Ministry Vault

Local Business Center - http://maps.google.com/support/bin/topic.py?hl=en&topic=13416

Submit your church to Google Maps.  Even include service times, pictures and more.

Webmaster Tools – http://www.google.com/webmasters/

Verify your site, add your sitemap, and get an SEO (Search Engine Optimization) report card

Analytics – http://www.google.com/analytics/

See site traffic and trends.

Google AdSense – https://www.google.com/adsense

Advertise your site.

Learn the basics of Google Search – http://www.googleguide.com/

Learn Advanced Google search tricks – http://www.googleguide.com/advanced_operators_reference.html

Who says Google is all business?  Here are a few fun, off topic things Google gives you.

Image Swirl - http://image-swirl.googlelabs.com/

SketchUp – http://sketchup.google.com/

Fast Flip – http://fastflip.googlelabs.com/

Voice Search – http://www.google.com/mobile/google-mobile-app/

Latitude – http://www.google.com/latitude/intro.html

iGoogle – http://www.google.com/ig

iPhone and Android – http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/whats-new-with-gmail-on-iphone-and.html

Take all of Google’s tools with you.

Google Labs in Gmail – Tweak your email to be more productive.

Mac Address Book – Sync Contacts and Print Labels

Google Chrome – http://www.google.com/chrome/intl/en/features.html

Backupify – http://www.backupify.com/

Backup your Gmail account (and much, much, more)

Are you using the Standard Edition of Google Apps? Upgrade to the free educational edition here:
http://www.google.com/support/a/bin/request.py?contact_type=nonprofit

• No advertisements
• 2000 unique emails a day – verses 500/day with the standard edition

Well worth the trouble, I think.

Google is search.

Churches speak of eternal destinations.

Is this a match made in heaven? Not really. But I do think that any organization that accepts the Great Commission to bring the Good News of Jesus Christ has a responsibility to do an excellent job getting THE WORD out there.  Lets cover some of the basics…

Google.com

Do no evil. http://www.google.com/corporate/tenthings.html

Get a Google Account

https://www.google.com/accounts/NewAccount

A google account, is basically a gmail (email) account that unlocks the door to Google’s services “in the cloud” (online, not on your computer).  The big strokes here, once you are in the club are:

• Gmail – http://mail.google.com/ Complete with online  …
  • Calendars: http://www.google.com/intl/en/googlecalendar/about.html
  • Documents:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRqUE6IHTEA (Breaking News: This Just In! DocVerse)
  • Forms: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzgaUOW6GIs
  • Tasks: http://mail.google.com/mail/help/tasks/
  • Contacts: http://mail.google.com/support/bin/topic.py?topic=12867
  • Buzz.
• Photos – http://picasa.google.com
• Photo Editing – http://www.picnik.com/
• Reader – http://www.google.com/reader
• Maps – http://www.google.com/maps
• YouTube – http://www.youtube.com/
• Earth – http://www.google.com/maps
• Google Voice – http://google.com/voice

Staff Productivity: Google Apps

http://google.com/a

While the majority of these fall cleanly in the “personal productivity” column, there is a professional side to Google: Google Apps.