In a nutshell, Google Maps Marketing is the act of utilizing the Google Maps function to make your online business easier to locate.
Even though this is extremely useful (and anticipated) for big businesses, it is also more essential for small businesses.
Here, I will teach you how to use Google Maps, how to get the most out of it, and how to sell your products and services online via Google Maps.
Local search engine optimization or SEO:
One of the primary uses of Google Maps is local marketing. Local search engine optimization or SEO marketing makes use of Google Maps in order to increase your visibility on the internet.
In this case, we are talking about organic search engine optimization or SEO marketing which means optimizing your website and your business for the search engines.
Since your website is optimized for the particular keyword/s that you are trying to target, it is imperative that you have a Google Maps Marketing strategy to promote your website locally.
Increasing the number of traffic:
The second major use of Google Maps is in increasing the number of traffic to your website. Nowadays, internet users rely heavily on social media.
Most of them are more likely to check out the Google Maps website when they are looking up a place to eat, a place to go for an entertaining night out, or a place to hang out with friends and family.
As a result, you should make use of Google's social media marketing for your SEO marketing.
If you are able to increase the number of visitors to your website via your social media sites (such as Facebook and Twitter), you can expect to see an increase in your organic search engine optimization results and the subsequent sale of your products and services via organic search engine marketing.
Optimizing your business page:
The third way to use Google Maps for your local SEO efforts is through optimizing your business page. When you optimize your business page, you should focus on optimizing each individual Google Maps tile.
For example, if you own a business in Atlanta, Georgia, you should optimize your business page in such a way that when someone searches for Atlanta hotels, you appear in the top 3 places in the search results.
To do this, you can put in a URL of your Atlanta hotel's website where you would want your customers to click on.
When they click on your link, they will be directed to your Atlanta hotel's website. You can also use the Google Maps plug-in to put in dynamic maps such as traffic indicators, airport maps, etc.
Local SEO using Google citations:
The fourth way to use Google Maps for your local SEO is through using Google citations. Google Maps now has a feature wherein you can submit citations regarding a particular business location through your Google+ Business page or your Google+ Local page.
Google then displays these citations on the Google Maps website where your potential customers will be able to locate you.
Thus, by having Google Maps citations on your Google+ Business or Google+ Local page or website, people will have a reference that they can directly go to when they are searching for businesses within your locality.
Google Maps for local search:
The fifth way to use Google Maps for your local search ads is through its integration with Google's mobile device platform. Through the Google Maps app, you can create and place mobile advertisements on your Google+ Business page.
When people tap on these advertisements, they will be directed to your app where they can take turn-by-turn navigation to your business location.
By using this feature, you will be able to capture leads from your potential customers and convert them into paying customers.
Furthermore, you will also be able to enhance the ad rates for these ads as the mobile advertising platform provides you with tracking tools.
In many ways, you can say that Google Maps is the new version of Yellow Pages, though the two are not exactly the same. The main difference between the two services is that you can now search Google Maps by just typing in any location.
The second major difference is that you can search for specific types of businesses, which in the past was done only by calling the various companies and asking for their addresses.
As you would imagine, this made it very difficult to locate certain types of businesses - such as restaurants or shops - and also created problems when you wanted to get to know someone new.
Optimizing Your Google Map Listing:
Luckily, Google Maps came to the rescue with its local SEO tool, which allows users to find a business by entering their location.
In simple terms, Google Maps shows a user the Google map of where that particular business is so that the searcher is directed towards the right venue if he wants to see that particular business.
The way that Google maps help the user is that it provides him with local search results, which are typically more relevant than those resulting from other types of internet marketing strategies.
For example, say you are searching for office space in your city. If you were to use the search engine provided by Google Maps, you would be directed to office spaces within your city - which would be much more relevant than using other business pages.
Optimize Your Location on Google Map:
You might think that the entire objective of using google maps marketing strategy is just about location. To be fair, it is about location most of the time.
However, there are three other components of this strategy that you should be aware of since they have an effect on your results as well.
You need to make sure that your business has at least one local address since this is what will make you visible to potential customers.
You also need to make sure that your business has at least one place where a person can contact you directly.
This can be done through the use of Google local search ads if you have set them up.
Make a user-friendly website:
If you take all of these parts of the google maps marketing strategy and combine them into one powerful marketing campaign, you will be able to draw in hundreds, or even thousands of new prospects who will become your new customers.
Even if you aren't doing anything spectacular on the front end, the fact that you are creating a more user-friendly website that is well presented and easy to navigate will go a long way towards ensuring that you are getting people to stop in and take a look around.
When you build a strong reputation for reliability, you will attract customers who have been looking for your type of service or products and not some generic, over-priced version of what you have to offer.
With Google local business listing, you will be taking advantage of the SEO value of location in order to draw visitors to your site.
Affiliate marketing strategy:
One other important part of the google maps marketing strategy is the use of the local inventory affiliate marketing strategy.
This is where you promote specific physical locations of your business and through these affiliate links, you are able to pull in traffic that will eventually convert to your loyal customers that you know can make a purchase of your products or services.
For instance, if you sell shoes, you can insert a link to a Google map location or you can use simple JavaScript code to create an affiliate link that will take people straight to a local inventory store.
This type of marketing can generate a huge amount of local traffic and it can also work to help you get better placement in the SERP's.
With the assistance of some great, high-quality local business listings, you can work towards getting more people to notice your site and eventually turn into loyal customers.
You can learn more about your online marketing options with a free tutorial today.
