Google Places is a completely free way to promote your business on Google. The consequences of not claiming and maintaining your listing can be very bad for your business.

If you're a small or medium-sized business owner in Denver metro, you need to take advantage of Google Places. Google Places listings exist for most businesses, yet less than 1/3 of all business owners have claimed their free listing. Your business is likely already listed in Google Places and may even have reviews (positive, negative, or even fabricated) for all to see.

Why Should You Care About Google Places?

Google is giving more and more priority to locally based search. If I type a location combined with a business category or service, it is highly likely that I'll see Google Places listings. As you can see in the screen shot below, I have entered "Denver Greek Food". You can see that there are many listings with pins and an associated map.

Website Searchers can click on each business, see their reviews, and see the location of the business.

These Google Places results usually appear above the traditional search engine results and are of very high importance to businesses who primarily serve their local area.

If you serve local customers and you want your business to appear in the Google search results, the first step is to claim your Google Places listing.

What is Google Places?

Google Places is a free online home for your business provided by Google. Within Google Places you can enter a ton of information about your business. Items you can enter include:

• Videos
• Photos
• Directions
• Coupons and special Offers

Google shows the listings for local searches. There's a good chance that many of your competitors are already using Google Places

Tips for a Good Google Places Listing

First - see if your business is already in Google Places and claim your listing. There's a good chance that Google has already found your business in another directory (like a business directory or a phone directory) and entered you in Google Places as an unclaimed listing. It is even possible that you have reviews on your Google Places page. It is very important that you know about Google Places for the reviews alone - you need to know what people are saying about your business.

See if you're listed by looking for your business and signing up here: Google Places Signup

And Now the Tips for a Good Google Places Listing....

• Complete your Listing - The more information that you submit with your Google Places listing, the more likely it is that you'll rank well.
• Have a Real Website - Google Places provides plenty of information for local searches, but it helps to back up your Google Places listing with your main business website which you can link to from Google Places.
• Get Listed in Other Directories - In addition to Google Places, get listed in other local directories like citysearch.com, merchantcircle.com, and yelp.com. Getting listed in other directories can actually help boost your Google Places ranking. Make sure your business information in each directory is EXACTLY the same. Even slight differences in address can affect how well you rank with Google Places.
• Reviews - Encourage customers to give honest reviews on your directory sites - including Google Places. The more current and objective the reviews appear to be, the more likely it is that visitors to your Google Places page will find them credible and get a good feel for how you do business.

How Does this Help Me Market My Denver Small Business?

I frequently write about Google Places for the Denver Small Business owner, because getting signed up and claiming your listing is a mandatory step for all Denver small business onwers. It is a free listing, you can heavily promote your business on the page, and Google ranks Places pages very highly. Plus, your business may already appear in Google Places with many reviews (good or bad). You need to know what others are saying about your business so you can improve your business and address their concerns. Google Places is the first step towards getting your online marketing presence in order.

Last week, I posted a blog post about the impact of Google Instant on Google AdWords. My conclusion was that thus far, there weren't any real major changes for my clients. Impressions, clicks, and CTR seemed to reflect seasonal norms.

This morning, I was over on Search Engine Land reading an article by George Michie - "Google Instant: The Impact on Paid Search". It was a well written article, and George came to essentially the same conclusion that I did. While it still bears watching, the Google Instant effect on AdWords has thus far been minimal.

Michie's Findings

Michie mentions that his customer base is primarily retail - whereas my customers are mostly service providers. Yet the results were very similar. He notes that there was a slight jump in impressions and clicks immediately after the introduction of Google Instant on September 8th - but that both settled down to anticipated norms shortly thereafter. Another interesting finding is that conversion rates may have actually improved with the introduction of Google Instant.

How Does This Help Me Market My Denver Small Business?

Unless your Denver small businesses is getting all of the high quality referrals it can handle, you should probably be advertising online using Google AdWords. You need to at least explore it as an option to add to your marketing aresenal.

The problem with utilizing a powerful tool like Google AdWords is that you need to be aware of any changes (which seem to arrive almost daily) and adjust your advertising campaign accordingly. The introduction of Google Instant had the potential to have a major impact on Google AdWords - and as a Denver small business owner who advertises using AdWords. So far, Google Instant doesn't seem to have drastically changed how AdWords campaigns need to be structured.

A recent article from Tech Crunch mentions that Online Local Advertising was estimated to grow 26 percent this year - reaching $20B. This is in contrast to total online advertising which will only grow at a pace of 2 percent this year. The article cites a study that was done by BIA/Kelsey. The article mentions that four of the key advertising channels for these local ads are:

• Google Places
• Yelp
• Craigslist
• Foursquare

Basically all Denver small businesses should establish and maintain a presence on Google Places and Yelp. I have discussed Google Places in depth on this blog - along with how Yelp can help drive clients to your business - especially for restaurants. It is actually free to get listed through either of these website services.

While those sources are essential towards getting a free listing out there - and Yelp offers advertising services as well - Denver small business owners will want to concentrate their actual advertising budgets on Google AdWords.

Google AdWords shows ads for your business on the Google search engine whenever someone searches for goods or services that your business offers. Approximately 70% of all U.S. web searches are performed using Google AdWords - so you'll be reaching your largest possible target audience. You'll also be able to custom tailor your advertising message as well as the landing page that a visitor will be directed to when clicking on your ad.

One Surprise from the Study

I was actually quite shocked that while local online advertising is increasing, it makes up just 15 percent of the total local advertising spend. Considering that the cost per lead acquisition according to a study done Piper Jaffray is just $.29 for search engine advertising vs. $1.18 for the yellow pages and $9.94 for direct mail - it is shocking that more Denver small businesses aren't advertising online. It is still a largely untapped advertising opportunity.

How Does This Help Me Market My Denver Small Business?

There isn't going to be a better time than right now to get your Denver small business participating in online advertising. While the percentage of total local advertising budget is starting to gradually shift towards online marketing, there is still relatively little competition and lower cost than more traditional forms of advertising. Local online advertising also provides the best return on investment - by far - for your advertising dollars. If you're still getting solid returns using traditional marketing methods, by all means stick with them - but you should also explore online marketing with search engine ad platforms like Google AdWords and Microsoft AdCenter.

According to a recent report by Hitwise, searches on the major search engines basically held steady. Google stayed at 71%, Yahoo at 14%, and Microsoft Bing at just under 10%.

This isn't particularly good news for Bing which had been rising steadily since its inception. While the Yahoo/Microsoft search partnership will soon be taking effect - with Microsoft Bing powering Yahoo search results - this will still represent somewhere between 20% and 30% of total searches. Google still gets nearly three times the amount of search that this new partnership will bring to the table.

How Does This Help Me Market My Denver Small Business?

Despite the large difference in the reach within the world of search, it will still be worth it for Denver advertisers to have advertising campaigns established with Microsoft AdCenter. While it won't quite have the reach of Google AdWords, AdCenter does have some benefits that I highlighted in a previous blog post. Denver small businesses should first invest time and effort in AdWords to learn about the Search Engine Marketing process as well as their customer behavior online. Once you have a fairly mature, well optimized campaign - take the AdWords campaign and port it over to Microsoft AdCenter.

Recently, Google has undergone on algorithm change which has made life much more difficult for those who engage in SEO for products associated with popular brands. The good news is that the algorithm change could be beneficial for those search engine marketers who advertise with AdWords.

The official Google webmaster central blog mentions that a change has been made in the ranking algorithm:

That's bad news if it isn't your site - and it probably isn't. The result is a huge shift in rankings. As an example - let's say that someone entered a search for "Microsoft Office". As shown below, Google now shows 8 results from the microsoft.com domain on the home page. 80% of the first page results go to microsoft.com.

If you're a retailer who sells Microsoft Office - and you've spent a lot of time and money to develop content that will get your domain high up in the search engine results - this is a disaster. Even compelling, legitimate content which performs well for SEO purposes can be completely wasted in the blink of an eye when Google makes an algorithm change.

What about PPC with AdWords?

Google is always changing its ranking algorithm for organic search results and sometimes these changes really shuffle the rankings. This algorithm change had no real affect on PPC for the search term. As you can see below, only one of the paid search terms resolves to a Microsoft site. It is built into AdWords that a domain can appear only once for each search engine results page (in the paid results). So, if you're a retailer looking to compete on "Microsoft Office", and you want to appear on the first page of search results, it is time to invest in PPC with Google AdWords.

Advertising with AdWords isn't foolproof, and your ad position within AdWords isn't completely insulated from outside influences. You need to make sure your website is well constructed with a terms of use and privacy policy. You need to make sure that your website has compelling, relevant content. You also need to make sure that your properly construct your ad campaign with solid keywords and good ad copy. Even then, competition can enter the picture and make life more difficult for you.

The really nice thing about AdWords though is that an algorithm change isn't likely to come along and turn your world upside down.  

How Does This Help Me Market My Denver Small Business?

As a Denver small business owner, you need to be exploring advertising online using Google AdWords and Microsoft AdCenter. It provides you with a very quick, usually very effective way to generate leads for your Denver business. It also is much more insulated from algorithm changes than SEO methods.

If you are engaging heavily in SEO practices, be aware that your hard work can be undermined with a single algorithm change. Investigate AdWords as an alternative way of promoting your business rather than leaving all of your eggs in the SEO basket.