5 Reasons Why Google+ Local Is Important For Local Businesses

My friend Bill, who is an SEO consultant, emailed me over the weekend after he received my first email about a Google+ Local training webinar I’m hosting on October 30.

He was trying to be a wise-guy when he asked me, “Since when are you a Google+ Local marketing expert? LOL.”

In typical Philly-fashion, my response was a bit more succinct, but his question brought up a valid point, which was reinforced by something else that happened this past Saturday.  Let me explain.

For months, the door between our garage and house has not been closing correctly.  I tried playing around with it and over time it was only getting worse.  A friend of mine, who is an excellent handyman, even looked at it and could not fix it. His suggestion was to replace the entire door, which would ultimately cost hundreds of dollars.

This past Saturday I was inspired to finally get the door ordered and headed over to Home Depot.  While there I happened to walk down the door hardware aisle where the hinges and strike plates were displayed.  Since I knew the original strike plate was bent, I thought it could not hurt to try replacing it before buying a new door.

So instead of spending hundreds of dollars at Home Depot, I spent $2.87 and returned home with renewed enthusiasm to fix the door.

And guess what?  The simple fix worked!

So what does all this have to do with you and Google+ Local?  

If you’re a bricks and mortar business owner (or somebody who provides marketing services to them), Google+ Local is like the simple little switch plate I bought that fixed my big problem, quickly and easily.  Google+ Local allows all local business owners the opportunity to get on page 1 of Google and stand out from their competition.  It will get more people finding your business!

I see this as a huge opportunity for you and your business, which is why I’m hosting this webinar training.  As Bill points out, I am not a Google+ Local expert, but I see the potential and I’m bringing in somebody who is an expert on Google+ Local.

All local business owners can leverage the power of Google+ Local for their business and I see NO reason why any local business would let this powerful opportunity to escape.  And if you’re thinking you need to be a computer-whiz or have to hire a high-priced consultant, you don’t.

Here are 5 reasons why Google+ Local is important for your local business and why you need to attend this webinar training:

1) It’s about getting more people into your business. 

This is all about helping you get more prospects into your business or aware of your business and it’s definitely not about some new shiny object.  The bottom line is you need prospects to be aware of and know about your local business.  If they don’t, they cannot become customers.  In order to accomplish this formidable task, you should have an arsenal of marketing tools working for you.  Google+ Local must be one of those tools.

2) It’s Google

We all know the power and reach of Google and leveraging the Google platform is simply a smart business strategy.  This is not some fly-by-night, new-to-the-scene company… it’s Google and they want to help local businesses like yours!  Google+ Local is their dedicated platform for helping QUALITY local businesses rise to the top of local searches.

3) It’s free!

Google+ Local allows you to get the same benefits of Google’s paid-for services, but for free!  Everybody knows you want to be on page 1 of Google in order to be seen and for year’s the only way to accomplish this was either Google AdWords (which can be very expensive and confusing) and search engine optimization (a science in and of itself).  Google+ Local levels the playing field for local businesses, without requiring them to use AdWords or SEO.  Imagine getting the juice of Google, without paying for AdWords or an SEO consultant.

4) It’s social

Google+ is focused on the power of social marketing and Google+ Local leverages the social proof to help others find your business.  Like it or not, you cannot deny the power of social media marketing and you must adapt your local business marketing to tap into it.  Social marketing is going to reward the businesses that provide superior services and products and get them to the top.

5) It’s the perfect time!

In my daily effort to help business owners improve and get more out of their marketing, I am always on the lookout for technologies and trends that make sense.  Google+ Local is in its infancy and now is the perfect time to claim your Google+ Local page and leapfrog ahead of your competition!  Every day you delay the decision to take advantage of Google+ Local, you’re letting customers find the competition instead of you.  Recently I hosted a special Google+ Local training webinar and now you can get the recording and all the valuable templates and more!  Visit http://smartideasformarketing.com/google-local to get your copy!