You’ve heard the remarks before, no doubt, that “Google is on a mission to take over the world”. You may have even agreed from time to time, however one thing is certain – they definitely are, but not as you would (like to) think!!

Much has been said about Google (good and bad) since its meteoric rise to fame, fortune and household-namedom, however there is one thing you certainly won’t have heard from the paranoia brigade. I speak of Google UK’s recent launch of its Export Advisor website – a free tool that guides business managers through the various barriers to entry to overseas markets and thus helps them to export with relative ease.

The overarching aim of Export Advisor is to encourage small firms and first-time exporters trade overseas by giving free impartial advice and ‘how to’ guides for all things exporting. They’ve even come up with a nifty (dare I say nifty?) market sizing tool for certain geographic regions based on your market (screenshot below).

Google's market sizing tool gives potential opportunities for your products/services abroad.

Sticking to what they clearly know best, Google have also impressively drafted in a number of suppliers to cope with all the non-web based elements of exporting. These include HSBC, Royal Mail, the Institute of Export and Applied Language Solutions.

In keeping with the exporting theme, Applied Language has also teamed up with Google and the other partners to launch Export  Box. Combining translation, shipping, banking, in-country Pay Per Click and Google advertising for a one off fee, Export Box is the first ever ‘out of the box’ exporting package.

Anyone reading this is encouraged to take a look at the Export Advisor website and try out the (beta) tools for themselves. Oh and try not to reach the conclusion that Google are trying to help you take over the world…

Happy exporting!