No matter how much you look at it, Google, the popular search engine, is an Internet powerhouse. Its presence exudes so much influence that when Yahoo partnered with the company to place Google Ads on Yahoo search results pages, people became concerned that Google would gain monopoly over the search engine advertising business. 

The search engine is definitely the backbone of Google’s business and influence, but it is hardly the only service that the company offers. Here are some of the most useful Google tools you can utilize for your personal or business use.

1. Gmail

Gmail started out as the company’s e-mail service. Then it decided to introduce the service to the public. Initially, an invitation from someone else was the sole way to get a Gmail account. After three years from its announcement in 2004, everyone can create a Gmail account.

Gmail has an incredible 7 gigabytes of storage, vastly more space than most e-mail service providers. In addition, it can organize your messages into conversations. For instance, if someone sends you a message and you opt to respond, Gmail will present the two messages together in a stack form. Further e-mails will appear under the originals. This way, you will find it easy to keep track of your discussion.

2. GTalk

Introduced in 2005, Google Talk, or GTalk in short, is an application that allows you to send messages to your contacts similar to what you do in a chat room. GTalk is not entirely Web-based like Gmail, thus you have to download the application to your computer.

Instant messaging is not its only feature. You can send an unlimited number of files, of unlimited size, to others. It is also a VoIP client, which means you can make PC-to-PC calls to other users. For this, you would need microphones and speakers. Finally, you can download Google Talk Gadget, a Web-based application that enables you to access several GTalk functions from a personal Website like a blog or an iGoogle page.

3. Google Checkout

The advent of the Internet offered another venue for businesses to sell their wares. In fact, millions of people all over the world use the Internet to shop. However, there are two drawbacks to this method of purchasing things: one, you need to disclose personal information and two, you need to enter that information at different websites at each website you buy your items from. Google found an opportunity to create a convenient tool called Google Checkout that enables merchants and users to take an advantage of a universal checkout system.

You first create a Google account. Then you need to enter purchase details such as your credit card number, billing address, phone number, and shipping address. Once this is completed, you can do your shopping.

You just need to log in to your Google account and search for websites that subscribe to Google Checkout. If you see the checkout symbol listed next to an entry on a search results page (SERP), you can purchase items from that site using your Google account. You are prompted to provide your Google checkout password; however, there is no need to enter your credit card number or personal information again. Make your selections, and the application does the rest. Best of all, the merchant never sees that information in your credit card.

If you are a subscribing merchant, you need to pay 2% plus 20 cents per sales transaction. If you use Google AdWords, you get a discount.

4. Google Calendar

If you have a Google account, you can use Google Calendar, a free online application which allows you to organize your schedule, much like organizing your schedule in your planner. Aside from this main function, you can invite people to participate in your events. And by sharing folders, you can compare your schedule with those of other users.

Google also has a search feature within its calendar system so you can search specific calendars. In addition, you can choose to share your calendar openly to everyone or to a select few.

5. Google Docs

Google Docs is the company’s answer to compete in the online productivity software market. The suite includes a word processor, a spreadsheet editor, and a presentation application. Thus, you get three basic software applications that most businesses require. Furthermore, you can save all that data saved in Google Docs to a remote Google file system instead of your computer’s hard drive. This gives you two benefits: one, you save space in your hard drive and two, you can access your files from any computer connected to the Internet. The good thing is that your documents are not tied to a specific device.

Google Docs also enables you to share documents to other users. Furthermore, users can edit the same document at the same time. You do not have to worry about previous versions; Google Docs keep track of the earlier versions of the document in case someone accidentally deletes entire sections.

Stay tuned for part 2 of this article.