Google Places

Google Places

Google Places

Admit it.  Small business owners, in general, are a fretful bunch.  They fret about the competition, advertising,  staffing, about product and yes, they fret about getting customers in the door.   Yet, when presented with tools, effective tools, that will help them get local customers in their doors, what do they do?  Most do nothing. Absolutely nothing.

I find this mystifying.

Here are some facts.

  • Google is the Big Kahuna when it comes to online searches.  Over 2/3rds of the searches in the U.S. and over 80 percent in the U.K.
  • Google estimates 97 percent of consumers do a local search for businesses on-line.  These people represent local traffic.
  • According to TMP/comScore, 61 percent of local searches result in purchases.
  • The most desirous spot on the internet?  It is the above-the-fold  Google listing of 10 companies that pops up whenever anyone does a local search for a plumber, a barber, a dentist.  Since this pop-up also appears ABOVE the organic listing, the Google list of 10 is the best spot on the Internet, which means it is one of the most effective business tools a small or medium sized business could use to pull in the locals.
  • Yet, using the Small Business Administration’s report of the 2009 business census and some simple math, only 11% of U.S. businesses (3 million) have claimed their FREE Google Places listing.  Put another way, 89% haven’t. These small businesses are still fretting.  Chances are pretty high  these business owners haven’t claimed their FREE Bing and Yahoo listings either.
  • Almost all of these businesses represent small and medium sized companies as there are only 18,311 companies classified as large in the ’09 census.

There is nothing difficult about claiming one’s online business listing.  At a minimum, every business should at least claim Google Places.  It is darn easy!  Hit the Get Started button and follow the process.

Make certain your listing is complete.  The more complete, the better it will rank.  The key is to add information and extras often ignored by other local competitors.  This includes:
• Business Hours
• Photos (Up to 10 photos)
• Videos (Up to 5 YouTube videos)
• Coupons
• Customer Reviews
• Specialties or certifications
• Forms of payment accepted
• Website

Make certain your business information (business name, phone number, address, etc.)  is consistent to other business directory websites (such as Yelp, CitySearch, InsiderPages, DMOZ, Yahoo Directory, Linkedin, CitySearch, Yellow Pages,  Ziplocal etc.).  Google is a stickler for details and wants to see identical business information when it crawls on the web.

After you have your Google Places listing, complete the process by visiting GetListed.org.  This site walks you through the process so your business will be listed on all of the major sites, like Yahoo and Bing.  If you want, you can also check out the fee-based services that handle this activity for you at GetListed.org.

In 20 minutes, you’ll be finished.  You can do this!  Once you do, you’ll fret a lot less about getting local traffic into your store through local search.  And then you can turn your attention to the story on the video.  Enjoy.

 

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