Oh, how time flies! Do you remember Google Apps? Or perhaps G Suite? Mentioning these past and historic brand names reminds us of Google's sweet tech revolution. In this brief article, we'll go over why we love to use the platform and suggest alternatives that are about the same level as our favorite.
Well, my friend, it's now called Google Workspace. 😌 That's right - Google Workspace has always been evolving through the years and all for the right reasons! It's this thing called Kaizen - a Japanese word originally coined by Masaaki Imai which means improvement.
A must-read for any online entrepreneur (and small business owner) who wants to scale their online business now or in the future!
What Is Google Workspace for Business?
Google Workspace (again, formerly known as G Suite or Google Apps) is a productivity and collaboration tool for businesses and professionals of all sizes. It is a feature-rich office suite that is used by many individuals and enterprises across the globe to work efficiently and seamlessly.
Unlike other Software-as-a-Service (aka SaaS) products, Google Workspace is equipped with pretty much everything you need to run a successful (online) business. The sky is almost the limit, from building a website to email collabs and video meetings to writing memos! 🤯
❓ How much does it cost to use Google Workspace?
To be honest, it's the cheapest project management tool for small businesses with a tight budget. For only $6/month, you can take advantage of all the business essentials you need to get started. That's only $72 for one whole year! Whaaaat? 👊🖐🎤 (that's a mic drop right there)
Sometimes, six dollars is a lot, especially for new budding businesses. Keeping your overhead costs low while starting out is extremely crucial to the success of your launch. That's why we've partnered with Google to give away promo codes for our readers. The promo codes below are limited to the first 100 who use them. If it works, you're good. If it doesn't, let us know so we can give you a new one!
If you're looking to try Business Starter, the code below will save you 10% for the first year.
The code down below will save you the same amount for the Google Workspace Business Standard plan.
Which Google apps are included in Google Workspace?
If you already use Google's free apps such as Google Sheets or their legendary Gmail for email, then you're in for a treat. Not only are you already familiar with these productivity apps, but you're also going to find them easier to use. Plus, don't you just love their Material Design?
- Gmail - good ol' Gmail is this tool's number one essential component.
- Docs - for documents that need to be signed, presented formally, and the likes.
- Calendar - a great way to make sure you don't overbook and to keep your schedule organized.
- Sheets - spreadsheets are your friend when it comes to accounting and other financial needs
- Slides - presentations to keep your meetings interactive and fruitful.
- Forms - a great way to collect data from clients and/or employees aka surveys and quizzes.
- Keep - a simple note-taking app to jot down notes for quick reference later on.
- Chat - a quick and easy communication tool for everyone.
- Meet - powerful remote video meetings for a more humanized way of communication
- Drive - cloud storage for all your digital files.
- Sites - easy-to-use website builder you can use for your business and events
❓ Why would I want to use Google Workspace when I can use most of the apps for free?
Excellent question! It all boils down to what's called professional persona - how you look to your clients or customers. By having the capability to use a custom domain aka your yourname@yourbrand.com (such as millennialbella.com) instead of [email protected] (hopefully no one actually owns this email 👀), you will appear and look more professional and trustworthy. Right?
In addition to that, you can create user accounts for other people in your business that is separate from yours (Use case scenario: your employees).
But, what if I'm ridin' solo?
Okay, that's totally fine because later on, you would want to expand, grow, and scale your online business empire. Hashtag, #slay. 💪 However, with Google One, you can take advantage of Google calendar booking (if you are service-based), and other common features found in a Workspace plan.
❓ Don't I already get a free email when I purchase my domain name?
Some domain name providers will not have the free email feature such as Namecheap where you only get a 2-month free email trial. You will likely have to purchase a separate service such as email hosting.
Top three Google Workspace alternatives
Let me just say that even though we absolutely love Google Workspace, the sad truth is that there are a lot of office productivity suites out there that are available! To make it even more difficult for you to decide which one would be the perfect match, I'd have to say that it's so hard to tell without having a personal conversation with you! 😵
However, to make it a tad bit easier, we scoured the web and turned some tables to handpick the best of the best alternatives just for you.
Microsoft Office 365
You guessed that right - Microsoft Office 365 is definitely the top contender on our choice for office productivity suites. They've been in business since the dawn of the internet, which means they know the art of business.
HubSpot
HubSpot is a popular choice and name, to say the least. They have a ton of resources for clients and offer a full-blown suite of CRM tools so you don't have to switch back and forth between platforms.
Zoho
Zoho is yet another affordable CRM suite to manage almost any part of your back-office operating needs. We use both Zoho and Google - so as you can see, we are still torn between two platforms! We love using both!
Little known benefits of Google Workspace
One of the great benefits of getting Google Workspace for your business is that you can use Gmail as your business' email marketing tool. This means that if you are starting out and have very few clients, you won't need that extra email marketing platform that everyone else uses (e.g. MailChimp, MailPoet, etc.) and save even more.
On top of that, you can create up to 30 email address aliases. For example, you can create [email protected] where customers can reach out for customer support, [email protected] where users can reach out regarding their orders, etc.
Some use cases for these email aliases are:
- To create a no-reply address. This means your company uses this email alias to send out automated emails for notification purposes (e.g. [email protected] to send out automated order notifications to customers).
- To create department-specific emails but receive everything on your main email.
- To reply using the email alias without having to purchase a new Workspace plan just for that email account.
Suffice to say, an alias is only an alias. The emails received through this address will all trickle into your main email. They act as mere organizational and professional-looking emails for the clients.
Discover why millions of small business owners (and huge enterprises) love to use Google Workspace to run their business.
What did you think of our Google Workspace alternatives? Do you use any of them for your small business? We'd love to hear your thoughts!