Google Local Search – Get Your Business on the Google Map

If you are a local business with local customers they are almost certainly searching for you in Google Maps.
For new businesses this offers some of the best value marketing I have ever seen. It’s the first piece of marketing you should do because you can get immediate results with a tiny investment.

Google Places

Google has recently introduced Google Places, which makes it really easy to get your business into Google Maps, and even into the main Google search results.
To add your business visit www.google.co.nz/places

My best result so far is achieving a #1 ranking in Google for a local search term in less than 1 hour.
While this result depends on a low level of competition, it’s still well and truly worth your while to ensure you have a strong presence in Google Maps.

Keywords are the Key

To get the best results from your Google Places listing you need to include keyword phrases that your customers are searching for.

The most effective place for keywords is in the name of your business, for example “Joe’s Lawn Mowing Service”. But take care not to add keywords when they are not legitimately part of your business name – it’s against Google’s terms of use and may get you black listed.

And avoid adding dozens of keywords – this is keyword spam and will harm your rankings or even get you black listed. Focus on your 1 or 2 most significant keywords.

Other places you can add keywords are your business description, the categories section (make sure you use all 5 categories) and the Additional Details section.

Adding a video to your Google places listing will help your ranking in Google too. Upload your video to YouTube, make sure the name of your video includes your most important keywords and then add the address of your video to your Google Places listing.

And finally, adding a coupon can have a significant impact on your ranking if you build keywords into the title of your coupon, for example “10% off Lawn Mowing”.

Converting Customers

If you follow these steps you’ll have an effective, keyword rich listing in Google Maps.
To add your business visit www.google.co.nz/places

Most technophobes should be able to complete this process in 2 or 3 hours – just follow the prompts. Contact us if you’d like us to add your listing for you.

If competition in your area is moderate you could have a decent ranking in Google which produces a nice stream of high quality prospects.

Now you need to convert them.

Your future customers want to visit your web site so they can choose you. And the more effective your web site, the more customers you will win.

Discover what makes an effective web site at our next seminar or contact us and we’ll help you evaluate what makes an effective web site for your business.

Is there any more info you’d like in this report or was any part of it not crystal clear?
Please tell us – we’d like to make it better!

About the Author
Since 1998, Phil Donaldson has helped hundreds of business owners understand, in plain English, how their web sites can help their businesses grow, and find the simplest solutions to do it.
If you'd like to apply this system to your business, but don't have the time or inclination to complete all the steps yourself then we can help. Contact www.anyware.co.nz for professional web design and search engine marketing services in Wellington, New Zealand.
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