Suite, JamboardStaff Writer

Google Jamboard Google has released Jamboard, the first hardware component of G Suite.

Jamboard can be viewed as a digital whiteboard that’s sharable, in real time, across multiple locations. It has a 55-inch 4K touchscreen. Continue reading Google Jamboard: A Cloud-Connected Whiteboard →

Google Hangouts Meet vs GoToMeeting

April 21, 2017GSuiteG Suite, Hangouts MeetStaff Writer

In March 2017, Google introduced a new online meeting experience called Hangouts Meet.

For the most part, there’s feature parity between consumer Gmail and business G Suite.

In other words, almost all the component functionality (Docs, Sheets, Slides, Maps) that is available to a G Suite user is also available to a consumer Gmail user.

However, a Hangouts Meet meeting can only be initiated by someone who is part of an organization that is using G Suite and for which the Meet capability has been enabled for the G Suite organization. Continue reading Google Hangouts Meet vs GoToMeeting →

Bitcoin Price Chart vs Gold in Google Sheets

March 30, 2017GSuiteG Suite, google sheetsStaff Writer

Google Sheets, available as part of both consumer Gmail and organization-wide G Suite, allows users to easily create trend charts of anything with a valid Google Finance ticker symbol. This is done using the GOOGLEFINANCE function.

What’s more, users can create charts that compare the ongoing performance of two or more stocks and/or mutual funds. The GOOGLEFINANCE function supports any date range. It supports both daily and weekly intervals. You can “set it and forget it” — cells will auto-populate or auto-update at regular intervals. Continue reading Bitcoin Price Chart vs Gold in Google Sheets →

G Suite for Enterprises: The Shift Has Begun

March 17, 2017GSuiteenterprise, G SuiteStaff Writer

The adoption of G Suite began with small to mid-sized businesses. However, the shift to G Suite for enterprises is ostensibly underway.

At the March 2017 Google Cloud Next Conference, both Colgate and Verizon talked about their move to G Suite.

Colgate-Palmolive has moved 28,000 users to G Suite from IBM’s legacy Notes and Domino systems. Verizon is planning to move 150,000 users to G Suite. Continue reading G Suite for Enterprises: The Shift Has Begun →

6 Business Use Cases for Google Drive Videos

February 11, 2017GSuiteG Suite, google drive, google drive videosStaff Writer

Upload Video File to Google Drive

If your organization uses G Suite, you may have discovered that when you upload a video file to Google Drive, it’s not simply a stored file — the video can be played inline.

What’s more, Google Drive uses the YouTube engine to play uploaded videos. When playing a Google Drive video, the interface has the appearance of a slimmed down version of the YouTube player. Continue reading 6 Business Use Cases for Google Drive Videos →

Gmail Templates: How to Create Them Using Canned Responses

January 29, 2017GmailGmailStaff Writer

Both consumer Gmail and business Gmail users often have a need to create Gmail templates.

Fortunately, Google Labs has provided an easy (and free) way to create Gmail templates. This app is called Canned Responses. As its name implies, the intent of the app was for responding to inbound emails. However, the majority use case may well be for new outbound emails.

Access to Canned Responses is available to G Suite users by default, but user access can be disabled by a G Suite administrator in the admin console. Continue reading Gmail Templates: How to Create Them Using Canned Responses →

Gmail to CRM Integration Options

January 21, 2017GSuiteCRMStaff Writer

Since many CRM users, especially salespeople, live in Gmail, several CRM vendors have developed Chrome extensions that provide access to CRM functionality within consumer Gmail and business Gmail (G Suite). A Chrome extension is a software program that adds functionality to the Chrome browser.

Historically, Chrome extensions have had little to no user interface. In fact, the original intent of Google’s developers was for extensions to be minimalist. From a user interface perspective, many extensions are no more than a button on the address bar.

As an example of basic functionality of a CRM Chrome extension, a CRM user can search for records, edit records and add records — all without leaving Gmail. Some CRM vendors have taken their Chrome extension to an entirely new level. Continue reading Gmail to CRM Integration Options →

What is Google Sheets and How Does it Work?

January 1, 2017GSuiteG Suite, google sheetsStaff Writer

Google Sheets is one of the productivity applications that’s included with free consumer Gmail and with G Suite [for business].

It is a cloud based spreadsheet application. No desktop software is needed to create and edit spreadsheets. Spreadsheets are stored in the cloud, on a virtual drive called Google Drive.

Google Sheets can be used for everything from basic calculations to sophisticated data analysis. Continue reading What is Google Sheets and How Does it Work? →

What is Google Docs and How Does it Work?

December 30, 2016GSuiteG Suite, Google DocsStaff Writer

Google Docs is one of the productivity applications that’s included with free consumer Gmail and with G Suite [for business].

Google Docs is a cloud-based word processor, which means that no desktop software is required to create and edit documents. Documents are stored on Google Drive, which is the cloud drive included with Gmail and G Suite.

Google Docs has all the core capabilities that can be found in traditional word processors. It also has a number of capabilities that relate to the fact that the documents are stored on a cloud drive (vs. on someone’s desktop). So, how does Google Docs work? Here are just a few of the capabilities.

Continue reading What is Google Docs and How Does it Work? →

Rackspace Webmail vs. G Suite For Small Business

December 28, 2016GSuiteG Suite, GmailStaff Writer

When a small business owner or manager decides to make the move from free consumer email addresses (e.g., jake2874@comcast.net) to custom email addresses (e.g., jake@abbottsolar.com), there are a number of business email options.

Aside from Microsoft, two of the most popular business email providers are Rackspace and Google.

As service providers, Google and Rackspace differ in many ways. However, they do overlap in a couple of areas. Continue reading Rackspace Webmail vs. G Suite For Small Business →

How G Suite Gives Each User Unlimited Email Addresses

December 8, 2016GSuiteG Suite, GmailStaff Writer

There are two ways in which a G Suite user can have an unlimited number of inbound email addresses associated with their G Suite account. We’ll refer to these ways as “dimensions”, as they can be used in combination.

G Suite Gmail Address Aliases

The first dimension of unlimited email addresses are email aliases. Aliases are assigned to a user account by a G Suite admin. An admin can assign multiple values to what is technically called the Local-part of the email address, or the part before the @ sign.

In the following example, you will see that Lou’s default email address is lou@yourcrmdemo.com. Lou must use this address to login to her email account. Continue reading How G Suite Gives Each User Unlimited Email Addresses →

How to Add Users to G Suite

December 3, 2016GSuiteG SuiteStaff Writer

There are more similarities between free, consumer Gmail and G Suite than there are differences. In fact, G Suite can be viewed as a multi-user version of consumer Gmail.

When a single user platform becomes multi-user, an administrative layer is needed for tasks such as adding and deleting users, creating groups, assigning apps and managing security.

Fortunately, adding users to G Suite is a straightforward process for an admin. The creator of a G Suite account is a Super Admin by default. One or more admin roles can optionally be assigned to any user. One of the admin roles is called User Management Admin. This role allows a user to create, delete and update users — so, someone other than a Super Admin can be responsible for adding and removing users. Continue reading How to Add Users to G Suite →

Google My Maps: Embed Maps In Your Website

November 18, 2016GSuitegoogle drive, google my mapsStaff Writer

In July 2015, Google announced that Google My Maps had been integrated with Google Drive. This provided G Suite customers with the ability to easily create data driven maps.

A table of data from any Google Sheet can be imported into a layer within a Google My Map. Once data has been imported into a layer, the data table behind that layer can be manually edited. If new layers are created, new data sources can be imported into the same My Map.

One of the many possible uses of Google My Maps is to embed a map of customer locations in your website. Here’s an example. Click on the “View larger map” button in the top right to view the map in a separate browser tab. Continue reading Google My Maps: Embed Maps In Your Website →

G Suite: Gmail & Calendar iOS Updates

November 12, 2016GSuiteCalendar, GmailStaff Writer

While Google has its own mobile phone and tablet operating system, the company needs to remain mindful of the fact that millions of consumer and business Gmail customers are iPhone and iPad users.

In fact, over the last 30 days, 63% of the mobile & tablet visitors to this website, as reported by Google Analytics, are iPhone or iPad users.

For years, Google has offered iOS apps for Gmail, Calendar, Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides and more. However, until recently, the Gmail app had not been updated since December 4, 2012. Continue reading G Suite: Gmail & Calendar iOS Updates →

New Google Sites 2016: A “Host” of Possibilities

November 5, 2016GSuitegoogle sitesStaff Writer

The rollout of new Google Sites to all G Suite customers that are on the Rapid Release track began on November 9, 2016. The Scheduled Release will follow two weeks later.

The original Google Sites, now called “Classic Google Sites” was released in 2008 after the acquisition of JotSpot in 2006. The product did not see much in the way of enhancements for many years.

The new Google Sites appears to be built from the ground up, which means not only a modern set of design components and full device responsiveness, but an app that fits in much better with the rest of the G Suite offerings. Continue reading New Google Sites 2016: A “Host” of Possibilities →

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