ACtion Magazine - September 2014 - (Page 30)

Google offers new freebie to businesses By Angie Kilbourne, AAM e've written before about Google's free offerings for businesses trying to improve their online visibility (see March 2013 MACS ACtion), and it appears to be time to tell you about its latest product redevelopment geared toward the business community. Those business owners managing their company's information through Google Places for Business or the Google+ Dashboard may have noticed a change over the last few months to a new product called Google My Business. All previous business accounts with Places or Google+ were automatically upgraded to this newest product. Google still holds the majority in U.S. search engine trafﬁc market share, so it is only natural for a business trying to increase its online visibility to want to cozy up to the 800-pound gorilla in the room. One of the easiest ways to do this for any business previously was to claim its Google Places for Business page, populate it with the appropriate information, and include a link to the business's website. Google has now taken it one step further, giving businesses a dashboard to manage not only the informational page it provides to a business, but also functionality to monitor and respond to reviews, W 30 easily update information to Google Maps, post to the Google+ social network and view analytics on all this activity. If you haven't yet claimed your Google business page, the process is simple and is done online at google.com/business. Businesses can list hours of operation, contact information, business website, and other important information, as well as add photos " ...one piece of your online marketing presence. and even a virtual tour. Those last two items are extremely important because of Google's gradual changes to its search engine results pages that promote images and videos next to a business's listing, giving consumers visual cues about the company. Online reviews are a place that every business owner gets hung up on once in a while; it's difﬁcult to stay on top of crucial ﬁrsthand experiences posted by customers. Google displays comments and ratings left by its own members for a business, and al- ACTION * September/October 2014 lows the business owner to respond. Owners can also see what is being said about their businesses on other ratings sites, however, responses must be handled through the original rating site. In addition, Google has added functionality to keep tabs on what types of content are hitting the mark with potential customers. The Insights feature provides analytics on how many times your business was found through Google Search, the number of clicks your listing received, as well as how many times driving directions were viewed. You can even view where those driving directions originated, giving you great marketing information on where customers are located in your area. Google My Business is essentially a onestop shop for managing at least one piece of your online marketing presence. Oh, and did we mention it was free? Just like its predecessors, Google My Business is a free service. If you previously claimed your business listing with Google but haven't seen the new bells and whistles, we recommend you stop by and check out all you can do. We'd love to hear your experiences, both good and bad. Send them to me at: angie@manicmediallc.net ❆ http://www.google.com/business

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of ACtion Magazine - September 2014

Service Information
Aftermarket Truck A/C Installation
Outlook
Service Port
Leonard's Law
Virtual View
Last Watch
Member Profile
By the Numbers
Cooling Corner
Industry News
Association News
New Products

ACtion Magazine - September 2014