April 13th, 2010
I logged into Google Docs today, as I do everyday, and a little pop-up came up notifying me that a new type of document was now available: Google Drawings.
I’ve been playing around with it a bit today, as time allows, and, for me, the most useful application would be as a replacement for Visio. It comes with all the objects and many of the options that I used to get from Visio when I worked in it, albeit this was more than 5 years ago. I’m not up on the latest incarnations of Visio at all.
Another feature is that, like in all
Google Docs, you can work on a drawing in real time with another user. I can see how this would be very useful for trying to develop a flow sheet with some of my overseas vendors.
Yet another cool toy from the folks at
Google, and one I’ve been needing.
Posted in Business Local Listings, Google, Google Docs, Google Drawings | No Comments »
April 7th, 2010
I was doing my due diligence last week, reading up on the latest and greatest in Local Search when I came across an article about a cool app to put on my phone called foursquare. It’s a game / tracking tool that you can use to track where you’ve been, leave tips about places, and follow where your friends have been. As you use the app you unlock badges, little rewards to motivate users to use it more often.
On top of that, it’s fun. The person with the highest amount of “check-ins” is declared the “mayor” of a place (I’m mayor of 2 currently) and you can compete with your friends, or track your results in comparison to the entire city you’re in.
I’m in the process of making sure that all my customers’ locations have been added to this site and I’m having fun in the process. What more can you ask for?
Posted in Android, Android Apps, Business Local Listings, foursquare, local search | No Comments »
March 25th, 2010
I logged into one of my customer’s Google Local Business Centers today and had a pleasant surprise. As you can see on the image, Google has finally addressed the problem of businesses that service customers outside of their immediate area. Until now, my customers with lawn services, out-call massage, and plumbing businesses had major issues coming up on the map outside of their immediate metropolitan areas.
Today they enabled the “Service Areas and Location Settings” area in the
Local Business Center. Businesses have the option of choosing whether their customers come to their business location or if they serve customers at their address. They have the option of showing their address or not and they can choose which area they service. The service area can be chosen as a radius from their address, or they can put in geo-modifiers such as zip code, city name, or even county name. I used both methods for several of my customers, choosing a radius or choosing counties or cities as appropriate.
It’s too soon to determine how this new option will affect rankings or if hiding your address has a positive or negative affect on listings. This literally changes how I advise my customers in their
local search efforts. I’ll let you know my results as time goes on.
Tags: Google, Google Local Business Center, Google Place Pages, local listings, local search
Posted in Business Local Listings, Google Maps, Google Place Pages, Local Business Center, local listings, local search | No Comments »
January 14th, 2010
I was working on one of my customer’s place pages, as I do on a daily basis, when I came across a new tool in the top right-hand corner. The option to place a message on my customer’s place page that expires in 30 days.
I called the customer for a quick blurb to try out the new tool and here’s how it looks.
A great tool that my customers have been asking for. Try it out today.
Posted in Business Local Listings, Google, Google 7-pack, Google Place Pages, Local Business Center, Post to Your Place Page, internet marketing, local search | No Comments »
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