Whatever you think of Google, you have to admit that they offer a lot of free tools to use with the convenience of being able to access them with one login.
Fitness business owners should take advantage of these tools to get more out of their search engine and social media marketing campaigns. There is something for every type of fitness business. To help make it easier for you, here are the top 10 free Google tools you should be using.
1. Google Adwords
If you’re not getting good enough traction with organic search traffic, then you might want to consider a paid search campaign using Google AdWords. By bidding for the right keywords, you can gain a considerable amount of qualified traffic where the conversions will meet or exceed the value you pay for your ads. Be sure to use advanced targeting options for location, mobile or desktop browsers, and other criteria to get the target audience you want.
2. Google Adwords Keyword Tool
Need keyword ideas for your search engine marketing campaign or paid search advertising? Try the Google AdWords Keyword Tool. When you enter a term that offers a wide range of ideas, like SEO, you will get groupings of keyword ideas that you can dig deeper into. While the total of the global searches is not always spot on, it can give you an idea of whether one keyword is more or less popular than another. You can also see an approximate cost per click (CPC) amount if you were trying to target the keyword using Google AdWords.
3. Google Alerts
Want to keep on top of the latest news, mentions of your brand, or other items in Google search? Then set up your Google Alerts. When you enter a search query you will get a sample of the results you would receive and the option to have them delivered regularly to your email inbox or RSS reader (RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary -it is a type of web feed that allows users and applications to receive regular updates from a website or blog of their choice).
4. Google Analytics
Google Analytics is one of the most powerful Google tools that you can use a as a marketer. You can learn so much about your website’s visitors including, but not limited to, the following:
- Demographics – Learn more about your audience, including their location and language.
- Social Engagement – See what social networks visitors come from and how they interact with your website’s social plugins (custom coding must be implemented).
- Technology Used – Find out what browsers, operating systems, and networks your visitors are using to view your website.
- Mobile Information – Curious if you need a mobile website? Find out how many of your visitors are using mobile technology.
- Traffic Sources – Analyse what websites, keywords, search engines, and other referrers send traffic to your website.
- Top Content – Get a handle on how effective your content is by seeing your top entry and exit pages.
- What Leads to Conversions – Set up goals in Google Analytics to find out which visitors complete conversions such as purchasing a product or signing up for a mailing list.
So really, there is no excuse for not using this powerful and, best of all, free tool on your website.
5.Google Docs
Want to share documents, spreadsheets, presentations, drawings, and tables with other users to view online or download? Then Google Docs is for you. You can collaborate with multiple users or just give access to a read-only version of documents. You can even create forms and send them via a link or directly in an email to collect survey answers, crowdsource post information, and other data.
6. Google Places
Want your local business to show up before organic search results? For some keywords, it can thanks to Google Places. Be sure that you claim or add your listing on Google Places, complete your profile, add photos & videos, and encourage reviews so that your business will make it to the first page of search results.
7. Google Web master
Web master is another Google product that puts a large amount of valuable data at your fingertips. If you have already set up your website with Google Analytics, you can easily add it to Google Webmaster Tools to start learning the following with your web site:
- Configuration – This section checks your website’s settings on the web, including preferred domain, sitelinks, URL parameters, change of address, and users who have access.
- Site Health – This section includes crawl errors, stats, blocked URLs, and malware alerts.
- Traffic – Including search queries (possibly some of the keywords omitted from Google Analytics thanks to the keyword not provided, links to your website and so on).
- Site Optimisation – This section includes your sitemaps, HTML improvement suggestions, content keywords, and other resources.
8. YouTube
If you want to dominate the video market, then start with Google-owned YouTube. Not only will your video be available to YouTube’s millions upon millions of visitors, but it will also be on prime real estate for showing up in search results. Even if you can’t get your website on the first page of search results through traditional SEO, you might be able to get there with video!
9. Google Trends
Do you find it difficult to continually generate fresh ideas for your blog and other content marketing opportunities?
There’s no denying the fact that the search engine giant’s Keyword Planner can provide you with hundreds of keywords related to your business and industry. Even so, this isn’t always good enough, when it comes to creating compelling content. You need another way to perform keyword research.
This is why you should make it a habit of checking Google Trends, when your are brainstorming new blog ideas.
With this tool, you can explore any topic to see what’s trending. You can also view “stories trending now,” to see if there’s anything that matches your industry and the approach that you want to take.
10. Google Mybusiness
With Google My Business, you can easily get a free business listing on Google. Better yet, this gives you the opportunity to provide a variety of information, including, but not limited to, your phone number, address and business category.
The benefits of using Google My Business include:
- The opportunity to put your business in front of customers who are interested in what you have to offer.
- People can learn more about your company, based on the information that you provide.
- Use images to show how your company is unique.
- Show off customer reviews