Google Places Help FAQ - Top Ten Questions Google Places Consultant Receives

Sept. 19, 2010 - PRLog -- Curious to know what business owners are asking consultants when they are trying to decide who they can trust to help with SEM and SEO. Randy Kirk is president and co-founder of Page1Listings, a company who has become noted as a top resource for Google Places Business Directory work.  Kirk had this to say:  At Page1Listings we receive hundreds of phone calls from business owners desiring to improve their ranking on Google Places Business Directory.  In particular, they are hoping to get ranked on the Google Places Map or 7-pack.  Or in some cases, they want to be number one on the map."

Kirk says that those who call can be pretty neatly divided into two groups.  First there are  those who have spent hours and hours away from their regular business in an attempt to learn how to optimize Google Places on their own.  Page1Listings has established http://www.GooglePlacesHelp.blogspot.com for folks who have that kind of time on their hands.  

Most who fall into the first category are in competitive industries and/or they have been doing spammy or black hat methods for gaining one or more listings on Google Places, and their "methods" are no longer working.  In many cases they have been suspended or even blacklisted.  Kirk points out:  "If you are using black hat methods, or think you might be, please call a consultant now.  It isn't necessary to do black hat in order to get good, even excellent listings.  And you will be caught at some point."

The second group are those who really don't have the time, but are afraid that the cost of hiring a pro is too much to be affordable.  While there are companies in the industry who are charging $100 a month and more, even this is not too expensive if they get the results.  It is far less than companies were spending for Yellow Pages just a few years ago, and the potential traffic is greater than used to be possible with Yellow Pages.

Kirk listed the top ten questions coming in to Page1Listings.

  1. Can you guarantee that you will get our company on the Google Places Map or 7-pack?  Yes.  But no one can guarantee your placement on the specific keyword you care about.  If you want locksmith Newark NJ, fuggadaboutit.  However, we can and do guarantee placement in four of your top ten picks.
  2. My listing has been suspended, put on review, or is completely gone.  Can you help?  Yes.  And there is no extra cost.  However, it may be necessary to do a major revamp of your existing approach.  We only do white hat, which includes some methods for multiple listings that meet Google's rules.  Don't ask us to help you with black hat approaches.
  3. I've read your blog and viewed your videos, and I still can't get a high ranking.  What am I doing wrong?  Maybe nothing.  You just may not be doing enough right things.  The basics of Google Places are complicated and nuanced.  Since we do this all day long, we have developed gut feelings, better writing skills, and work arounds that would take thick e-book to fully detail.  Even if we wrote it, you wouldn't read it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BIKhud7tVA


  4. What are you going to do to earn your fee?  Between the two founders we will be bringing over 60 years of marketing experience, and over 30 years of internet SEO experience to your case.  We will do a competitive analysis specific to your business, a keyword analysis that is propriety to our company, list you on over 60 local search engines, aggregators, and directories, provide you with directions to improve your local SEO on up to five pages of your website, and then optimize you on the top 12 local search engines including Google Places.
  5. What makes your approach better or different than others offering a similar service?  Marketing, writing, and analytic skills are all required to to this job correctly.  Some of our competition has one or two of those three skills, but it is rare to find all three.  Can the other companies prove they have the background and skills in all three areas?
  6. Do you have references, testimonials, proof of success?  Our website at http://www.Page1Listings.com has a long list of current and past clients.  There are also many case histories and testimonials.  Don't hesitate to call any of these at random.  
  7. How much work will I have to do in support of your effort?  We will spend some time on the phone with you discussing your unique business selling proposition and what you have done thus far in online marketing.  We will ask you to spend 20 minutes filling out an online form.  If possible we will ask for pictures that we can use on the local search engines.  Then we will ask you to approve the material we will be putting online.  That's it.
  8. Will you need passwords to our online listings?  Yes.  We will keep these in confidence.  Moreover, when we set up new listings, everything will be in your name, not our name.  You will maintain control over all your listings.  The access information and passwords will be at your fingertips at all times.
  9. What is your measure of success in working with us?  You'll be very surprised.  We could care less what your position turns out to be on Google Places or anywhere else.  We will get you great placement, but unless your phone rings, we don't feel like we've been successful.  Our #1 goal is to get your phone to ring.  It is up to you to close the deal.
 10. What else do you do?  We are a full service marketing firm specializing in companies with less than 10 employees (some of our clients do have more….lots more).

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The New Yellow Pages for Local Business is optimizing website visibility through Google Maps, websites, YouTube, LSE's, Forums, and other methods. Traditional marketing, too. We invented the box; Still thinking outside of it. www.SearchPage1.com