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.

Do Small Businesses Need to be Online?

The Startup Journal, a Wall Street Journal online publication, posted an article pondering if small businesses need to 'hop aboard the internet highway' and get online.

Elizabeth Holmes points out that the National Small Business Association found that 40% of small businesses do not have web sites. Some businesses don't see the yield from the additional investment of having a website built and maintained.

The flip side, of course, is that 60% of this pool of businesses do have a website!

The survey's Executive Summary provides more detail: "Today, over one-third of companies (37%) are engaged in e-commerce, including 52% of businesses in the retail industry, and 50% of those in manufacturing."

So certainly, some industries are more involved in websites and ecommerce.

At the very least, I think it's invaluable for companies to take advantage of free online listings.

My next blog will talk about an easy, free way to get your business listed with the Mother of All Listing Services. Yes I mean Google.

Using Video to Promote Your Business

So your business is ready to dip another toe in the Web 2.0 pond? You'll find the water is quite warm - filled with ideas to get your message out to your targeted segments.

John Jantsch's blog, Duct Tape Marketing, has listed a number of strategies for getting your customers involved in the fun of marketing your company.

Videos should offer some value to the customer, it could be information on your product or the greater subject area, or an opportunity for your customers to get in front of the camera. Does everyone want 15 seconds of fame?

How about the Pepsi's Doritos contest last fall? The company invited fans to submit ads for Doritos. The winning ad was run during the 2007 Super Bowl.

Even better, the general public got in the act by voting for the winning video from the top five posted at Yahoo's video site.

Get your customers involved and everyone wins!