Never heard of “Google Places For Business”? Don’t feel bad…you’re not alone.
Google Places takes information “gleaned” from the web about your business, and has created a FREE website for you! This service has really been great for those businesses that never bothered putting up a website.
Not sure whether your business has a Google Places page? One of the best ways to determine this is to do a Google search for whatever it is your business does. For example, “vet in conway ar”. You should see something like this:
This is just a portion of the screen shot that I took from these search results, but you can get the idea of what we’re looking at. If your business already has their own website, then you will be taken to it when you click on the link such as, “CONWAY ANIMAL CLINIC” in the screenshot above. If you do not already have a website, then you will be taken to the website that Google has “given” you, called your Places page. You can also see this page if you click the “Place page” like to the right of each of the listings.
On your places page you will find that you can do lots of neat things here such as posting photos & videos related to your business, add coupons, list operating hours and lots of other information about your business.
You’ll also note that some businesses have reviews available. Google has scanned the web and if they found any reviews about your site, these have been listed here as well. Awesome information as potential customers will likely rely on these reviews when deciding whether to use your services or buy your products.
So Google places is really a great thing for businesses and offers some “prime” internet real estate for those businesses fortunate enough to be listed in the top results. Google only lists the top 7 businesses it’s found for each category or keyword, although there are often more businesses that just haven’t cracked that top 7.
Is your business showing up here? If so…have you claimed your listing? If not, YOU NEED TO!!! Claiming your listing is the critical first step in getting your business to show up in these top 7 results. And if you’re already in the top 7 but haven’t claimed your listing, then you are subject to being pushed out by other businesses that are claiming their pages and populating their business information.
If you would like to claim your listing, I’ve put together the information and set of instructions in this downloadable PDF document.
Claim Your Google Places Listing For FREE!
If you find that you simply don’t have the time or still aren’t sure you understand how to do this, I will be happy to claim your listing for you for a fee of $75. If you would like for me to claim the listing and add pertinent information about your business such as photos, videos, hours of operation, etc., my fee is $150. If you wish for me to claim your listing AND help you get your business moved into the top positions in Google, please contact me to discuss pricing. There are variables involved and specific achievable results need to be determined before setting a price.
If you have questions about any of this, I’m more than happy to discuss this with you. I want to be your partner in business and I won’t be successful until you’re successful!