Google Places Tags
It is an advertisers dream come true. Imagine you are one of 50 businesses competing in a major city. Along comes an opportunity to be single out as one of just seven to have a prominent advertisement in the most likely place for folks to find you. Now, that advantage gets a huge additional boost in potential performance for just $25 a month. This is what has happened with Google Places and the new Tags.
Do a Google search for any local business...Divorce Lawyer in Encino, for instance...and well above the fold on that search result will be a huge colorful map. Next to the Map are the lucky divorce lawyers who have made the 7-Pak, or the seven businesses that are highest rank for that city and business category.
Those seven may be lucky or they may be skillful. Google Places Expert, Randy Kirk of Page1Listings.com, is one of many local SEO consulting firms across the US who help companies get into that 7-pak: "If you don't make the 7-pak on Google Places, your listing will be found under 'more results near' under the seven listed companies. If you click on this, you will still see the top seven on the 'inside' listing before others, but now you can page through page after page of those who didn't make it to the top. Obviously, being on the outside MAP is a very, very big deal!"
To help small business owners and other marketing consultants to master Google Places, Kirk has created a blog and a series of video tutorials that explain how to optimize a listing on Google Places. "I'd love to charge every little shop or professional company in America for the information, but there aren't enough hours in the day. I just decided to give away the help at http://www.FreeSeoOptimizationTips.blogspot.com "
The really big breaking news is that being on the 7-pak is no longer good enough. Google Places is now offering to add a little yellow Tag to listings willing to pay $25 a month. The tag can link to a video, a picture, the website, or to a short line of promotional info. Kirk continues: I suppose there is a way to make this new option simple, but that would not be the Google way. You have to claim your listing, it has to be in good standing, and then you need to figure out how to actually sign up and pay for the Tags. Then there is another complicated path to figuring out how to use them."
The information is being compiled an added to the blog to make the process as simple as possible. There will also be a YouTube video with instructions on how to proceed with Google Places Tags at http://www.Page1Listings.com. Our you can search under Google Places Randy Kirk on YouTube Search.
Kirk concludes: "I have been helping to market small businesses for well over 30 years. Every once in a while there is a ground floor opportunity to use a new advertising method before the rest of the world catches on. Usually the risk is much, much higher than $25 a month. I have been on the phone all day today calling my clients to help them get set up with Google Places Tags."
