I recently checked out the Google Places How-To-Webinar (below). All Denver small business owners looking to get more of an online presences for themselves should definitely make sure that they get their business listed in Google Places and take advantage of all that Google places has to offer. While the webinar is a bit on the basic side if you're familiar with Google Places, it is a must view for Denver Small business owners who are unfamiliar with Google Places.
Google Places Webinar Highlights
New Google Places Features
The Google Places webinar covered a lot of the features that Google has been rolling out over the last few months as shown below.
Post to Your Place Page - This is a feature that allows business owners to keep the places page current. With this feature you can provide important information like limited time promotions to catch a visitor's eye. I highlighted this Post to Your Place Page feature in a recent blog post on the Denver Marketing Blog.
Service Area - For service industry businesses, you can now set up a geographical service area for your business. A visitor will come to your Google Places page and instantly know whether their residence or business is included within your service area.
Street View for Businesses - I also highlighted Street view for local business listings in a recent Denver Marketing Blog post. Street view now provides links to businesses from the street level.
Claiming Your Listing
Claiming Your listing is completely free, and it is the smart thing to do. Google pulls business listings from various sources - so the odds are very high that your business is actually already in Google Places - which may not be a good thing if you haven't claimed your listing and constructed a helpful, informative page.
The webinar shows the contrast between a bare bones unclaimed listing and a listing which has been thoughtfully completed by a small business owner. Site visitors are much more likely to have a positive opinion of a complete business listing that is kept current as opposed to an unclaimed business listing.
Adding a Business Listing
Starting at around the 10 minute mark, there is a walkthrough on how to add your business to Google Places. It provides the details on what should be entered in order to have an effective Google Places listing.
How Does This Help Me Market My Denver Small Business?
Pretty much all Denver small business owners need to claim their listing at Google Places and build out their account. The benefits of claiming and then being active with your Google Place account are many:
- You get more search engine visibility
- You get to add photos, up to date marketing messages, and even video to your page
- By monitoring your Google Places page, you'll have a chance to see reviews for your business
- Google is by far the most popular way in which consumers search for local businesses and services - to be effective on a local level, you need to make sure your local business listing is established and maintained in Google Places.