Google Places For Small Businesses

Many small businesses today still rely heavily on their local community for business. Whether you own a shop or provide services, it's important that potential clients around your neighborhood can quickly access your company's location and similar relavent information.

While many companies provide direction and contact information on their website, few companies fully utilize the local business tools available (for free) through search engines like Google and Yahoo.

These search engines offer platforms that allow local businesses to create and integrate local business postings online that sync with their website to quickly provide maps, store hour and all other company info that an involved potential customer will need to access.

Google Places is a great example. In 30 minutes you can create a Google Places page that will appear with any relevant search query and provide your clients the info they need to process all the necessary info they need regarding your company. Your business can easily upload images, docs, videos and categorize your company to increase the quality of info that your clients receive.

Embedding a link to your Google Places page on your website in harmony with your Google Maps page is a snap, and a great way to link all your online resources to ensure your maximizing your presence on search engines. If you're also utilizing PPC Search you can expect to see a significant spike in your search engine presence and greatly improve your ability to reach your target customers.

See an example below:
Search Query: IT Consulting Services Atlanta
Page 1 Company Presence: 4 (Natural Search 2, PPC 1, Local Business 1)