Having a Google Account allows you access to many free and a few paid services that can greatly improve your business as well as make things easier for you.

In order to setup a Google account and get access to all of Google’s applications and services, you need to sign up for a Gmail account (which is free) Once you have signed up for a gmail account, login and go to the Google home page, at the top right on “My Account”.

On your account page it will show you any Google products you have already setup which should include: gmail, talk, web history. Below that is a short list of some products to try out and a link at the bottom for “more”. Click the “more” link to get a full list of Google’s products that you can get setup.

Some of the big or most useful products that I have personally used and have also heard lots of positive results from include:

Google Alerts – Get updates on a specific keyword or phrase for a specific time frame

Blogger – Google’s blog platform

Google Calendar – Schedule dates and quickly add events

Google Docs – Free web-based word processor and spreadsheet

Google Groups – Easy way to find other people that are interested and discussing in the same topic

Google Picasa – Software that makes it easy to view, organize, edit and share photos on your PC

Google Reader – Constantly checks your favorite news sites and blogs for new content.

Google Notebook – Browse, clip, and organize info from the web in one spot be easily accessible

Google Sites – Easily create web pages and share info on a free website or group wiki.

Google Video & YouTube – Watch or upload videos and share across the web

Plus many more, you can also check out Google Labs for more products their working on or have been released from beta. Some other more popular products from Google are Google Adsense and Google AdWords.

Take a look around and see how you can take advantage of Google’s products in order to improve your business.