Gmail

With Gmail for Google Apps you can send and receive e-mail from a corporate e-mail address – yourname@company.com. Instead of investing in an exchange server, try setting up your staff email with with Google Apps. You can be up and running within a few minutes.

Google Calendar

Google Calendar gives you the same functionality as Outlook when it comes to sharing calendars with co-workers, sending invites/tracking responses and setting reminders. You can also synchronize Outlook, Apple Ical and Mozilla Sunbird with Google Calendar.

Google Apps and Mobile Devices

Google Apps now connects to most mobile devices such as the iPhone, BlackBerry, Android powered devices and Windows Mobile powered devices. Google Apps for mobile allows you to access Google Apps programs right from your phone. You can connect to your e-mail, calendar, contacts, documents and more. Additionally, you can synchronize your data so that your phone is never out of sync with your Google Apps account.

• For more information, visit the Apps on mobile devices section of Google.

Google Documents

Google Documents allows you to create or upload Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, PowerPoint slides, PDF documents and a number of other file formats. Once you have created a document using Google, you can also share your work, collaborate with others in your organization and post documents to your blog.

For more information on sharing documents and posting content using Google, visit these help sections within Google Documents:

• Overview: Adding viewers and collaborators
• Publishing: Posting to your blog

I’ve found Google Apps to be a perfect solution for StGermaine.ca. If you’re looking for professional grade communication and collaboration tools, start by implementing Google Apps.

Google Adwords

Google Adsense works in conjunction with another Google program called Adwords. Google Adwords is a network of advertisers that buy ad placement on Google search and also on Google’s site partner network (Adsense).

Adwords advertisers buy ad space on the content network by bidding on keywords. If their bid is high enough, they get placement on sites with that particular keyword.

Because the advertisements only show up when the keywords are present on your site, you’ll get highly targeted ads that are relevant to your site and add value to your readers. Having ads that are related to your content also means your readers are more likely to click on the ad and earn you money.

Making money

How much you get paid by Adsense per click is dependent on how much the advertisers are bidding on that keyword. Usually, companies with high dollar value or high margin products and services will pay more per click. Common products in this area include web hosting, travel, car loans and bank loans.

If your goal is to earn money online, take into account which keywords have high competition and design your site around them. To learn which keywords have high competition, visit Google’s free keyword tool.

Different types of Adsense Programs

In addition to providing ads for content, Adsense has some other programs available for publishers including:

• Adsense for domains – with this program, you can take a website address that you own and have it set up to just run ads without other content. This program will work best if you have a website URL that people are likely to type into their address bar without a search (this is called direct type). If it is a simple name it’s more likely to get a high number of direct types. Domainers (people who buy domains strictly to place ads on) also sometimes buy commonly misspelled company names in the hopes that someone will go there by mistake.
• Adsense For RSS – this program allows you to add Adsense ads to your RSS feed so that when readers look at your content in their RSS reader, they’ll also get ads by Google. Adsense for RSS works well in conjunction with placing ads on your blog.
• Adsense for Mobile – just like it says, with this program, you can add Adsense to a mobile website. You can actually create your own mobile site with a WordPress plug-in, but we’ll talk more about that in future posts.
• Adsense for Search – with this program, you can embed Google’s search engine on your site. When someone uses search on your site and clicks through to a paid ad, you get paid.

Before you start using Adsense, make sure you review their terms of service closely, as you don’t want to get banned from the program and miss out on the opportunity to make money.

Adsense Guidelines:

• Click Fraud – don’t click on your own ads or ask friends to click them for you
• Don’t tell users to click on your ads in any way
• Never alter the Adsense code in any way
• Don’t run automated programs to click on your website’s ads
• Never divulge your Adsense earnings publicly
• Don’t place AdSense on sites that promote violence, drugs or any other illegal activity.

To find out more about Adsense policy, visit Google’s Terms and Conditions.

The Campaign Settings level is where you set up the overall price that you’re willing to spend on advertising and where & when you plan to advertise. Within the Google Campaign, you’ll create Ad Groups to target different ads to different keywords. You might only have one ad group in your campaign to start depending on your business. If you have a number of revenue streams, you’ll probably want to create multiple groups so you can write ad copy specific to the product you’re promoting using relevant keywords.

To setup Adwords, follow my step-by-step setup process below:

1.) Sign in to your Google Adwords account and click on the Campaigns tab.

2.) click on the New Campaign tab.

3.) Name your campaign and select which geographic regions and languages you`d like your ad to appear in. You can target down to the city level.

4.) Choose what networks you want your ads to show on. It is usually best to create separate ad campaigns for different types of Google networks as your keyword strategy will usually be different for each.

5.) Choose the amount you are willing to spend daily on advertising.

6.) Click Save and continue.

7.) On the next page, you be able to set up your ad group options. first, name your ad group and write your ad.

8.) Enter the keywords into the keyword box

9.) If you have a specific website that you wish your ad to show on, enter it here. If you`re just getting started, hold off on this section until you become more familiar. you can always create a separate campaign for placements.

10.) Choose the maximum price you are willing to spend per click for each network type unless you have only chosen one type in the campaign settings.

11.) Save your ad group

After you click the save, you will have created your first ad on Google.