Getting started with Google Products

Once you’ve enrolled with specific products in the Google for Nonprofits Program, here are some tips to help you get up and running successfully. If you have any feedback on these tips, please share it in our forum.

First 5 things a Nonprofit should do with Google AdWords 

  • Step 1

    Set Your Goals: Finalize your goals for your Google Grant. Do you want more website visitors? Do you want more donations? Knowing what you’re hoping to get out of your Google Grant will help you evaluate whether your AdWords strategy is working.

    • Difficulty: Easy
    • Time: 15 minutes

  • Step 2

    Choose Great Keywords & Write Awesome Ads: Watch the ‘5 Pillars for AdWords Success’ to learn about how to structure your account, choose effective keywords and write engaging ads. Confirm your current AdWords Grant account structure reflects best practices. Add a few additional keywords to your active ad group. Write one new ad for your active ad group.

    • Difficulty: Easy
    • Time: 15 minutes

  • Step 3

    Get Comfortable with Quality Score: Watch ‘What is Quality Score and Why Does It Matter?’ to learn more about Quality Score. Understanding what Quality Score is and how it will affect your Google AdWords advertising will be critical for your success with your Google Grant.

    • Difficulty: Intermediate
    • Time: 4 minutes

  • Step 4

    Install Conversion Tracking: In order to start tracking the effectiveness of your ads & keywords against the goals you’ve set up for your AdWords grant, install Conversion Tracking. Read the ‘What is AdWords Coversion Tracking?’ tutorial & follow this step-by-step guide to install Conversion Tracking.

    • Difficulty: Intermediate
    • Time: Varies

  • Step 5

    Evaluate Your Results: Watch ‘How Do I Know If AdWords is Working for Me’ to learn how to read key metrics in your AdWords reports and how to track the keywords and ads that deliver the most visitors to your website. Run one report in the AdWords Report Center.

    • Difficulty: Easy
    • Time: 10 minutes

  • Bonus!

    Check out these additional resources to make sure you stay up-to-date on AdWords: Google for Nonprofits Help Center, Learn with Google & the Inside AdWords Blog.

    • Difficulty: Intermediate
    • Time: Varies

First 5 things a Nonprofit should do with Google Apps 

  • Step 1

    Get set up: Follow the ‘Admin’s Setup Guide’ to do the pre-work necessary to ensure your organization migrates to Google Apps successfully.

    • Difficulty: Intermediate
    • Time: Varies

  • Step 2

    Learn about Gmail & Calendar: Review the Gmail getting started guide to learn how to do all of the things you’re used to doing with your email. Read the Calendar getting started guide to find out how to create calendar events, book rooms, share your calendar, and more. Book one event in calendar & invite someone else in your organization to join.

    • Difficulty: Easy
    • Time: 30 minutes

  • Step 3

    Get familiar with Google Docs: Read the Docs getting started guide to learn how to create documents that you can access from any computer, and how you and your colleagues can edit documents at the same time. Create a new Google document where you’ll need feedback from others in the organization. Once it’s ready, share it with the people who’ll need to review it.

    • Difficulty: Easy
    • Time: 30 minutes

  • Step 4

    Use Google Groups: Learn how to create distribution lists and e-mail addresses for groups of employees. Review more information for administrators and the getting started guide for users. Create a Google Group for an important list of people for your organization – maybe for all of your volunteers or donors.

    • Difficulty: Easy
    • Time: 30 minutes

  • Step 5

    Help users at your nonprofit make the switch: If you need a plan for communicating the switch to Google Apps and training your users, check out our transition guide. Share the Gmail getting started guide to show users how to do all of the things they’re used to doing with your email. They can even become Gmail ninjas here.

    • Difficulty: Intermediate
    • Time: 2 weeks total

  • Bonus!

    Check out these additional resources to make sure you stay up-to-date on Google Apps. Google Apps Blog & the Google Apps Learning Center.

First 5 things a Nonprofit should do with Google Earth Pro 

  • Tip 1

    Import GIS data and large vector or raster datasets: Check out the Importing GIS Data in Google Earth tutorial about how to upload and style your GIS data. This will help stakeholders or decision makers understand your complex issues quickly and make efficient decisions after reviewing your visualizations.

    • Difficulty: Intermediate
    • Time: 30 minutes

  • Tip 2

    Record Movies of Tours on Google Earth & Upload Them to YouTube: Learn how to take users on a narrated tour with the ‘Create a Narrated Tour in Google Earth’ tutorial. Learn to create Photo & Image overlays in Google Earth along the way. Visit Making Movies in Google Earth to learn how to use Movie Maker to export your narrated tour as a .mov, .avi or .wmv movie file. Read ‘How to Upload Videos to YouTube’ & upload your first video!

    • Difficulty: Intermediate
    • Time: 2 hours

  • Tip 3

    Print in High-Resolution: Print up to 4800 pixels using high-resolution printing feature in Google Earth Pro to print out Google Earth images for hearings, work in the field or town hall meetings.

    • Difficulty: Easy
    • Time: 10 minutes

  • Tip 4

    Measure Area and Distances: Use Google Earth Pro’s distance measuring tools to measure the scale of places that you’re trying to protect. Learn how to use the measuring tool & practice measuring the area of one of your project sites.

    • Difficulty: Easy
    • Time: 10 minutes

  • Tip 5

    View US Demographic Data, Traffic Data and Parcel Data: Make informed decisions using data layers such as median age, income, education level and more for your state, county, census tract or block group. For instance, if you’re lobbying for land preservation at a hearing, knowing your area's demographic data could be useful to help tailor your story.

    • Difficulty: Easy
    • Time: 5 minutes

  • Bonus!

    Head to Google Earth Outreach for many more tutorials & examples of how organizations are successfully using Google Earth Pro.

First 5 things a Nonprofit should do with Google SketchUp Pro 

  • Step 1

    Review core concepts: Watch the ‘Concepts of Google Sketchup’ & the ‘Getting Started with Google SketchUp’ videos to get a sense of what you can do with SketchUp. Print the quick reference card to use while you are getting started.

    • Difficulty: Easy
    • Time: 15 minutes

  • Step 2

    Learn how to draw shapes: Check out the Drawing Shapes video so you understand exactly how you can create your own models.

    • Difficulty: Easy
    • Time: 30 minutes

  • Step 3

    Create your first model: Learn how to pull shapes into 3D by watching the Modify Tools video. To practice what you’ve learned, consider modeling your living room or workspace. Add textures, dimensions or 3D text to your model using the icons in the large toolbar.

    • Difficulty: Easy
    • Time: 30 minutes

  • Step 4

    Share your model on the 3D Warehouse: The 3D Warehouse is a great way to share your project online. You can upload your model to the 3D Warehouse from within SketchUp.

    • Difficulty: Easy
    • Time: 5 minutes

  • Step 5

    Experiment with LayOut: Layout is a 2D design and presentation software that comes with SketchUp Pro. Learn more about LayOut from our LayOut videos. Test your new skills creating shapes, reusable templates, or multi-page presentations.

    • Difficulty: Intermediate
    • Time: Varies

  • Bonus!

    Check out additional SketchUp resources including the SketchUp blog, the SketchUp Help Center & SketchUp toolbar videos.

First 5 things a Nonprofit should do with YouTube 

  • Step 1

    Set Your Goals: Decide what your goals are for YouTube. Do you want donors to watch your video & feel compelled to give more? Do you want volunteers to sign up to help? Write your goals down before you get going. Review the Video Campaign Tip Sheet for best practices on how to run video campaigns on YouTube.

    • Difficulty: Easy
    • Time: 30 minutes

  • Step 2

    Create Your First Video: Check out best practices for developing compelling video content. Create your first YouTube video. Make sure to review the supported YouTube file formats!

    • Difficulty: Intermediate
    • Time: Varies

  • Step 3

    Upload Your Video: Review these steps for uploading your video to YouTube. Make sure to tag & title your videos with relevant keywords – that’s how users will find your content as they navigate YouTube.

    • Difficulty: Easy
    • Time: 15 minutes

  • Step 4

    Create a Call-to-Action Overlay: As part of the Google for Nonprofits Program, organizations can add ‘call-to-action overlays’ directly on top of their videos. Think about what you want users to do after they watch your video. Create a ‘call-to-action’ overlay on your first YouTube video to tell users exactly what they can do to help your cause.

    • Difficulty: Easy
    • Time: 30 minutes

  • Step 5

    Get the word out: Embed a YouTube video onto your organization’s website, blog or social media page. Review this overview of how to post YouTube videos on your organization’s other web properties. Network & distribute your video content so that potential donors, volunteers or supporters can see your great work.

    • Difficulty: Intermediate
    • Time: Varies

  • Bonus!

    Check out these additional resources to make sure you stay up-to-date on YouTube: YouTube for Nonprofits, YouTube Blog & YouTube Help Center.

First 5 things a Nonprofit should do with Google+ 

  • Step 1

    Create your Google+ Page: You'll need to have a Google Account and a personal Google+ profile to create a Google+ Page. Once logged into your Google+ profile, on the right hand side of your stream, you will see "Create a Page" to begin creating your page. Learn more about creating your Google+ Page and editing your profile. You can also download our getting started guide to get your nonprofit up and running successfully on Google+.

    • Difficulty: Easy
    • Time: 1-hour

  • Step 2

    Grow your Circles: Think about the different audiences your nonprofit communicates with. Maybe you speak to volunteers differently than how you speak to the board. Create different circles for each audience so you can tailor your communications to each one. Encourage people to add your organization to their circles so you can add them to your circles. Learn more about adding people to your circles.

    • Difficulty: Easy
    • Time: 15 minutes

  • Step 3

    Start a Hangout: Nothing beats having a live, dynamic gathering around a topic that your organization works on or cares about. Let your followers know when you'll be hanging out and what topic you want to discuss. You can get face-to-face interaction in real time -- all over high-quality, easy-to-use video chat. Learn more about Hangouts with Google+ Pages.

    • Difficulty: Intermediate
    • Time: 2-hours total

  • Step 4

    Monitor the conversation: It's important to stay updated about what is happening on your page and what the general tone is. Whether negative or positive, make sure to stay engaged with your Google+ page by responding to comments. Some comments, even if negative, may still serve as a gateway for richer dialogue about important issues. Consider how you can leverage a difficult comment to have a conversation.

     

    • Difficulty: Easy
    • Time: varies

  • Step 5

    Spread the word: Let people know that you're on Google+! Tell donors, volunteers & clients in your newsletters, on your website & anywhere else that users go to learn about your organization. Let users know they can find you on Google+ by linking your page to your nonprofit's website. Also, help your message circulate by installing the +1 button on your website. You can easily grab a snippet of code and work with your webmaster to add it to your website.

    • Difficulty: Easy
    • Time: 1-hour

  • Step 6

    Bonus! Check out the official Google+ team page and the Google for Nonprofits Google+ page for updates. If you need additional help with your Google+ Page, check out the Google+ Help Center or post a question in the Google+ Page Discuss.