Google+ Local Business Listings and My Emotional Breakdown

I love a challenge.  And I love new stuff.  I should love the change from Google Places to Google+ Local.  Why am I having such a hard time with it?

I was there at the beginning of the internet.  Al baby called to tell me about his cool new invention, and my partner and I (at that time I owned a manufacturing business), knew we would be among the first to have a website on this newfangled thing called the www.

After selling that business almost five years ago, I delved into the exciting new world of local.  Google Local Business Center, Yelp, and others were just fledglings, and any local business had to compete for visibility on the same page with billion dollar corporations for important keywords.  In fact, the factory had sold promotional products where imprinted anything was so competitive that even those huge companies had a hard time getting a spot.  A local distributor?  Forgedaboutit.

When Google Places was announced, I was all over it.  This blog is the most extensive DIY blog on the internet for understanding Google Places.  I don't compare myself to guys like Mike Blumenthal.  His blog is for guys like me, not a local flower shop who barely has time to deal with customers, employees, and suppliers.  This blog was designed to help that flower shop get his Google Places set up and get it right.   I spent 50 hours in April 2010 putting up the first 50 posts and creating 20 YouTube videos to make sure I was the firstest with the mostest.

Two years later we get another major change.  I should be happy.  I spent the 50 hours this time just trying to get my arms around the change.  Am I slowing down intellectually?  Or is it really as complicated as it seems?  Be kind in how you answer that.  I haven't written about Google+ Local in any detail yet.  The early birds have all grabbed the top ten spots on the keywords.

Whine, whine, whine.  Some of you are thinking, "get out of your own way, Randy, and create the next great site."  Easy for you to say.  : /

Well, thanks for listening.  I will be writing about Google +.  I actually like the circles part of it a lot better than Facebook.  Can I say this outloud?  It is just more man friendly.  

Much good has already been written about Google+ Local.  We are already setting up our clients with great Google+ Local Pages.  We are ready to help those clients become active in the social media side of Google+.   Maybe if Google would promise not to make another major change for at least 3 years this time, I'd be more into it.

What do you think about all this?  Are you burned out by Google? 

Now I've gone to ranting.  Check it out via http://www.prlog.org/11948635-google-local-business-page-or-google-places-or-google-maps-local-business-google-expert-rant.html