Technology — Page 7

Google Places for Business: Staking Your Claim and Maximizing Your Local Search Potential

05/04/2011 by sss4success 8 Comments

Google Places for Business is a free service provided by Google that allows you to promote your offline business online by registering or "claiming" your Google Places Page for your business. By registering your business's Google Places Page, you can create a business listing that helps you achieve better rankings in local search results generated by Google, in addition having the ability to customize your page and add other promotional items like photos, video, menus, coupons, etc, providing your customers with all of the information they need to shop with you.

All you need to do is register and verify your business’s information with your Google Account (you can set up a free one, if you don't already have one), then you can customize your Places Page to further increase your business's Search Engine Optimization (SEO) potential and the likelihood that people searching online and via mobile devices will walk into your local store.

Google Places for Business is an excellent way to maximize your online marketing potential for your offline business through local search. It provides localized search results based on the geographic area where you’re conducting your search, or geo-specific search terms. For example, if you searched for “Chicago BBQ Ribs”, you’d see results like those pictured below, where various locations that offer BBQ Ribs in the Chicagoland area are listed next to a map image highlighting each location.

Claiming your Google Places page is a fast and free way to improve the likelihood that your business location will be found near the top of the Google Search Results for searches related to your business. Your Google Places page can also act as both a temporary replacement for a website that is under construction, as well as another tool for promoting your company and its products and services. Also, there are advantages to being an early adopter of your Google Places page, as you can put yourself ahead of your local competition by utilizing one more way to drive traffic into your brick-and-mortar location.

Since claiming your Google Places page is free, you can get started using this marketing avenue at no cost, and when you’re ready, you can later make the investment in trying Google Tags (a paid service to help you promote your Google Places listing) and/or Google Adwords (their pay-per-click advertising service). To get started and claim your Google Places for Business page for your offline business, search for your business online with Google and see if you already have a listing. If you do, click "Edit this page", and go through the process of verifying your ownership. If you don't find your business already listed, you can still register with Google Places and add it.

Check out this brief video overview of Google Places for Business (below), and as always, SSS for Success is here to help, should you need someone to set up your Google Places page for you (just fill out our Contact form, with “Please Set up My Google Places Page” in the subject line).

Kindra Cotton, Small Business Survival Specialist

Google Places for Business: Staking Your Claim and Maximizing Your Local Search Potential

5 FREE Small Business Resources You Don’t Know About

04/20/2011 by sss4success 7 Comments

Today, I’d like to share with you 5 FREE Small Business Resources You Probably Don’t Know About. I believe one of the keys to staying in business is managing money well (including the little of it you may have in your early days) and as such, I work to maximize the cash I do have by utilizing the litany of free and low-cost resources at my disposal that can help make my job as a busy entrepreneur and business owner a bit easier.

Here are the 5 FREE Small Business Resources You Probably Don’t Know About:

1. Mailchimp: If you’ve visited one of this blog’s recent posts then you know that I use and highly recommend MailChimp as an Email Marketing Service. Under their “Forever Free” program you can have up to 2000 subscribers and send 12000 emails per month. There are no expiring trials. No need to sign a contract, and no credit cards required to start using the service. In my opinion, this is THE BEST email marketing program for someone looking to grow and build their email marketing list! I believe this is the ideal Email Marketing Service for a new startup business or a business just beginning to organize its electronic customer database.

2. Open Office: OpenOffice.org has everything you expect in an office suite and it’s open-source, which means you can have it for FREE! With the latest version of Open Office.org you get a word processor (similar to Microsoft Word), in addition to a spreadsheet program (similar to Microsoft Excel), a database program (similar to Microsoft Access), a graphics editor (similar to Adobe Photoshop), and a presentation creator (similar to Microsoft PowerPoint), all for FREE! Plus, you can create your eBooks and share your documents using the built-in PDF writer to make PDF files, without buying additional PDF creator software! There are two ways you can get this software. One is visiting OpenOffice.org and downloading it directly, and the other is ordering a CD of it from OpenOfficeUSA.com, where the software is still FREE, but you have to pay $9.97 for Shipping and Handling to receive the FREE OpenOffice.org CD* (*Orders Accepted From the United States Only). It’s been my experience that despite the $500 price differential between Open Office and Microsoft Office, people still prefer the latter, but for those who are open to a FREE alternative and looking to save money, Open Office is definitely the answer!

3. CutePDF Writer: If you choose not to use Open Office with its free PDF Writer, then you might want to consider installing the CutePDF Writer (formerly known as the CutePDF Printer). CutePDF Writer is a free utility that lets you print almost any Windows Application documents into PDF format with just the click of the PRINT button. What this means is that you can create PDF documents without purchasing more expensive software like Adobe Acrobat Professional (which is the $499 upgraded version of Adobe Reader which is offered free to READ PDFs). You may not think much of this ability, but if you’re in the habit of delivering digital documents for review, you’ll definitely want to move into the direction of sending those documents in PDF format for a few reasons. One, when you send something in PDF, you know that it’s delivered the way you want it. Sometimes with Microsoft Word or Excel files the formatting can cause it to appear differently on another person’s computer, or they can hit a key and ruin your formatting altogether. Second, you know that people can open the document since Adobe Acrobat Reader is included for free on most PCs and opens intuitively on Macs, thus you avoid the possibility of sending a Word or PowerPoint file to someone who doesn’t have those programs and thus can’t open the file. Finally, you can save many trees by NOT printing documents for your archival purposes on paper, but instead with the CutePDF Writer, you can print your documents in PDF format and store them securely on your hard drive or a USB thumb drive.

4. MorgueFile: If you run a blog, one of the top tips you see is about using pictures in your posts to appeal to the visual sensibilities of your readers. I know that I enjoy including pictures within my blog post that help to visually depict the message or overall imagery I’d like to project on a topic. Sometimes it’s difficult to do, but with a little bit of forethought and planning, it is something that can be achieved. I mention all of this as a segue into talking about MorgueFile. I love this site and I visit it often! MorgueFile is a public image archive database that offers FREE photos for use in creative works, be they personal or commercial! It’s a great source for high resolution pictures, and I’ve been using it now for quite some time and I’m amazed that it’s yet to let me down!

5. Picnik: Once you get your high resolution pictures from MorgueFile the next step is to resize them. The picture files you download from MorgueFile are huge and definitely high-quality, but the resolution and file size will likely be too much for simply posting in a blog post. The best thing to do is resize the picture to a “workable” or more manageable size, and that’s where Picnik comes in. Picnik is an online image editor that is great for resizing and editing pictures quickly. All you have to do is upload the picture, resize it (typically to a width of 600 pixels – letting it auto-resize itself proportionately to retain its original shape) and you’ll create a picture whose file size is small enough that it should fit nicely within your blog post. Plus, you can add graphics and do other editing to the picture like framing it or adding shapes, all for FREE! Yes, they have paid premium options that you can upgrade for purchase, but many of the basic functions (similar to the ones a blogger would need) are absolutely FREE!

Did you know about any of these resources? And can you think of other FREE small business resources? If so, please leave us a comment letting us know.

Kindra Cotton, Small Business Survival Specialist

5 FREE Small Business Resources You Don’t Know About

Beware: Domain Registry of America

04/06/2011 by sss4success 9 Comments

Recently, I received a “Domain Name Expiration Notice” from a company called “Domain Registry of America”. What bothers me most about this notice, is that it’s designed to look like a bill, and to the untrained eye, or unlearned domain owner, you are very well led to believe that you need to follow the instructions on this form in order to renew your upcoming expiring domain.

For this reason, I’m issuing this Public Service Announcement to Small Business Owners who may have or will receive a “Domain Name Expiration Notice” from Domain Registry of America. In my opinion, this company participates in an unsavory business practice of preying on individuals, via the mail, who are likely not web-savvy enough to know that this “notice” is nothing more than an advertisement of their high-priced domain transfer and registration service.

And when I say “high-priced”, I mean it. I’ve attached a copy of this notice here:

Page (1):

Page (2):

And on it, you’ll notice that a one year renewal for one domain is $35! This is highway robbery, especially since the worst case scenario I’ve seen for a domain renewal has only been upwards of $12. So, with Domain Registry of America, you’ll likely pay 3 times more than you would with other registrars!

It bothers me that this company is participating in what I believe is a “shady” business practice, especially since they’re going after people who likely don’t know what they don’t know. I’ve been getting these notices for quite some time now, but it recently came to my attention again because one of my clients inquired to me about it, based on some recent domain purchases that I had just procured on their behalf. They thought, that something mentioning their domain name and having their address on it, with what LOOKS like a bill, was a bill, and if they hadn’t spoken to me first, they likely would have been out of at least $40!

Because I knew to intuitively ignore these notices, I assumed that others did as well, but then I later learned I was wrong in my assumption. For that reason, today I say: BEWARE OF “Domain Registry of America” of 2316 Deleware Avenue, #266, Buffalo, NY 14216-2667. They may in fact be a “legitimate business”, but the way they go about business sucks and they need a new model that doesn’t prey on misleading people and taking advantage of them.

I would suggest, if you get one of these notices in the mail that you REPORT IT TO YOUR LOCAL STATES ATTORNEY FOR CONSUMER FRAUD! That’s what I intend to do! It’s your State’s Attorney’s job to stay vigilant and protect your state’s consumers from companies with unsavory and predatory business practices, and this should be brought to everyone’s attention, to keep “Domain Registry of America” from sending out these faux-bill notices with its ridiculously small fine print on the back.

I hope that this information has been useful to you, and I’d encourage you to share your experience with Domain Registry of America, and similar companies that operate like them. Have you gotten one of these notices before?

Kindra Cotton, Small Business Survival Specialist

Beware: Domain Registry of America