Only half of local businesses have just a website, let alone the many other ways to market a local business online. They all know that consumers are also using the internet in their searches for various local products and services, buy are yet to do anything about it. At a minimum, your local business should be in the main directories online, including Yahoo! Local, Yelp and Google Places. At best, these should just be a part of your online marketing strategy. Today I would like to show you how to market your local business online using Google Places.

But first, you should know what Google Places is all about. Almost all online businesses are relying on Google, in terms of either organic or paid searches. Google is always looking to expand this dependability. Google Places was launched last September 2009 and replaced the Google Local Business Center. It is simply a massive online directory of businesses, like a worldwide YellowPages. Here is the official Google video about Google Places:

There are many advantages to the Google Places directory over the YellowPages one:

• Over 80% of people search online when looking for a local product or service. 70% of people use Google to conduct this search.
• Google Places can be easily and instantly updates.
• You can include so much more information in a Google places listing, including opening hours, web address, physical address, phone number, customer reviews, pictures, a description.
• Google Maps will show a map of where your business is, and give the visitor directions.

Here is a video of local businesses who are seeing success with Google Places:

Since it has been launched there are still companies who don’t seem to understand how beneficial Google Places could really be. Some businesses have been using this service thinking that they are doing just fine, only to realize that are not using the service to its full potential. The good news is that Google Places is absolutely free and is not too difficult in terms of its set-up. However, the only setback of this service is that it will take more than a couple of clicks in order to start generating customers and leads. Where do you get started with Google Places? The first thing to do is simply create an account.

Here are the 3 main steps that will happen while setting up your Google Places listing.

1. The submission of your information. This will include your contacts information, various videos, and your photos.
2. The verification of your listing with the use of phone, SMS or postcard.
3. Waiting for the listing to show up in the Google site.

Filling the different parts of the Google Places profile may be time consuming. To help fill out his information, Google Places will browse the web and find information regarding your business with some help from the third party sources, such as the Yellow Pages and Yelp.
When starting out with Google Places, you should fill out all of the relevant information that will help describe your business. These include the hours of your business operation, the categories, payment options, and other important details. Include any information that could be helpful to your customers. Its a good idea not to leave any fields blank. One thing that you should also avoid in filling of your Places profile is to stay away from putting different categories for your business. As much as possible, you should only nominate one category for your business.

Using Google Places as part of a bigger online marketing strategy will help produce positive results for your local business.