March 1, 2010 / in Social Media / by Jason Terry
A friend and client of mine, Karen Maxwell, mentioned Google Local Business Center to me recently. Millions of people search Google for businesses and it is a good idea to make sure that your business is listed on Google Maps. I use my iPhone to search for businesses all the time when I am on the move. I never thought about the fact that I might need to submit my business to Google so that my business shows up in search results! There is an entire resource center with videos and more on how to do this, and I just registered Blue Gurus. It took about 5 minutes, and I verified the business listing with my phone, so the Blue Gurus profile will be available in Google Map Searches within 24 hours. Get started by going to the Google Local Business Center!
My recommendation is that you search for your business on Google Maps (visit maps.google.com). If you find your business listed, it is most likely that your business information was included in bulk map data that Google bought. Check the listing for accuracy. If it is not accurate, you can “claim your business” if you have access to the listed phone number or mailing address in the listing. By default, your business listing is probably very basic information and by claiming your business on the Google Local Business Center, you can add business hours, contact information, payment options, photos of your business inside and out and more.
Here is how you would go about claiming your business as described by Google:
Some of our listings inevitably will contain incorrect or outdated information. You can easily correct such errors. In Google Maps, click on the listing, then click the “Edit” button at the bottom of the bubble. If you have access to either the phone number or the mailing address in that incorrect listing, click “Claim your business” to claim and then suppress the listing. Otherwise, click the “Remove place” link to suggest that we remove it from the map.
Go get listed today if you haven’t already!
As a client, the toughest part of the process was writing our website content. He made the rest easy!
"Jason is a pleasure to work with. He came in and in two web development sessions we completely revamped our website. As a client, the toughest part of the process was writing our website content. He made the rest easy! I would highly recommend Blue Gurus!"
Stacy Jones
Founder and Executive Director – Helpers Inc.
