Update from your Google Local Business Center Account

Local Business Newsletter Issue #1 - August, 2009 Having trouble viewing this email? Click here

In This Issue: Letter from the Local Business Center Team Tips and Tricks Using the dashboard: Power Tip Optimize your local business listings August Business of the Month: TCHO Chocolates Two San Francisco entrepreneurs bring their chocolate company online Tell us your Local Business Center story! Latest from Google: Driving directions on your website Letter from the Local Business Center Team Here on the Local Business Center Team, we want to make sure you have all the latest tips and tricks for making the most out of your business listings. In our new monthly newsletter we'll also feature stories about local businesses' successes and updates on Google products that can enhance your business operations. You'll also get a snapshot - right in your email inbox - of what has happened with your business listing over the last month, thanks to the launch of the Local Business Center dashboard. These statistics are also available in your account online. To learn more about the dashboard and the features it makes available, click here. Happy reading! The Local Business Center Team Tips and Tricks Power Tip: Use the dashboard to bring the power of Google's data to your business Now, Google provides easily accessible, customized and up to date data under the "dashboard" tab of your Local Business Center Account (www.google.com/lbc). Data available in the dashboard includes the following: * Impressions: The number of times your business listing appeared as a result of a Google.com search or a Google Maps search in a given period. * Actions: The number of times people interacted with your listing; for example, the number of times they clicked through to your business' website or requested driving directions to your business. * Top search queries: Which queries led customers to your business listing; for example, are they finding the listing for a cafe by searching for "tea" or "coffee"? * Zip codes: where driving directions come from: which zip codes customers are coming from when they request directions to your location. So how will you use the dashboard? First, claim your listing on LBC. The dashboard will automatically populate with data from the last 30 days. Click the "View Report" link on your LBC account to check it out. On the dashboard, you'll find several features. At the very top, you'll see a timeline tracking the number of "Impressions" and "Actions" that your business received through Google. You can also change the date range selected to view more or less data. You'll find a list of the top search queries people are using when they discover your business listing. For example, do people tend to find your Italian restaurant more by looking for "pizza" or "pasta"? This gives you valuable insight into the ways that your potential customers are looking for you, and what terms are associated with your business. Finally, you'll also be able to see a breakdown of zip code starting points for driving direction requests to your business. To protect privacy, we aggregate these requests at the zip code level. If you click on the counts inside the map, we'll highlight that zip code on the map. This lets you find out where there is an interest in your business, which can help inform advertising strategies. As we mentioned above, your dashboard will be populated with data for the previous 30 days. We'll add fresh data daily, so you'll want to be sure to check back often to see how things are going and how various strategies (like your latest offline ad campaign or the addition of a photo to your listing) affect your traffic. If you want to learn more, you can read our post on the Official Google Blog or watch the video below. Otherwise, head to http://www.google.com/lbc to dive in to your new dashboard! Optimize your local business listings Here are a few ways to optimize your local business listing Make sure your listing is complete and accurate. Include optional information like images and videos to help your listing stand out. Add information like opening hours, payment types, and additional details to help users choose among search results. Make sure that the location of your business on the map is correct so users can find you. Remember, you can always drag the map marker to the exact location of your business. Make sure to list your authoritative business website as your homepage, since Google uses information from your homepage to help improve search results. Of course, be sure that your business name, physical address, and phone number(s) are correct in your business listing. See the Local Business Quality Guidelines to learn more. Choose the most appropriate, specific categories for your business. Pick a category from the list of suggestions to help Google show your business for the right searches (although you can always enter your own category if the Local Business Center doesn't suggest one that fits your business). Don't be afraid to choose specific categories instead of broad ones. The important thing is that the categories are accurate and describe your business well. This information is also available in our Help Centers. To work these tips into your business listing, log in to www.google.com/lbc. August Business of the Month: TCHO chocolates Meet Timothy Childs, Founder and Chief Chocolate Officer of TCHO Chocolates, who has used Local Business Center to increase awareness of his company. Based on Pier 17 in San Francisco, TCHO Chocolates was started in 2005 by Timothy Childs, a space shuttle technologist turned chocolate maker, and Karl Bittong, an industry veteran who set up chocolate factories for 40 years from Costa Rica to Germany. Childs describes TCHO as "a new type of a company that embraces two core attributes of the city: passion for leading edge technology and the sensuous need for epicurean treats." In the United States, 77 percent of internet users perform a Google search everyday and many of those users are searching for local business information.* This is why TCHO Chocolates has optimized their business listings online, created a dynamic website, and maintained an active blog. In fact, Childs put a video introducing his chocolate on YouTube before he even had a final product! He also uploaded the video and photos to his Local Business Center listing. You can learn how to do that here! The TCHO team has developed an innovative, high-tech marketing strategy for an old-school business. TCHO's Local Business Center listing ensures that potential customers online can easily learn about their brick and mortar chocolate shop. Customers can discover everything from store hours and contact information, to accepted payment types, and public transit info that will bring them right to the door. So how do we know that Local Business Center really works? Childs reports, "You can really use Google tools and the internet to drive customers to you." Using the Local Business Center dashboard, he has learned that customers request Google Maps driving directions to his shop from more than 30 miles away. Understanding where his customers come from helps TCHO tailor their business to better serve their customers. The Local Business Center can do a lot more than bring your information to the internet, it can actually bring information about users to you, and customers to your business. *According to a 2009 WebVisible/Nielsen Study Be the next Local Business of the Month! We want to hear your story! The Local Business Center team is interesting in learning about your business' online experience and sharing that message with all of the local businesses that read our newsletter. We hope you will join us in this exciting new opportunity. To be our next Local Business of the Month click here. Participants will receive a $100 AdWords Gift Certificate to jumpstart an online advertising campaign. Latest from Google Driving directions on your Website We have a simple gadget that will allow businesses to add customized driving directions to their business locations. With the Google directions gadget, you no longer need to type and update multiple sets of text directions. By copying and pasting a single line of code, any website can offer customized door-to-door directions, powered by Google Maps, to their users. The gadget allows you, the business, to pre-fill the "To" field with one or multiple addresses. Customers are also able to print their directions with a single click. Take a look at how some companies like Legoland California, Emeril Lagasse, and Harvard University are using the gadget. And then try it out and create your own here.   We hope you enjoyed this month's newsletter. We look forward to bringing you more tips & tricks to help bring your business online. Stay tuned for our September newsletter next month! Email preferences: We sent you this email because you have indicated that you are willing to receive promotions and news about related Google products. If you do not wish to receive such emails in the future, please visit the settings tab (http://www.google.com/lbc - LBC login required), uncheck the box next to 'Newsletter', and click 'Save Changes.' © 2009 Google Inc. All Rights Reserved.