by Nick Stamoulis

As more and more people look online first for finding goods and services from local businesses, it is essential that your business not only has a website with the information they seek for influencing their purchasing decisions, you also want to make it as easy as possible for them to find your business online and in your community. Adding your business to Google Maps enables potential customers to quickly and easily find your business and if they choose to, they can print out driving directions from their home.

Google Maps enables users to zoom in or out on your location, allow them to see your address on a traditional map or satellite photograph, show other businesses near your location, and allow several different search functions in the user interface. Listing your business in the Google Maps Local Business Center provides functionality to your site and adds the type of marketing synergy your business needs to remain competitive in the Digital Age.

Google Maps Local Marketing Options

With a modest investment of time and money (if someone else manages and writes the code for your site), you can open up a variety of effective local online marketing opportunities for your firm’s website including Google’s AdWords (Pay Per Click advertising), Maps, and Local Business Center listings.

To start your local online marketing campaign, you can:

• Add your business listing to the Google Local Business Center – When you register, Google will send you a code via snail mail to activate your account. You then take the code to create your listing which can take a few weeks but once it has been created, you can add or edit your business information. Since it takes weeks to activate, take extra care to ensure that all the data you provide is accurate!
   
• Create a Google AdWords account – This is optional but using localized PPC advertising to market your business locally is an inexpensive but very effective means of driving local traffic to your site. Your ad only appears for people in your area which keeps costs low and gives local clientele another means of finding your website.
   
• Create a Local Business Ad – If you have created a Google business listing and an AdWords account, this opens up the capability for you to create a Local Business Ad with Google Maps that makes a listing next to the local search map page as well as the ability to show additional business information when someone clicks on your listing or the map marker that shows your location.

These are just a few marketing options that Google Maps can provide for your business. Again, the salient point here is: You want to make it as easy as possible for local people to find your business’s website and location and give them a variety of ways to do so. It’s not difficult or expensive and any investment at all is certain to pay off in dividends as your business attracts new clients and revenue rises!

About the Author: Nick Stamoulis is the President of the Internet Marketing Company, Brick Marketing and Brick Marketing who is the “Local Thursdays” weekly contributor and blogger of the Search Engine Optimization Journal.