By melih
Google Places is a free service that offers a wide range of mapping functionalities. While Google is making them available from everywhere, it will take some time before this free service is available around the entire globe.
You can get the additional information from Google at the following link:
http://www.google.com/support/places/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=168339
As of this writing on June 13, 2010, there are 66 countries listed below in alphabetical order where Google Places is available. Bookmark this page and check back regularly for any changes to this list.
Angola
Argentina
Australia
Austria
Belgium
Bermuda
Botswana
Brazil
Bulgaria
Canada
Chile
China
Croatia
Czech Republic
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Denmark
Egypt
Finland
France
Gabon
Germany
Greece
Greenland
Hong Kong
Hungary
Iceland
India
Indonesia
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Japan
Kenya
Korea Dem. People’s Rep.
Latvia
Liechtenstein
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Madagascar
Malaysia
Mauritius
Mexico
Mozambique
Netherlands
New Zealand
Norway
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Russia
Rwanda
Serbia
Sierra Leone
Singapore
Slovakia
South Africa
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
Taiwan
Thailand
Turkey
Uganda
United Kingdom
United States
By melih
Google Places is a free marketing tool for local businesses. The benefits of these listings include showing up in web search results and mobile search results. Updating these listings is free and available to the business 24x7x365. Not something you can easily do with the traditional yellow pages. Definitely something you need to consider beyond Google and tap into multiple local listing websites and search engines.
Here are a few guidelines and information to know about when using Google Places. Many of these guidelines apply to other local listing websites as well. Many of these points are pretty self-explanatory. Violating these guidelines and your listing can be suspended. The basic premise is that you need to present your business in the local listings as you would in the traditional world.
1. Only the business owner(s) or authorized representatives may claim the local listing(s).
2. Don’t pack your listing with keywords like in your business name.
3. Along the same concept, do not include phone numbers or URLs in the business name.
4. You cannot use PO Boxes, it has to be physical address.
5. Do not provide phone numbers or web addresses that redirect consumers to other landing pages or phone numbers other than those of the actual business.
While we recommend reading Google Places quality guidelines here , we do recommend reading about local listing security issues which are related to the above no-no’s.
The Internet has become a good marketing tool for the local business dependent upon the local consumer for their revenue through web searches and mobile searches. Tap into the power of geo-listings as you engage in geo-marketing!
Local Business Listing Management Services are provided by SmartFinds Internet Marketing. You will find SmartFinds Internet Marketing to be of great benefit to your time resources and the low cost service may eliminate your yellow page ad costs. Let the experts of over 15 years Internet marketing experience help you use this local business marketing tool properly.
By melih
Your local business listing at Google and certainly with other geo-listing websites allows you to promote your events, new products, specials and more. You can take advantage of this very easily, once you have claimed your listing, by following the following five steps. We will use Google as our example.
1. Log into your Google account and go to Google Places through your account or by going directly to http://www.google.com/lbc
2. If you have multiple local business listings, choose the listing you want to update and click View Report.
3. Once you are in your Dashboard you will notice a box in the top right that looks like the following:
4. Click in the box and write a 160 character description of your business update.
5. Click Post and you’re done.
Your information will appear to the public in your local business listing on Google Maps. As of this writing you can only have one post and we’re sure this will change in time.
The Internet has become a good local business marketing source for the local business dependent upon the local consumer for their revenue through web searches and mobile searches. Tap into the power of geo-listings as you engage in geo-marketing!
Local Business Listing Management Services are provided by SmartFinds Internet Marketing. You will find SmartFinds Internet Marketing to be of great benefit to your time resources and the low cost service may eliminate your yellow page ad costs. Let the experts of over 15 years Internet marketing experience help you use this local business marketing tool properly.
By melih
If you have looked up your business address or company name on Google maps you may want to check if the map marker is in the right location. There are errors on maps occasionally based on oddities that may show your physical address on a map in the wrong location.
Aside from claiming your business listing at Google and other geo-listing websites, Google does allow for community edits to modify the map marker to make it more accurate for everyone. If you find the map marker in the wrong physical location on the Google map, you can move it to the right location with the following steps.
1. After you search for an address or business, click the map marker and you will see the info window appear.
2. If the marker is in the wrong location, in the info window, click on “more” and then click on “move marker”
3. Now you can drag the marker to the correct location. You can use the “X: to help you place the marker. Proper protocol is to place the map marker at the entrance of the location.
4. Click Save.
Here are a few notes you will need to be aware of before proceeding with the above steps.
1. You will need to be logged into Google with a Google account
2. Google will need to review a change if the marker is moved more than 200 meters.
3. A marker cannot be moved if the local business listing has already been verified and verified listings can only be edited by the account owner of that local business listing.
If all else fails if you have problems with Google maps, click on the “Report A Problem” link and report the issue to Google.
The Internet has become a good marketing source for the local business dependent upon the local consumer for their revenue through web searches and mobile searches. Tap into the power of geo-listings as you engage in geo-marketing!
Local Business Listing Management Services are provided by SmartFinds Internet Marketing. You will find SmartFinds Internet Marketing to be of great benefit to your time resources and the low cost service may eliminate your yellow page ad costs. Let the experts of over 15 years Internet marketing experience help you use this local business marketing tool properly.
By melih
Reputation management is becoming a much bigger concern through local business listing (or geo-listings) than in the past. While consumers were open to use blogs, forums and other social community tools to post their experiences with a business, product or service, now consumers have the ability to post these reviews directly into a geo-listing.
Not only does this allow other consumers to read the reviews in a web search or a mobile search, but these reviews will impact your website’s search engine ranking position in the future. For example, if your search engine optimization is 100% perfect and you’re in the top 10, but you have a large percentage of negative reviews in your geo-listing, then not only could you no longer we in the top 10, but you may not show up in search results on any page.
Managing these consumer reviews is important to start now. Become an early adopter and embrace the process. Fighting the inevitable will only cause your business more problems. Here are some options with your Google Local Business Listing.
1. Keep in mind that the consumer reviews in Google come from consumers, third party providers and other reviews collected by Google around the web regarding your business.
2. If you’re concerned about a review that was submitted, click the Flag as inappropriate link found under the review, and submit a report. If the review is in violation of Google’s policies, they will remove it.
3. If the reviews are coming from third-party source, you will have to contact the third-party source to have the information changed. Once the information has been changed at the third-party source, it will be updated on Google soon after the change has been made.
4. Once you have your Google Local Business Listing displayed on your screen, under the “more” down arrow is a link to “Report A Problem”. You can use this option to submit inaccuracies or concerns about your listing to Google.
The Internet has become a good marketing source for the local business dependent upon the local consumer for their revenue through web searches and mobile searches. Tap into the power of geo-listings as you engage in geo-marketing!
Local Business Listing Management Services are provided by SmartFinds Internet Marketing. You will find SmartFinds Internet Marketing to be of great benefit to your time resources and the low cost service may eliminate your yellow page ad costs. Let the experts of over 15 years Internet marketing experience help you use this local business marketing tool properly.
By melih
Local listing coupons help to promote your special discounts to local consumers that reach your local business listing through web searches and mobile searches. These local listing coupons can be used by printing them out or presenting them on a mobile device when a local consumer visits your store.
Here are the steps to create your coupon in your local listing at Google. The steps below assume you have already created a Google account, that you have claimed and updated your local business listings. If you need help for steps prior to proceeding with the below please visit our quick steps to get you started in our previous post of the Three Most Important Tips for Local Business Marketing
1. Log in to the Local Business Center.
2. Click on the Coupons tab in the top left corner of your screen
3. Click Add new coupon
4. You’ll be taken to a page where you can fill out different fields of information that you want to appear on your coupon. Including a graphic image!
a. Headline 25 Characters
b. Sub-Heading 35 Characters
c. Details 200 Characters
d. Image 150×150 pixels
e. Offer Code: 15 Characters
On the right of the page, a preview of your coupon will update itself as you enter new information.
5. Click Continue at the bottom of the page.
Your coupon will appear in your local business listing within 24 hours. You can find the coupon in Google Maps by clicking more info in your listing’s info bubble, and clicking the ‘Coupons’ tab.
The internet has become a good marketing source for the local business dependent upon the local consumer for their revenue through web searches and mobile searches. Tap into the power of Local Business Listing as you engage in geo-marketing!
Local Business Listing Management Services are provided by SmartFinds Internet Marketing. You will find SmartFinds Internet Marketing to be of great benefit to your time resources and the low cost service may eliminate your yellow page ad costs. Let the experts of over 15 years Internet marketing experience help you use this local business marketing tool properly.
By melih
If you are a business dependent upon the local consumer for your revenue, then local business listings at multiple local listing websites is an important local business marketing tool for you. A few important tips.
1. Claim Your Local Listing
By claiming your listing you are effectively protecting your listing from hijackings and also allow you to use your local business listing as a marketing tool. Don’t wait to do this….run!
2. Update Your Local Listing
Not only insure that all your basic business information is accurate, but add photos, videos, coupons, and events to your local business listing. The added information helps your ranking position amongst local listings and the consumers have more information to entice them to your business.
3. Monitor Your Local Listing
Consumers have been posting their experience about a business, products and services into local listings for the past three years. Sadly, business owners have been less than aware of this practice and finding themselves in a public relations problem. These reviews show up in web searches and mobile searches. Monitoring and managing these reviews will insure that you are up to date on any problems and also encourage customers to post positive reviews too.
With each marketing tool comes the management and the time it takes to insure the marketing tool is effective. We have to keep in mind that this work has to be performed at multiple local listing websites. If you are constrained with your time resources, there are Local Business Listing Management Services that can help you.
The internet has become a good marketing source for the local business dependent upon the local consumer for their revenue through web searches and mobile searches. Tap into the power of Local Business Listing!
Local Business Listing Management Services are provided by SmartFinds Internet Marketing. You will find SmartFinds Internet Marketing to be of great benefit to your time resources and the low cost service may eliminate your yellow page ad costs. Let the experts of over 15 years Internet marketing experience help you use this local business marketing tool properly.
By teamsf
The Internet has turned into a great local business marketing tool in the past couple of years. While local businesses have not yet adopted these tools into their marketing strategies, the technologies are moving forward with or without them. The convergence of Search, Social Media and Mobile Marketing is bringing business information with products and services into the hands of the local consumers.
Having had Internet business experience for the past 16 years, I can tell you this is probably one of the few times where we can put all the local business marketing puzzle pieces together and see what marketing tools we have available over the next 2 – 3 years. Let’s review each one so we can see how they come together.
Local Business Listings
In short these are the interactive yellow pages of the Internet. Interactive because as a business owner you can update and manage these listings at search engines, social communities, 411 web sites, GPS/Mapping websites and basic business directories. They are also interactive because consumers can post their experience they had with your business, products or services. In order to get started you need to claim, update, monitor and manage these listings at multiple local listing websites. Don’t have the time resources? Don’t worry, there are companies that provide local business listing management services.
Local Business Listing Marketing vs. Data Services
As a business you will want to seek out companies that provide the marketing services. The companies provide basic data services only push your information out, but they do not help you protect your listing from being hijacked or for that matter manage your listings for marketing purposes with various types of content like coupons, events, QR codes, consumer reviews, coupons and citations. The marketing services have a higher cost to them than the data services, because the marketing services are more effective and do more for your business.
Consumer Reviews
This will be the first time that most local businesses dependent upon the local consumer for their revenue will need to manage their public relations. Consumer Reviews are not just about other consumers seeing the information, but too many negative reviews will adversely impact your website ranking position in search results. This is no longer about just consumers posting their frustrations to a website or blog, but directly into your local listing. As a business you will need to closely monitor these reviews and also begin to engage customers that have positive experiences to post their information as well.
Local Listing Coupons and Mobile Coupons
The Local business listing gives the business the opportunity of posting their coupons, offers, and discounts. They are then available for consumers to find through web searches and through their mobile devices. While this is not available through all local listing websites or available for free, this is in no uncertain terms the demise of the traditional coupons.
Events and Promotions
If you promote your business then you will want to use the Events promotion tool within Local Business Listings. You can include Specials, Events, New Products, General News, pretty much any alert you wish to make the local consumers aware of so they can find it through a web search or a mobile search.
QR Codes
These small square bar codes will allow you to program them for consumers to scan using their mobile devices. The code will then do whatever is programmed to them. For example, a coupon, discount, offer, event, website link. You can also use them on business cards, websites, traditional ads, store window, and much more.
Citations
This tends to add a level of complication for most businesses. If you’re familiar with the idea of inbound links, this is very similar only this time is not necessarily just about a link, but your company name, address, city, state, zip, phone and many other aspects that are related to what is known as HCards to include your longitude and latitude of your business address. Because this is a combination of marketing and technical expertise you may wish to get someone to help you with this item.
Hyperlocal
Websites that are hyperlocal give a local business the opportunity to highly target advertising and marketing geographically and demographically. While these websites are not as prominent for this purpose yet, this will change and needs to be planned for in 2011 and beyond.
Having had Internet business experience for the past 16 years, I can tell you that that geographic marketing is the direction of our immediate future. Hopefully I was able to portray to you some of the known components of local business marketing and how this local business marketing tool can be used to reach the local consumers.
Certainly your time resources are limited and Local Business Listing Management Services are provided by SmartFinds Internet Marketing. You will find this to be of great benefit to your time resources and the low cost service may eliminate your yellow page ad costs. Let the experts of over 16 years Internet marketing experience help you use this local business marketing tool properly and prevent brand security issues from occurring.
