A Quick “Offline Gold” Door Opener
Hey Gang,
My wife started a brick and mortar business a few weeks back and I stumbled on to something I knew little about and I thought I would share this with those of you that are working with offline businesses in your community.
In case you are not aware of this, there is a little known loophole in Google that allows you to actually get a first page listing for local businesses and that spot can be reached in a matter of minutes.
It’s called Google Local Business Center:
http://www.google.com/local/add/splashPage?hl=en-US&gl=US
This allows you to add a local business, select the category the new business falls under and all the contact details and then a phone number for the business. Google then automatically calls you, you or the local business owner enters a small 4 digit code they give you online and almost instantly, the listing is posted at the top of the results for that term.
All at no cost to you!
Check out one of the listings I was able to get for my wife:
Search Google for “oshkosh wig salon” without the quotes and see the top listing along with a map for Studio Bliss, LLC (Wig Salon).
She is also listed in a group of ten other businesses for various other search terms, but you get the idea here. For free, you can approach a local business and offer to get them to the top of Google for virtually any business you choose, then you can up sell them your other services.
I see no problem charging a minimal fee for this service as well, since they didn’t know about it to begin with, so don’t feel guilty charging them a token fee if you choose, just to get your foot in the door and open up their eyes to your services.
Let me know how you make out with this.
Scot
P.S. For those of you with a little imagination, think disposable cell phones
