VEXYL ROSE L.

CANETE

Topic 1: Background of Google and Google Workspace

1. What are the key concepts that you have learned in this session?

Google Workspace is Google’s suite of intelligent apps. This was formerly known as Google Apps, till it
was re-branded in late 2016. We primarily recommend Google Workspace for clients that are needing
email hosting for their business. However, Google Workspace is much more than just email. It also
includes a variety of apps and features that can come in quite handy. In fact, you’re probably already
using or are familiar with some of them.

2. How can you integrate this in teaching and in the field of education?

Google Workspace for Education Fundamentals—Gives you tools to aid teaching and learning, such as
Classroom, Google Meet, Google Docs, Google Forms, and Google Chat. Google Workspace for
Education Standard—Same tools as Education Fundamentals but with advanced security features and
enhanced administration controls.

3. Make a summary of the session either in paragraph or bullet form

The Benefits of Google Workspace (formerly G Suite) for Your Business (Why We Use It)

What is Google Workspace?

Google Workspace is Google’s suite of intelligent apps. This was formerly known as Google Apps, till it
was re-branded in late 2016. We primarily recommend Google Workspace for clients that are needing
email hosting for their business. However, Google Workspace is much more than just email. It also
includes a variety of apps and features that can come in quite handy. In fact, you’re probably already
using or are familiar with some of them.

Features We Use on a Daily Basis

Google Workspace has three different plans you can use (of which we’ll dive into a little later on). We
utilize the Basic Google Workspace plan for our employees here at Kinsta. This starts at just
$5/user/month. For many of you, the basic plan is probably all you’ll ever need. Here’s what it includes:

Gmail

According to Litmus, Gmail leads the way as the most popular email client, with a whopping 26% of the
market share based on open rates. It’s no surprise as Gmail has been around since 2004 and now boasts
over 1.2 billion users. One of the best things about Google Workspace is you basically get an
enhanced ad-free version of the online email client you’re probably already using.
Google Workspace essentially allows your employees to have their own Gmail accounts with email
addresses with your business domain name (example: [email protected]). A very small business
with one or two users might be able to get away with free Gmail accounts and some alias+forwarding
rules. But once you start hiring two or three employees, you’ll find yourself needing accounts that can
be managed separately.

Gmail custom domain

Google Calendar

None of us here at Kinsta could live without Google Calendar. Many of us rely on it for scheduling calls
with clients and setting due dates and reminders for important projects. Google Calendar can help you
keep your schedule organized.

One of the great things about using Google Calendar in Google Workspace is the ability to create
multiple calendars that are accessible to everyone in your company (or even a subset of users). For
example, you might want a group calendar for events like team holidays and regular meetings. Having all
your employees attached to the same organization makes tasks like these even easier when compared
to the free version.

Google Calendar

Google Drive

Google Drive allows you to store, access, and share your files in one secure place. You then have easy
access to them from any device. Google Workspace Basic plans come with 30GB of storage for every
employee. Google Workspace’s Business, Enterprise, and Teams editions provide unlimited storage so
you will always have enough space for your files. Note: If you’re a smaller team with fewer than 5 users,
you only get 1TB/user.

If you haven’t used Google Drive before, one of the best things we like about it is the amazing search
functionality! Although, it’s probably not too surprising seeing as they also run the largest search engine
in the world. Did you know that you can search based on the content within a document (regardless of
the file name)? Pretty handy. This means you can easily find what you’re looking for, no matter how
disorganized you are. 😉

Google Drive search

The paid version of Google Drive gives you twice the storage of your free personal drive and Gmail, 24/7
support, sharing controls, and advanced reporting.

Google Docs and Google Sheets

Google Docs and Google Sheets pretty much speak for themselves and again are tools we use every
single day. You can even import Google Docs into WordPress. These allow you to create and edit text
documents and spreadsheets right in your browser. Import your documents to make them instantly
editable, including Microsoft Word, Excel, and PDF files (.docx, .doc, .pdf, .rtf, .txt, xlsx, .csv, .html, .ods).
As of February 2018, you can now even collaborate and comment on Microsoft Office files without it
having to automatically convert to Google’s format.

You can also export to common third-party formats. This makes it easy to collaborate with other
individuals or companies and send files back and forth, without ever needing to install or purchase
additional software.

Note: Google Docs and Spreadsheets created directly in Google Workspace don’t count towards your
storage limit. 👍

Here are just a few of the common tasks we use them for:

 Getting feedback and comments from team members on new website content.

 Working with guest bloggers on content for our blog.

 Sending content to others when writing on third-party sites. We’ve never had anyone in the past
couple years request a Word document, everyone always requests a Google Doc. Why? Because
it’s just super simple and easy to use.

 Crunching spreadsheet data from Ahrefs exports.

 Running quick financial figures.

 Keeping track of PPC budgets and online advertising copy variations.

 Analyzing CTR changes as it pertains to SERPs.

 Writing up content for paid sponsorships (WordCamps).

One of the best features of Google Docs and Spreadsheets is the real-time commenting and unlimited
versions. Previous versions are kept indefinitely and they don’t count toward your storage. This makes it
super easy to track changes made to a document or undo a mistake. Sharing documents with your
coworkers or other individuals is also incredibly easy.

Google Docs versions

Google Keep

Google Keep seems to be one of those well-kept secrets that nobody knows about. If you’re looking for
a basic Evernote alternative, Google Keep rocks! This is a great little tool regardless of whether or not
you’re using Google Workspace. Being a Google product, it works flawlessly within the Google
ecosystem.

It can be an easy way to keep those frequently asked questions you get from customers in a convenient
place. Create to-do lists, notes, and set reminders to stay on track. Everything syncs across your devices,
so what’s important is always in reach. Easily share them with your team and archive them when you’re
done. And once again Google’s search works flawlessly with it.

Google Keep

Google Workspace Admin Console

The Admin console for Google Workspace allows business owners easily manage everything from one
single place. It got an overhaul recently and is a lot better than it was previously with Google Apps.

Do everything from adding new users and groups, manage devices, configure security settings (like 2-
factor authentication), add new custom domains for your business which can be used for Gmail.

Google Workspace admin console

Most, if not all of the features in Google Workspace have to be enabled by the administrator in order to
be used. Some of these are also only available in higher plans. If a feature is not enabled and a user tries
to access it, they’ll see a “not available” message (as seen below).

Google Workspace not available

Additional Features

Here are some additional features that we don’t use at Kinsta very often, but you might be interested in:

 Google Chat: Have you heard of Slack? The Google Chat is basically Google’s new competing
tool. It’s a dedicated group workspace with 1:1 chat and group chat.  You can make
conversations more efficient by interacting directly with deeply integrated Google bots and 3rd
party apps. Google chat is included for free with all Google Workspace plans.

 Google Meet: We prefer Zoom or Slack video chat ourselves here at Kinsta, but Google
Meet still makes video calls and conferencing a breeze. Meet is fully integrated with Google
Workspace, so you can join meetings directly from a Calendar event or email invite. If you’re
running the Enterprise version of Google Workspace, you can also take advantage of dial-in
numbers for when people are on the road or perhaps without internet access.
  Google Forms: Most of you have probably all filled out a Google Form before. While we prefer
to use other applications for this, preferably branded forms in our WordPress site, it can be an
incredibly quick and easy way to gather information.

 Google Slides: Want a decent alternative to Microsoft Powerpoint? Google Slides is just that.

Just like with their other products you can take advantage of their real-time collaboration and
commenting, as well as unlimited version history.

 Google Sites: We don’t recommend using Google Sites as WordPress is much better for this.
Check out the reasons why you should use WordPress.

 Endpoint Management: If you’re worried about an employee’s device getting stolen, don’t. That
is what Endpoint Management is for. Easily enable this as an admin and remotely wipe Google
Workspace data from devices if needed.

Additional Features for Google Workspace Business and Enterprise Users

It’s also important to make a note of the additional features in Google Workspace Business and
Enterprise plans. If you’re a bigger business and rely on email heavily, these can help ease some of your
worries.

 Cloud Search: Want to take search capabilities in Google Workspace even further? The Cloud
Search feature allows you to search across your company’s content in Google Workspace. From
Gmail and Drive to Docs, Sheets, Slides, Calendar, and more.

 Vault: You can never have too many backups. Vault allows you to manage, retain, search, and
export your organization’s email, Google Drive file content and on-the-record chats. Basically,
you can archive all your data and set retention policies.

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Unparalleled Benefits of Google Workspace

While all those features above are great, now it’s time to dive into some of the real benefits of using
Google Workspace for your business.

Hosting Email With Third-Party Is Always Recommended

It’s never recommended to host your email with the same company you use for WordPress hosting.
That’s why we don’t and will never offer email hosting to our clients (other than perhaps a Google
Workspace add-on down the road in MyKinsta. 🤫) We go into great detail about the reasons here. But
we’ll give you a quick summary of why below:

1. If you use your host, you’re tied to IP addresses that your host has configured for outgoing
email. If something goes wrong with that, such as a client suddenly spamming, there is a chance
the IP address could get blacklisted for spam. Then you’re suddenly left hanging with no control.

2. One of the biggest downfalls to relying on your WordPress host for emails is deliverability issues.
With Google Workspace, you can authenticate outbound mail using DKIM and SPF
records which can positively impact your spam rating.

3. Sending emails via your WordPress host could potentially result in server resources issues. By
offloading email to a third-party, especially Google Workspace, you’ll never have to worry about
this.

4. Spreading services across multiple providers is always a good thing. We always recommend
separating DNS (we include Amazon Route 53 DNS for all clients), WordPress hosting, and email.
This way if anything goes wrong with one, your email is always flowing. Most likely your DNS will
still route regardless, but by using multiple providers you can guarantee this.

So as you can see, going with a third-party for email hosting is actually beneficial to your business.

Caveats (Transactional and Marketing Emails)

While Google Workspace accounts don’t have an SMTP limit, for those of you sending thousands of
emails every month, we generally don’t recommend them for sending bulk emails or transactional
emails (purchases, registering, resetting a password, etc). You can read the laundry list of their bulk
sender guidelines. For these types of emails we recommend the following transactional email services:

Mailgun

 Mailgun

 SendGrid

 SparkPost

 Mailjet

 Amazon SES

If you’re small and just starting out, don’t worry about your transaction emails until you start sending
out large volumes. You can get started with just Google Workspace for everything and be just fine. Also,
some of the providers like Mailgun above, let you send 10,000 transactional emails per month for free.
So in a lot of cases, this doesn’t have to be an extra expense. And additional emails after that are
pennies to send. Read more about transactional emails, SMTP ports, and free SMPT servers for
WordPress.

You then have marketing emails, such as newsletters. The same thing applies here. Typically you’ll want
to use a third-party provider due to better deliverability rates and tools for list building, A/B testing, etc.
Here’s a few we recommend:

MailChimp

 MailChimp (we utilize them here at Kinsta for our weekly newsletter – here is our guide on how
to get started with MailChimp)

 MailerLite

 Drip

 ActiveCampaign

 AWeber

 GetResponse

Some of the transactional providers above also handle marketing emails and mention that on their sites.
So in some cases, you could always combine your transactional email service and email marketing
software. Read more about email marketing software.

Familiar, Compatible, and Easy to Use

One of the greatest benefits of going with Google Workspace for your business is that most of your
employees are probably already used to using products like Gmail for email and Google Docs. This
makes the transition super easy and ensures you don’t have to waste time explaining to new hires how
to utilize company tools; unlike Zoho or Office 365 where there might be more explanation needed.

Google Workspace also has the best compatibility on mobile devices compared to any other email
provider. It simply works, everywhere!

And if you already have a personal Gmail account, Google makes it super easy to one-click switch
between accounts (personal Gmails and Google Workspace accounts).

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Google Workspace switch accounts

Uptime

When it comes to uptime, Google is one of the best when it comes to reliability. If you want to dig into
the technical details, Google Workspace offers a 99.9% Service Level Agreement (SLA) for covered
services, and in recent years they’ve actually exceeded that. Also due to the fact that email is such an
important part of every business, Google Workspace has no scheduled downtime or maintenance
windows. All of their data centers are built with redundant infrastructure.

But just like any service, they can never be up 100% of the time. Therefore, you can always bookmark
the Google Workspace status dashboard for updates on all of their products.

Disadvantages of Google Workspace

To be completely honest, there aren’t many disadvantages that we’ve found using Google Workspace,
and our team has used it for over four years. Although it definitely depends on the type of business you
are. Here are a few things you might consider:

 Google Workspace is entirely web-based with no options for software. If you’re used to using
Microsoft Office you’ll probably find that Google Docs and Sheets aren’t as powerful.

 Office 365 is still winning the enterprise market, while Google Workspace is still playing catch
up.

 Office 365 does offer more storage off the bat. However, Google Workspace does offer
unlimited storage if you upgrade to higher plans.

Google Workspace Tips

After Google Workspace is up and going there are a few little warnings or errors you’ll probably run into.
One is the following message when trying to save a profile photo.

Sorry! We could not save your profile photo. Please try again later.

Google Workspace could not save profile photo

In Google Workspace the admin has to give permission for users to save a profile photo. This can be
done from “Directory → Directory settings → Profile editing.”

Google Workspace directory profile editing rights

Google Workspace photo

Note: It usually takes a couple of hours for Google Workspace settings to propagate across. So we
recommend waiting a bit before trying to upload a photo again.