Tag Archives: Business

Congratulations to the winners of the Google Play Indie Games Contest 2017 in Europe

Posted by Adriana Puchianu, Developer Marketing Google Play

We have just wrapped up the second edition of the Google Play Indie Games Contest in Europe! The iconic Saatchi Gallery in London welcomed 20 developers, from 12 countries, who showcased their games to the audience of gamers, industry experts, and journalists.

The finalists' games were on show to the public, who spent three hours trying out their games and voting for their favourites, alongside the Google Play team. The top 10 finalists were then selected, and went on to pitch their games, and compete for the big prizes in front of our jury.

Please join us in congratulating the winners! They will be bringing home a well-deserved diploma, along with a prize package that will help them reach more gamers worldwide; including premium placement on the Google Play Store, marketing campaigns of up to 100,000 EUR and influencer campaigns of up to 50,000 EUR, the latest Google hardware, tickets to Google I/O, and much more.

It's really inspiring to see the excitement around this second edition, and great to see the new wave of indie games coming from Europe. We are already looking forward to playing the games that will be developed in 2018!

Check out the main winners and the other finalists on the Google Play Store!

Winner

Bury me, my love

Playdius

France

A reality-inspired interactive fiction designed for mobile phones. It tells the story of Nour, a Syrian woman trying to reach Europe in hope of a better life.

Runners up

Old Man's Journey

Broken Rules Interactive Media GmbH

Austria

A story game about life's precious moments, broken dreams, and changed plans.

Yellow

Bart Bonte

Belgium

A puzzle game for you! A love letter to a marvelous colour and to the little wonder called touchscreens. Warning: very yellow!

The other games that have made it into top 10 are:

Captain Tom Galactic Traveler

Picodongames

France

An open world platformer and space exploration game. Embark on an exploratory mission, discover planets, collect oxygen, play with gravity.

I Love Hue

Zut!

United Kingdom

A minimalist, ambient puzzle game influenced by mindfulness apps and abstract art. Players arrange shuffled mosaics of coloured tiles into perfectly ordered palettes.

Jodeo

Gamebra.in

Turkey

Jodeo is a 2D jelly critter. There's something it's curious about: what if 3D objects and 2D physics are in the same game? How can 2D objects interact with 3D objects?

Kami 2

State of Play

United Kingdom

The calming yet addictive puzzle game is back! With over 100 handcrafted puzzles, it takes you on a mind-twisting journey that combines logic and problem-solving.

Kenshō

FIFTYTWO

Russia

A tile sliding puzzle with a wonderful soundtrack. Mysterious things happen in a ruined room. Doors inside that room lead to different worlds and beautiful landscapes.

No More Buttons

Tommy Søreide Kjær

Norway

A hand-drawn platformer where the buttons are part of the environment.

The Big Journey

Catfishbox

Ukraine

Designed for kids and adults alike, this a beautiful, casual adventure. Tilt to roll around and explore a beautiful world with Mr. Whiskers.

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Challenges and Opportunities for Small Businesses Online – New Research from Deloitte

Today, we are hosting a research livestream at 12pm PST with Deloitte, building on previous research about how the web is helping small businesses grow. We commissioned additional analysis to better understand the barriers that small businesses face in adopting digital tools. By publishing this research, we hope we can have more impact through our programs and partnerships in helping small businesses grow online. Tune in here.


Read on for highlights from Deloitte’s analysis which we’ll be discussing in our livestream later today:


Women-owned small businesses are adopting more digital tools.
Between 2007 and 2016, the number of women-owned firms increased by 45%, compared to just a 9% increase among all businesses. Deloitte’s research found that women-led businesses are also more likely to be using digital tools. Around 55% of women-owned small businesses are using more advanced digital tools.1 Kim Ormsby, founder of Natural Baby Company in Bozeman, MT knows the value of using digital tools first-hand. She started the company when she was pregnant with her second child and connected with like-minded parents around the world the world using the Internet. “The web is pretty much where all of our growth is happening.” 

Rural-based small businesses are less likely to be using advanced digital tools than their non-rural counterparts.
Deloitte’s research found that rural-based businesses are not as likely to be using advanced digital tools. While they face many similar challenges to non-rural small businesses, US small businesses in rural areas were twice as likely to report having an inadequate Internet connection. Jim Hobart, co-founder of Alpaca Direct in Hayden, ID, has had to overcome this Internet access challenge to build a thriving yarn and apparel business that serves over 100,000 customers in 30 countries. In a Senate testimony, he discussed the challenges that rural-based small businesses face: “For a small business in northern Idaho, our sales demographics may surprise you. 92% of our annual sales are online. In the USA, our four top selling states are New York, California, Texas, and Florida. We feel that improved Internet access…needs attention. Our competitors in urban areas are operating on the equivalent of a 12-lane freeway while our access to that freeway is a like a worn-out toll road." 


The smallest businesses are less likely to be using advanced digital tools.
Deloitte found that only 12% of small businesses with less than 10 employees were digitally advanced, compared to 39% of small businesses with 100-250 employees. While the smallest businesses are less likely to be using advanced digital tools, those that are online are holding their own against much larger competitors. Villa Lagoon Tile based in Gulf Shores, AL has seen the power of digital tools to help them grow. With ten employees, they work on a very niche product - durable cement tiles - and heavily rely on online tools to find their customers. According to John Adams, Director of Technology, “AdWords is really perfect for matching clients and vendors in a niche market. We could never compete with big-box stores on standard tiles. But we can compete for cement tiles thanks to Google search and advertising.”

Small businesses face real barriers to fully using digital tools.
When asked what prevents them from using digital tools more, Deloitte’s research uncovered a number of barriers. 40% of small business respondents reported that digital isn’t relevant for their business and 38% said it’s not effective. 34% selected concerns about privacy and security. Small business owners also reported facing resource constraints. 30% said they don’t have enough experience with digital tools, 29% said they have no time to learn about digital tools, and 28% said that digital tools are too expensive.



Next steps for learning more about digital tools. 
There may some hurdles to using digital tools, but as we learned in Deloitte’s first report, small businesses can greatly benefit from building their presence online and reaching new customers. Many small business owners tell us they want to be doing more with digital, but they often don’t know where to start or have enough time to decide which tools to use. To introduce busy small business owners to digital tools that can help them grow, we designed Google’s Get Your Business Online training program as a way to get started and better understand the value these tools can offer. To learn more about how digital can help your business grow, find a workshop near you.


The full results from the Deloitte Connecting Small Businesses research can be found here. We hope you’ll tune in to our research livestream today at 12pm PST here. 



Posted by Soo Young Kim, Small Business Outreach






1. Women-owned businesses using either high or advanced digital tools as defined in Deloitte’s digital engagement ladder


Meet the finalists of the Google Play Indie Games Contest in Europe

Posted by Adriana Puchianu, Developer Marketing Google Play

Back in October we launched the 2nd edition of the Google Play Indie Games Contest in Europe, with the aim to identify, showcase and reward indie gaming talent from more than 30 countries. We were amazed by the innovation and creativity that indie developers from the region have to offer.

Selecting just 20 finalists has once again been a huge challenge. We had a lot of fun playing the games that will go on to showcase at the Saatchi Gallery on February 13th in London. Without further ado, we are happy to announce the Top 20 finalists of this year's edition. Congratulations to the finalists and thanks to everyone else who has entered the contest.

A Planet of Mine
Tuesday Quest
France

Bridge Constructor Portal
ClockStone Softwareentwicklung GmbH
Austria

Bury me, my Love
Playdius
France

Captain Tom Galactic Traveler
Picodongames
France

Core
FURYJAM
Russia

Flat Pack
Nitrome
United Kingdom

Fern Flower
Macaque
Poland

I Love Hue
Zut!
United Kingdom

Jodeo
Gamebra.in
Turkey

Kami 2
State of Play
United Kingdom

Kenshō
FIFTYTWO
Russia

No More Buttons
Tommy Søreide Kjær
Norway

Old Man's Journey
Broken Rules Interactive Media GmbH
Austria

Broken Rules Interactive Media GmbH
Developster
Germany

The Big Journey
Catfishbox
Ukraine

The House of Da Vinci
Blue Brain Games, s.r.o.
Slovakia

The Office Quest
11Sheep
Israel

Unbalance
TVEE
Turkey

Undervault
Andriy Bychkovskyi
Ukraine

yellow
Bart Bonte
Belgium

Check out the prizes

All the 20 finalists are getting:

  • A paid trip to London to showcase their game at the Final held at Saatchi Gallery
  • Inclusion of their game on a promotional billboard in London for 1 month
  • Inclusion of their game in a dedicated Indie Games Contest collection on the Indie Corner for one month in more than 40 countries across EMEA
  • Two (2) tickets to attend a 2018 Playtime event, an invitation-only event for top apps and games developers on Google Play
  • One (1) Pixel 2 device

They will also have the chance to win more prizes at the final event.

Join the Google Play team and the finalists at the final event:

Anyone can now register to attend the final showcase event for free at the Saatchi Gallery in London on 13 February 2018. Come and play some great games and have fun with indie developers, industry experts, and the Google Play team.

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Join Us for a Livestream Featuring New Research from Google and Deloitte

Last year we published research with Deloitte about how the web is driving small business growth. The study found that the use of digital tools (such as websites, analytics, and online marketing) positively impacts small business growth in four key ways: reaching new customers, reaching new markets, growing faster, and creating jobs:
Despite these benefits, 80% of small businesses in the United States are not fully utilizing the power of digital tools. Therefore we commissioned a second report from Deloitte to better understand why more small businesses aren’t using advanced digital tools. 

Join us on January 17th at 12 PM PT / 3 PM ET for a livestream presentation where we’ll share our new research, and host a panel discussion featuring small businesses who have used digital tools to grow. 

Learn more about the livestream and RSVP here. We hope you will join us.


Google Play’s Indie Games Contest is back in Europe. Enter now

Posted by Adriana Puchianu, Developer Marketing Google Play

Following last year's success, today we're announcing the second annual Google Play Indie Games Contest in Europe, expanding to more countries and bigger prizes. The contest rewards your passion, creativity and innovation, and provides support to help bring your game to more people.

Prizes for the finalists and winners

  • A trip to London to showcase your game at the Saatchi Gallery
  • Paid digital marketing campaigns worth up to 100,000 EUR
  • Influencer campaigns worth up to 50,000 EUR
  • Premium placements on Google Play
  • Promotion on Android and Google Play marketing channels
  • Tickets to Google I/O 2018 and other top industry events
  • Latest Google hardware
  • Special prizes for the best Unity games


How to enter the contest

If you're based in one of the 28 eligible countries, have 30 or less full time employees, and published a new game on Google Play after 1 January 2017, you may now be eligible to enter the contest. If you're planning on publishing a new game soon, you can also enter by submitting a private beta. Check out all the details in the terms and conditions. Submissions close on 31 December 2017.

Up to 20 finalists will showcase their games at an open event at the Saatchi Gallery in London on the 13th February 2018. At the event, the top 10 will be selected by the event attendees and the Google Play team. The top 10 will then pitch to the jury of industry experts, from which the final winner and runners up will be selected.

Come along to the final event

Anyone can register to attend the final showcase event at the Saatchi Gallery in London on 13 February 2018. Play some great indie games and have fun with indie developers,industry experts, and the Google Play team.

Enter now

Visit the contest site to find out more and enter the Indie Games Contest now.

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‘Tis the Small Biz Season: Google and Friends Team Up for a Holiday Livestream

The holiday season officially begins in a few short weeks. While everyone else is making their shopping, entertaining, and traveling lists (and checking them twice), if you’re a small business owner, you’re probably busy prepping. We’re here to help.


Marketing Wonderland Livestream - November 1
On Wednesday, November 1st, Google’s Get Your Business Online team will be joining forces with the Small Business Administration (SBA), Constant Contact, Facebook, and Square to put on a workshop, streamed live on YouTube. This team of digital experts is part of the SBA’s Small Business Technology Coalition, committed to empowering entrepreneurs across the U.S. to use the web and digital tools to better manage, promote, and grow their businesses.


Experts will take you through a marketing wonderland, sharing search engine optimization strategies, tips for reaching customers on mobile, steps for creating a seasonal email marketing plan, advice on the latest and safest payment options, and more. And if you have questions, we’ll be finishing up with a live Q&A via Twitter. You can participate by tweeting your question using the hashtag #MarketingWonderland.


Find and register for a partner-hosted viewing party near you to check out the livestream on November 1st. These events are offered at no charge for you to attend, and in addition to catching the workshop, you could also get hands-on help applying what you’ve learned and mingle with other business owners and organizations in your area.


Can’t find a viewing party that works for you? You can also watch the livestream from your own home or office. Register now and we’ll send you details on where to access the workshop on November 1st.


We hope you’ll be tuning in on November 1st—let’s deck the digital halls for your merriest and brightest season yet!

holiday livestream.jpg

Posted by Whitney Cox, Marketing Manager, Get Your Business Online

Answer customer questions on Google

Planning a visit to a local business can raise questions ranging from “Does this restaurant provide high-chairs?” to “What accessibility accommodations does this B&B offer?” When looking for answers, 82% of people turn to search engines, but they often have a hard time finding accurate, up-to-date information.1 That’s why Google is bringing Questions and Answers to local business listings.


As a business owner, you have the most reliable answers to your customers’ questions and we want to make it easy for you to receive and respond to those questions. That’s just what Questions and Answers lets you do. To start using it, just search for your business on your mobile phone and go to the Questions and Answers feature on your Google business listing.


Questions and Answers offers new ways for you to engage with your customers:

  • Add frequently asked questions to your listing so that mobile users who find your business on Google Search and Google Maps can easily get the answers to your customers’ most common questions.

  • Answer questions from potential customers on Google Search and Google Maps on your mobile phone. If you have Google Maps on Android, we‘ll also send you a push notification when a new question has been asked about your business so you can post an answer instantly.

  • Highlight top responses. Beyond FAQs and your own responses, customers are also able to answer each other’s questions. You can highlight the most helpful answers from your customer community by using the thumb to bump them up to the top of the list.



If you’re not using Google My Business yet, sign up and start managing your free business listing on Google. Once you’ve verified your business, you’ll be ready to start posting and answering questions. To learn more, visit the Google Maps Help Center.



Posted by Lisa Wang, Product Manager, Google Maps




1. Google. Google Consumer Barometer, 2017.

AdWords Express delivers meaningful interactions with goals

While AdWords Express has always aimed to make it easy to set up ads on Google, we’ve seen that it can still be challenging for small business owners to tell how well their ads are working to deliver real-world results.

Today, we’re changing that with the launch of goals in AdWords Express. You can now choose which business goal you want to achieve with your online ad. AdWords Express will then continuously optimize your ad with that goal in mind and show you how well your ad is meeting your goal.


There are three goals you can choose from depending on what matters most to your business:

  1. Call your business: Get more direct calls from potential customers who are ready to talk on the phone about your products or services.
  2. Visit your storefront: Bring more customers to your physical store location.
  3. Take an action on your website: Get more people to take a specific action on your website, such as filling out a form or requesting a free quote.


Depending on which you select, AdWords Express then fine-tunes your ad to meet your goal. For example, selecting “Call your business” will prompt Google to show your phone number more prominently in your ad, making it easy for potential customers to call you at the exact moment they want to get in touch. Then you can check out your ad’s performance by reviewing goal-specific metrics, like how many calls your ad generated, or how often people saw your ad and then searched for your store on Google Maps.


The addition of goals is possible because of a series of changes we’ve made to AdWords Express over the past two years — including using Google Analytics to track website actions, and using Google Maps visits and Google forwarding numbers to track store visits and phone calls. Together, these changes help you do what you really care about — connect with customers.


We’re excited to continue working to help you get better, more meaningful interactions with customers, so stay tuned for coming updates. In the meantime, to learn more about AdWords Express, head over to our website.




Posted by Kavi Goel, Group Product Manager, AdWords Express

Home Service ads help more professionals get quality leads online

Home Service ads make it quick and easy to find local service professionals you can trust. When someone searches on Google for a local service professional like a plumber, electrician, or house cleaner, the Home Service unit may appear at the top of the results page. Being in the Home Service unit serves as a badge of trust for service professionals–only those meeting Google's strict qualifying criteria are featured there.



Each professional has a unique profile where they can showcase their specific services, service areas, and hours of operation. Customers have the ability to browse through these profiles, see reviews from previous customers, and contact selected professionals who meet their specific needs with a phone call or an online request.



Since its launch, Home Service ads has enabled a number of small service businesses to expand rapidly. Dan Travers, the owner of 1-800-ANYTYME Plumbing, Heating and Air, started using Home Services in order to reach new customers online. Dan has been impressed by the ability of Home Services to generate a high volume of quality leads for the business. “Our booking rates are up close to 70%,” he says. “I had to hire two more technicians to take on the additional volume. We are definitely seeing our return on investment."

To keep helping businesses like Dan’s, we’re continuing to expand Home Services ads. The product is now available in the San Francisco Bay Area, Sacramento, Stockton, San Diego, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia. We’ve also made it available to other types of businesses, like painters, electricians, and towing providers.
We’re growing quickly, so to be among the first to hear our updates, or to apply for Home Services if we’re already in your area, please fill out this short form.



Posted by Nataliya Broitman, Head of Small Business Marketing

Fast mobile sites get more customers. Let’s help get yours up to speed.


How long does it take for your mobile site to load? Five seconds? Ten seconds? These few seconds could be the difference between keeping visitors on your site or losing them – because people aren’t willing to wait. In fact, most sites lose half their visitors while loading.1 And 46% of people say that the most frustrating thing about browsing on their phone is waiting for slow pages to load.2


With a little help, we believe every business can have a fast mobile site. That’s why we’re launching a new set of features to test your site’s speed on Test My Site, which will show you:

  • Your site’s mobile speed: 50% of people expect a site to load in less than two seconds.3 Find out how fast your site loads.
  • The number of visitors you may be losing: When it comes to mobile speed, every second matters – for each additional second it takes a mobile page to load, conversions can drop by up to 20%.4 Learn how many people may be leaving your site during the time it takes to load.
  • How you compare to the competition: See how your business stacks up against others in your industry.
  • How to make your site faster: We’ll email you a personalized assessment with specific recommendations on how to speed up your site.




Taking a few steps to improve your site speed can make a big difference. Yard Dog Fence Company, a Nashville fencing company that specializes in pet-friendly and child-safe fences, took the recommendations from Test My Site to significantly improve their mobile speed. They reduced the file sizes of the images on their site and now their mobile site loads in 5 seconds compared to 26 seconds. For Michael Casper, the owner of Yard Dog, it’s made a real difference: “90% of our business comes from our mobile site. Since we improved our mobile speed, we doubled our sales.”


Making changes like these can help you see a real impact on your business, too – get started now with Test My Site.





Posted by Yong Su Kim, VP Americas, Google Marketing Solutions



2. Google Webmaster Central Blog, #MobileMadness: a campaign to help you go mobile-friendly, 2015.
3. DoubleClick by Google, The need for mobile speed, 2016.