How to get more clients with Google places (it’s free)

If I was looking for an Osteopath in Bentleigh East (a suburb in Australia), I would likely google “osteopath bentleigh east”. I may get in trouble from my partner who is an Osteopath, but let’s ignore that detail for the sake of this blog post.

Many people are turning to google search to find businesses or services they need, and it can be a great source of new clients. It is hard to be one of the first few results in a google search, and typically that is all your potential clients will look at. There is however a way to “skip the queue”. Google places is a feature by google that shows local businesses on a map of the area. The great thing about google places is that they appear above the search results, so it is a great place to get your business noticed.

For my above search, the results look like this:

As mentioned above, adding your Practice to Google Places is free. To set up Google Places for your business, follow these steps:

1. 1.1.Visit www.google.com/placesforbusiness and log in (you can use any google account to log in, eg. Gmail, Google Analytics, Google Plus, iGoogle, Google Apps). If you don’t already have a google account, you can create one instead.

1. 1.1.Enter your country and phone number.

1. 1.1.Fill in the form with your business details and then click “Submit” at the bottom of the form.

1. 1.1.Google will then want to validate your listing (make sure you are really from that business). You may have various options to do this, however in Australia it is just by postcard. Click finish at the bottom of the page.

That is all you need to do. Within a couple of weeks Google will physically mail you instructions to complete the process (that is how they verify you are really at that address). Once you receive the mail from google, and follow the instructions within, Google Places for your business will be activated.

I highly recommend you set this up for your business, it costs nothing but a few minutes of your time and is a great way to have your business listed above the search results.

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