Put Your Small Business on the Map
Posted by Allison Semancik on Thu, Sep 24, 2009
A couple of times a week, I pop onto the Intuit Community website to see if I can help out any small business owners with their marketing questions. And over and over the same question appears on the forum by a new business owner eager to market online: "I just started my business, how can I use the Internet to get customers?"
There is not really a simple answer to this question, but there are different steps you can take to improve your online presence. I think one of the first things new businesses should do is get listed on Google Maps, otherwise known as the Google Local Business Center. It's a great way to get found in Google searches and - even better - it's free to set up your listing.
When you do a search in Google, for example, Italian restaurant, you'll see a listing for local business results near your zip code along with a map showing the locations of those listings as shown in the picture below.
These listings are all Google Local Business listings. You can create one of these listings for your company so that your business will show up when someone searches for your product or business category in Google.
To create your listing, you must first have a Gmail account. If you do not have a Gmail email account, you can go to Gmail and set one up. Once you have your Gmail account created, log into Google Local Business Center.
Once you have logged in, watch the 90 second video to show you all that you can do with a Google Local Business listing. Now click on Add a Business and from there you'll be taken through several pages where you add in details about your business.
Important things to remember:
- You can be listed in up to 5 different categories, so take advantage of it. Think of the different services or products your business offers and how people might be searching for it.
- Make sure that your location is shown correctly on the map. If it is incorrect, click on "Fix incorrect marker location" to make changes.
- You have an opportunity to add additional details about your business. This is a good place to expand upon the description of your services or products.
Once you are finished, you will need to validate your Google Maps listing. You'll most likely want to validate by phone since it will be completed a lot faster than by mail.
After you finish your Google Local Business listing, you'll want to start finding other places to list your business online. Depending on what type of business you own, check out listing on sites like Yelp, ZoomInfo and directories specific to your industry. In no time at all you'll start seeing results from your listings online.