Google Local Business Listing

2010: A New Decade for Your Business.

Will you rise up and seize the opportunities for your local business?

One thing is certain...

From 2000-2009, one company changed the landscape of how business markets:

Google.

" Before Google, advertising was an art, in which Madison Avenue offered oblique advice on how to reach customers. After Google, it was a science-and all those witch doctors were suddenly a lot less relevant."
(from The Google Decade Ends )

Let's face it...

Google isn't going anywhere.

The question is:

How are you going to build your Local business during 2010... and the next 10 years?

Why not hook your local marketing efforts to the Google Rocket?

Here's what Google has for your Google Local Business Listing:

Why add your listing with the Local Business Center?

It's simple: the Local Business Center gives you the most control over the way your business listing appears in Google Maps. Since more people search for businesses online than anywhere else, it's important to make sure your business listing can be easily found on Google.com and Google Maps. When you submit and verify information through the Local Business Center, you provide the most authoritative information for your business listing.

Watch a video about adding your business to Google Maps.

How it works

Each business listing in Google Maps is in fact a giant 'cluster' of information that we get from a few different places: Yellow Pages, for example, as well as other third-party providers. However, the basic information that you submit through the Local Business Center is the information that we trust the most. This means that it will appear instead of any basic information that we get from anywhere else. To make sure the basic information you submit is accurate, we'll ask you to verify it first by contacting you at your business address or phone number.

You can add other information to your listing too - such as a description of your business, for example, as well as photos, reviews, or information about hours and parking costs - that will also appear above similar information from other providers.

Before you get started, there are a few things to keep in mind:

* Right now, the Google Local Business Center is available for businesses in only certain countries.
To find out if your country is one of them, check the drop-down menu in the top right-hand corner of the Local Business Center sign-up page.
* It's free.
Adding your listing to the Local Business Center is free, and Google doesn't accept payment to include particular listings or sites in our search results. However, we do offer locally-targeted advertising through our AdWords program.
* Every business listing must have a mailing address.
This is the physical address of your business.
* There shouldn't be more than one listing per physical location.
Even if you're a doctor who is a cardiologist and a chiropractor or a service that covers multiple towns, you shouldn't have two listings. Instead, use the description of your business or categories to explain the different services your business offers.

Its a good idea to read the Local Business Center quality guidelines to make sure that your listing will be approved to appear in Google Maps.

To start creating your free listing, go to the Local Business Center and sign in with your Google account. If you don't already have a Google account, click Sign up now to create a new Google account. You can also use an AdWords login and password, if you have one.