HOW TO PROMOTE YOUR BUSINESS VIA GOOGLE PLACES (Google map).

Do you want to grow your business then the google places is a nice place to start. Make your business, services or organisation visible in the map so that people can easily locate you. Google map is a tool that helps strangers and tourist in an environment to easily find and track places so as to get access to different services. And your business if placed on the google map might just be one of those services they seek. So I believe you should tap into this opportunity. Below is a guideline on what the google places platform is all about and steps on how to get your business visible to the map and open to the whole world to access you.

Add polish to the business listing that gets displayed on Google Maps using the Places for Business service.

I've always been curious about how businesses put themselves on the map. And by map, I mean to say Google Map. In this article, I'll be taking a deep dive into how your business can use the Places for Business service that Google provides to polish up the business listing that gets displayed on Google Maps.

I just have one problem - I don't own a retail business. All I did was carry out a research on how the whole process is carried out.

Even if you don’t have online presence, the google places platform is very important as it can help to advertise your business to the whole world. Most businesses get customers the old fashioned way - by focusing on service and getting word of mouth traffic. That still doesn't mean they shouldn't care about the online world. Luckily Google map has addresses and location of government agencies in each city in the world, if you browse through the google earth map, you will get to know that most businesses in your location have already taken advantage of this nice feature provided by Google. The google places listing provides the correct address, phone number, photos, etc. Below is an excerpt I got from Google on how to add your business to the Google places listing.

EXCERPT FROM GOOGLE ON HOW TO ADD A LISTING FOR YOUR LOCAL BUSINESS.

If you're a business owner and want to add a listing for a single business location, read the instructions below. You can add up to 100 single listings; if you have more than 10, you'll need to add the listings as a bulk upload.

We'll give you all the details you need about adding your local business listing, but keep in mind that there are three general steps before the listing for your business will appear on Google:

1.      Submit your information, from basic contact info to photos and video.

2.      Verify the listing by phone or postcard.

3.      Wait for the listing to appear on Google. Verification will take up to two weeks.

Sound simple? It is! Now, here are more detailed step-by-step instructions for how to add your business information to Google Places:

1.      Visit Google Places.

Please read Google Places quality guidelines and Local listings content policy prior to creating your single listing.

2.      If you already have a Google Account, sign in with your email and password. You can also use an AdWords login address and password, if you have one. If you don't have a Google Account, click Sign up for an account now, or go straight to the sign-up page. Google Places accounts are not transferable, so if you are planning to share this account with other users, create a Google account that you would not mind sharing with others.

3.      On Google Places homepage, click Add new business.

4.      On the “Find your business” tab, search for your business by phone number to see if Google already has information about your business.

o    Select the country of your business location from the drop-down.

o    Enter the phone number of your business listing.

o    Click Find business information.

5.      Review the search results, if any, to see if one of them describes your business.

o    If none of the results are related to your business, you will be prompted to add business information on the Edit Details page.

o    If none of the results is your business, click Add a new listing. You'll be prompted to add more information on the next page.

6.      Fill out the basic information about your business. This includes:

o    Company/Organization: This is the official/registered name of your business. Some businesses may be located within a mall or a container store, which is a store that contains another business. If your business is within a container store or mall, and you'd like to include this information in the local listing, specify the container store in parentheses in the business name field. For example, Starbucks (inside Safeway).

o    Address (required): The address should look exactly the way you'd write it on a standard mailing envelope. If you are a service-area business, you'll be able to hide your address in a few steps. We recommend listing suite numbers in Address Line 2.

o    Phone Number (required): Be sure to include the area code with your phone number.

o    Website: Your website URL can be a maximum of 255 characters.

7.      Click Next.You'll now have the opportunity to provide the following information about your business:

o    Categories: Enter several categories to describe your business, to make it easier for others to find when they search Google. Google will automatically suggest categories as you type. Make sure you choose one Google-suggested category before adding customizable categories. You can enter up to 5 categories for your business.

o    Hours of operation: Select your hours of operation using the dropdown menus. If would prefer not to specify your hours of operation, keep the radio button selected next to “I prefer not to specify operating hours.”

o    Payment options: Select the checkboxes next to the payment methods that your business accepts.

o    Photos: Use the photo uploader to add a photo from your computer, or specify a URL to add a photo from the web. You can add up to 10 photos to the listing. Photos will appear in order of greatest size and quality. To learn more about adding photos, check out the User Guide.

o    Video: To add a video, upload it to YouTube and copy and paste the URL to the listing. You can add up to 5 videos to the listing. For help with uploading your video to YouTube, read the article on how to upload a video in the YouTube Help Center.

o    Additional details: Use this section to add custom information fields to the listing. For example, parking availability, or whether your business allows pets.

8.      You can preview the listing as it will appear in Maps on the right side of your screen. New information will appear in the preview as you enter it. When you’re satisfied with the listing, click Submit at the bottom of the page.

9.      Choose how you would like to verify your listing and click Finish.

Once you've submitted your business information, you'll be asked to verify it before it goes live. Google allows a maximum of 100 listings per account for manual verification.

You can see the local business listing live on Google by signing into your Google Places account and clicking See your listing on Google. This link will take you to your actual Place Page, as seen by users.

Sometimes when you verify a listing, it is possible that Google will show data from another user who has also verified the listing. If the information in the listing for your business is wrong even after you have verified the listing, you can send a report through the Report a problem link.

Multi-Language Locations

In countries where more than one language is spoken, choose a primary language that you want the listing to be displayed in. Even if users have their browsers set to another language, they'll still be able to find your business on Maps.

 Source: www.support.google.com/places/answer/