Sams Teach Yourself Google Places in 10 Minutes

217 Pages·2010·5.28 MB·English

by  Bud E. Smith

Bud E. Smith
SamsTeachYourself
Google
Places
in 10 Minutes
800 East 96th Street,Indianapolis,Indiana 46240
Sams Teach Yourself Google Places in 10 Minutes Executive
Copyright © 2011 by Pearson Education,Inc. Editor
All rights reserved. No part of this book shall be reproduced, Greg Wiegand
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Contents
Introduction 1
1 Introducing Google Places 7
Why Google Places? ................................................................7
Looking at a Google Places Page............................................11
Google Places,You,and the Competition ................................18
Summary..............................................................................21
2 Editing Your Google Places Pages 23
Where Is Google Places?........................................................23
Getting to Google Places Pages..............................................26
Google Search and Google Places..........................................28
Google Maps Search and Google Places ................................32
Editing Your Google Places Page ............................................35
Summary..............................................................................39
3 Using Google Places 41
Taking the Customer’s Point of View........................................41
The Role of the Website ........................................................43
Using Reviews ......................................................................45
Getting Directions..................................................................46
Seeing Service Areas ............................................................48
Summary..............................................................................49
4 Signing Up for a Google Account 51
How to Get a Google Account for Your Business......................51
Choosing Your Gmail Login Name............................................54
Signing Up for Your Gmail Account..........................................55
Using Google Services ..........................................................58
Summary..............................................................................60
5 Claiming Your Google Places Page 61
Finding (or Not Finding) Your Page ..........................................61
Deciding What to Add First ....................................................62
Bringing Up Your Business Listing ..........................................64
Adding or Editing Basic Information ........................................65
Adding In-Depth Information to Your Listing..............................70
Verifying Your Listing..............................................................76
Summary..............................................................................78
iv Sams Teach Yourself Google Places in 10 Minutes
6 Improving Your Google Places Page 79
Adding New Features to Your Listing........................................79
Google Places Policies ..........................................................85
Summary..............................................................................89
7 Adding Photos 91
Adding Photos to Your Places Page ........................................91
Taking Good Photos ..............................................................93
Following the Rules................................................................96
Adding a Picture from Your Computer......................................97
Adding a Picture from Picasa Web Albums ..............................99
Removing a Photo from Your Page ........................................101
Summary............................................................................101
8 Adding Videos 103
Adding Videos to Your Places Page ......................................103
Making Good Video Clips ....................................................106
Video-Hosting Options..........................................................108
Following the Rules..............................................................111
Adding a Video from YouTube................................................112
Removing a Video from Your Page ........................................114
Summary............................................................................115
9 Adding Coupons 117
Building Your Business with Coupons....................................117
Getting Clicks......................................................................119
Creating a Coupon ..............................................................122
Checking Coupon Guidelines................................................128
Summary............................................................................129
10 Posting Real-Time Updates 131
Using Real-Time Updates......................................................131
Posting and Deleting Real-Time Updates ..............................139
Entering and Shortening URLs..............................................142
Using Real-Time Updates with Twitter....................................143
Summary............................................................................145
Contents v
11 Advertising with Tags and AdWords 147
The Value of Advertising ......................................................147
Using Different Types of Tags................................................150
Signing Up for Tags..............................................................152
Using AdWords to Increase Business....................................154
Summary............................................................................157
12 Using the Dashboard 159
Tracking Your Google Places Dashboard Results....................159
Using Your Dashboard..........................................................162
Tracking Your Results ..........................................................166
Summary............................................................................168
13 Using QR Codes and Getting Better Reviews 169
Understanding QR Codes ....................................................169
Using QR Codes..................................................................171
Making Reviews Work for You ..............................................173
Leaving Reviews..................................................................176
Responding to Reviews on Your Places Page ........................177
Summary............................................................................179
14 Improving Search Engine Results 181
Becoming a Google Favorite Place........................................181
Understanding Search Engine Results ..................................183
Improving Search Engine Results..........................................185
Creating a Basic Website with a Provider ..............................187
Summary............................................................................189
A Places Categories 191
Index 201
vi Sams Teach Yourself Google Places in 10 Minutes
About the Author
Bud Smithhas written more than a dozen books about computer hard-
ware and software,with more than a million copies sold. Bud’s recent
books include two from Sams:Sams Teach Yourself Tumblr in 10 Minutes
andSams Teach Yourself iPad in 10 Minutes. His other books include
extensive coverage of Google,most recently including How to Do
Everything Nexus One,Google Business Solutions All-In-One For
Dummies,and Google Voice For Dummies.
Bud started out as a technical writer and journalist,and then moved into
marketing and product management for technology companies. He
worked at Apple Computer as a Senior Product Manager; at Google com-
petitor AltaVista as a Group Product Manager; and at GPS navigation
company Navman as a Global Product Manager.
Bud holds a BA in Information Systems Management from the University
of San Francisco and an MSc in Information Systems from the London
School of Economics. He currently lives in the San Francisco Bay Area,
participating in environmental causes when he’s not working on one of his
many technology-related projects.
Dedication
This book is dedicated to you—the businesspeople,nonprofit organizers,
civil servants,and others who work hard to serve the public.
Acknowledgments
Acquisitions editor Rick Kughen has been a great guide in getting this
book through the collaborative decision-making and creative processes at
Sams—not only intact,but improved. Project editor Mandie Frank and
development editor Michael Henry steamed and straightened tangled sen-
tences. Technical editor Karen Weinstein and copy editor Keith Cline
checked all the steps and instructions to help make them clear and correct.
We Want to Hear from You
As the reader of this book,you are our most important critic and com-
mentator. We value your opinion and want to know what we’re doing
right,what we could do better,what areas you’d like to see us publish in,
and any other words of wisdom you’re willing to pass our way.
You can email or write me directly to let me know what you did or didn’t
like about this book—as well as what we can do to make our books
stronger.
Please note that I cannot help you with technical problems related to the
topic of this book,and that due to the high volume of mail I receive,I
might not be able to reply to every message.
When you write,please be sure to include this book’s title and author,as
well as your name and contact information. I will carefully review your
comments and share them with the author and editors who worked on the
book.
Email: [email protected]
Mail: Greg Wiegand
Associate Publisher
th
800 East 96 Street
Indianapolis,IN 46240 USA
Introduction
Google Places is the biggest opportunity ever for locally based businesses
to get online,get found,and get more new and repeat business. It’s (rela-
tively) easy to set up,easy to keep up-to-date,easy to manage,and very
likely to get used in a way that brings in customers.
Thetideisrunninginyourfavor,too.Peoplewanttoshoplocally,under-
standingthatit’sbetterfortheircommunities,fortheenvironment,and,if
donecarefully,fortheirpocketbooks.Andtherearemoreandmoretools
tohelpthemtoshopneartheirhomes,workplaces,andotherfavored
locations.
Taking advantage of these tools is the tricky bit. Owners of local business-
es are responsible for what seems like a million things at once. You have to
serve customers,get supplies,pay bills,and manage employees—or your-
self,the most difficult employee of all! Switching gears from all this to
looking after a very visible and very important online presence on Google
Places might seem like too much bother.
So,Sams and I are bringing you this book to make it easier. We’ve broken
down the steps you need to take full advantage of Google Places into a
series of 10-minute lessons,each very specific and to the point.
You can get quick benefits from Google Places even if you don’t have
much time for it—even if you just find your business online,verify that
you are the owner,and then edit the core information to make sure it’s cor-
rect. You don’t want an out-of-date phone number or incorrect hours to
appear!
To really get the most out of Google Places,though,requires six major
areas of focus:
. Accurate business information:Begin by claiming your busi-
ness listing on Google. Then,as with any listing,the information
you list on Google Places has to be accurate,spelled correctly,
and use correct capitalization,punctuation,and grammar. This