Top 10 Google Tools for Entrepreneurs

2009 is here and for a great many of us are looking at some huge opportunities before us. Whether you’re suffering because of the economy, or taking your idea and making it a reality, there is always risk involved going out on your own. As an entrepreneur the rules of the game change, and while you are your own boss, there is a lot you have to answer to when it comes to ensuring your success and proper execution of your idea.

As such, there is a big need for the right tools for the right job. Just like approaching any big project, the right tools can make you, the wrong tools will break you. I’ve taken the time to do a post on the top 10 tools that an entrepreneur can use to keep their professional life and business life in check. I’ve chosen Google tools simply because they all sync with one another. There are a lot of people out there that may naysay Google products, but having everything sync together just makes things easier.

1. GMail
A lot of services out there offer great email services, but GMail was one of the first out of the gate to offer a substantial amount of storage with the ability to manipulate the interface. Many of the competitors could not offer what GMail has offered and since then have copiedGMail’s efforts in an attempt to eat up some of the market share for email users. There are a lot of Google Labs additions that make GMail more useful so make sure you get an account and explore what it has to offer.

2. GCal (Google Calendar)
Once again this calendar works hand in hand with its email companion. From GMail you can instantly add events to GCal, and within the GCal interface you can send email reminders for specific events. SMS messages are also available making this calendar even more useful by having your event reminders go straight to your mobile device. Within GCal you can color code different calendar needs, such as one color for personal appointments, another color for professional appointments, etc. This allows you to see everything at once, or only the calendar events you choose to see by deselecting the colored tabs you wish not to see. The diversity makes this a must have, and the ability to access it from any computer is the icing on the cake for any professional.

3. GDocs (Google Documents)
Microsoft Office has taken a lot of heat for not diversifying itself over the years. It’s still the most widely used software package out there for all of our project and document uses. Still, the idea of cloud computing, and online word processing has eaten up a lot of that market share, and as more and more turn to online alternatives,GDocs is a clear leader in this movement. You have the ability to type your documents and save them for access from any computer you canlogin from. Along with saving them “in the cloud,” you can also include contributors to your document or include other readers as well. The versatility once again shows how vital this tools is for everyday business use.

4. Google Alerts
If you’ve got a brand out there, whether it’s you or a specific product, find out what people are saying about you. Google Alerts allows you to setup announcements based on keywords. Google will then focus on these keywords and when they are mentioned will collect the information and alert you of the mention. It’s also useful when looking for trending topics, or what other people are saying about the market you are in. Take heed, if you’re not listening to the chatter of the global users, you’re missing a lot!

5. Google Bookmarks
There’s a lot to be said about social bookmarking, but what if you’re not into socializing with others, and simply want to keep a record of key sites you want access to from any computer. Google Bookmarks will sync on any computer you have the toolbar set up on, but if you’re traveling, simply login through Google site and you will find everything you marked as key for your studies, research, and product ideas. You can add notes to the bookmarks and even add keywords to make them searchable for later.

6. GReader (Google Reader)
Many of us subscribe to RSS feeds, but for those of us that don’t, it would be a good addition to our business arsenal. Google Reader takes all of our RSS subscriptions and groups them in one place for you to read. You can keep track of all the news you follow within your industry, or recreational purposes, and mark favorites, share with others, email them directly to your contacts. Keeping track of what’s happening on all the sites you visit through a tool like GReader can save you a lot of time.

7. Google AdSense
Have a site where your product is featured, or perhaps a blog promoting your company? Why not make money off the site with Google AdSense? It’s all possible by finding keywords that Google decides are searched enough to be of value. By matching ads to your sites content, the author can earn money when traffic to your site clicks on the ads. You have the choice of whether to offer ads via text or images, but either way the readers of your site will find them useful. The amount of money made varies on your traffic and the amount of ads.

8. Google Analytics
With a solid idea, a site with popular traffic, you can keep tabs on the success and popularity of the site by subscribing to Google Analytics. The tool basically monitors all back-end information for your site. where your traffic is coming from, how many visitors to you site daily, weekly, monthly, etc. It will share with you how long people are on your site and what they are reading, giving you the opportunity to market yourself just right to keep the readers coming to visit.

9. Google Pages
Any entrepreneur needs a place to display a portfolio of work, somewhere to share their resume, or feature ideas for a close group to critique. Google Pages gives you that opportunity to design a site with easy to follow templates to choose from and internal tools that make it easy to include text, images, and files. You have the ability to customize the URL and decide whether you want to keep the site private or publish it publicly. Either way, the opportunity is too good to pass up, create something now and let the world or a few close friends know what you’re up to.

10. Grand Central
Finally, an acquired entity, Grand Central is an amazingly easy way to customize all of your business calls. Think of Grand Central as a landing site for all of your phone calls. When calls come in, before they get to you, your Grand Central settings will kick in. Ring all your phones or just a few. Route calls to different voicemail boxes each with unique greetings, but have them all in the same inbox. Block callers, have callers leave the reason why they are calling before you answer. All of this is possible with Grand Central and never waste time with wrong numbers or pointless chatter again. During business time, make every minute count!

Tags: Gmail google Google Calendar Google Labs google reader rss