When I'm looking for a coffee shop in my area, the closest dry cleaner or barber shop, I go to google maps. You type in what you're looking for and your location and it will show you all of them, starting with the location closest to your address. Then you can click on the results on the map and see their address, phone number, hours, reviews and more. This is the way many people search for small business services because it's so quick and convenient and local. However, it's not perfect. If the business owner doesn't update their info, google will guess or leave you off the map completely.
This is one of the most important things a small business can do and it's easy to get started. To begin with, go to http://www.google.com/local. Click to add your company and you'll be prompted to input the company phone number for google to check if your business is already listed. Even if it is, they will then give you the chance to update that a info (after verifying you first).
Then go through the listing and fill in as much information as possible. Some of the most important aspects are creating key words so you show up in as many relevant searches as possible. Start off by making sure your name makes it obvious what you do. If you're a sports bar called Bob's Place, append that name a bit and try something like "Bob's Place: A Sports Bar with 10 tvs on every wall." Be descriptive in your description and use words that people might search for. For a florist, don't say "We've got plants." Go further and try to include words that people might be searching for: "At Acme Florist, we have flowers for every budget and specialize in roses for valentine's day and floral arrangements as well as plants for the home and office."
Next, your 5 categories are very important. Really think about what searches someone might put into google for which your store fills that need. If you run a cross fit gym, your categories might be health club, gym, fitness center, cross fit, and work out facility.
Google likes full profiles, so add as many photos and videos as you can that make sense and be sure to include your company logo as one of your photos. Maybe include a shot from the outside so people can recognize you more easily as well. The more relevant content you can include, the higher you will show up in google maps searches.
Be sure to get reviews. Include a link to your google maps page on your web site and say "review us on google." When a customer comes in a has had a great experience, ask them if they wouldn't mind going on line and giving you a positive review. These go far in building trust amongst new customers and can be another way to move up the rankings.
Finally, if you offer a public coupon or something for first time customers, include that on the listing as well. As I've mentioned before, the more content you feed to google, the better off you'll be.
So as I hope I've done a good job of demonstrating above, google maps is a good, quick, free place to be found by local shoppers. They make it real easy to set yourself up on the site and even give you some stats at the end of each month about the number of visitors you draw from your listing. Don't be left off this great, free referral site!
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