Six Free Google Tools a Publicist Needs to Take Advantage of

I thought I’d do a post on some of the google tools that I’ve been using. They’re all free and easy to use. If you’d like to learn more about each of them, click on the links. You can also call up Google to request a free presentation on how to use these tools to help your company publicize your books.

Of course, if you use another Google tool that you find helpful in your job as a publicist, comment below! I’d love to hear about it.

Google Books
http://books.google.com
This one is pretty much a given as everyone in the book industry should be familiar with Google Books. I use to send sample book pdfs (locked and lo-res, of course) to reviewers but find it’s much easier to just include a link to the book’s respective Google Books URL. I don’t need to worry about people not opening my emails because of an attachment, and bloggers typically appreciate having a link to click-thru if they’re interested in finding more. What’s also great is that Google Books provides links to multiple places where people can purchase the books online (not just Amazon), and you can set the % of pages you want to be available online.

Google Reader
http://reader.google.com
If you keep an eye on what’s going on in the world of media (like subscribing to newspapers and dailies), you’ll appreciate Google Reader. Sign-up for an account, then visit your favorite blogs and news site. By adding their RSS feeds, any new content on those blogs and sites will be added to your Google Reader main page. 

Google Maps
http://maps.google.com
Everyone already knows about Google Maps but did you know you can create your own custom map for free? When you visit the Google Maps page, click on ‘My Maps’ to begin creating your own. How about a map showing where all your events are or a map showing the general locations of all your authors? I know media are always interested in local authors. With some programming knowledge and the help of Google Spreadsheets, you can even create a form on your website linking to your map or embed the map directly onto your website.

Google Alert
http://alerts.google.com
Create a free account, and you’ll be able to keep an eye on any new mentions of a preselected search word. On mine, I have my author and book titles inputed as well as “social media” and any trends I want to keep tabs on. Just make sure you use quotations if you want Google Alerts to search for a phrase.

Google Trends
http://trends.google.com 
Google Trends looks at everyone’s search words to see what are the fastest-rising search queries. This one I find useful to keep an eye on major trends but not so much smaller ones. This is mainly because if not enough people are searching for a particular keyword or key phrase, Google Trends won’t register it.

Google Analytics
http://analytics.google.com
Track everything on your website from site visitors and referring sites to referring keywords and click-through rates. There is also a neat overlay program that shows you where people are most likely to click on which could help you experiment with page layout and design to see what appeals the most to your visitors.

Photo Credit: Svadilfari on Flickr under Attribution-No Derivative Works 2.0 Generic