Google Places business listings have always been a wonderful opportunity for businesses to market on the Internet. They have great placement in local search results and they can be updated 24/7 with new business description information, business photos, and even YouTube videos. Have an announcement you want to make for a sale or promotion? There’s an easy way to do that with a Google Places listing. Want to link to specific pages in your website, like a contact form? Again, easy to do with Google Places. Want to provide your customers with an easy way to get driving directions? Your Google Places listing does this! Want analytics to see what keywords your customers are using to visit your listing and how often they click-through to your website? Google Places provides this too.
As valuable as a Google Places listings are, they can be much more effective if you have a process for collecting reviews from your customers. If your listing accumulates lots of reviews, it’s much more likely to be displayed in Web search results with just a few other Google Places listings and with website listings. And if your Google Places listing has lots of good customer reviews, it will stand out from the other listings and other websites displayed on Google’s search results page. Prospective customers will be much more likely to click on your listing for more information and to read your reviews. If your reviews are generally good, these prospective customers will be much more likely to call for information or make an appointment. They’ll be much more likely to turn into customers.
I’ve noticed lately that for some business categories, these Google Places listings are getting statewide, as well as local, exposure. Here’s a search for “business coach tx” which displays my client, The Growth Coach Houston, in the #1 position. Note how many reviews The Growth Coach Houston has accumulated and how positive they are, as indicated by the number of stars! Which business coach listing would you click into first?
Contact us to set up a process for collecting customer reviews. If you follow our process over time, you’ll also stand out from the competition in your Google Places listings and you’ll be much more effective in your Internet marketing.
Related articles
- Where is my Google Places Listing? (marketing.yell.com)
- Google Places Enforcing Listing Rules For Go-To-Client Businesses (smallbusinessmavericks.com)
- Google Places Comic – Acceptable Outcomes = Collateral Damage or A Direct Hit? (blumenthals.com)
- Google Local search results pages explained (marketing.yell.com)
