Win moments that matter in 2013 with Learn with Google webinars

Cross-posted with Google Inside Adwords.

What was your business’ New Year’s resolution, and how do you plan to keep it? At Google, ours is to help make the web work for you. Our new series of Learn with Google webinars will teach you how to use digital to build brand awareness, and they’ll give you the tools you need to drive sales. By tapping into technology that works together across your business needs, you can resolve to win moments that matter in 2013.

Check out our upcoming live webinars:

Build Awareness

02/12 [Multiscreen] Brand Building in a Multiscreen World
02/20 [YouTube] How to Build your Business with YouTube Video Ads
03/05 [Social] How to Use Google+ and Make Social Work for You
03/12 [Mobile] Understanding Mobile Ads Across Marketing Objectives
03/27 [Wildfire by Google] The Call for Converged Media

Drive Sales

01/29 [Analytics] Google Tag Manager: Technical Implementation *today*
02/07 [Search] Your Shelf Space on Google: Get Started with Google Shopping
02/26 [YouTube] From Awareness to Sales: Making the Most of Video Remarketing
02/27 [Search] What's New and Next in AdWords
03/06 [Display] Biggest Loser: Digital Ad Spend Edition
03/13 [Mobile] The Full Value of Mobile
03/20 [Display] Getting Started with Dynamic Remarketing

Visit our webinar site to register for any of the sessions and to access past webinars on-demand. You can also stay up-to-date on the schedule by adding our Learn with Google Webinar calendar to your own Google calendar to automatically see upcoming webinars.

During our last series of webinars, attendees had the chance to win a Nexus 7. Our lucky winner was Donella Cohen, who is happily enjoying her new tablet. Check out our upcoming webinars for another chance to win!

Learn with Google is a program to help businesses succeed through winning moments that matter, enabling better decisions and constantly innovating. We hope that you’ll use these best practices and how-to’s to maximize the impact of digital and grow your business. We’re looking forward to seeing you at an upcoming session!

Posted by Erin Molnar, Marketing Coordinator, Learn with Google

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Game on! See the power of apps in the Ping-Pong Hangout

Looking to add a little spice into your social media presence on the web?

Last week at Creative Sandbox NYC, which celebrates how technology is shaping culture and storytelling, we announced the launch of the Ping-Pong Hangout brought to you by Google+. This Hangout app allows users to play a game of Ping-Pong with an opponent by using their faces to control the paddle.

As fun as the Ping-Pong Hangout is, we’re most excited about what’s behind it: The Google+ Hangouts API. The API can help you to build deep, engaging and unique experiences for Hangouts. Just take a look at:

• Scoot & Doodle, for whiteboarding across the miles
• Story Before Bed, for reading bedtime stories over video chat
• the Google Art Project, for leading your own curated art tour

For more examples and info, see the Hangout Apps Showcase, check out the recording of our Hangout with the agencies behind the game, flip through our Getting Started guide or ask questions of the Google+ Developers team via Hangout Tuesdays at 2:30pm PT.

What could a Hangout App do your business? How might you use one to add your character to video chats and broadcasts, or to provide more information to users? Head on over to the site to get inspired.

Posted by Lindsay Rumer, Google+ Team

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Under the AdWords Hood: Breaking Down Ad Rank

AdWords Specialists Courtney Pannell, Philip Stern, and Sarah Claxton Deming hosted a Hangout on Air yesterday as the second installment in the “Under the AdWords Hood” series.

During the Hangout, the AdWords experts discussed the basics of ad rank, like how bidding and quality score factor into determining the positioning of your ads. Specifically, Phil shared his best practices for bidding to achieve your optimal ranking, and Sarah discussed how quality score is calculated.

You can watch the full 25-minute Hangout on Air below, or on the Google Business YouTube channel:

To learn more about how to get started with AdWords, visit our Help Center, check out the AdWords Community forum, or call us at 866-2-GOOGLE if you already have an AdWords account.

And remember to tune in to the live stream of our next Hangout on Air at 11 a.m. PDT, Thursday February 7, when we discuss remarketing tips.

Stay tuned!

Posted by Courtney Pannell, AdWords Team

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Using 1:1s to communicate with your employees

Editor’s note: In this post, we’re featuring a management technique that we use at Google, which might be useful at your business.

As a manager or the owner of a business, how often do you get to interact with your employees on an individual basis? With busy and conflicting schedules, it can be hard to find times outside of team meetings or performance evaluations to talk more generally to an employee.

To help make sure that employees always have an open channel of communication with managers, we have weekly 1:1s, which is a 30-minute block of time for a manager to meet with just one person. The purpose of 1:1s isn’t evaluation or getting assignments, although those might be outcomes. Instead, it should be an chance for an employee to share projects, questions, concerns, and anything else with his or her manager.

Because the intention of a 1:1 is to have easy communication across levels, the employee should be the person leading the meeting, not the manager. Employees should provide the agenda and direct the discussion, while managers should make sure to listen and provide constructive feedback. Here are a few other tips to get the most out of 1:1 time:

• Prepare and share an agenda in advance to keep the meeting efficient.
• Use a running document to keep your agenda and notes in to refer to later, and make sure both the employee and manager can edit it.
• Discuss career development more broadly, and what skills you can gain at work outside of your core job.

If weekly 1:1s seems too often, try bi-weekly or maybe even monthly. You could also try scheduling a regular office hour on your calendar where employees can just drop in to talk. Does your business have another strategy that helps with communication? Share them with us on Google+ and tag #smbtips!

Posted by Jacinth Sohi, Google and Your Business Blog Team

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Help Desk Hangouts: Going Google

Editor’s note: On the Google+ Your Business page, we’re putting you in touch with Googlers and users who can help you as a business owner get the most out of our products and features.

In our latest Help Desk Hangout On Air, we chatted with the Going Google team, who showed us a guide to help businesses transition to Google Apps. We walked through the Going Google guide, learning about change management and how it can make the transition to Google Apps for any business much smoother. The guide’s got training resources, checklists, and tips to help businesses manage the transition timeline.

Miss the event? You can watch the whole thing on the Google and Your Business YouTube channel.


Some of the questions we answered during the Hangout:

Who is the guide intended for? Is it free? 
The guide is a free resource available on our Google Apps Documentation and Support site. It is intended for anyone who is helping an organization evaluate Google Apps or make the switch to Google Apps. The guide is targeted to organizations with 250 users or more, but parts of the guide are relevant to smaller organizations too. We also have a guide focused on smaller businesses here.

How does the guide recommend you approach Going google? 
At Google, we have a user focus in everything we do. We recommend you have a focused approach to your users' transition to Google Apps. We've created a simple and flexible, three-step model you can use to plan your change management approach when you switch to Google Apps: (1) Get ready, (2) communicate, and (3) train.

Will the guide be updated as Google Apps is updated? 
Yes, the guide will be updated on a regular basis. Throughout the year, we will add new stories from customers and partners about their change management approach for switching to Google Apps. The guide will also be updated as our Google Apps services are updated.

Posted by Jade Wang, Google+ Local Community Manager

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Let Customers “See Inside” Your Business with Google Business Photos

Since the official launch of Google Business Photos in January 2012, over 100,000 businesses have used the feature to virtually invite customers inside their doors. With the use of high-quality panoramic imagery and Street View technology, businesses have been able to offer customers an interactive tour without physically setting foot inside - perfect for showcasing the ambiance of a wine bar or the layout of a gym.

Check out our new video to see what Business Owners are saying about Google Business Photos:

Over the past year, Google has made it even easier for customers to find Business Photos on Google Search, Google Maps and Google+ Local; with just one click, you can now “See Inside” businesses from a computer or tablet.

Or, from your mobile phone click “See Inside” on the Place Sheet.

Google Maps on Android

Google Maps on iOS

If you would like to feature your establishment on Google with Business Photos, please visit our website for more information. You’ll have the opportunity to select from a list of Google Trusted Photographers in your area. You can contact a photographer to negotiate a rate and schedule a time for a photoshoot.

Google Business Photos is currently available in the U.S., U.K., Canada, Spain, Italy, France, Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. We are working to expand the service to more areas so that more businesses can reach more customers.

Posted by Shailesh Nalawadi, Product Manager, Google Maps

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Under the AdWords Hood Series: AdWords Policy

Director of Engineering for Advertising at Google, David Baker and AdWords Specialist Lindsay Brownell hosted a Hangout on Air yesterday as the first installment of the four-part “Under the AdWords Hood” series. This series sheds light on topics that you chose in a vote on the Google Ads page!

David and Lindsay broke AdWords Policy down into and delved into three areas:

1. Ad Policy
2. Landing Page Policy
3. Account Policy

You can watch the full 30-minute Hangout on Air below, or on the Google Business YouTube channel.

To learn more about how to get started with AdWords, visit our Help Center, check out the AdWords Community forum, or call us at 866-2-GOOGLE if you already have an AdWords account.

And remember to tune in to the live stream of our next Hangout on Air at 11 a.m. PDT, January 24th 2013 when we go Under the Hood and learn all about Ad Rank.

Posted by Courtney Pannell and Divya Vishwanath, AdWords Support Team

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