Category Archives: GSuite

10 Google My Business Best Practices

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Google My Business Best PracticesWhether 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

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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

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Embed Spreadsheet Pricing Table in DocumentFor 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

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G Suite PricingThe 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 →

Chromebook for Business Use: An Alternative to Windows and macOS?

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Chromebook for Business

Chromebook runs on Google’s lightweight operating system, Chrome OS. Chrome OS is so lightweight that it doesn’t support running traditional locally installed business applications.

This is changing to to some degree, as several recent model Chromebooks support installed Android apps. Example models are the Acer Chromebook R 11 Convertible and the Google Chromebook Pixel.

Many developers will need to make changes to their Android apps in order to fully support Chrome OS. Even if an app is made compatible with Chrome OS, it may not be as robust as its Windows or macOS counterpart.

Chromebooks ship with under 32GB of local storage. But this is more than enough space to run multiple Chrome extensions.

Chrome OS updates are easy and fast to apply. This makes Chromebook an attractively secure choice in light of recent ransomware attacks, in which older unpatched operating systems were exploited. Continue reading Chromebook for Business Use: An Alternative to Windows and macOS? →

Google Hangouts Meet vs GoToMeeting

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Hangouts Meet vs GoToMeetingIn 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

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Google Sheets Bitcoin Price vs Gold PriceGoogle 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

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G Suite for EnterprisesThe 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

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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 →

CRM for Gmail and G Suite: Chrome Extensions

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Many CRM users, especially salespeople, live in Gmail. Because of this, a number of 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 for Gmail 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 extensions to entirely new levels. Continue reading CRM for Gmail and G Suite: Chrome Extensions →

What is Google Sheets and How Does it Work?

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Google Sheets ExplainedGoogle 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?

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What is Google Docs?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

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G Suite vs. Rackspace WebmailWhen 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

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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

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Add Users to G SuiteThere 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

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Data Table in Google My MapsIn 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

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Gmail G Suite iOSWhile 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

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New Google SitesThe 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 →