Web advertising is growing by leaps and bounds these days. Despite this obvious need to advertise here, many small businesses are paralyzed because they do not know where to start. As usual, Google offers a free basic starting point.
Like many things in business, taking the first step is the hardest part. Below you are going to find a good way to ease yourself into both local search and offering an online discount.
Lets start you down the path.
What you will need
- A Google account
- The wording for an ad
- About 15 minutes
How-to add your business to Google Places
1. Go to http://google.com/places and sign into your Google account.
2. Select Add new business. If you have multiple businesses you would like to add, you can enter the info into a spreadsheet and upload everything at once.
3. Fill in the basic information about your business. Remember to complete as much of the form as you can, it will only help people find you.
4. Fill in the hours of operation, add pictures and video if you have any.
5. Submit
How-to create a coupon
Creating a coupon is just as easy. Click on +add new coupon and fill in the information you would like displayed. It is a good idea use a promotional code, this way you can track how effective the ad is when people purchase your product or service.
Results
If you are using an analytics program to track your website visitors, you will be able to track your effectiveness. You will see the visitors to your website entering Google Maps or your physical address. In the short time I have used Google Places, I am seeing about 9% of my local traffic from Google Maps.
