4 Free Google Tools You Must Use in Your Business
Guest Blogger Stephen Pacinelli has delivered presentations to thousands of REALTORS® on the benefits of sales automation, social media, blogging and online marketing. Stephen’s strategies come first hand from some of the best Realtors around the country. Steve co-founded Tech Savvy Agent and helped build it from the ground up to provide the best technology and marketing information to REALTORS® seeking the latest strategies and tools.
Let’s face it, Google pretty much runs the Internet. It dictates where we go and what we see. So if I want to play nice with anybody, guess who it’s going to be….Google.
There are 4 indispensable tools that I feel everyone should be implementing in their current business. These tools are easy to get, and free, simply by going to google.com and signing up for an account on the upper right hand side of the page. We’re going to start with the most basic, being your profile and touch upon some more advanced tools like, the Keyword Tool, Google Alerts and Analytics.
1. Google Profile
We can’t control what appears on the first page of Google, right? Wouldn’t it be great to at least know that a hand-typed profile and a nice looking bio created by you, would be guaranteed to appear on the first page? Well, guess what? We can do that by simply filling out your Google profile.
After getting your Google account, go to Google.com and click on Google Account Settings. You will see an empty profile screen on the upper left hand side. This is where you want to add some information, such as a short bio or other variations of your name. The information entered onto this screen is guaranteed to show up on the first page of Google (on the bottom) when someone searches for your name.
2. Google Alerts
The next important tool I would recommend is Google Alerts. The Internet is a wide open space for anyone to say anything. Do you know what people are saying about you? You spend a lot of time making sure your reputation is secure off-line. How about on-line? Under the Google Account Settings screen, look for the small yellow bell and click on the Alerts link. Key in your name here but be sure to put it in quotes as shown below, to lock your first name in with your last. Otherwise, in my case I would get notified of all “Steve’s” or all “Pacinelli’s”. Answer the next few questions and Google is now set up to send you an alert the second it finds any reference to your name on the Internet.
3. Google Analytics
Everyone has a website these days. But it seems as if only a small amount of agents are truly harnessing the power of their on-line presence. To do this, you need to have an understanding of your consumer and know what they liked most as well as what they didn’t like or did not find beneficial from your website. Google Analytics to the rescue! This tool will compile and save data about your visitors on your site including location, time spent, pages visited, their entry page and exit page as well as a myriad of other statistics that will give you better insight to cater towards their needs. Google Analytics will work on almost any website and most reputable website providers will have a custom box to enter in the code that Google supplies. Simply find the Google Analytics button under the same Google Account Settings screen I referenced earlier.
4. Google Keyword Tool
In this blog post, we definitely saved the best for last. Knowing what your target audience is searching for on the internet can give you a competitive advantage in trying to meet the needs of this fickle group. Since Google knows where everyone is going, it keeps detailed information about what people are searching for on the Internet. This fantastic feature is the Google Keyword Tool. Any tech savvy agent that is looking for a good domain name, has a website or enjoys blogging will find this tool invaluable. The easiest way to take advantage of this free tool, is to Google “Google Keyword Tool”. The first entry to pop up is what you are looking for. Type a phrase into the space and instantly see the amount of searches completed for that phrase. This is a component that has limitless use, since knowledge is power in understanding consumer behavior in the real estate industry.
I hope you find these four tools as useful as we all do at Tech Savvy Agent. What are some other free tools are you using in your business?
28 Comment(s)
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Michael McClure | Sep 8, 2010 | Reply
Katie,
Great post, and I agree 100% with all you’ve said. I was just Tweeting about Google Alerts two days ago. Keep #CRUSHING!
Best,
Michael
Patricia | Sep 8, 2010 | Reply
Thank you for the post. I have the profile set up and knew about keywords, though it is unclear to me how to effectively use that information. Would you use those words in a blog? Thanks
Mike | Sep 8, 2010 | Reply
Great tools, I never knew about Google Profiles. I’ll definitely need to set one up for myself asap, as well as set up a Google Alert for my name. Really great tips I’ll be getting a lot of use out of them.
Steve Pacinelli | Sep 8, 2010 | Reply
Sure Patricia! The keyword tool will help you choose a title for a blog post, a (good) domain name or to simply tag your website pages. It’s like having direct insight into the minds of your consumers! Maybe I will also do a video post on http://www.techsavvyagent.com. What do you guys think?
Marc Brodeur | Sep 8, 2010 | Reply
Very good. I didn’t know about the profiles section either, though I had noticed it. Sometimes its like going through the labs section of google, there is always something you can learn.
Homes In Pasadena | Sep 8, 2010 | Reply
Google has provided great additions to their product and they are always making it better. Like today, with the announcement of Google Instant.
The amount of ‘useful’ free tools they provide is outstanding.
Thanks for the article,
Steven
Green Bay Homes | Sep 8, 2010 | Reply
Google is the king of the internet world that’s for sure.
Google App is also one of the best tools in my opinion being able to run your email server through gmail and have google docs and google sites integrated within your own apps account for your other agents is priceless. Oh and by the way for the standard edition it’s free.
Great post I love G Voice, G Reader, G Apps, G Docs, G Alerts jeez I think I love them all.
Diane H. | Sep 8, 2010 | Reply
I LOVE Google. I use Google Docs (especially forms), Alerts, Reader, Chat, and my Priority Inbox daily. And, on occasion, I use and am a huge fan of the wonder wheel.
Johnson | Sep 8, 2010 | Reply
Great post,
Great reminder for us to keep monitoring the web presence.
Thx!
Holly Scwartz | Sep 8, 2010 | Reply
Great Post! I love Google alerts to see what is being said about ‘me’ and my company. I can also be in the know about local news and even keep an eye on my competition. Please post a video on keywords… Thanks!
Holly Schwartz | Sep 8, 2010 | Reply
These are great tips. I love Google Alerts to monitor my online presence. It’s also great for finding out tons of local news and even keeping an eye on the competition.
Please post a video on how to best use keywords – that would be fabulous! Thanks.
John Yang | Sep 9, 2010 | Reply
I am surprised that Google Voice and Google Places didn’t make it to the TOP of your list.
With Google Places, I am able to dominate the 1st page of Google in my local market for FREE.
James Chai | Sep 9, 2010 | Reply
Good list but rather short considering all the various tools offered by Google.
Steve Pacinelli | Sep 9, 2010 | Reply
Sorry James, 700 word limit
and I was already a little over.
Stillwater MN Homes for Sale | Sep 9, 2010 | Reply
Thanks for the Google Profile tip. Very, very good information to know. Thanks for sharing!
Jon Angevine - Calgary Real Estate | Sep 10, 2010 | Reply
Google has some really great tools and it is hard to believe the cost – FREE. Google alerts have given me a huge incite into the market as well as some great ideas that I would not have otherwise come across. Google Apps is phenomenal and I can’t say enough. Even the Gmail Spam filter is worth a laugh with it’s Spam recipes at the top.
Every time you think they have everything you need some thing else pops up in the labs.
The Tech Savvy crew are great sources of ideas, information and inspiration! Keep up the great work!
San Diego Agent | Sep 10, 2010 | Reply
I have a my site developed by Z57. I get all of this and more for less than $50 per month. If you don’t have a crushing internet presence you may as well cash in your chips!
Marika | Sep 10, 2010 | Reply
Great post, thank you!
For anyone who is confused about google tools – it’s easy and short manual with step-by-step illustrations to follow. Great!
Alex Cortez | Sep 10, 2010 | Reply
Great information, Stephen. I didn’t know about the profile was guaranteed to be on the first page (definitely great to know).
And James, these posts are meant to be informative tidbits of information, not technical manuals. I’m sure you could write books about Google and all that it has to offer.
CelesteBarr - KW Northern Illinois Suburbs | Sep 10, 2010 | Reply
Just one more thing with Google that I just learned… you should register your business on Google. It’s free and allows users to see your business in the town your office is located. Most people don’t know about it and you might as well be the first.
Also, when you do a map search of an area, there’s an option on the upper right for a drop down to populate all homes that are available on the market. Be sure to check this feature out.
Love all your posts everyone.
Kathleen Scanlon | Sep 14, 2010 | Reply
Great post! I use every one of the above mentioned tools – it is so important to not only try to improve your page rank but to listen to the conversation going on around you so you can either capitalize on it or minimize its impact – depending on the nature of the conversation.
Listening is essential – I highly recommend Google Alerts.
Karen Cayamanda | Sep 20, 2010 | Reply
Pretty helpful Google tools to get your page up in ranks. Just apply other SEO tactics to give your page rank a boost. And don’t forget those inbound links.
Jacque Koutnik | Sep 21, 2010 | Reply
Google Webmasters is also awesome for the more tech savvy agents
New Social Media | Nov 25, 2010 | Reply
Thanks for the info on Google Profile. I didn’t know it would show up like that in the search page. Very cool! – Theresa
Carmen Brodeur | Jan 1, 2011 | Reply
I use all 4 of the tools you mentioned. As a Realtor the Keyword tool is the most important to me. I am continually analyzing which keywords are used most often.
Ben Lindsay | Jan 3, 2011 | Reply
Good Stuff! You can never under estimate the importance of a presence on the web. This is the future of marketing whether we like it or not:)
Poker Freak | Apr 18, 2011 | Reply
Excellent article! You can find what you need with these free tools and don’t need to spend the big $$$ with the tools you need to pay for. Nice Article!
Jezz Outsourcing | Apr 28, 2011 | Reply
These tools are very helpful but many are still unaware of them. Google analytics tools are as good as many commercial suites, and even better than many analytic software.