10 Free Google Tools You Need to Start Your Business

Starting your own business can seem almost impossible sometimes. With so many ducks to get into rows and so many aspects of your business to figure out, following your entrepreneurial dream can easily become overwhelming. I’m in the process of building my own business, and I know how it can feel when you first start out. One thing that helped me was finding tools to make the work easier. There are so many tools available for entrepreneurs and marketers, but knowing which ones are worth your time can be difficult. Luckily for you, I’ve discovered 10 free, accessible, Google tools that will help you start and run your business with confidence. Let’s get started!

Education

At the beginning of my business journey, I was really lost. I knew that I wanted to help people with my marketing skills and that I hadn’t found a business/marketing agency near me that did that, but that was really all I knew. When I decided to open my own business, I had no idea where to even start. So I went searching for all the free business courses I could find and found two great educational resources that can help you learn what you need to learn in order to start a business.

Primer

The first tool is an app called Primer. Primer has tons of lessons for you to access on your phone, and they group them into courses that let you learn with ease. These lessons are all grouped into three main categories. Business & Operations includes lessons on creating a business plan, handling finances, and making sales. Brand & Identity helps you build your brand, design a website, and engage with customers. Marketing & Measurement teaches you how to use social media, videos, blogs, and analytics to craft the perfect marketing strategy. Together, you have an incredible foundation on which to build your business. The app makes it easy to learn whenever you have free time, and the lessons are formatted to help you apply what you learn directly to the business you’re starting. Primer is invaluable as a digital marketer and business owner, so go check it out!

Skillshop

The second tool teaches you how to use some of the most powerful Google tools, and gives you some pretty sweet resume-boosters at the end. That tool is Skillshop, a place for you to take free courses and certification tests about Google Ads, Google My Business, Analytics, and the Google Marketing Platform. Google’s tools for business and marketing are really powerful, but they can also be really confusing if you’ve never used them before. This is where Skillshop comes in! While a lot of Google’s certification options can be really pricy, the ones offered here are completely free. They take a bit of time to do, so definitely find the ones that will help you most instead of doing them all, but being able to add “Google Ads Certified” to your resume or website does so much for your credibility. Skillshop is an absolute gold mine, and I didn’t know that it existed until a few months ago!

Website

Building a website for your business is crucial, and but then what do you do with it? Once you’ve put your site together it can be hard to know what to do next. When I made my first website for the vague idea that was my business, I just set it up and left it alone, thinking I was done once my site was published. But in order to bring people to your site and make sales, you have to do more than that. Luckily enough, Google has three incredible tools to help you in this endeavor.

Analytics

You’ve probably heard of Google Analytics before, and for good reason. It is a powerful tracking tool that gives you all the data you could ever need regarding who visits your site, how long they stay, what pages they visit and so much more. It can be a bit difficult to navigate at first, so check out YHW’s post on Google Analytics here or get your Google Analytics Certification through Skillshop. Once you get the hang of it though, it can do so much. You can set up Goals that track conversions, see what pages are drawing people in and which are making them leave, and connect Analytics to other Google tools to do even more! With Data Studio, you can take the raw data from Analytics and make it into an easy-to-read (and aesthetically pleasing) report. Speaking of tools you can connect to Analytics…

Optimize

Meet Optimize! This tool integrates with Analytics to run A/B Tests and experiments with your website, allowing you to discover what kind of content, layouts, etc. your audience prefers. It’s really easy to set up and gives you so many helpful ways to make your website even better. A good website can help you find loyal customers and make sales, so having a tool like this in your corner is invaluable. But that’s not the only tool Google has for website optimization.

Search Console

If you’ve heard the term “SEO” before but aren’t really sure how to tangibly optimize your site for search engines, you’re not alone and Google has your back! Their Search Console gives you data and tips regarding your placement in searches, how people are finding your site, and how to make your site more easily found. For someone with little to no SEO background or knowledge (like me), it’s an incredible tool.

Content

Another important aspect of business is creating content of value to your audience. The most difficult part of that is knowing what your audience finds valuable. Once you know that, you have to create content for a variety of platforms to keep them engaged. Here are two Google tools you can use to get this done.

Trends

Trends is an amazing tool that lets you see what the world is searching for on Google. You can type in a few keywords related to your business and it shows you how popular your search is as well as some related searches and topics. When you have an understanding of what your potential customers might be searching for, you can create content to encourage engagement from your audience. Not surprisingly at this point, Google has a tool for that too.

Drawings

While there are a ton of content creation tools out there like Adobe Illustrator and Canva, Google Drawings is a very worthy alternative. You can use text, shapes, colors, images, and even a drawing tool to get specific, so the options are limitless. The really cool part about Drawings is that you can save your creations as scalable vector graphics, allowing you to blow up your image as big as you want without it getting pixelated and blurry. This is most important for logo design, meaning you can make a scalable logo without having the money or skill required for Illustrator. Drawings is really easy to use and completely free, making it a great option for content creation and logos.

Management & Administration

From the very beginning of your business journey, you have to be able to manage your schedule, your finances, meetings, all the administrative aspects of your business. Making appointments, tracking budgets, and being available to your customers are all integral parts of starting your own business, and the kind of tasks which easily become overwhelming. Yet again, Google has you covered!

Sheets

Sheets is a fairly well-known alternative to Excel, but the capabilities of this program are practically limitless. There are tons of templates for budgeting and tracking, so you don’t have to spend too much time learning the ropes. Most of them are easily customized to your needs, and you have the ability to share the spreadsheets with others, making collaboration a breeze. All of the Google Drive programs are great, but Sheets really has the capability to do almost anything, making it an invaluable tool for your business.

Calendar

Google Calendar is also really well-known, but is just as helpful to your business as Sheets. You can create events from your email, color code and organize them, and set up meetings with ease. It’s really easy to use and syncs with tons of external apps that make scheduling, booking, and invites almost completely automated. It’s widely used for good reason, so if you don’t already have an account for Google Calendar, get on it, you’re missing out.

My Business

Last but not least on our list of Google tools is Google My Business. With a My Business account, you can set up a Business Profile that allows you to connect with customers, offer discounts, and be easily found by your audience. Your customers can message you, call you, and leave reviews for you to respond to, giving you a direct link to them. It also helps you stand out from the competition and makes your business look extremely professional.

Final Thoughts

I hope these tools are helpful to you! I know that they’ve made my life so much easier as I start my business, and I know they can do the same for you. Thanks so much for reading!