I was talking to a few business owners and the topic on Google Places came up. They didn’t know if they should be on Google places and weren’t sure on how to set it up properly. Well I told them that they definitely need to set up an account and gave them a few pointers. The next day I thought to myself that there must be more people out there who are not sure about Google Places and how to set up a profile fully; so this is how this article came to exist. To begin with, so why do you need to be on Google Places?

First of all, you can create your Google Places profile for free, which means FREE advertisement and this definitely should not be passed. And if you fully complete your profile and have your listing optimised properly, you will appear on the first page of Google!

Google Places give you a greater opportunity to be more noticed locally and appear higher on the first page. When a person is looking for local services, they usually pay more attention to the local listings and the map, and you just might be the closest choice for them.

Google Places allow you to put quite a lot of information in your profile and also show reviews that you have received from your existing or past customers. So it is very important to fill out the profile completely, ask customers to add reviews- and if you will do that, you will appear higher in the search results than most of your competitors.

Follow the steps bellow on how to set up your Google Places account properly:

1. Go to http://www.google.com/places/ and click on the “get started” button. You need to sign in with your Google Account and if you don’t have one, you will need to sign up for one, which is a very quick and easy process.

2. After you sign in, choose your country and write down your business phone number. Here Google Places might already have some information about your business, which you’ll be able to claim and edit.

3. Finally you need to fill in all the information about your company. And here are a few tips:

• When you put in your business address make sure to fix the marker’s location on the map if it is in the incorrect place by clicking “fix incorrect marker location” button below the map. And then you need to scroll up to the top of the page where a new map has appeared, which you can edit. Make sure to add alternative phone numbers if you have them- more chances that potential customers will reach you.

• Make sure you add 5 categories for your business. Some people sometimes miss that and add only one category, which means their listing would not be appearing as much as the companies’ who added 5 categories.

• One of the categories must be selected from the Google drop down list, which appears once you start typing something in the box. The other four categories can be custom, which means you can put in your 4 keywords as the other categories.

• Now, take your time and make sure you fill out your profile completely, because fully filled out profile means you will appear on the first page and more likely higher that your other competitors. And make sure to write down any additional details that you can think of.

• And finally, not many companies have videos about their businesses, but I’m sure you can find some photos to upload- your business logo, pictures of your premises, products, or/and some pictures of the area around. Google allows you to add 10 pictures so try to add the whole 10. And of course if you have videos that’s is more to your advantage.Businesses that provide pictures and videos receive more new enquiries.

4. To have your listing validated, Google used to offer text verification, or making a call, which seems to no longer be the options. Most likely you will need to wait for a postcard (which might take 2-3 weeks) sent to the provided business address as a way of validating your Google Places listing. After you receive it you will be able to validate your listing and have it up and running

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