Google Places
How would you like to have one of the biggest companies in the world sending YOU customers?
If you’re a local business trying to catch the attention of customers in your area, here’s good news for you…
Google is on your side!
To be fair, they’re actually on everyone’s side, at least to start with. Because they’ve created a system that lists every business they can find online.
In fact, one of their biggest and most dynamic efforts lately is to take over as the online equivalent of the old Yellow Pages. Maybe you’ve seen their “free websites” with the little map showing the location of businesses in your local area?
So it appears to be easy to get your business to show up in Google’s freebie listings. Because millions of businesses around the world are already there, whether they created their listing or not.
But there’s a catch…
You see, all those “free” listings are gathered automatically by Google’s website robots. But unless you get your listing set up right and “optimized” properly for your business, you might as well forget about showing up near the top of the list.
After all, having a top Google Places map listing for your business is such an excellent way to get in front of customers in your local area, your competitors are already lobbying for their spot.
That’s why we go the extra mile for you, to create your Google Maps/Google Places listing so it’s “super-optimized”. And after years of working “behind the scenes” with search engine optimization strategies and website tactics that work (and a lot more that don’t), we can tell you that “the same old thing” doesn’t apply here at all.
In many cases, the traditional “SEO tactics” everyone else is using will banish your Google Places site to the bottom of the pile (if it’s not there already).
How’s that for a strange twist of fate?
So let us help your business show up right where you should be… at the TOP of the list, ready to accept a stream of incoming calls and website visitors.
I’ll be honest with you, it will probably take some work to get you there. Because if you’ve ever received a call or an email about “top of Google” before, you already know that there’s quite a bit of competition for the top spots.
That means, depending on the size of your city and the competition in your industry, it’s almost impossible to predict how long it might take to get you there. But it’s fair to say that, if anyone’s telling you they’ll do it overnight, that’s probably not a realistic expectation for anything but a one-horse town or an industry niche of one…
Here’s something you can count on
We specialize in creating a strong LOCAL presence for businesses. Think of a “Yellow Pages replacement” and you’ve pretty well got the idea for the way people will be able to find your business online.
So you’ll need a combination of two things to make this work:
- Your local Google Places profile — much like creating your old Yellow Pages ad, only online — that typically needs a detailed one-time setup to get ready for the REAL moves, and
- Monthly additions and maintenance activities to get your business listing to the top of the page — and then to respond to your competitor’s moves and changes with the search engines to keep you there.
The good news is, you probably won’t need to spend nearly as much as a comparable Yellow Pages ad. Not by a long shot — given the fact that businesses in many good-sized cities spend upwards of $1,200 a month on their ads. I’ve spoken with a few people in my mid-sized town of about 120,000 people who are spending much more than that for their static 1/4-page ad, no color included.
For example, a typical Google Places Local listing takes a couple of weeks to set up properly. Because there is a “right” way and many “wrong” ways to do it… and the right way depends on doing things in a certain order. I typically charge about $700 to create the initial profile and setup for your company… if you choose “the right way.”
Or, if you decide you want “the wrong way”, it’s much cheaper. You can even do it yourself if you want. (Your competitors would LOVE that)
From there, constant STRUCTURED activity and updates go into a dynamic, ongoing strategy to move you up in Google’s eyes. How much activity depends on how heavy your competition is.
And much like newspaper and magazine ads, the only definitive answer I can give you to the question “how long do I have to keep this going?” is…
As long as you want new business coming in your door
In real life, the details of those strategies are changing all the time. So of course, it’s our job to keep up with those changes… and it’s a full-time job at the best of times.
;o)
But it’s important for you to realize that this is a “Yellow Pages replacement” strategy, not a “put a one-time ad in the paper for just this weekend” strategy. Remember, that’s why Yellow Pages takes your ads ONE YEAR at a time.
Don’t worry, I won’t make you sign a 1-year contract like Yellow Pages does. But you have to give us at least 4-6 months to make a significant and lasting difference.
Better still, build it in as part of your dynamic, ongoing promotional mix. Because that’s what it is. Online advertising, using products and services that make it work. Otherwise the quick-flash Google results I can get you this week will be gone later this week.
Ready to find out more?
Then simply click the Client-Getting Callback button below and tell us your name, phone number, business type and location. We’ll take a look at your market area and your competitors, and get back to you with an idea or two on how you can take your local market by storm… with Google’s help.
The call is just a buck (to prove you’re a real person, not an internet robot). But the results could be worth a fortune to your bottom line.
