Using Google Maps for Free Company Listing - Part I

Google offers many free services, several of which I will be reviewing in future posts.

Here's one of the most valuable freebies for getting local visibility for your business in your local community.

But let's start by asking a question. When was the last time you looked up a company in the Yellow Pages book? For me, it's been a long time. I found my accountant on Google Maps, and search there regularly for restaurants.

So let's get your business online with Google Maps, if you aren't listed already. You can start by checking to see if you're listing is already posted by typing the following in the text box at Google.com: your_company_name your_city
where you replace your_company name with your actually business name and the city in which it's located. Congratulations if you found it, but don't be satisfied yet.

What are the common categories that customers will search for your business?

Here's a Google Hack - a way to format a search request to Google without using any commands. Enter the primary industry or category for your business followed by a colon then your company's zip code. Here's an example: shoes: 94720

Tip: Make sure you place a space after the colon to get this feature to work.

This will pull up all the companies categorized as shoe stores in Berkeley, California. If your company is listed in the category you expect your customers to search for you, you're golden and can say - "Yippee, I've got a Google Freebie".

If not, don't despair. This freebie is within your grasp - just hop to my next post.