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.

In a recent post on the adCenter Blog, Microsoft discussed it's upcoming AdCenter upgrade. Features to be included in the AdCenter fall upgrade include:

• Improved Budgeting Options
• Negative Keyword List Expansion
• Campaign Analytics
• Search Network Distribution and Website Exclusion

As with most things related to search engine, Google leads the way with the more advanced search engine ad platform. Google AdWords is a much easier ad platform to use and is the innovator when it comes to introducing worthwhile features their search engine advertising platform. It is good to see Microsoft continually trying to improve AdCenter - especially given the fact that they'll be taking over Yahoo search ads in the very near future. They really need to make AdCenter as easy to use as AdWords.

I recently put together a a more detailed analysis of Google vs. Bing and AdWords vs. AdCenter. It describes what Denver small busienss owners need to know when it comes to marketing their business online in the Denver metro area. You'll want to make use of both search engine advertising platforms to effectively promote your business.

Negative Keyword Use is Essential

The most important change in my eyes is being able to add thousands of negative keywords at the campaign and adgroup levels within AdCenter. This functionality has been present in Google - yet missing in AdCenter - for quite some time. The use of negative keywords is essential to prevent worthless clicks and impressions. It will save you money in the long run.

How Does This Help Me Market My Denver Small Business?

When first working with a Denver small business owner on an existing account, one of the biggest issues I usually identify is the lack of the effective use of negative keywords. I typically will run a search query report to determine what the actual search phrases were that triggered ads to appear for the AdWords campaign. Typically, the Denver small business owner will be receiving a lot of worthless clicks - there ads are showing for search phrases completely unrelated to the products or services that they offer. The effective use of negative keywords will prevent these ads from showing for unrelated or unwanted search phrases.

I was a bit nervous with the introduction of Google Instant. It appeared that there was a major shift in the way that AdWords was going to work. Often times with major shifts, there is opportunity - but I wasn't particularly excited about this opportunity as all of my AdWords campaigns were performing quite well. Fortunately, it has turned out thus far not to be such a major shift after all.

How Google Instant Works

Before Google Instant, you would have to hit the "Google Search" button in order to get results from Google. With Google Instant, search results are displayed as you type. The results change with each keystroke. This has obvious implications for AdWords advertisers. It would seem that your ads would be showing more frequently - possibly for unrelated keywords. Your impressions would almost certainly rise.

Google Instant changes the behavior of Google. In the screenshot above, I have typed just three letters "COL" - as you can see where the number 1 is located. Notice in this area that Google has "guessed" what I was going to type. The greyed out letters are Google's guess based on what I have typed so far. Google is guessing (based on historical data and my location) that I am about to type in "Colorado Rockies".

Google takes this Colorado Rockeis "guess" at what I was going to type based on the letters "COL" - and provides organic search results as well as ads (number 2) based on "Colorado Rockies". This is fine - unless you are running AdWords ads for Colorado Rockies tickets. This means that your ads will be showing for every single query that starts with COL after people type that third keystroke.  (note that the search results will vary by user and region)

Taking this example of you running ads for Colorado Rockies Tickets, if someone searched for "Coloring Books" you may receive wasted impressions as they typed in the "COL"- or perhaps even worse - worthless, poorly qualified impulse clicks.

So there is the problem - your ads may show for searches completely unrelated to the actual user's intended search query. Fortunately, I have found this potential negative effect on user campaigns to be quite minimal as described below.

Google Instant Impact on AdWords Campaigns

I have found the impact on AdWords ad campaigns to be minimal thus far. This could in part be because Google has made an attempt to prevent impressions from getting out of control. According to Google, Impressions are only counted with Google Instant in one of the three following cases:

• The user begins to type a query on Google and clicks anywhere on the page (a search result, an ad, a spell correction, a related search).
• The user chooses a particular query by clicking the Search button, pressing Enter, or selecting one of the predicted queries.
• The user stops typing, and the results are displayed for a minimum of three seconds.

Why Such a Small Impact on Ad Campaigns

I'm not exactly sure why, but results for my clients have not really changed much since the introduction of Google Instant. Here are a couple of theories.

1) Search Location

It could be that many people don't actually conduct searches from the Google home page. Many probably just have a Google Toolbar and do there searching from the toolbar. The Toolbar doesn't feature Google Instant results - at least not yet.

2) User Behavioral Change

Users may be so used to typing out their complete query that they're ignoring the Google Instant results. Despite Google's best efforts to make search easier (and quicker) it may be that the users haven't noticed it or are already set in their ways of searching. It may take a while for Google Instant to catch on if this is the case.

How Does This Help Me Market My Denver Small Business?

It is very difficult for Denver small business owners to keep track of all of the changes and products that Google is constantly introducing with the search engine and with AdWords. Google actually just introduced a new website - "Google New" - that attempts to consolidate the dizzying volume of new products and product updates in one place.  You can rest assured that this website will be updated multiple times each day.  There is so much to keep track of.

Denver small business owners who have the time and aptitude to keep up with search engine and ad platform changes in technology would be wise to use a resource like Google New. However, I would guess that most Denver small business owners likely have too many responsibilities and would be wise to consider outsourcing online marketing activities to someone who makes it their job to keep up with the constant changes.