Google Places Pictures: How to Get More Than 10 Pictures on Google Places

Would You Like to Have More than Ten Pictures on Google Places? 

For some business owners, trying to figure out how to get 10 pictures on Google Places is a strain.  They already have a picture of the store, one of Ma, and one of the front desk.  What else can you think of to put up there.  

First let's address the case of the owner who has many product lines, designs, food choices, or some other reason why ten would be a starting point, not the end point.  How can you get past the magic 10 allowed by Google.  According to author James Dreeson who wrote

SEO for Google Places - The Secret to Crushing Your Competition with Local SEO and Google Places [Kindle Edition]

the answer is to call in your friends.  They can add pictures to your site as customers or just part of the crowd that is helping Google be complete.  Imagine a bike shop in Orange County California, like my client at A Road Bike 4U.  He carries about 30 different models of bikes from 5 different brands, and those are just road bikes.  That doesn't count the potential for putting up pictures of his state-of-the-art interior or his hi-tech professional bicycle fitting room.

 

10 Tips on Google Places Reviews: Critical, But Don't Go Fake

 Fake Reviews a NO NO on Google Places

Most of the business owners that I talk to are so worried about rank that they fail to consider the critical  issue of reviews and the huge impact on their business.  So here begins a series on Google Places reviews.  For the first one, let's give a hat tip to Michael Bloomenthal, the head guru of all gurus on the Google Places subject. 

Eric Goldman of te Technology & Marketing Law reports out a recent Missouri Supreme Court ruling that upheld a jury award of $150,00 against an ex-partner that wrote 3 fake reviews on Yahoo & Google about his former business. The ruling should cause competitors leaving fake reviews to take note as it substantially eases the burden on the defamed business to not have to demonstrate direct losses (which is impossible on the interent).

 How many ways can we create a mess or be the victim of a mess created by fake reviews?  Let me count the ways.

1.  Don't create fake reviews for your own listing.  You can certainly get real clever and use all kinds of methods to fool Google, but WHY?  Ask your best customers, suppliers, and associates to write the reviews.  They will sound more real, and they will not be a cause for a problem down the road.
2. Don't write reviews on your competitors.  Don't ask others to write slamming reviews on your competitors.  You will open yourself up to the law of retribution and karma.  You can just count on the fact that this will end badly.  Not to mention that you may lose privileges if you get caught.  Or, how about the lawsuit above that might cost you BIG money.
3. If a competitor, disgruntled ex-employee, competing supplier, or other individual who is not a customer, writes a negative review about you, you do have recourse.  A.  Most directories offering reviews also provide a way to complain that a revue is inappropriate.  Start there.  B.  If there is the slightest chance that the reviewer will back down, give them a shout and try to be reasonable.  Don't make idle threats or even threats you intend to carry out.  Take the high ground.  C.  If the information rises to libel, have your attorney write them a letter.  D.  Yelp and Google Places both allow you to respond to all reviews.  Do so with dignity.  Your clients aren't interested in your war.  They are interested in how you handle yourself under duress.

Have you had issues with fake reviews?  What were the results?  Any advice you'd like to share?

Randy Kirk and Associates provides a robust effort in reputation management for its clients.  If you have need of responding appropriately to bad reviews, give us a call at 310-910-1848

Google Places Serious About No UPS. Wrong Answer to Big Problem

 No UPS Addresses for Google Places or Get Slapped!

Please don't heckle me in the comments that I'm really late to this debate.  I was busy.  But one of my clients is definitely unhappy to lose this method of location selection.  A brief history.  Google Places, back when it was called Google Maps Business Center, was ok with even PO Box listings.  However these quickly became a proscribed address in the written rules.  By leaving out UPS boxes, there was an "assumption" that these were ok.  And to be certain, lots and lots of companies used these locations as legitimate addresses and not so legit.

Because so many so-called locksmiths and others were using UPS locations, Google formally announced they were no longer acceptable.  The rub on this is that plenty of companies run their entire business from a UPS store.  35 years ago, I had a mini storage warehouse and a UPS location to run a $200,000 a month distribution company.

UPS Not A Google Place Anymore

Ok.  So what is happening now is that slowly, but surely, Google is suspending or warning folks to get off the UPS habit or face the consequences.  Some are turning to shared office space, aka virtual offices.  Others are using private mail box centers.  Still others are asking help from friends or relatives to use their home or business addresses.  And there are a few other ideas out there, but I can't share those with you as they are proprietary to my clever clients.

I have stated before that I understand that Google has its work cut out for it in the effort to tell us about every "Place" on earth, and somehow keep out the spammers and scammers.  I think this solution deserves a D grade. 

I have a client who is a personal trainer in Los Angeles.  Her location is in Brentwood, one of the many villages in the City of Los Angeles.  There is also a Brentwood in Northern California.  So if you type in personal trainer Brentwood, you are just as likely to get Norther California as Southern.

To make matters worse, she lives 5 miles from nowhere.  I know that you think Los Angeles is packed really tight, but we have many highlands and rural areas within the city limits.  So she has trouble even ranking for Brentwood.  The real business comes from Personal Trainer Los Angeles or personal trainer Santa Monica.  Now you are dealing with competitive areas, competitive keyword, and her address being far from the center of those cities. 

We've been successful at getting her some decent ranking, but it would have been much easier to get her a UPS box in downtown Los Angeles and another one in Santa Monica. 

Do you have any methods around these rules that you are willing to share?

Tips for Google Places and Google Search from the Wall Street Journal

  The Wall Street Journal article that I pointed to the other day offered this succinct set of tips for Google Places Optimization.

Tips for Small Businesses That Count on Google's Search Engine to Survive:

• Stay informed. Keep track of changes to Google's algorithms by following its Webmaster Central Blog.
• Content is king. Make sure your website has original and accurate information. Google places the greatest value on sites providing the best possible user experience.
• Perform check-ups. The search terms users enter most to find your business can change. Monitor traffic from Google regularly using free Webmaster tools and make refinements.
• Use social media. Post links to content on your site from Twitter, Facebook and other social-media profiles. Your fans may repost the information.
• Spread your wings. Don't rely just on Google. Look for other ways to attract people to your website, such as by running special promotions or buying ads.
• Seek help. If your site consistently ranks low, consider having it audited by an expert in search-engine optimization.

I may have already brought this up the other day, but it bears repeating.  Websites now need to be big and well constructed.  In an example where I have created a $3500 website for a client, his Los AngelesMortgage Broker business, he has been able to achieve amazing results in a very competitive area.  Smaller $1000 websites struggle to keep rank in much less competitive situations.
Are you seeing the same thing?

Google Places Pictures: Idea from New Book

Earlier I gave a review of this new book on how to set up Google Places and how to create the best chance to get great rankings on Google Places.  Today I want to give you another reason to spend 99¢ and get your Kindle copy of this book.  SEO for Google Places – The Secret To Crushing Your Competition with Local SEO and Google Places offered a few good ideas that I hadn't heard before.

One of those ideas had to do with the use of the pictures.  I had heard others suggest using the pictures to offer a special offer.  But now came another idea.  Take a snippet of a testimonial, turn it into a picture and put that up.  I think that is a very cool idea to increase conversions.

That resulted in my own creative juices getting started.  Why not use for other kinds of pitches.  "Lowest prices guaranteed."  "Best Selection in Chicagoland."  "30 Years in Lincoln."  You could do these as power point slides or pdf's.  But you could literally create a sign in the store and then take a picture of it. 

I have a client with a bike shop in Los Angeles that undoubtedly has the biggest inventory of any bike shop in Los Angeles County.  So there is a great use for the sign. 

Let me know if you have other ideas of how to use these pictures.  Or send me an example of something that has worked for you.

The WSJ has done an outstanding job here of pointing out the scope and consequences of the recent changes by Google search.  If you are in the trenches on this as a consultant or as a business owner, you will get a much better picture of the complexity of the Google Places and Google everything search.

As Google Tweaks Searches, Some Get Lost in the Web

Wall Street Journal

"Keep track of changes to Google's algorithms by following its Webmaster Central Blog. Content is king. Make sure your website has original and accurate information. Google places the greatest value on sites providing the best possible user experience.Wall Street Journal"
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303505504577406751747002494.html%3Fmod%3Dgooglenews_wsj

We have employed only white hat approaches at Randy Kirk and Associates up until February of 2012.  In February we experimented with some inexpensive backlinking approaches.  We saw some great improvements until Venice and Penguin hit.  These wiped out our improvements in most cases, but because our underlying work was so strong, none of our clients got truely slapped.
In fact some clients that are now vying for positions in highly contested territory, like our computer consulting client in LA, are seeing steady major improvements with strong white hat backlinking and citation approaches.
Tell us about your experiences since these big changes took place?  What new have you learned that is helping you improve your Google Places rankings?

How to Set Up and Get Great Rankings on Google Places Book

Those of us in the Google Places consulting business, and those who read this blog and have decided to set up Google Places and attempt to optimize Google Places all on their own, now have a succinct, if somewhat tame book to help them.  To be honest, I've been planning to write this book for a while, but who has the time?

First the good news.  SEO for Google Places – The Secret To Crushing Your Competition with Local SEO and Google Places   is well written, easy to follow, and I didn't see any glaring errors.  Therefore if you want to spend $.99 and you have a Kindle, you are set.  I didn't have a Kindle, so I downloaded Kindle for Mac (FREE!), and paid my $.99.  I read the book in about 30 minutes or so.

Now the not so good news.  It was very, very basic.  You will get far more information reading every article on this blog than you will in the book.  But the book is way, way better organized.  And it is basically free at 99¢.  it is definitely worth that much.  And more.

There were at least a half dozen things in the book that are not on this blog.  I intend to correct most of those over the next few weeks.  So you may want to get an RSS feed to this blog or merely follow it or my Twitter.  I will, of course, give author James Dreeson full credit each time.

To be real, he wrote the book to sell his company services, which is why I would have written the book, if I had written the book.  He isn't going to get rich at 99¢ a copy.  And I am happy to help him line up more clients.  He seems to be a solid guy and knows his stuff.  There is so much business to go around that I can't possibly handle it all.

One of the things I got from the book was a list of great Canadian primary citations.  I have been having a heck of a time getting my limousine service in Toronto to rank.  There seems to be some kind of a glitch.  But having those additional citations should help a bunch. 

If you haven't bought my latest book yet, it was written for the bicycle business, but you can be sure it will have ideas on every page that will apply to your business.  Find it at http://www.bikeshopowner.com

Local Search and Google Places Domination to Continue As Smart Phones Become Major Source of Information

Who knew?  Local Google Search including Google Places business listings, Google Maps, and just the emphasis place by Google on local businesses, association, and more now dominate many searches, where just five short years ago, a local business could hardly be found.

Google Places, Social Authority & Keyword Translation: Tips From ISS London

Multilingual Search

"Lisa Myers did a presentation on Google Places from a global perspective. Google Places now operates in over 100 countries and local results have started to dominate listings. With the proliferation of smartphones we'll only see local searches rising ...Multilingual Search"
http://www.multilingual-search.com/google-places-social-authority-keyword-translation-more-tips-from-iss-london/17/05/2012/

I'm not prepared to say that local will grow even more dominent, but clearly this article has it right that with the smart phone taking over, local is forever.  The result is that for some businesses who wish to stretch their territories like a lawyer in Bergen County who may wish to cover all of NJ, the goal is, and will continue to be, elusive.

How to Rank On Google Places for 100 Keywords or More

 How to Rank on Google Places for Hundreds of Keywords

Over the past four years or so, I have worked with hundreds of companies who wanted to get to number one on Google Places.  And it would be a breeze if they only wanted to have great ranking for one Google Places keyword.   Fortunately in most cases there are only 2 or 3 keywords combined with two or three cities.  But already you are now up to 9 combinations.  The more keywords, the harder it is to get all of those covered.

Sometimes, however, the client is in so many critical businesses, but all related, that the list is almost endless.  One example is a audio-visual equipment rental company in Brooklyn, http://DJPArentals.com.  That's one keyword:  "Audio-visual equipment rental in Brooklyn."  As with any major city, however, the client wants to be found in NYC, Queens, Manhattan, and Long Island.  So each keyword has 5 geo variations.  Now some folks call what he does DJ equipment rentals.  Some call it Sound equipment rentals.  Others call it PA equipment rentals.  Then there are the various products.  An important one is speakers.  Then we get into the brands, such as Technics, Pioneer, Rane, QSC, Mackie, JBL, and Serato.  Within those brands there are models that are very well known like the DJM-800. 


The question becomes, how does one set all this up so that you can rank for 100 or even hundreds of keyword and geo combinations like speaker rentals nyc.  Especially when many seo articles will tell you that you can only optimize the website home page for five keywords at the most...preferably only one.  For those of you who are loyal followers, I'm going to give away a tightly guarded secret that I'm unlikely to repeat anywhere else on this blog:  The optimization of the website home page rule of five maximum is for national accounts hoping to score the most critical and competitive keywords.  I can show you case after case where my clients are ranking top 1-3 on 20 or more important keywords.   

Set up the home page with five major headings.  Each of those headings should tackle one major category such as "Sound Equipment Rental Company in Brooklyn Serves NYC, Queens, Manhattan, and Long Island."

Within the paragraph below cover some keywords regarding speakers, including specific brands and models.  Link some of the keywords to internal pages.  Now repeat with a headline about DJ Equipment.

At the bottom of the page, set up a 50 word footer.  It should look something like this.  DJ Equipment Rental NYC | DJ Equipment Rental Manhattan | Sound Equipment Rental Queens | Speaker Rentals NYC     And you can set up links on these to inside pages.  You get the idea.

What does all of this have to do with Google Places.  Google looks at your website and your Google Places listing together to determine what you should be ranked under.  Sure, you want to use these keywords in your categories, descriptions and detail sections.  But you also need to optimize your website.

Do you use these techniques for multiple keywords?  Do you have other suggestions?

 

Mother's Day, Google Places, and Smart Phones - A New World AGAIN!

There's a whole new thing you might have heard about it.  You can carry a computer around in your pocket that has more power than a NASA computer did 20 years ago, and can do far more things you really care about.  Oh!  You knew that?  LOL

I got my IPhone when SIRI became the new buzzword.  I didn't know if I needed an IPhone.  I just knew I wanted one.  Now, I am like the rest of you smart phone owners.  Siri sleeps just inches from my head.  As one pundit reported:  What else do humans possess that is never more than 6" away 23.5 hours a day?

So Google, always ahead of the pack (not) has finally begun to give merchants a way to create mobile offers online.  This is through Google Places.  You merely sign into your account, go to "offers" and fill in the forms.  NOTE:  Goog says this is free "for now." 

So I have a client who has a maid service in Cincinnati.  His client is upscale marrieds and single professionals.  Maybe 99% of those have at least one smart phone.  He just started his business http://www.WeCleanCincinnati.com.  He would love to rank for maid Cincinnati or housekeeper Cincinnati, and we'll get him there eventually.  But in the meantime, he can circumvent the process by offering a coupon or special, like a Mother's Day deal, that will show up on mobile phones. 

It's brand new.  I haven't even tested it yet.  Just telling you about it early.  Tell me what you think about it.  Have you tried it?  Did anyone call?  Were there any problems with it?