The 6 Must-Have Tools to Start Your Business - Part 5

This week's topic is a big one, and one of my favorite topics: your website. I am incredibly excited to share Google's website builder with all starting business owners, because it can mean significant cost savings up-front, as well as on an ongoing basis.

Many people think that you have to hire a web designer to build your website, and they consider it one of the biggest expenses when they start their businesses. There are: 

• the hosting costs, 

• the design costs, 

• the upkeep costs, 

• the modification costs,

• the redesign costs, when a refresh is needed,

• and eventually, maybe even the upgrade costs.

The truth of the matter is: whether or not you need to shell out extra money for your website depends on the type of website you need. Unless your website is your product or you intend to have an online store, chances are Google Sites, the website tool that comes native with Google Workspace, will work just fine -- saving you all of the costs above.

Website builder, Google Sites (included in Google Workspace)

Sample website through Google Sites:

The benefits of using Google Sites 

• It comes with Google Workspace without additional costs.

• You won't have to pay for building your website.

• You won't have to pay extra for hosting it,

• And you won't have to pay anyone for maintenance.

• You won't have to pay for and wait for any changes or redesign.

• And the best of it all, if you find your business growing, you will have full control over your website and can move it to a fancy platform later, if you want to -- without having to ask anyone for permission.

• Moreover, after having built your website on Google Sites, you will likely already have the foundational website building skills to figure out that fancy new website builder -- if you want to go down that path.

Google Sites is a simple, easy-to-use website builder. If you can use a word processor, you can use Google Sites to build your website.

💎 Extra KloudGems:

• Plan before you start writing your website:

• Who is your target audience?
• What are things you want to communicate on your website?
• What's most important for your audience to know?
• How do you want them to interact with your site?
• And in light of the above, how many and which pages will your website need to have?

• Write your website text for each page in Google Docs so it's an easy cut-and-paste.

• Collect all images you want to use, including logos ahead of time.

• You can also build your high-resolution logo with Google Drawings and download it in any size.
• Need a more robust graphics tool? Gimp (a 3rd party tool) is free.
• Not all images you find on the web are free to use on your website. Here are some resources for royalty free images (3rd party tools): unsplash.com, pixabay.com.
• Download image files in 1MB or smaller for mat to reduce loading time when you put them on your website.
• Don't forget to add alt text for images on the website! This text describes images for screen readers.

• Use Google Forms for a contact form so you don't have to put your email address out into the wild (this reduces spam). You can set Google Forms to send you email alerts when someone reaches out through the form. And you can funnel the outreach into a Google Sheet to mark your follow-ups so nothing falls through the cracks.

• Use Calendly (3rd party tool) so your clients can book time with you right from your website.

• There are other 3rd party tools you may be able to connect into your Google Sites. If it has a URL, it's linkable to your website.

(Please double check privacy policies and data handling by 3rd party tools, as they can differ from company to company. Also, some 3 party tools may have additional costs, or free tools can change to paid tools.) 

💎 I highly recommend learning to build your website with Google Sites, as it not only saves you money, you will also learn a new skill! Contact me for a free first consult; I am happy to show you the ropes with Google Sites: https://www.kloudgem.com/get-in-touch/contact

Next week: Your office software suite

Do you know someone who could use these KloudGem tips? Feel free to send them this link: https://www.kloudgem.com/follow-resources/newsletter

KloudGem website: https://www.kloudgem.com

The 6 Must-Have Tools to Start Your Business - Part 4

This week we'll talk about the business calendar.

Your business calendar will likely be your second most frequently used tool after your business email.

Business Calendar (included in Google Workspace)

Google Workspace comes with a calendaring tool, Google Calendar, which you can automatically access once your email account is created. Google Calendar can save you from a lot of headaches, because it will help you keep all your engagements and tasks organized. 

• Sure, Google Calendar allows you to schedule meetings, but my favorite feature is that 

• It automatically adds a Google Meet meeting link to any calendar event that has a second person added. (It's like it has my back, because otherwise, I would probably forget to set it up half the time 😂. Raise your hand (comment) if that's you as well.)

• It can surface tasks on the days (and time) when you set them to be tackled,

• And you can set reminders for yourself, including recurring ones.

Integration with 3rd-party tools, like Calendly, allows clients or prospective clients to book time with you during blocks when you’ve chosen to be available. Calendly can check your availability against one or more Google Calendars so your business engagements don't conflict with your family calendar -- super useful from a work-life balance perspective. There is even a payment integration option (that comes with the paid version of Calendly). (I am not an affiliate of Calendly, I have just found their product useful and pretty intuitive.)

Public Service Announcement: Before you use any 3rd-party tool, do your due diligence and see what their reputation is like and get familiar with their privacy policy so you know how they handle your and your clients' data.

Need help with Google Workspace? Contact me for a free first consult: https://www.kloudgem.com/get-in-touch/contact  

Next week: Your website

Do you know someone who could use these KloudGem tips? Feel free to send them this link: https://www.kloudgem.com/follow-resources/newsletter

KloudGem website: https://www.kloudgem.com

The 6 Must-Have Tools to Start Your Business - Part 3

This week we'll tackle the topic of business email.

Right after your domain purchase (which we discussed last week), you can establish your business email address. If you like the free Gmail experience, I highly recommend that you use the business version of it through Google Workspace. Why? Because you can get the same familiar interface and reliable functionality but with an official email on your business domain: yourname @ yourcompany dot com.

Let's dive in a bit deeper:

Business email address (included in Google Workspace)

You will want to set up your business email on your business domain so it matches your domain name and company name, further solidifying your brand name.

Why is this important? Why not just use the free Gmail for business?

• A branded email address inspires trust. It shows that your website and your email domain belong to the same business. Anyone can create a free Gmail account with your company name as the username (yourcompany @ gmail dot com), but only the legit owner of your business domain can create a yourname @ yourcompany dot com type email address.

• You have more protection against loss of info should something happen: you can reach out to Google Support.

• When you are ready to hire more people, you can also create email addresses for them (for a per-user per-month cost, usually). Why can't they use their own Gmail addresses? Well, for one, they are not branded with your business domain, but if we move beyond that, more importantly, whatever they create using their own accounts in their My Drive, will continue to belong to them (unless you make a copy -- if they allow that in the sharing settings). Creating their email addresses on your company domain will ensure that the work they do for your business through that account stays with your business. (Even if they leave your company, you can transfer their content.)

• There are other benefits of having a branded email address on your domain through  Google Workspace: you can create additional generic email addresses like info@, support@, and sales@ at no extra cost. There are actually a couple of ways to do that.
  Curious about how? Drop me a line in the Comments, and I will let you know.

Or contact me for a free first consult: https://www.kloudgem.com/get-in-touch/contact  

Next week: Your business calendar

Do you know someone who could use these KloudGem tips? Feel free to send them this link: https://www.kloudgem.com/follow-resources/newsletter

KloudGem website: https://www.kloudgem.com

The 6 Must-Have Tools to Start Your Business - Part 2

Picking up from last week, the first business IT tool you want to get, the foundation of most of your other tools, is your domain -- one that ideally matches your company name. 

Domain (yearly cost)

You will be using your domain name for:

Your website

Business email addresses' domain

Your newsletter service (if you use one)

just to name the most important tools.

Your domain is the backbone of your IT infrastructure. It will be your business tool foundation from both a functional and a marketing perspective. When you choose your domain name, do a lot of research.

If you are just starting out, it is ideal if you research your would-be business name and domain name at the same time. You will want them to be the same/similar for branding reasons. 

Some people use their own names (e.g., Joann Smith Consulting), some people create a company name (also called a fictitious name) and domain name. 

As you are coming up with a business name and domain name: 

• Brainstorm many options and combinations. Ensure that the business name/domain name harmonizes with your company's vision. Does it inspire trust? (If it could have any negative connotations or secondary meaning, I don't recommend using it.) Is it short and easy to remember? If you have aspirations to expand your business overseas, ensure that it doesn't have any negative connotations in the markets you are looking at.

• Pronounce the options to make sure they are easy to pronounce and cannot be easily misheard.

• Research the company and domain name you settle on to make sure 

• it is not taken (check through the domain registrar you choose, like Google Domains, or GoDaddy),

• it doesn't cost an arm and a leg; your domain registration will be a yearly cost (check at the domain registrars; look around at different registrars for prices), 

• no one else has a similar sounding business/domain name (perform Google searches), and 

• that it's not trademarked (do a trademark search).

• You may even want to make sure that the social media handles that match the name are not taken across the social media platforms you will want to use (search in the platforms you want to use).

Spending time at this stage can save you a lot of headache down the road.

• Decide on the extension: I suggest you look for a domain name that's available with a .com ending. 

While there are many newer flavors: .net, .info, .biz, etc., still the one inspiring the most confidence is .com -- unless you run a non-profit organization, in which case .org is a good option.

When you are setting up your business, research whether/how you need to register and publish your fictitious business name.

If you choose to sign up for Google Workspace for your IT system, you can actually buy a domain right during the signup process.

If you choose to buy your domain separately, or before signing up for Google Workspace, you can buy it from Google Domains, or from other registrars, like GoDaddy, etc.

Next week: Your business email address

Contact me for help with your Google Workspace: https://www.kloudgem.com/get-in-touch/contact  

Do you know someone who could use these KloudGem tips? Feel free to send them this link: https://www.kloudgem.com/follow-resources/newsletter

KloudGem website: https://www.kloudgem.com