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Month: November 2010

Get Your GOOGLE Place Page In Order


Tuesday November 9, 2010

Reading Time: 7 minutes

Have you claimed your GOOGLE Place Page yet?  Remember when I talked about GOOGLE Local becoming GOOGLE Places? In September I wrote about how GOOGLE Places was upgraded to a TWO-WAY STREET.  Webconsuls subscribes to a number of SEO/SMO on-line newsletters and also makes SMO and SEO News Feeds available for our site users. One of our favorite newsletters is Planet Ocean’s Search Engine News and we read with interest their current article “Must Do List for November: Create, Claim, Improve Your Google Places Page.”  Here is a bit of what they have to say:

“Google has rolled out Place Search which is a whole new way of displaying search results. This combines the natural and the local search algorithms and completely eliminates the traditional 7 pack and integrating it within the top 7 results. This is huge! The new algorithm relies heavily on Place Pages and it’s clear that without a Place Page you may be left behind. Here’s a location specific search that shows exactly what’s changed:

google places

 

“One thing to notice is that all the top results had very complete place pages that included pictures, reviews, links etc. As time goes by the consequences of the changes to local search will become clearer. The one thing we can tell you right now is you MUST have a complete Places Page for your business or you WILL be left behind in local search! Regardless how completed or not your Place Page is – make sure it is as complete as possible before December. This is the advice you pay us to hear…do yourself a favor and listen.”

Ok, I am going to run through this information again.
 Follow these steps:

·         Go to  Google Places
·         Sign in with your business GMail address
·         On the new screen click on LIST YOUR BUSINESS
·         A new screen will appear and you will be asked to enter your non-toll-free phone number and then hit the button that says: Find Business Information
·         Your current business address will appear and you will click on EDIT to update your listing.
·         A new screen will appear where you will be allowed to give all of the pertinent information about your business.
·         At the end of this process, when you hit submit, GOOGLE is going to call you within seconds to give you and PIN number to activate your account.
·         It is very important that you be there to answer the non-toll-free number.  This is one of their ways of verification of business ownership.
 
You may be wondering why we just don’t take care of this for you.  We have found that this free Google service is better managed by the customer for a number of reasons. 
  1. Google frowns upon 3rd party management of these accounts, as we are not the business owner.
  2. While we could go in and perhaps enter all of the information correctly, we are not sitting at your phone to take the call from Google and to try to coordinate that with you or your employee can be very difficult.
  3. Now that Google Places allows the business owner to respond to REVIEWS (good and bad) you really need to manage and understand this tool.  We cannot respond for you.

Should you decide you need help with this, I would be happy to tutor you over the phone while you CLAIM YOUR PLACE and LIST YOUR BUSINESS.  Let me know if you have questions. 

Let’s make it a goal: Get your GOOGLE Place Page in Order!

 

parking sign
 Your Parking “PLACE” (Page) Awaits YOU!
Reading Time: 4 minutes

Today marks a milestone for Webconsuls’ blog. Yes, today when I hit the “publish post” button you will be able to read our 501st blog post! Ironically today I want to introduce you to a new on-line community 501 Mission Place.

Over the past year I have written a lot about my on-line friend Chris Brogan. I try to learn from Chris and I like to share what I learn with our clients and our readers. Yesterday Chris Brogan unveiled his latest project: 501 Mission Place. Chris said it best:

“I’m so very pleased to announce the launch of our first Human Business Works community and education project, 501 Mission Place. This community is geared towards non-profits and charities looking to improve their efforts. From fundraising to the use of new marketing tools to in-depth interviews with the people out there on the front lines doing successful things to grow their non-profits and charity projects, the goal is to give you the tools you need to thrive in this ever-changing economic situation, where funds are drying up at the exact moment that you need them most.”

Let’s face it; we are all touched by not-for-profit 501c organizations. Whether you serve on a board, work behind the scenes as a volunteer, or benefit from their continued and varied efforts – eventually not-for-profit 501c organizations impact our lives.

If you have been fortunate enough to be intimately involved with a not-for-profit 501c organization, then you know how often you might ask: “What would be the best way to manage our fundraising?”  It could be you have a new board, a young board, a tired board, needs that outweigh your current means, new regulations – the list goes on.  How great would it be to know you have an on-line community with experts at the helm and fellow on-line community members who have a wealth of experience?

Do you know a not-for-profit 501c organization that could benefit from 501 Mission Place?  I know I do and today I am going to personally reach out to our not-for-profit 501c clients and encourage them to visit 501 Mission Place. 

What will you do?

501 mission place