Google and Marketing

There are many programs available by Google to assist with marketing.

Keeping track of your news, reviews, and books can be daunting. One way to stay current is to list yourself on Google Alerts. When Google comes across some new information about you, an alert will be sent to your email address. This doesn’t catch everything, but I have found it helpful.

Google Books is a terrific marketing tool because I use it myself. I will rarely buy a book that I can't take a look at. Submission is easy. You just have to upload a PDF file, something standard with a POD print. You can designate how much of the book you'd like previewed, i.e. 10%, 25%, 50%. When your book is scanned the text can be searched as well. So if someone searches, in my case, for a an identity challenged latina grifter, my book Paloma may show up. When a book is listed, a sidebar appears where buyer outlets (including your website) appear, thus making it easy to purchase. Also there's a map of libraries throughout the country that shows where your books can be loaned out. In addition there's a Google Books marketing tool that tells you how many hits you're getting.

Besides showcasing your work, a website can also run ads, which when clicked, will make money for you. When we think of online ads we think immediately of Google specifically, Google’s AdSense program. Like most of Google’s products, formatting and installing an ad is easy. Google will read your site and devise a list of ads that your visitors may find interesting. The ads themselves can be vertical, horizontal, or blocks of different sizes, and made to blend in easily with your site’s colors. Once an ad is created, a code is devised that you then embed into your website.

Google Analytics is a statistics program that can be installed into your website or blog. Statistics gather a ton of information. Briefly you will be able to see what pages on your site are the most popular, where the visitors are coming from, how long they’re staying, from to what site they go next. This information can be used to hone your advertising campaign.

Google's Blogger is a blog template that again is easy to set-up and maintain. Blogs increase visibility on the net and are interactive. Blogs should be about a focused topic that is updated regularly to snag trawling search engines. Ads can also be placed on blogs for monetization. Links to your website or online selling venue can likewise be added.

Google AdWords is the premier advertising model available worldwide to promote whatever you’re selling. It is easy to set up and you define the monthly expense. AdWords come in various formats and colors, including banners and gifs. You can elect to place these ads on certain sites or use keywords to hone in on those markets that would draw interest to your website or blog. Charges are made by clicks to your site or the number of ad impressions placed online. Advertisers are encourage to run multiple ads to see what draws the most interest and sales

To learn more go to, where else, Google.