Now available with Google Apps: Google Checkout

[Cross-posted from the Google Enterprise Blog]

Editor’s note: We recently launched an improvement that makes over 60 additional Google services available to Google Apps users. This series showcases what’s new and how your organization can benefit.



Welcome to Google Checkout
With global online sales measured in hundreds of billions of dollars annually*, how does your company process its online orders? Do you worry about order path friction causing customers to drop out before completing their purchase? How do you help your customers feel secure and protected from fraud when they purchase online? Whether you don’t yet have a checkout solution or you’re looking to give your customers multiple checkout options, you now have an additional tool at your disposal that is integrated with Google Apps: Google Checkout.

Google Checkout is a fast and highly secure online checkout process that allows your customers to buy from you quickly and easily with a single login.


Not only does Google Checkout provide a flexible shopping cart and payment infrastructure that enables customers to buy from you online, but the use of Google Checkout can also bring other benefits to you as a seller. For example, Google Checkout’s fast, convenient checkout process reduces transaction friction by using customers’ existing Google accounts and has increased conversion rates by as much as 40% for some sellers. Also, our data shows that Google Checkout customers click on search advertisements 10% more often if those ads feature the Google Checkout badge, bringing more traffic to those sellers’ sites.

Most importantly, Google Checkout gives customers peace of mind when they shop online because our fraud policy offers protection against unauthorized purchase and users can use their existing Google account instead of entering their data again. Sellers also benefit directly from fraud protection with our Payment Guarantee Policy.

Best of all, it's quick and easy to add Google Checkout functionality to your website using various integration options, including Buy Now buttons, custom shopping carts, and the Google Checkout Store Gadget, which allows you to quickly set up a storefront for buyers in over 140 countries.



Google Checkout runs in Google’s cloud, so there is no hardware to maintain or software to update. And Google Checkout can be integrated with your Google Apps account, allowing you to quickly and easily insert a Checkout store gadget into a site you create with Google Sites or Blogger.

Learn more and get started
Google Checkout can be enabled by your domain administrator from the Google Apps Control Panel at https://www.google.com/a/[your_domain.com] (replace [your_domain.com] with your actual domain name). If your organization isn’t using Google Apps yet, you can learn more and sign up today at http://www.google.com/apps/more.

For more information about Google Checkout, take our product tour. You can visit our Help Center for answers to specific questions or check out our blog for the latest updates.

Share your story
Have you already started using Google Checkout at your organization, or plan to now that it’s available? Please share your story and your organization could be featured in the next Gone Google ad campaign!


Posted by Satyajeet Salgar, Product Manager, Google Checkout

Note: Google Checkout may not be available in all areas.
* Source eMarketer, 2009.

Spacex....

Congratulations to spacex.
The scope and scale of what Elon and his troops have accomplished is just breathtaking.
I am in stunned awe.

I raise a toast to a most unreasonable man!

Keeping Google Places Up To Date

[Cross-posted from the Hotpot Community blog]

Lots of things can change about a business — it can close, move, or change operating hours. As you rate places on Hotpot, you may notice that the business information on Google Places isn’t always completely accurate. You may even find duplicate listings for the same business.

Many of you have asked how you can help us keep the information about a place up to date. As a local expert, you can tell us about outdated information, or even change it yourself on the Place page.

Edit details on an unverified listing

There are two ways to fix business information on Google Maps. For unverified listings, you can click the Edit Details or Edit this place links on the Place page to correct the address, homepage, location, phone number, or business categories of the place. Once you’ve made an edit, we’ll verify that it’s correct and make the change on Google Maps.

Report a problem on a verified listing

Where available, you can use the Report a Problem link to tell us about incorrect information in a verified listing, such as:

• Listing contains incorrect information or spam
• Place is permanently closed
• Place has another listing
• Place doesn’t exist or is private
• Some photos, reviews, or details below to a different place

Add a place

Finally, you can also use the Report a Problem link below Maps search results to add a new place. If you search for the business on Google Maps and can’t find it, click Report a Problem at the bottom of the search results. From there, choose A place is missing from Google Maps and follow the steps to add a new place to Maps. Once the place is added, you can easily rate it on the Place page.

The place editing features are not currently available in all countries. Don’t worry, we’re working hard to make this available in more places. In the meantime, if you don’t see the Report a Problem tool in your Google Maps viewport, we encourage you to get in touch

with your local data provider and request edits or updates to the information on Maps.

Thanks for helping to keep local information on Google Maps correct and up-to-date!

Posted by Cecelia Stewart, Strategist Google Places and Hotpot

A Broad Investment Strategy

I get quite a few questions about what else I do, more long term, apart from the day trading that you see in the blog.

Let me first say that in these times, I want to be able to convert to cash with the press of a "Close All" button. Anything can still happen as far as I am concerned. I believe in diversification, but of a particular kind.

OK, how is my diversification different? Well firstly, I don't think that passive investment works now. Passive means buying something and letting it sit until you get rich. I think active investment is needed if I want to reduce risk and get a high return. Maybe my diversification isn't really diversification in the normal sense. Wasn't it Warren Buffet who said: "Diversification is a protection against ignorance. It makes very little sense for those who know what they're doing". I diversify between different derivative strategies.

Specifically, I work my investments. Investments are like a garden that needs to be watered every day, looked after, fertilized and harvested. Presently, this is what I do:

1. Discretionary day trading - you see it in the blog

2. FloBot - Flo autotrades a portfolio of futures markets across the spectrum and I'm adding markets regularly

3. Non directional option trading - earning the time decay

4. Directional option trading - both earning time decay and earning by longer term (swing) directional speculation

5. Pairs trading (sometimes called Spread trading) - inter-market spreads, buying one and selling another, both with the underlying and options

Some of the above is computer assisted but all need to be worked, some only a few minutes a day. I can liquidate all my investments with just a few clicks of my mouse. This is very important to me in today's environment.

Active investments earn their keep every day. I can see what I am earning. I can make any adjustments and I am not relying on hope for the investments to pay off.

Today's Gap trade in the Dow Euro 50 showed the benefits of this trade. I could do this one trade and be done for the day. Pity the snow has melted here, so I guess I'll be working all day.

Now available with Google Apps: Google Analytics

[Cross-posted from the Google Enterprise Blog]

Editor’s note: We recently launched an improvement that makes over 60 additional Google services available to Google Apps users. This series showcases what’s new and how your organization can benefit.



Welcome to Google Analytics
In today’s world, it is increasingly important for organizations to have a presence on the web. But once your organization has invested time and resources in a website, how do you measure the impact of this investment? Where is your traffic coming from and what is it doing when it gets to your site? Which pages on your site are the most engaging and which pages have the most user dropouts? All of these questions can be answered with Google Analytics, Google’s enterprise-class web analytics service, which is now available for free with your Google Apps account!

Google Analytics provides data about your web properties, including traffic volume, number of visitors, and time spent on your site, in a straightforward and easy to understand way.


Google Analytics also makes it easy to track where your traffic comes from, both in terms of referring sources as well as geographic location.


Google Analytics is designed to be easy to use for everyone in your organization, from the product manager to the chief of marketing. Even though it’s simple to use, Google Analytics offers advanced features such as custom reports, segmentation, e-commerce capabilities, API access, and onsite search for power users that want to construct a more tailored experience. Google Analytics delivers easily-digestible insights that can be used across your organization to increase website traffic and engagement, and to improve the return on your web investment.

Just like other Google Apps services, Google Analytics runs in Google’s cloud so it delivers all of the world-class reliability and scalability that you have come to expect from Google Apps. Also, sharing Analytics data and delegating access to colleagues in your organization is simple using their existing Google Apps accounts. And, because the documents, spreadsheets and sites that you create using Google Apps live in the cloud and have unique web addresses, you can use Google Analytics to track traffic to your domain’s docs in addition to your website.

Learn more and get started
Google Analytics can be enabled by your domain administrator from the Google Apps Control Panel at https://www.google.com/a/[your_domain.com] (replace [your_domain.com] with your actual domain name). If your organization isn’t using Google Apps yet, you can learn more and sign up today at http://www.google.com/apps/more.

For more information about how Google Analytics can help you track engagement with your website take a look at our product tour or read some customer stories to learn how Google Analytics has had an impact on an organization like yours. Or, check out the Google Analytics blog for the latest news and tips and tricks.

Share your story
Have you already started using Google Analytics at your organization, or plan to now that it’s available? Please share your story and your organization could be featured in the next Gone Google ad campaign!


Posted by Jeff Gillis, Google Analytics team

Note: Google Analytics may not be available in all areas.

Part 2: Tell Us What You Wish for Your Business Online in 2011

Last week on the Google Small Business blog, we kicked off our conversation about your wishes for your small business in 2011. We received some great responses about your general business needs and we really appreciate learning about your thoughtful and heartfelt wishes. Your optimistic entrepreneurial spirit came through -- from increasing revenue and sales to banding together to help fellow business owners and following your passions.

Now, we’d like to focus the conversation more specifically on your business’ online presence. So we’re asking you: If you had one wish for improving your business’ online presence 2011, what would it be? Think big and creative. It doesn’t have to be related to Google products.

This is all part of a project we’re working on to help small businesses succeed in 2011, and understanding your aspirations for the coming year will inform this project. We are studying your responses and will share the common themes with you.

Just complete the form below. Or, tell us on Facebook or Twitter using the hashtag #Wish2011. We will be publishing some of the specific wishes so If you'd like us to share your wish (not anonymously) on our blog, provide us your email, We’ll be in touch If your wish is chosen to be featured.

Spread the word and tell your friends -- the more we hear from you, the better we can plan for helping small businesses in 2011.

Tell us...

The one wish I have for improving my business’ online presence in 2011 is…

Email addressPlease provide your email address if you're willing to share your specific wish publicly.

Powered by Google DocsReport Abuse - Terms of Service - Additional TermsOur online conversation about your wishes is intended to be viral with shared responses. Your response in this blog form will be used anonymously and will be kept anonymous. We may share your publicly posted Tweets and Facebook updates by re-tweeting or sharing your update. In those cases, the public usernames on your Twitter and Facebook posts will be included in our retweets and status updates, however, we are only looking at responses to identify common themes to share with everyone. Let’s keep the conversation focused on your 2011 wish for your business.We would like to share some of the specific wishes that we hear from businesses. If you'd like us to share your wish (not anonymously) on our blog, please provide us your email and we'll be in touch. We will only use your data as indicated above - please see our privacy policy for more information.Posted by Leslie Hernandez, Product Marketing Manager, Google Small Businesses Team

That Gap Trade at Eurex and then .....

Traders looking for a market to trade from about GMT 7.00 could do a lot worse than looking at the Dow Euro 50 (FESX or ESTX50). There are similar trades available as on the ES, but usually you have more time to make your decision when it's trading out of the ES RTH. Volume is fantastic and bid/ask is in the 100s and 1000s.

The Gap trade today, as I teach it, was again right on the money and there was plenty of time to do it. You could even do it twice if you were only after 10 tics and not waiting for a Gap close. Or you could have re-sold what you had scaled out the first time down. There are several good ways of managing this trade. The Picture tells the story.

Being prepared for what unfolds is part of what is required. It's very easy to have a Gap close mindset or a some other bias. The envisioning that I advocate relies on looking at the previous day's close and what happened between that close and the now. Being wrong doesn't matter, because if you are wrong you can work out what's right. The stock market has been very bullish going into this Santa Clause rally and although I was happy to sell it, as there is usually a Gap close attempt, I was ready for the turn around. Had the market failed at my original sell point a third time, I would have had to conclude that my vision was wrong and that the price was really headed south. I trade the trend of the chart I am trading, not some big picture remote from that.