Understanding Importance of Google Places
One out of every five searches on the Internet is related to a location and Google Places is an improved search facility that focuses on this aspect. If you are a small business targeting local customers rather than a global audience, using Google Places is one of the best things you could do for the growth of your business. If you aren’t already using this service from Google, it is high time you considered it for your business. The Google Places service allows you to be listed on Google Maps so that your clients or customers can easily locate you. Business owners, who are listed with Google, can use Google Places to manage the information regarding the physical location of their business. This means when a potential customer searches for the service or product you offer, your business would be listed under the organic web listings as well as in Places. Considering the fact that Google usually blends the Google Places’ page and Maps along with the organic results for location specific searches, listing yourself in Google Places can be an excellent way to create brand awareness.
Getting Business Listed Not Difficult
Getting your business listed on Google Places is easy. First set up an account and submit the relevant information like the address, phone number, email, hours of operation, payment method, mode of service, images and even videos to Google. Once you verify your listing through phone or mail, you would receive a PIN from Google that allows you to claim the specified listing. Once this process is complete, your listing would get accepted by Google and can be viewed on the site. The best part of it all is that Google Places is a free service and it is up to you as a business owner to make the best of it.
Google Places the New Yellow Pages
With the availability of the Internet, there are very few people who still search for a service using the traditional Yellow Pages directories. So besides being listed in the traditional Yellow Pages, businesses should also consider getting listed in online directories and in Google Places, especially if the business caters to a local audience. The advantage of using Google Places is that all the relevant information about your business is available and can be accessed by your potential customers through the internet, even when you don’t have a website. So if you are a small business owner and cannot afford maintaining a website, Google Places is the viable solution for you.
A Google Places Page for Every Location
If your business has different branches at different locations, make sure that each branch has a separate Google Places page with the location’s address and phone number. In case you have just one branch but offer services in different locations, you can create a single page and list down the areas in it. Google Places focuses on local searches, which means that the competition for a local business o Google Places would be restricted to the other business only within the locality and not the entire region, city or state. This means that there are better chances of your business being at the top of the search engine page results for your category and location.
Why Every Small Business Needs Google Places
Google Places is a straightforward service from Google to help small business make themselves visible and searchable on the internet, by people from a particular locality they cater to. Google Places is free and allows businesses to put themselves on the web with little effort, which makes the service and excellent marketing option for small business owners.
Cost Effective Marketing
The obvious reason for a small business to use Google Places is that it is a free service. Spending huge amounts of money on billboards, television, radio or print ads is not a practical option for small businesses. Google Places on the other hand allows small businesses to advertise to their potential customers in a given locality and costs much lesser than traditional advertising options.