There's so much to get your arms around relative to Google, I've come up with a new description. It's mind-googling. Every Yellow Cat knows the importance of showing up in the search engines and specifically of showing up in Google. And quite honestly, most of these small businesses think that if they just get the keywords right in their website, that's all they have to do. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Let's take a look at some of the things we did to launch 50Bubbles and you'll see my point.
GMAIL
Establish a Google gmail account. We'll use this for all online marketing purposes instead of our regular business email. This prevents my inbox from getting flooded with marketing stuff that I might not have time for in the course of the day. This account also becomes the hub of your other Google services.
Google VOICE
Establish a unique phone number for the service. We set up an account with Google Voice. We were even able to secure a cool phone number: 937-247-4SEO. We'll use that number in specific marketing campaigns so we can track the calls. By the way, the number we have published on the site is 937-471-MAPS...another cool number. Not Google Voice however.
Google Analytics
Established a Google analytics account and added Google Analytics to www.50bubbles.com.
Google Plus
Might as well get into yet another social media site.
Google Plus Business Page
While you're at it, set up a +Page for 50Bubbles
Google PLACES / MAPS
Set up a Google Places page to get listed in MAPS. I'm still waiting for the postcard they sent me to verify my business.
YouTube - Set up a 50Bubbles YouTube account and started following videos that make sense relative to my business. (I have a personal YouTube account as well.)
I'd consider the above the minimum for any small business. I also have an Android so I'm directly connected to Google services for Android - Google Calendar and Gmail. I also use Google reader for blog feeds and I'm tied directly into Google Checkout (to buy apps on my phone). I use Google music so I don't have to burden my phone with gigabytes of music that I listen to. I've played around with Google Earth and Google Docs. I Use Google Maps alot, especially on my Android (using of course the Google Search app for that. I've got the Google Toolbar installed on my browser so I can quickly check the Google page rank of any site. I've used Google translate once or twice and dabbled with Google Blogger (I like mine better). I use Google trends to do research for some clients and of course I'm hooked into Google webmaster tools.
So like I said, it's really mind-googling when you think about it.